Order a house history for a house in Dorchester or Mattapan. Check it out on the house history page on the Dorchester Historical Society website.
We seldom see paper matchbooks anymore. Over the years some of Dorchester’s businesses and other organizations commissioned matchbooks with eye-catching graphic designs. Here are a few.
Winter Garden Skating Club. The club members skated at the Winter Garden Rollerway at 725 Gallivan Boulevard (approximately in the parking lot of the shopping strip where Staples is located on Gallivan Boulevard).
McDonough & Barrett Café, 291 Adams Street (corner of Adams Street and Park Street opposite the former Lucky Strike bowling alley).
Altshuler’s, 1485 Dorchester Avenue (corner of Dorchester Avenue and Faulkner Street in Fields Corner).
Louis Beauty Salon, 598 Columbia Road (opposite the Old Dorchester North Cemetery).
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Today’s illustration includes a photograph of 101 Maxwell Street from the late nineteenth century. The man at the gate is Walter Lansil. Walter and his brother Wilbur were artists. Walter’s portrait photo appears above Wilbur’s. The modern photo of the house is from Google Street View. The house is located across from the former Frank V. Thompson School, now the Boston International High School.
The vintage photograph shows that the house had an outbuilding, which disappeared from the atlases between 1918 and 1933. Walter Franklin Lansil was an American painter. Born in Bangor, Maine, he first studied under Jeremiah Pearson Hardy, then moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1872 with his younger brother and fellow painter Wilbur Lansil (1855-1897). In 1888 the brothers sailed to Europe, where Lansil studied at the Académie Julian in Paris and became enchanted with Venice, a city he would paint for the rest of his life. By 1891 the brothers had returned to Boston, and began holding joint exhibits at their studio in Dorchester. Walter Lansil was a member of theBoston Art Club and The Society of Sons of the Revolution. Although the New York Times called him in 1897 “the celebrated Venetian painter”, he also painted marine scenes, battles, and portraits. In 1914 he published a memoir entitled A Trip to Venice. Wilbur H. Lansil is best known for his landscapes and paintings of cattle.
Many of you are waking up to the task of dealing with the snow from yesterday’s storm. Today’s photo shows snow shovels in the collection of the Dorchester Historical Society. They are displayed in the barn, which has a large collection of agricultural implements owned by the Clapp family.
The other photo is from 1920, when a blizzard dumped snow on New England. The fire station at Peabody Square is visible in the middle of the photo behind the trolley car.
Think how lucky we are to have light-weight snow shovels, not to mention snow blowers.
Today’s illustration shows two views of the former Hendrie’s Restaurant, which was located on Talbot Avenue near Blue Hill Avenue. The section of Talbot Avenue from Blue Hill Avenue to Codman Square was laid out in 1888. The building was probably constructed soon after but definitely by the time the Hendrie brothers purchased the property in 1891. The image on the bottom shows a remodeled exterior with a bumped-out first floor and enlargement of the gabled dormer on the right to present a whole new look. The remodeling may have taken place after a fire in 1900.
Hendries Restaurant was located at 22-30 Talbot Avenue across from Franklin Field. It was operated by Joseph A. Hendrie and Robert W. Hendrie. The brothers were born in Scotland and lived at 225 Harvard Avenue when they started their business in 1885. They bought the property on Talbot Avenue in 1891. By 1900, Joseph had moved into the building on Talbot Avenue, while Robert and his family stayed at 225 Harvard Avenue.
Hendries was known for its ice cream. It may have been the company that was purchased by Eliot Creamery in 1930 whose manufacturing facility was in Milton, Massachusetts. Various Hendries Ice Cream signs have the phrase “since 1885,” and that is when Joseph and Robert began their company.
