Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1791

Amos Upham opened his store in the 1820s on the corner of Columbia Road (then still named Boston Street and Dudley Street.  In the mid-19th century the company was renamed for Amos’ son James H. Upham. Today’s was published in 1895 in Picturesque Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, Dorchester and Vicinity.

The following comments come from a history of the Freemasons:

James H. Upham was born in the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, September 25, 1820. His education was obtained principally at the town school (now (1892) the Everett school) of Dorchester, until at the age of fourteen his father, Amos Upham, for business reasons, took him from school and placed him in his own grocery store at Upham’s Corner, where for more than half a century his face has been as familiar as the old sign, behind which the business of father and son was continued. As a citizen, no man has had the confidence of his fellow-citizens and more immediate neighbors to a greater extent than he. The settlement of estates, the division of property, the trusts and duties of executor and administrator have been frequently committed to him. He has also held many official positions in his native town, and to the discharge of these duties he invariably brought to play his best energies and business skill. On the 19th of June 1845, BROTHER UPHAM married Mary Bird, also of Dorchester, and a schoolmate.

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1790

Crescent Market, 757 Dudley Street, Upham’s Corner.

Crescent Market, dealers in Fresh and Salt Meats of every description, Choice Fruit, Vegetables, etc., No. 757 Dudley Street, Upham’s Corner is an excellent place at which to trade if  you don’t want to be called upon to help pay other people’s bills, for the business is conducted on a cash basis and you pay for you get—no more and no less.  This is a strictly first-class family market.  The stock includes fresh and salt meats of every description, choice fruits, vegetables, dairy products, canned goods, teas and coffees and staple groceries.  Every article you buy here is guaranteed to prove as represented; every article is sold at the lowest market rates—quality considered; and the stock is so large and complete that all tastes and all purses can be suited.  This business was founded in 1882, and the proprietor is Mr. L. E. Felton, who is a native of Boston, and has had long and large experience in the provision trade.  He employs five assistants, utilizes three teams and proposes to make the service as nearly perfect as possible.  Of course mistakes occur sometimes, for “accidents will happen, even in the best regulated families,” but they are cheerfully and promptly corrected, and if care will prevent their repetition they will not happen again.  A good business is done; it is steadily increasing, and it certainly deserves success, for it is founded upon the bedrock principle of fair dealing with all.

From: Picturesque Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, Dorchester and Vicinity. New York: Mercantile Illustrating Co., 1895.

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1789

View of Baker Chocolate Stone Mill from Milton side of Neponset River.

Photograph with label on back: Adams Street & Baker’s Court. Walter Baker Stone Mill (right), Cook & Scott Woolen Cleansing Mill, Talbot’s Old Store, afterward Gramer Furniture Store (left)

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1788

Disco singer Donna Summer passed away on Thursday.

Donna Summer won five Grammys and sold more than 130 million records worldwide. Her career took off in the mid 1970s, and she became known as the Queen of Disco. Throughout her career, Summer had 32 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including four No. 1s.  Her last studio album, “Crayons” in 2008, produced three dance club hits with “I’m a Fire,” “Stamp Your Feet” and “Fame.”  In 2009, Summer sang at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Norway in 2009 in honor of Nobel laureate U.S. President Barack Obama. Her most recent hit was the 2010 single “To Paris With Love.”

Councillor Charles C. Yancey Remembers Donna Summer

Friday, 18 May 2012 14:36 | Written by GNN Post

Boston City Hall (May 17, 2012) – Boston City Councillor Charles C. Yancey today reminisced growing up with singer, actress, and five-time Grammy Award winner, Donna Summer, who succumbed to cancer today in Florida at the age of 63.  Summer, whose older sister married one of Councillor Yancey’s brothers in the 1960s, was a close friend of the Yancey family.

Summer, who was born as LaDonna Adrian Gaines to Andrew and Mary Gaines on December 31, 1948 in Boston, graduated from the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester. She perfected her vocal talent by singing gospel music at the Grant African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston.

Summer relocated to Europe in 1968 and took part in the German productions of several musicals, including Haare, Porgy and Bess, and Godspell.

