Dorchester Illustration no. 2492 Dorchester Yacht Club
The Dorchester Yacht Club was originally organized in 1870.
Photograph published in the Boston Herald, May 24, 1956.
Caption: “Blame it on the Tide. This is the way the Dorchester Yacht Club building looked at high tide yesterday when it was found that the new foundation was 14 inches too high for the building. The contractors had to float the barge and clubhouse back to deeper water and start jacking the building up higher. They will make a new attempt today. Building was moved across Savin Hill Bay in Boston from its old site to make room for the new Southeast Expressway.”
The Dorchester Yacht Club was formerly located on Freeport Street next to the Power House of the Boston Elevated Railway Company, a brick building that now is home to Yale Electric Company An on-ramp to the Southeast Expressway, opposite the end of Mill Street, occupies the property where the Dorchester Yacht Club was located.
The Dorchester Yacht Club building was moved to a location close to Savin Hill Beach and can be seen by Expressway traffic.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2491 This Is the Toast
Today’s illustration is a postcard sent by Mabel from the post office called Mattapan Station, August 28, 1913. The sentiment expressed is one that we want to share with all of you at the beginning of 2021.
Postcard. Postmarked at Mattapan Station. Caption on front is a poem: This the Toast that I Offer, My Dear; Good Luck to You, Always, Good Health and Good Cheer. Good Cheer Series no. 434. Postmarked Aug 28, 1913 Mattapan Station. Written by Mabel.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2490 Harold Grant Mitten
At the Dorchester Historical Society, we have been in the process of a two-year-long project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. Starting with a collection of photographs we have of WWI Dorchester residents, we have featured service men and women in a number of short biographies throughout the months. The biographies are posted in the Society’s blog.
Harold Grant Mitten
Harold Grant Mitten was born at home, at 37 Folsom Street in Dorchester, on August 2, 1895, to George A. and Nellie Frances (Weeks) Mitten. George was born in Quebec, Canada, the son of William Andrew and Catharine (Grant) Mitten. He immigrated with his family to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in the mid-1860’s. George later moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, and lived with Mitten relatives before moving to Boston with his brother where they started their business, in 1883. Nellie was born in Lowell to Serlo Bartlett and Mary E. (McLaughlin) Weeks. George and Nellie were married in Lowell in 1891. They had seven other children, all born in Boston: William in 1891, Olive in 1893, twins Ethel and Irene in 1896, Dorothy in 1902, and twins Madeline and Evelyn in 1909. Olive died in 1894. William, like Harold, served in World War I.
George was a provisions dealer, co-owning with his brother, John, the Mitten Brothers store at 1351 Washington Street in the South End. They advertised “Provisions, Poultry, Game in season, Fruits, Vegetables and Canned Goods of all descriptions … The most fastidious buyer will find meats, or other articles suited to his needs at this establishment.”
By 1898, the Mittens were living at 30 Folsom Street, which they owned. According to the 1900 census, the family employed a live-in maid, Mary Mahoney, a twenty-five-year-old recent Irish immigrant. By 1910, the Mittens had moved a short distance to 12 Chamblett Street. That June, Harold graduated from the Phillips Brooks School on Perth Street.
On June 5, 1917, Harold registered for the draft. He was 21-years-old, medium build, “tall” height (5’9”) with brown eyes and brown hair. He reported that he was employed as a machinist, working for the William Hall Company of Wollaston, Massachusetts. The William Hall Company were makers of “cutters, dies, jigs, etc.” According to their advertisement in Machinery magazine in March 1917, they had “one of the busiest cutter departments in the East … Hall makes, and hardens correctly, high-grade cutters of every description, including cutters made to your own designs.”
Harold was drafted and inducted into the army in Boston on September 8, 1917. He was initially assigned to Company D, 301st Infantry, 76th Division. Ten days later he was attached to Headquarters Company, 102nd Field Artillery, 26th Division, or Yankee Division. Almost immediately he left for France, sailing from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the USCT Finland on September 22, and arriving in Saint Nazaire on October 5. He was made a private first class on November 2 and promoted to corporal on December 6. According to family sources, he was a radio operator. His engagements included the Aisne-Marne offensive, July 18 through August 4; the Saint Mihiel offensive September 12 through 16; and the Meuse-Argonne offensive October 18 through November 11. Harold returned home in the spring of 1919, sailing on March 31 from Brest, France, on the USS Mongolia, and arriving in Boston on April 10. He was discharged at Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, on April 28, 1919.
