Dorchester Illustration 2600  Daloz Cleaners

Posted on January 15, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2600  Daloz Cleaners

Carole Mooney has provided the content for today’s message.

The advertising card in the illustration has a tiny chain attached on the back above the figure’s nose and below the chin which can be shaped into a smile, grimace or other configuration. 

The card was printed in the mid 20th century by the L.H. Daloz Co, Inc., Cleanser & Textile Consultants, which was located at 10 Humphreys Street in Dorchester, a building now occupied by an artists’ cooperative.

Several creative advertising promotions are included in a recent large donation of the firm’s records and related items by Daloz family members. A booklet printed in September 1947 titled, “Another Brief Historical Sketch of Medieval Cleaning,” describes how early traders travelled through Spain and later France with their dyeing and cleaning equipment. According to another flier, the “knowledge, experience and care necessary to the operation of a successful dyeing department have been accumulated through four generations of the Daloz family.”

Daloz could dye everything from the most delicate laces to rugs weighing a ton or more, according to their advertising. Services included the cleaning, repairing or mothproofing of items such as curtains, tapestries, blankets, draperies, clothing and laces. The firm distributed fliers on the storage of fabrics, rug cleaning, moth proofing and the history of hats.

These records provide a window into the growth and operation of a successful Dorchester business in the 20th century. Volunteers at the Dorchester Historical Society not only enter new acquisitions into an electronic data base but are also working through the archives to make the entire DHS collection available electronically.

More information about Daloz and photographs are available at dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org under “blog” Dorchester Illustration 2526 posted on Aug. 15, 2021 and also at www.dorchesteratheneum.org by using the search function (magnifying glass) to search for the word daloz.

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Dorchester Illustration 2599 The Hundred Steps

Posted on January 8, 2023 by earltaylor

The stairway that leads from Hancock Street to Downer Avenue on Jones Hill contain more that 100 steps.  The concrete stairway replaced a wooden stairway, pictured as the lower image in today’s illustration.  The photograph of the wooden stairway was taken between 1918 and 1926.

In 1936, Jack Frost described the steps in the Boston Herald:

The Longest Wooden Stairway in Boston

The fatigue inspiring stairway shown in the sketch connects Hancock Street and Downer Avenue in Dorchester on Jones Hill.  There are more than a hundred steps and thirteen landings.  The granite wall shown in the foreground was built by the PWA.  The three family houses are common to the hill.  The building part way up the steps is a dance hall, well known in Dorchester.  After the city had been scoured pretty thoroughly, these Jones Hill steps were the longest wooden ones found—and wooden steps are not as abundant today as they once were.

The dance hall mentioned in Jack Frost’s description was the Jacqueminot Bungalow at 136 Hancock Street, apparently legally part of 134 Hancock Street (the three-decker in the photo).  In 1922, the building department reported the capacity of the function hall as 223.

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Dorchester Illustration 2598 Franklin Park Zoo

Posted on January 1, 2023 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2598 Franklin Park Zoo

Although Franklin Park is technically on the edge of Dorchester and not part of Dorchester’s historical territory, the park feels as if it is home.

Franklin Park Zoo comprises 72 acres within Franklin Park.  When Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park, he included the idea for a future zoological garden, intended to be a naturalistic area for native animals.  However, when the zoo was opened in 1912, it included many exotic animals in addition to ative species.  The zoo has evolved over the years and is now accredited by the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums.

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Dorchester Illustration 2597 Fields Corner Municipal Building

Posted on December 18, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2597 Fields Corner Municipal Building

From the National Register nomination::

Visible from the Fields Corner intersection, looking northwestward along Adams Street is the architecturally significant, High Victorian Gothic Municipal Building at 1 Arcadia Street and 193 Adams Street. This 3.5 story H-shaped building is constructed of red brick with granite trimmings, its roof line characterized by a series of steeply pitched gables. Built as Police Station #1 ca. 1875, this building is one of the most important landmark buildings in the area.

Additionally, the building is an example of the work of Boston’s first City Architect, George A. Clough, and is significant for its role in community development. Although the building permits and records no longer exist for the Municipal Building, it is generally thought that Clough (l843-ca. 1916) – who began designing schools for the City in 1872 and became the first City Architect in 1873 – is the building’s architect. Clough learned drafting from his father, who was a Maine shipbuilder, and studied under George Snell of the Boston firm of Snell & Gregerson. He opened his own firm in 1869.

