Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1803

I know it’s not really time to think about Thanksgiving, but I saw my friend Bill Bauer this weekend, who offered a memory of Dorchester in the 1930s.

Bill’s dad owned a bakery on Washington Street from 1931 to 1945.  This memory is from the year Bill was 13 years old.  Bill is 88 now or will be in a week or two, so this was 75 years ago, or 1937.  The Ashmont Grille was a cafeteria-style restaurant at that time, but at Thanksgiving they roasted turkeys for the neighbors.  Bill’s dad went to the Ashmont Grille to cook turkeys for people from the neighborhood.  People would bring in their turkeys, and Bill’s dad would put them in the oven to roast at the proper time, do the basting, etc.  Then at the pre-arranged time, the neighbors would come by up to pick up their cooked birds.   Bill’s dad was the cook in the family, but that day he was so exhausted the family came to the Grille and ate their Thanksgiving dinner at the cafeteria.

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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 Descendants Celebrations, 2012

Saturday, June 23^rd at 2 pm

Illustrated Book talk: Boston Organized Crime by Emily Sweeney

Sunday, June 24^th

Super Dorchester Trolley Tour about 2 ½ hours.  Noon at 195 Boston Street, $35 incl. lunch

Friday, June 29    Art Show Reception

6 – 8 pm  Opening reception for exhibit: Dorchester Artists Past & Present in collaboration with Dorchester Arts Collaborative

 Saturday, June 30^th    Talk, Art Show, Open Houses

10 – 4 Dorchester Artists Past & Present art exhibit continues

10-4 Open houses at Dorchester Historical Society historic buildings

Saturday, June 30^th at 10 am  St. Botolph’s Town – Boston, England, and Boston, Massachusetts

Wilfred Holton will speak about St. Botolph’s Town: Boston, England the Founding of Our Boston with a few notes from Earl Taylor about Dorchester, England, and Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Sunday, July 1

Art Show continues 10 am – 4 pm

Dorchester’s Collections wins award! 

You may have seen the message that the Dorchester Historical Society’s book Dorchester’s Collections: Illustrating a Community, 1630-1930, published for 2011’s Dorchester Descendants Celebration has won First Place in the New England Museum Association Publications Competition for books costing over $10.  You can buy a copy by sending a check for $25 to DHS, 195 Boston Street, 02125 or you can go to the sales shop tab on the website www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1801

 You may have seen the message that the Dorchester Historical Society’s book Dorchester’s Collections: Illustrating a Community, 1630-1930, published for 2011’s Dorchester Descendants Celebration has won First Place in the New England Museum Association Publications Competition for books costing over $10.  You can buy a copy by sending a check for $25 to DHS, 195 Boston Street, 02125 or you can go to the sales shop tab on the website www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org

Today we have another view of the Gilbert Stuart School on Richmond Street.  And yes in response to questions, it was named for the artist.  We don’t have this actual post card in our possession, so we don’t know the mailing date.  Interesting that the school is identified as being in Milton – seems as if some people thought Lower Mills was totally in Milton.

In reference to yesterday’s image, Doug Wynne sent the following:

Thanks for this image, evocative of so many memories.  My mother, my three siblings and I all graduated from “the Gilbie.”  In fact, one of my mother’s teachers (Mary Lanigan) was one of mine.  My mother had her in Miss Lanigan’s first year, and I had her in her last year.  One of the strongest influences in my love for learning was Miss Grace Hickey.  All four of us Wynne kids had her for third grade, but while I was in the fourth grade (Miss Mary Welch), Miss Hickey switched to fifth grade, so I was privileged to be taught by her for a second time.  (without being held back!)  My Aunt Stella Kennedy and her family lived in the house directly behind the Village Tavern, and her front yard ended at the chain-link fence at the back of the Gilbie’s schoolyard.  Many mornings, I would leave home (18 River Street) early and my aunt would feed me a second breakfast, then hold up the bottom of the fence so I could slip under when the bell rang.  I can still remember the names of at least ten of my classmates (one of whom was the Best Man at my wedding) and what they looked like, and could probably do even more if I could find my fifth or sixth grade class picture.  I guess early imprints truly last a lifetime.  Thanks again for the picture.

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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. 1800

The Gilbert Stuart School at 27 Richmond Street stood where the Lower Mills branch of the Boston Public Library is located today.  The school building was constructed in 1896 and closed in 1975.

Postcard. Caption on front: Gilbert Stuart School, Dorchester Lower Mills, Mass.  2335 Published by G. W. Gragg.  Postmarked June 17, 1907, Dorchester Centre Station with one-cent stamp.  On verso: N.E. Paper & Stationery Co. Mfrs, Ayer, Mass.

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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. 1799

Illustration of the birthplace house of Edward Everett at the corner of Columbia Road and Boston Street.  Published in Appleton’s Journal, May 31, 1873.

You may need to zoom in to see the picture at its best.

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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. 1798

Today we have a stereoview of a scene at Savin Hill – note that the picture itself says “Savern Hill.”  Stereoview cards were placed in a holder with lenses, so that when the viewer looked through them, the pictures would merge, producing a 3-d effect.

The house is the 1855 Daniel Denny House at 17 Playstead Road.

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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. 1797

It seems that the blurring of the boundary lines between Dorchester and the rest of Boston began as early as the 19^th century.  Today we have a photograph of Miss Ryan at the Retreat for the Insane, Dorchester, Mass., March 5, 1889.  [can’t tell if she was on the staff or one of the patients]

Apparently the Retreat for the Insane was the beginnings of the Boston State Hospital at 591 Morton Street.  The problem is that that side of Harvard Street was West Roxbury and not Dorchester (and not Mattapan which was part of Dorchester).

Even The Annual Report of the City Auditor, May  1888 – April 1889. Boston, 1889 identifies its location as Dorchester:

Retreat for Insane, Dorchester

The site purchased by the City for a Home for the Poor contains about 50 acres, and is bounded on the easterly side by Back Street, on the southerly side by Morton Street, on the westerly side by Canterbury Street, and on the northerly side by Austin Terrace, so called, and is now occupied as a retreat for chronic and mild cases of insane persons transferred from Boston Lunatic Hospital.  On this estate are a house, barn with silo of a capacity of 325 tons, ice-houses and sheds.

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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. 1796

Another photo from Bob Rugo possibly shows the Henry Crane stable that stood at 1167 Washington Street prior to 1890 in the same spot as the building we saw in yesterday’s illustration. 

Looks as if the driver in the photo is all ready for the Super Dorchester Tour.

Super Dorchester Trolley Tour – Sunday June 24

Begins at 12 noon sharp and will take about 2 ½ hours

A box lunch will be provided on the trolley

$35 per person – this is not a fundraiser, just covering the cost of the trolleys and lunch

Meet at 195 Boston Street before noon 

Join us for a guided trolley tour from the north to the south, winding our way from the Dorchester Historical Society, through Upham’s Corner, Jones Hill, Savin Hill, Meetinghouse Hill, Field’s Corner, Harrison Square-Clam Point, Melville Avenue-Wellesley Park, Codman Square, Ashmont Hill, Ashmont-Adams, Adams Corner, Lower Mills, Port Norfolk and back to the Dorchester Historical Society.

For Tickets: go to www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org or call Earl Taylor 617 293-3052 or email him at ERMMWWT@aol.com

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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