“The Casino at Hendries. “The Casino” at Hendrie’s opened brilliantly Tuesday evening with a large assembly of the Harvard street residents, nearly all the families in this part of Dorchester having some representative, sixty families having accepted the invitation to be present during the season. Tuesday evening the opening night was under the supervision of Mrs. James A. Final and Mrs. Charles A. Young, and consisted of a musicale under the direction of Mrs. Martha Dana Shepard, the well known and popular Boston pianist. The programme rendered was an attractive one, and consisted of a piano duet, Priest’s Mardi from Mendelssohu,by Mrs. Shepard, and her sister Mrs. Searing of Denver, Colorado; tenor solo, “0 Fair and sweet and holy,” Cantor, by Mr. John D. Shepard, son of Mrs. Martha Dana Shepard: piano solo, Scherzo, Bargiel, by Mrs. Searing: duets, ..No Furnace, no Fire,” and “Musical Dialogue” by Miss Goddard and Mr. Sircom: piano solo, Tarantelle, Whitney, by Mrs. Shepard: song, “Proposal” &Brackett, by Mr. John Shepard, song, “Sevilles Grove” by Miss Goddard and solo by Mr. Sircom.
Miss Goddard was in fine voice, and sang her difficult selections with the greatest ease and power. Mr. Sircom was as pleasing as he always is, and his voice blended with Miss Goddard’s in charming melody. Mrs. Shephard played as only she can play, as all who have had the pleasure of hearing her can testify, and her sister Mrs. Searing upholds the reputation of her more widely known sister. Mr. Shepard sang with ease and grace and pleased all his hearers. Mrs. Shepard and Mr. Frank Gilman were the accompanists.
Tables were placed in various corners of the hall where those who were so disposed could indulge in a social game of cards. After the entertainment, dancing was enjoyed by some of the young people, and others repaired to the hall below to refresh themselves with Hendrie’s excellent creams and ices.
The program for Tuesday the 17th, consists of a “Library Party” and will be under the direction of Mrs. J. Jacobs and Mrs. 11. Orcutt.” The Dorchester Beacon, July 14, 1894
The Boston Evening Transcript reported on December 24, 1900 that a fire occurred and nearly destroyed the establishment of Joseph A. Hendrie and his brother at 26 Talbot Avenue. The value of the damage was estimated to be $2,000.
“The Summer Casio parties that were so popular a few years ago at Hendrie’s are to be repeated this season. Subscribers will be sure to have a very enjoyable time in the new ballroom and on the roof garden. The Hendries are doing everything to make their establishment a popular one.” The Dorchester Beacon, July 19, 1902.
By 1903, the brothers had fallen behind in their payments to creditors, and an agreement was reached for extending the payment schedule. The same year, they lost some other property they owned to foreclosure. It is not clear how long the restaurant remained open.
In 2022, a Dollar Tree store occupies approximately the same location.
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Advertisement in Fire Engineering magazine, April 1949, featuring a picture of eight-year-old Thomasina De Beneditto who pulled the fire box alarm when she observed a fire in a nearby factory in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
In 1949, the Gamewell Company was located in Newton. The Gamewell fire alarm was created by George Milliken who lived at 44 Virginia Street, Dorchester, from the 1880s to 1921. Milliken was renowned for his inventions. Among them were the Milliken Repeater and the Duplex System, both of which aided greatly in the development of the telegraph system. By 1867, Milliken had risen to the position of General Manager of the Boston Office of Western Union. During his tenure, he hired and oversaw the work of a young Thomas Edison as a telegraph operator. After many years of service, Milliken left Western Union and by 1885 had become the superintendent of Electrical Development and Manufacturing, a laboratory and factory on Congress Street. Three years later, Milliken was Superintendent at the Gamewell Aux. Fire Alarm Company on Pearl Street.
Within the postcard industry in the early twentieth century, there was a subset of generic postcards with space for a town name to be printed or stamped with a rubber stamp. We have two examples today, where the sender thought the cards appropriate. The generic cards were called pennant cards, named for the shape of the space where the town name was to be entered.
Postcard. Caption on front: To This Little Town of Dorchester, There Surely is Some Style. Postmarked Feb. 9, 1917. With one-cent stamp. On verso: The picture [picture of a carnation] of pink perfection. Regd The Fairman Co., NY.
Postcard. Caption on front: I’m waiting for your mail in Dorchester. Why don’t you write? Postmarked Sep 19, 1912. With one cent stamp.
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Today’s illustration shows a four-master schooner delivering coal to the Cutter coal yard on Commercial Point. The location of the schooner in the photograph would be at the bottom of the detail from the 1898 atlas, just under the red outline of the Cutter property. The location today is where Victory Road enters Commercial Point.