Clough’s most prominent buildings are the Suffolk County Courthouse in Pemberton Square 1888-89) and Boston Latin and English High School (l877). He worked in a number of eclectic styles and is credited with introducing “the German system, which provides for constructing the building around open courts, thus affording ample light and ventilation to all parts of it…” Although not built around an open court as were the Courthouse and High School, the Municipal Building does provide generous 1ight and ventilation through its H-p1an and paired fenestration. Symmetry and balance — of plan, scale, and massing — also characterize most of Clough’s work. George Clough is credited with designing over 25 schools for the City of Boston, several local churches, and numerous other municipal buildings and public charitable institutions in the Boston area.

Besides being significant for its architectural merit and association with the first City Architect, the Municipal Building is important for its strong community identity and for its contribution to the civic and cultural history of Dorchester. The building was originally constructed as a replacement for the old District 11 Police Station that was located on Hancock Street. The eastern wing of the Municipal Building, facing Adams Street, housed the new police station, with jail cells (still remaining) in the basement. The rear (western) wing was designed as the Dorchester branch of the Boston Public Library, the first such branch system in the United States. The building also served for a time as a district court.

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Dorchester Illustration 2596 Charles Barnard Fox

Posted on December 11, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2596 Charles Barnard Fox

This information about Colonel Charles Barnard Fox comes from http://foresthillstrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/colonel-charles-barnard-fox.html

With the sensationalism garnered in the movie “Glory,” we reveled in the drama and impact of the Civil War however it also served to remind us of why that war was fought. The 54th Regiment, led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, was the first African American regiment formed in Massachusetts, yet few of us realize that the all black 55th Regiment was led by a Dorchester, Massachusetts resident. Charles Barnard Fox (1833-1895) was the son of the Reverend Thomas B. Fox, editor of the “Boston Transcript.” He had been born in Newburyport while his father had been minister of the Unitarian church in that town, but the family moved to Dorchester in 1845. Educated in the local schools, Fox studied, then entered the field of civil engineering. His brother, the noted architect John A. Fox, was also a civil engineer and considered the “Father of Stick Style” architecture in this country.

Fox had enlisted in the Civil War at Lyceum Hall on Dorchester’s Meeting House Hill, which was the local recruiting office. He received his commission as Second Lieutenant in the Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry; one year later he was made First Lieutenant. In 1863, he was transferred to the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, with the same rank. That same year he was made Major of the 55th Regiment, an African American regiment, being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on November 3, 1863. The 55th Regiment had been trained at Camp Meigs, and was composed of African American men who had everything at stake in the war. Fox, with his fellow officers, were well trained, and were to be commended for their service. In Fox’s obituary, it was quoted as saying that “It was abundantly shown in his long and meritorious service in the army during the civil war, and especially in his readiness to enter a branch of the service that was not regarded with favor even by many who in theory favored perfect equality between races, and which was not calculated to attract the young soldier powerfully, in comparison with the more popular and agreeable positions in white regiments. But Colonel Fox believed in the equality of the black men with the white, and whatever he believed he lived up to, and the relations which existed between him and the colored soldiers in his command were ever the most intimate and mutually regardful nature.”

Fox was reared in the Unitarian faith, and upon the family’s removal in 1845 to Dorchester, they became connected with the First Parish Church on Meeting House Hill. The minister was the Reverend Nathaniel Hall, a fierce anti-slavery opponent who expounded upon the evils of both slavery and the subjugation of blacks in the South. His sermons, many of which were published for a more general readership, were vociferous and pointed in his belief that slavery was immoral, and could only be abolished through the war. Thomas B. Fox was undoubtedly influenced by Hall, and by his own father’s opinion, which was quite often read in the daily editions of the “Boston Transcript.”

Charles Barnard Fox served in the Army of the Potomac until after the Battle of Fredericksburg, in the Siege of Charleston and in the Campaign in Florida, the Battle of Honey Hill being particularly gruesome. His record of bravery and courage was made known when he was made brevet Colonel of the 55th Regiment; he resigned his commission on June 25, 1865 at the end of the Civil War and decided to remain in the South. For three years after the war, Fox managed a cotton plantation on Sea Island off the coast of South Carolina, it was not until 1868 that he returned to Boston, becoming an inspector at the Boston Customs House. In partnership with his brother and his friends, he assisted in the establishment of Holbrook & Fox, a real estate and land auction house in Boston. It was his friend Silas Pinckney Holbrook and his brother John Andrews Fox who created the partnership. The firm of Holbrook & Fox was one of the leading firms of its kind in New England and was well respected for the development of the real estate market in the late 19th century. Fox married and built a home, designed by his architect brother, on Fuller Street in Dorchester. His connection with the development of the old farms and estates of Dorchester continued until his untimely death in 1895.