After the war, Harold lived with his family on Chamblett Street. On October 12, 1922, he married Agnes Louise Wellbrock of 223 Boston Street, daughter of August Conrad and Elizabeth Theresa (Ahlert) Wellbrock. They were married at Holy Trinity Church in Boston by Reverend Henry J. Nelles. Harold and Agnes had four children, George A. (1925-1991), Mary Elizabeth (1925-2005), David Vincent (1930-2002), and Harold Wellbrock (1932-1944).
Various Wellbrock family members had lived at 221 and 223 Boston Street since about 1890. Harold and Agnes purchased 223 Boston Street from her family and lived there for the rest of their lives. In 1930, Agnes’s brothers Edward and Leo, and her uncle, Clemens, lived with the Mittens. Harold broadcast his 20-watt amateur radio station, W1AHH, from the home in the late 1920s.
Harold worked for the Boston Police Department for over 40 years. He was appointed to the force on December 6, 1919, shortly after the Boston Police Strike of September 1919. Early in his career he was assigned to night duty at the Fields Corner Station; in 1926 he was transferred to day duty. Two years later, he was promoted from patrolman to sergeant, and transferred from Dorchester to Charlestown. In Charlestown, Harold was the commander of a newly formed “liquor squad.” He was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to Division 4 in the South End in 1932. Harold’s police experiences sometimes made for good newspaper copy; in 1941, a story about Harold being asked to mediate a dispute over an arranged marriage was covered by the Associated Press and ran in newspapers all over the country. In April 1948, Harold was transferred to the Harbor Division. That November, he rescued a boy on Thompson Island suffering from appendicitis, rushing him to the mainland for treatment, Harold’s police boat, the William H. McShane, making “the 3 mile run in record time.” In 1953, Harold, again in command of the police boat, assisted during a three-alarm fire at 88 Commercial Wharf. Two years later, he was transferred once again, this time to the city prison. He was appointed Keeper of the Lockup on April 1, 1960. Harold retired from the Boston Police Department on November 15, 1961.
According to his family, Harold loved fixing up old bikes for the children in the Boston Street neighborhood. He owned an old black Raleigh bike that he rode around everywhere in Dorchester. And, his grandchildren would always know he was visiting when they came home from school if his bike was tied up to one of the trees in their backyard. He also had a lifelong passion for playing the violin.
Agnes died in 1972. Harold died in Boston on February 20, 1989, age 93, after a short illness. Mass was said for him at Saint Margaret’s Church, Dorchester, and he was buried at Calvary Cemetery on American Legion Highway. He had been a member of the Boston Police Relief Association.
Sources:
Family Sources; Jennifer Mitten
Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA: Ancestry.com
Family Tree; Ancestry.com
Leading Business Men of Back Bay, South End, Boston Highlands, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester. Boston, MA Mercantile Publishing Company, 1888: 61; Books.Google.com
Census Records, Federal, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, Ancestry.com
“7911 Diplomas in Boston Schools,” Boston Globe, 23 June 1910: 5; Newspapers.com
Advertisement, Machinery. March 1917, New York: Industrial Press: 165; Books.Google.Com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940. Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; FamilySearch.org
Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Ancestry.com
Lists of Outgoing & Incoming Passengers, 1917-1938, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, The National Archives at College Park, MD; Ancestry.com
LaBranche, Ernest E. An American Battery in France. Worcester, MA: Belisle Printing & Publishing Company, 1923: Archive.org
Battle Participation of the Organizations of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, Belgium, and Italy 1917-1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920; Archive.org
“Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915,” database citing Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
Amateur Radio Stations of the United States. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1928: 3; Archive.org
Record of the Police Commissioner January 1, 1921, to December 31, 1921, City of Boston, Volume 58: 1480; Archive.org
“Dorchester District,” Boston Globe, 28 July 1926: 9; Newspapers.com
“Shakeup Orders Give Police Jolt,” Boston Globe, 4 July 1928: 4; Newspapers.com
“Bunker Hill District,” Boston Globe, 3 September 1929: 10; Newspapers.com
“Bunker Hill District,” Boston Globe, 23 November 1932: 7; Newspapers.com