Commercial Point was named for its commercial activity. In the 1830s, a syndicate pursued whaling from the Point. By 1850, three was coal and timber yard at the outer edge of the Point. Ranstead and Dearborn operated a forge on the north side. The Trask Pottery was there as well. From the later 1850s until the 870s, 1John Preston had a chocolate manufacturing facility there. In the 1850s, Spicer & Purrington had a wood and coal yard where the Cutter business was later located. In 1874 Preston owned the coal yard, and The Boston Gas Light Company owned a large portion of the land on Commercial Point. By 1884, the D. J. Cutter Company owned the coal yard and operated from that location, supplying wood and coal for heating. The coal gas holders of the gas lighting company first show up in the 1884 atlas. There have been gas holders on the Point ever since. In the twentieth century, the change was made from the storage of manufactured gas to the storage of liquefied natural gas.
Order a house history for a house in Dorchester or Mattapan. Check it out on the house history page on the Dorchester Historical Society website.
Today’s illustration is a news photograph with caption affixed to the back side:
Make Merry. Wreathed in smiles, Mary Sullivan, Dorchester (left) and Ann Weinberg, Chelsea, offer a toast to each other’s good fortune as 1940 was ushered in at the Brown Derby
Today’s illustration is one of many advertisements issued by the Walter Baker company in the period from the 1890s well into the mid-twentieth century. The company’s logo, the Baker chocolate lady, can be seen on the tavern’s sign.
Winter weather demands hot chocolate or cocoa.
Hot chocolate is just that – melted chocolate. There is a difference between cocoa and hot chocolate. Cocoa is made from cocoa powder, and hot chocolate is made from shaved chocolate bars. Usually, hot chocolate has a richer taste, because chocolate bars have more cocoa butter than cocoa powders.
To make true hot chocolate, you can buy hot chocolate mixes made of tiny chocolate shavings, or you can buy fine shaved chocolate from baking suppliers. You could shave your own from your favorite chocolate bars. You can shave chocolate bars, choosing from dark, milk, white or flavored chocolate. You can combine any of these in your own proportions.
Whether you are making hot chocolate or cocoa, slowly combine your chocolate with a small amount of milk or cream until smooth. Then fill the cup with hot water. You can use re-constituted powdered milk, almond milk, soy milk or rice milk. Sometimes only a couple of tablespoons will do. If you start with unsweetened cocoa powder or chocolate shavings, you will need to add sugar or maple syrup, honey or agave nectar. Sweeten to your taste – some recipes call for as much as two tablespoons of sugar for each tablespoon of unsweetened chocolate.
The illustration is of Elisha Brown Bird and his poster The Red Letter, 1896
Bird was an illustrator who was known for posters and bookplate designs. Winifred Porter Truesdell published a book titled E. B. Bird and His Bookplates. (1904). Truesdell wrote: “Mr. Bird is a Boston man, and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and from his experience there gained his first knowledge of light and shade, the handling of color, and systems of pen work. After his graduation he became head designer for the Boston Photogravure Company and later was with the Art Publishing Company, which he left to go into business for himself. His first large order was the embellishment of Famous Composers and Their Work.
While at the Institute he was always associated with the college publications, and has assisted in the illustration, and superintended the issue of many college annuals throughout the country. During the recent poster craze he was one of the foremost designers, his bold style being very convincing. He has also an enviable reputation as a cartoonist, being at the head of this branch of art on football matters.
His ideas in book-plate making are to get away from the old rectangular shape and general ideas taken by most designers and turn out something new both in shape and handling of the subject.”
Another private publication limited to 110 copies was put out with reproductions of his book plates, A Booklet Devoted to the Book Plates of Elisha Brown Bird. Being a Collection Printed in Photogravure. (1907)
The following is from his obituary:
April 10, 1943, The Boston Globe, Elisha B. Bird. Funeral services for Elisha B. Bird, 75, nationally known illustrator and president of the American Society of Bookplate Designers and Collectors, will be held Monday noon at the Waterman Chapel, 495 Commonwealth av., and burial will be in Forest Hills Cemetery. He died in Philadelphia yesterday.
A native of Dorchester, he attended M. I. T., and after graduation became one of the first to cartoon baseball players in action. For more than 15 years prior to his retirement in 1939, he was in the art department of the New York Times. Permanent exhibitions of his bookplates are on display in the Boston Public Library and in the libraries of Harvard and Yale.