The contributions of Colonel Charles Barnard Fox in regards to the Civil War were important enough to have his convictions and personal beliefs supersede his comfort. He served his all black 55th Regiment well, and earned their respect with the title of colonel by brevet, and honor that few officers received for their service in the Civil War.

Colonel Thomas Barnard Fox is buried in the Fox Family Lot at Forest Hills Cemetery.

POSTED BY ANTHONY M. SAMMARCO

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Dorchester Illustration 2595 Archibald T. Davison, Jr.

Posted on December 4, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2595 Archibald T. Davison, Jr.

Archibald Thompson Davison (11 October 1883 – 6 February 1961) was an American musicologist, conductor, composer and music educator.

Davison lived with his parents and siblings at 394 Washington Street, Dorchester.  His father was a doctor as was one of his brothers.

Dr. Archibald T. Davison (a Dorchester native) left his position as Organist & Choirmaster at All Saints, Ashmont, to take the post of University Organist and Choirmaster at Harvard. He coached the Harvard Glee Club in the 19 teens and became its first conductor.  The Club under his direction, from 1920 to 1933, came to be regarded as the best amateur chorus in the United States.

Davison completed his studies in music at Harvard University, where he was awarded a PhD in 1908.  He is best remembered for his work as co-editor of the two volumes of The Historical Anthology of Music, along with Willi Appel.

He taught at Harvard for forty-one years

His compositions were completed early in life, and none of them are part of the standard repertoire.

His musicology writings include:

  • The Harmonic Contributions of Claude Debussy, 1908
  • Choral Conducting, 1940
  • The Technique of Choral Composition, 1945
  • The Historical Anthology of Music Volume I: Oriental, Medieval and Renaissance Music, 1949
  • The Historical Anthology of Music Volume II: Baroque, Rococo and Pre-Classical Music, 1950

For a much longer description of Davison’s life, check out his obituary in the Harvard Crimson.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1961/2/17/archibald-t-davison-faith-in-good/

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Dorchester Illustration 2594 McCreight Home Sanatarium

Posted on November 27, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2594 McCreight Home Sanatarium

In 1887, Mary B. McCreight immigrated to the United States from Ireland.  By 1902, she was renting 58 Bowdoin Avenue and running a hospital.  In 1908, she purchased the property.  Two years later, she expanded to the property next door at 56 Bowdoin Avenue and operated the two houses as a hospital.

She had capacity for taking in tuberlosis patients, but from Census records, it appears that in later years, the facility catered mostly to the elderly.  In 1910, she had a staff of five besides herself.  She had a lodger and eleven patients.  Some of her patients stayed for years.  At its peak, her business had 40 beds.

Mary died in 1948.

The houses were taken down in the mid-20th century and replaced by the multi-unit building seen in the lower half of the illustration.

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Dorchester Illustration 2593 Treasures Along the Neponset River Trail

Posted on November 20, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2593 Treasures Along the Neponset River Trail

Treasures Along the Neponset River Trail contributed by Carole Mooney

Birds and animals including eagles, hawks, heron, ducks, geese, crows, turkeys, deer and rabbits attract the attention of visitors to the Neponset River Trail as well as sunsets over the waving marsh grass and colorful murals under bridges. Reminders of the area’s rich heritage serve as a backdrop for many scenes. In the photograph, ducks and a heron relax on a strip of granite in the river which reflects the Baker Chocolate Company buildings.

The falling waters of the Neponset River provided energy for the country’s first water-powered grist mill and paper mills in the Lower Mills area. Buildings constructed by the Walter Baker Company from 1868 and 1947 border both sides of the river. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, the brick buildings reflect styles from the Second Empire, Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival and Utilitarian Modern.

In 1846, the 3 1/4 mile Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad was built between Port Norfolk and present day Mattapan Square. In 1899, the recently established Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) acquired 232 acres for the Neponset River Marshes Reservation. In 1990 the rails were removed from the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railway and two years later the MDC acquired the right-of-way to link the former drive-in and dump site parkland in Dorchester Bay with the Neponset marshes. In 2003, 2.4 miles of the Lower Neponset River Trail opened.