“New Police Division 4 Officially Opened,” Boston Globe, 27 February 1933: 5; Newspapers.com
Associated Press, “Officer Tells Gypsies Settle Fight at Home,” Fitchburg Sentinel, 26 March 1941: 2; Newspapers.com
“60 Boston Police Officers Are Transferred,” Boston Globe, 15 April 1948: 1; Newspapers.com
“Appendicitis Victim Taken From Island,” Boston Globe, 18 November 1948: 3 Newspapers.com
“Fires Menace Beach, Wharf; $150,000 Loss,” Boston Globe, 4 August 1953: 1 Newspapers.com
“Sullivan Promotes 4 Boston Officers,” Boston Globe, 15 September 1955: 3; Newspapers.com
Report of Proceedings of the City Council of Boston for the Year Commencing January 4, 1960, and Ending December 27, 1960. Boston: Administrative Services Department Printing Section, 1961: 69; Archive.org
City Record, Volume 53, Number 46, November 18, 1961, Boston, MA; 883; Archive.org
“Deaths,” Boston Globe, 10 September 1972: 73; Newspapers.com
Deaths, Boston Globe, 21 February 1989: 18; Newspapers.com
1 package (8 squares) Bakers semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped 1/2 cup marshmallow topping 1/2 cup chopped nuts* 1/4 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups sugar 2/3 cup evaporated milk
Place chocolate in a bowl with marshmallow topping, nuts, butter and vanilla, set aside.
Combine sugar and milk in 2-quart saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Keep at full rolling boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Carefully pour boiling sugar syrup over chocolate mixture and stir until chocolate is melted.
Pour into buttered 8-inch square pan.
Chill until firm, about 1 hour. Cut into squares. Makes 1 1/2 pounds or about 3 dozen pieces.
*or use 1 cup Baker’s Angel Flake coconut
Give the gift of history this holiday season:
Membership categories for the Dorchester Historical Society
Dorchester Illustration no. 2488 First Parish Church in 1743
In 1630, on the eve of the ship Mary and John sailing from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the First Parish Church congregation was formed.
After their arrival in early June of 1630, the new settlers built houses for themselves and a meeting house for worship. The first building was located near the intersection of Pleasant, Pond and Cottage Streets, and it was replaced by a new building in 1645 at the same location. This meeting house was moved by oxen to Meeting-House Hill, to a location on the east side of Winter Street, in 1670. In 1678 a new larger meeting house was built on the northwest corner of Church and Winter Streets.
In 1743 a new meeting-house was built on what is now the Town Common. The eastern entrance was about where the Soldiers Monument now stands. The building was 68 feet long, 46 feet wide, 104 feet to the top of the weathervane. This is the building pictured in today’s image.
The building was enlarged in 1795, and then replaced in 1816 in the location where the current First Parish Church now stands. The 1816 church last until 1896,when it burned and was replaced the following year by the building we know today.
At the Dorchester Historical Society, we are in the process of a year-long project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. Using a collection of photographs we have of WWI Dorchester residents, we will be featuring servicemen in a number of short biographies throughout the year. At the culmination of the project, we hope to produce an online exhibit that highlights these men and their service to our country.
Emmanuele (sometimes spelled Emanuele) Abbruzzese was born March 8, 1891. His brother Salvatore was born May 3, 1894. Both were born in Forenza, a town in the province of Potenza, Basilicata, in southern Italy. Their parents were Rocco and Maria L. (Andretta) Abbruzzese. They had at least two brothers: Antonio, born in 1885, and Domenico, born in 1888.
On June 21, 1906, Emmanuele sailed from Naples, Italy, on the White Star Line’s SS Romanic, arriving in Boston on July 4. Emmanuele, who had attended school through the seventh grade, could read and write. He carried on his person ten dollars.
Emmanuele’s passage was paid by his brother, Antonio, who had been living in the United States since 1900. Domenico was also in Boston, having arrived in 1904. In 1906, the Boston directory listed Antonio and Domenico working at 3 Stoughton Street, in Upham’s Corner, Dorchester, and living at 5 Stoughton Street. Antonio married Carmela Corbo in 1909 and they eventually had four children. Both Antonio and Domenico became naturalized American citizens in 1910.
Salvatore arrived in Boston in 1911, sailing on the SS Romanic from Naples on August 26, and arriving in Boston on September 5, 1911. Salvatore had also attended school through the seventh grade and was literate. He carried $50 and paid his own passage.