Summer, in 1975, recorded “Love To Love You Baby”, which transformed her into an international star and earned her the title Queen of Disco. She went on to score four number one singles, fourteen top ten hits, three platinum albums, five Grammy awards, and twelve other Grammy nominations.

Summer won Best R&B Vocal Performance Female for Last Dance in 1978, Best Rock Vocal Performance Female for Hot Stuff in 1979, Best Inspirational Performance for He’s A Rebel in 1983, Best Inspirational Performance for Forgive Me in 1984 and Best Dance Recording for Carry On in 1997. She also picked up 3 American Music Awards in 1979, the NAACP Image Award in 1980, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992.

Councillor Yancey, on July 12, 2008, presented Summer with a City Council resolution commending her successful career and her generosity to humanitarian needs. Summer contributed much of her time and money to such organizations as UNICEF, Music Cares, The Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Race to Erase MS, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.

“We’re very proud of her international presence and her philanthropy. She was down to earth in spite of her fame and wealth,” Yancey said.

Summer, who has appeared in eight movies, was the first female artist to have three number one solo singles in one year, the first female artist to use synthesizers, and the first artist to create an extended play song for use in dance clubs.

“Donna Summer will be solely missed by my family and the entire City of Boston. We are proud of the fact that she was a daughter of Boston,” Yancey said.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1787

Sometimes when we drive around Dorchester we concentrate so much on the traffic that we don’t see the monuments and the artwork displayed on our streets.  Today we have the World War I monument at Kane Square, the intersection of Bowdoin and Hancock Streets.

Dedicated by Francis G. Kane Post 60, American Legion, in memory of the heroes of Dorchester who made the supreme sacrifice in the World War. Erected by the people of Dorchester.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1786

Endicott School Building

The Bridge Boston Charter School will occupy the former Endicott School Building, beginning this summer. The new school will serve 108 students in pre-K through first grade and add one grade per year until it reaches grade 8 with a total of 335 students.

Located at 2 McLellan Street the school building was opened in 1906.  It was named for
William Endicott (1842-1903), who served for 40 years in the Boston Schools. He was Master of the Christopher Gibson School. Born in Canton, Mass., he served in the Civil War; then he began teaching in the Christopher Gibson School in Dorchester in 1866.

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If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1785

In the era of trolley cars, the building occupied by Yale Electric today was once the power house for the Boston Elevated Railway Company.

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If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1784

Today we have a photo of Richard Clapp’s house, which was located on Columbia Road approximately where the Russell School is today across from the Blake House.

The following is from The Clapp Memorial. Record of the Clapp Family in America … Ebenezer Clapp, compiler.  Boston: David Clapp & Son, 1876

Richard, son of Lemuel and Rebecca (Dexter) Clapp, and brother of the preceding (William), was born in Dorchester, July 24, 1780, and died Dec. 16, 1861, aged 81 years.  He was a tanner by trade, and his yard was only a few rods south of his brother William’s [on Boston Street].  At one time in early life he was engaged pretty extensively in brick-making, the business being carried on upon lands of his own in South Boston.  Bricks there made were used in 1812, in the construction of the house he afterwards occupied, now standing on Pond Street [now mostly merged into Columbia Road], near the Five Corners [Edward Everett Square].  A few feet east from this house is the site of the one in which Rev. Richard Mather lived, and in which his son President Increase Mather was born. 

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1783

Postard circa 1910 of Savin Hill Depot.  The illustration of the blimp in the sky seems to be printed on the card but printed in a different way than the rest of the card is printed.  At first I thought it was a drawing in ink, but it seems too fine for that.  So why was there a blimp over Savin Hill?

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1782

Today’s illustration is a copy of an advertisement for a Henderson Footwarmer from 1912.  The Dorchester Pottery company was founded in 1895 by George Henderson to produce commercial and industrial stoneware.  Its first big hit was the stoneware hot water bottle known as the Henderson Footwarmer.  It was used to keep feet warm in a cold automobile and also to warm hospital beds.  It later became known as the porcelain pig.  In the early years the opening in the bottle was closed with a cork stopper, but within a few years Henderson patented a metal fitting with a screw cap.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org