Along the trail, outcroppings of conglomerate contain pebbles of older rock that became rounded as they tumbled along the river bed. Because the small andesite pebbles in the compressed silt resembled  an old fashioned fruit filled pudding, they were nicknamed Roxbury Puddingstone which became the Massachusetts State Rock in 1983. Found only in the Boston basin, Roxbury Puddingstone has been along the trail for millions of years. Poet Oliver Wendell Holmes described the children of giants who didn’t like their pudding creating the rocks: 

“They flung it over the Roxbury Hills,

They flung it over the plain,

And all over Milton and Dorchester too

Great lumps of pudding the giants threw;”

At the eastern end of the trail, lines of pilings which once supported the wharf and dock for the A.T. Stearns Lumber Company rise out of the river. Stearns operated here from 1847 well into the 1900’s with two counting rooms, a lumber building, a planing mill, a dry-house, a molding room, a block of five tenements, two stables and a large shed. The Senator Joseph Finnegan Park now occupies this space. Moldings, columns, windows, doors and other architectural features manufactured here are still part of the fabric of older Dorchester homes.

The trail is easily accessible by public transportation from the red line’s Ashmont station. The Mattapan High Speed Trolley’s stops along the Neponset Trail include Butler, Milton and Central Avenue.

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Dorchester Illustration 2592 Historic Grave Markers Restored

Posted on November 13, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2592 Historic Grave Markers Restored

Historic Grave Markers Restored

The darkened angel in this photograph is now gleaming white as she reaches toward the Neponset River near the Southeast corner of Cedar Grove Cemetery {CGC}. Moss, mold and lichen grow on older headstones causing deterioration and rendering inscriptions illegible, but a biological cleaner, water and a soft brush remove this growth while, with time, rain and sunshine whiten the stones. The left headstone in the photograph had been completely cleaned while the center monument was in process and the headstone on the right was still covered with growth. Most stones in this lot have now been cleaned.

“My Husband” is carved in the top triangle of the monument, and the following written below: “Walter R. Meins/died April 13, 1876/Aged 57 years. Jane Cooper/His beloved wife/1828-1902. Alice Cooper/ Devoted sister/1830-1904.” Also buried in the Meins lot are Attorney George E. Curry and Clara Neal Curry who resided at 51 Port Norfolk Street and Hannah Emery Neal, Charles E. Neal and James Neal of 49 Port Norfolk Street. James Neal was a manager at the Putnam Nail Factory on Ericsson Street in Port Norfolk. 

Overlooking the Neponset River, CGC is a garden cemetery with winding paths, towering trees, hills, rock outcroppings, a reflection pool, waterfalls, greenhouses and picturesque chapel and office buildings. It is the only cemetery in the United States with a trolley running through it, according to Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  Celebrated Dorchester architect Luther Briggs designed CGC in the late nineteenth century; he also designed the layout of one of the first planned suburb communities known as Port Norfolk and was the architect for many impressive homes in Port Norfolk and on Carruth’s Hill, Pope’s Hill and Ashmont Hill. 

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Dorchester Illustration 2591 Arch for Jay’s Treaty

Posted on November 6, 2022 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration 2591 Arch for Jay’s Treaty

Today’s illustration is a drawing of the arch erected at Lower Mills in 1798.

The late Rev. Daniel Dunn was pastor of Saint Margaret’s Church and a past president of the Dorchester Historical Society. He wrote an article in 1973, published in the Dorchester Reporter on June 4, 2015, in which he mentioned the arch erected at Lower Mills in 1798.

“Proceeding to the official starting point, the cars will cross the Neponset River at the spot where the Federal Triumphal Arch was erected in 1798, to commemorate the ratification of Jay’s Treaty. In letters of gold, the arch proclaimed the sentiments of the citizens, ‘We unite in defense of our country and its laws – 1798.’  On August 9 of that year, President John Adams, who was en route from Washington to his home in Quincy was escorted through the arch by the Boston Cavalry. The wind storm in 1815 destroyed the arch.

The 1859 History of the Town of Dorchester mentions the arch, and that is likely one of the sources used by Rev. Dunn.  Another was likely the 1896 publication, Major John Lillie. 1755-1801. The Lillie Family of Boston. 1663-1896. By Edward Lillie Pierce.

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