The brothers lived together from 1910 through 1912 at 99 Endicott Street in the North End. Domenico moved to Weymouth in 1912, where he married Margherta E. Corba. In 1913, Salvatore, Antonio, and Antonio’s family moved to 21 Hecla Street in Dorchester. Emmanuele went back to Italy for a year, returning to Boston in 1914 and joining the household at 21 Hecla Street.
The Abbruzzese brothers were barbers. Emmanuele and Salvatore declared this their profession when they entered the United States. All four brothers appear in the Boston directories as barbers, their life-long occupation. Domenico had a barbershop in Jackson Square, Weymouth, for over 50 years. It seems likely that Antonio was the co-proprietor of a shop near Haymarket Square, “Ciambelli and Abbruzzee.” Emmanuele and Salvatore also worked at this shop; Emmanuele from 1912 until 1914 and Salvatore from 1912 until 1917. In 1915, Emmanuele began working at a barbershop at 1238 Dorchester Avenue where he remained until 1917.
Salvatore was inducted into the Army on June 22, 1918, and sent to Camp Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts for training. Salvatore served in Company 16, 4th Battalion, 151 Depot Brigade until August 23, 1918, when he was transferred to Company L of the 56th Infantry. While at Camp Devens, on October 29, 1918, Salvatore became an American citizen. Salvatore was discharged a month later, on November 30, 1918.
“Another Large Lot of Enthusiastic Young Men Start for Camp Devens for Training” announced the headline of a Boston Globe article about the group of draftees of which Emmanuele was a member. Inducted into the Army on July 20, 1918, he was initially assigned to Company 13, 4th Training Battalion, 151st Depot Brigade. On August 21, he was transferred to a Development Battalion, or a unit which conducted “intensive training with a view to developing unfit men for duty.” Among those who would be considered unfit were “soldiers who have not sufficient knowledge of the English language to enable them properly to perform their duties.” These men would be assigned to a Development Battalion that offered combined military training and English instruction. Emmanuele was first placed in Company E, 2nd Development Battalion, then Company K, 3rd Development Battalion, both part of the 151st Depot Brigade. Emmanuele was promoted to private first class on December 14. He may have worked at the Camp Devens Base Hospital, an assignment listed on his Veterans Administration Master Index entry. In September 1918, Emmanuele was naturalized as an American citizen. He was discharged from Camp Devens on June 2, 1919, “by reason of dependent relatives.”
Boston directories list Emmanuele and Salvatore residing at 21 Hecla Street with Antonio in the early 1920s. On October 5, 1921, Salvatore married Esther Santoianni in Boston. Born in Italy, Esther lived with her parents in Dorchester and worked as a tailoress. Salvatore and Esther had one child, a daughter, Marie. For the early years of their marriage, Salvatore continued to be listed in directories as residing at 21 Hecla Street; probably he and Esther lived with Antonio and his family. In 1926, Antonio moved to 18 Agawam Street, Dorchester. The next year, Salvatore and Esther appeared at 183 Hancock Street, Dorchester. By 1930, the couple owned 102 Lake Street in Arlington, where they remained for the next ten years. Esther’s brother Anthony, a packing clerk, lived with them in 1930. By 1941, Salvatore and Esther had moved to 109 Melrose Street, Arlington. At the end of Salvatore’s life, they lived at 59 Chandler Street, Arlington.
In 1924, Emmanuele was listed in the Boston directory living at 9 Yarmouth Street in the South End. From the mid-1920s through the early 1930s, he did not appear in the Boston directory. In 1932, Emmanuele worked at Williams Beauty Salon and resided at 77 Audubon Road in Boston.
By 1934, he had moved to 77 Park Drive along the Fens.
Emmanuele married on December 27, 1934, in Weymouth. His wife, Marion (Egan) Johnson, had been married previously. At age 15, she wed an express man and had a daughter, Marjorie. After that relationship ended, Marion and Marjorie lived with Marion’s parents in South Boston. Marion worked in a department store. In 1925, she was arrested for “the larceny of $360,” stolen over six months by incorrectly entering sales into the cash register and pocketing small discrepancies. She pled guilty and agreed to “make restitution.” In 1930, she was a supervisor at a razor factory, perhaps the Gillette Company. Marion and Emmanuele had two sons, William and Frederick.
In 1935, Emmanuele and Marion lived at 128 Train Street in Dorchester, where they remained for the rest of the decade. In 1940, they moved to 578 Somerville Avenue in Somerville, which they rented for $35 a month. In 1942, on his World War II draft registration, Emmanuele reported he was self-employed, working at 26 West Street in Boston. By the 1960s, Emmanuele and Marion moved to 89 Beach Street in Green Harbor, a community in Duxbury and Marshfield. Emmanuele had retired by 1970.
Salvatore died in Arlington on January 19, 1965. A Solemn High Mass of Requiem was held for him at St. Camillus Church in Arlington and he was buried in Arlington’s Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Emmanuele died in Waltham on November 12, 1978. A funeral mass was celebrated for him at St. Bernard’s Church in West Newton and he was buried in Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield.
Sources
Passenger Lists, Naturalization Records, National Archives and Records Administration; FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com
Boston Directory, various years; Ancestry.com
World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; FamilySearch.org
“Another Large Lot of Enthusiastic Young Men Start for Camp Devens For Training,” Boston Globe, 22 July 1918: 7; Newspapers.com
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
US Veterans Administration Master Index, Military Service, NARA microfilm publication; FamilySearch.org
United States War Department. “General Orders, Number 45, May 9, 1918: Organization, functions, etc. of Development Battalions,” Extracts from General orders and bulletins, War Department, May 1918. With list of paragraphs of Army regulations and other regulations and manuals of the War Department that have been changed since January 1, 1918. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1918; Archive.org
“Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915,” State Archives, Boston; FamilySearch.org
The Annual Report of the Town of Weymouth, For the Year Ending December 31, 1934; Archive.org
“Convicted of Store Thefts,” Boston Globe, 5 June 1925: 36; Newspapers.com
1930, 1940 United States Federal Census; Ancestry.com
Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, National Archives and Records Administration; Ancestry.com
Death Notices, Boston Globe, 21 January 1965: 32; Newspapers.com
Salvatore Abbruzzese, FindAGrave.com
Death Notices, Boston Globe, 13 November 1978; Newspapers.com
At the Dorchester Historical Society, we are in the process of a year-long project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. Using a collection of photographs we have of WWI Dorchester residents, we will be featuring servicemen in a number of short biographies throughout the year. At the culmination of the project, we hope to produce an online exhibit that highlights these men and their service to our country.
William Abbey was born on June 9, 1896, in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, Ireland, to Mary (Johnson) and Patrick Abbey, a general laborer. Mary and Patrick had at least ten children, eight of whom were still alive in 1911. Among their children were: Mary Ellen, Brigid, John, Edward, Patrick, James, and Robert Aiden. William’s sister, Mary Ellen, was a teacher; his brother, John, was a domestic servant, a gardener. William’s trade was baking and at age 14 he was a baker’s apprentice. Baking became his life-long occupation.
In 1914, William immigrated to the United States, sailing from Queensland, Ireland, on the Cunard Line’s RMS Franconia. He arrived in Boston on July 1. In 1915, he lived at 10 Brewster Street in South Boston. Two years later he had moved to Dorchester and resided at 426 Seaver Street.
William enlisted in the Army at Fort Slocum in New Rochelle, New York. He joined up on March 30, 1917, before the United States declared war on Germany that April. Three days before enlisting he had begun the citizenship process, filing a declaration of intention. He was initially assigned to Company D of the 23rd Infantry. On June 1, he began serving as a cook. Five days later, he was part of a draft of men transferred to the 50th Infantry, which had just been organized in Syracuse, New York. William served in Company D. On March 4, 1918, he was made a private. About a week later, he was transferred to the 50th Infantry’s Headquarters Company. In June 1918, he was again a cook; then in September, he was again a private.
He was naturalized as an American citizen in 1918, according to the 1925 New York state census. On March 15, 1919, he was discharged from the Army.
After the war, William remained in Syracuse. On June 28, 1922, he married Margaret M. Leamy, also from Ireland. They had six children: William born in 1923; Elizabeth, known as Betty Jane, in 1924; James in 1926; Margaret in 1927; John in 1929; and Patricia 1931. By 1925, they lived at 359 Valley Drive in Syracuse. That year, William’s brother Robert lived with them. By 1935, they had moved a block away to 107 Maurice Avenue. In 1940, William was making $2,160 a year. Two year later he reported on his World War II draft registration that he worked for the T. B. Kelley Baking Company of 507 Rich Street, Syracuse, a wholesale bakery which produced bread and desserts for sale around Onondaga County. A fellow baker lodged with the family in 1940: John O’Grady, born in Ireland and most recently of Amarillo, Texas. During the Second World War, sons William junior and James served in the Navy; John served in the Navy during the Korean War. At the end of their lives William and Margaret lived at 149 Maxwell Avenue, Syracuse.
Not much is documented about William’s life after 1940. His wife, Margaret,died on December 1, 1974. William died in Syracuse on September 14, 1978.
Boston, MA and Syracuse, NY, directories, various years; Ancestry.com
1901, 1911 Census of Ireland, The National Archives of Ireland; census.nationalarchives.ie
Declaration, Naturalization Records. National Archives at Boston, Waltham, Massachusetts; Ancestry.com
Military, Compiled Service Records. World War I. Carded Records. Records of the Military Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, Massachusetts National Guard.
“50th Infantry Regiment (United States),” Wikipedia.org. Last updated 28 April 2020.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2486 View on Blue Hill Avenue
The images is of an agricultural scene “View on Blue Hill Avenue” drawn by O. D. Greene in 1891.
After Dorchester’s annexation to Boston, residential development encroached on agricultural land year after year. This illustration represents a way of life that would soon be only a memory.
The Boston Directory for 1891 has an entry for Oliver D. Greene, salesman, 121 South Street, h. 1 Hanes Pk. By 1900 his entry is Oliver D. Greene (Green & Haley), 19 Howard, Rox. rms. 41 Wheatland Av. It appears that he was an amateur artist. His entry in the 1900 Census listed his age as 39 and his occupation was roofer. He was living as a roomer at Wheatland Avenue. By 1910 he was living at 33 Aspinwall Road with his wife Lillian and her mother. His occupation was still roofing.
Dorchester Illustration no. 2485 Rev. Nathaniel Hall
Today’s illustration shows Rev. Nathaniel Hall and his house at the corner of Columbia Road and Sayward Street, approximately 468 Columbia Road.
Nathaniel Hall was the minister of the First Parish Church in Dorchester from 1835 until his death in 1875. He was born in Medford, Massachusetts, on August 13, 1805, and died in Dorchester on October 21, 1875. He became a clerk in a store in Boston, and subsequently was secretary in an insurance office. He graduated from the Harvard divinity school in 1834, and in the following year became colleague pastor with Dr. Thaddeus Mason Harris of the 1st Unitarian parish. Dorchester, Massachusetts. He became sole pastor in 1836, and held this post until his death. He was an earnest philanthropist and abolitionist. About forty of his sermons were published, including several on slavery printed between 1850 and 1860.
The following statement comes from Gordon College’s essays online
“No other pulpit in America,” the Christian Register would one day declare about Hall’s ministry, “was more earnestly or powerfully outspoken in behalf of human freedom in the most critical day of the anti-slavery struggle.”
Before the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Boston brought electric lighting, there was the Dorchester Gas Light Company.
The company was incorporated in 1854. “Gideon Beck, Alexander Pope, and Charles C. Harrington, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the Dorchester Gas Light Company, for the purpose of manufacturing and selling gas in the town of Dorchester. … Said corporation, with the consent of the selectmen of the town of Dorchester, shall have the power and authority to open the ground in any part of the streets, lanes, and highways, in said, for the purpose of sinking and repairing such pipes and conductors as it may be necessary. …”
In 1905 the Company was merged with others to form the Boston Consolidated Gas Company, which was a utility subsidiary of Massachusetts Gas Companies. In 1939 Massachusetts Gas Companies was succeeded by Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates. In later years other companies were merged with Boston Consolidated. In 1955 the name of the company became Boston Gas Company. By 1980 Boston Gas Company was the largest gas utility in New England. The company became part Keyspan and is now part of National Grid.
The 1874 atlas shows a large facility owned by the Dorchester Gas Light Company at Freeport Street just east of the intersection with Dorchester Avenue on the shore side of Freeport Street.
There is also a gasometer near Franklin Court and Clapp Street and another gasometer at Adams Village (now part of the Eire Pub).
The maps from 1874 through 1904 show that The Boston Gas Light Company owned the facilities at Commercial Point.
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