Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration 2399 Simpson Refrigerator

Posted on April 7, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2399 Simpson Refrigerator

Simpson Refrigerator

We have recently received photographs of a Simpson Refrigerator made here in Dorchester. Simpson did not last as long as the Eddy refrigerator company that was located near Field’s Corner. Simpson was one of a number of manufacturing establishments in Lower Mills at the end of the 19th century. Both Simpson and Eddy manufactured ice boxes and ice chests.

The Simpson Refrigerator Company was located on the north side of Sanford Street, Dorchester (Boston),Massachusetts, in the Lower Mills section. The factory would have been located approximately at 53-57 Sanford Street.

The 1879 Boston Directory identifies a Henry B. Simpson as a carpenter living on Granger Street in the Harrison Square section of Dorchester. In 1880 the Directory has an entry for Henry B. Simpson, refrigerator manufacturer at Codman Street, near Dorchester Avenue, Lower Mills, living in a house nearby.

The 1883 Boston Directory locates Simpson, refrigerator manufactory on Sandford [sic] Street, Lower Mills. Peter and Mary Munier sold a parcel of 21,900 square feet to Henry B. Simpson on March 24, 1883, Suffolk Registry of Deeds, Book 1591, Page 369, providing the description: ” a certain lot or parcel of land in Ward 24 in said Boston, with the steam mill and machinery or fixtures therein, known as the Norcross Mill.” City directories indicate that Simpson lived at 38 Sanford Street.

In 1886 Simpson took on a partner, Sumner B. Cole, and their firm continued until 1892, when Cole relinquished his interest. Simpson gave a mortgage to Almon L. Smith in 1893. Henry purchased a lot on Oakridge Street in 1895, and city directories thereafter give this as his home address.

On November 2, 1896 Henry sold the property to the Waterman Refrigerator Company, a company formed in the state of Maine. It appears that Waterman was not run successfully. The mortgage to Smith was foreclosed in 1899.

The factory is pictured on company stationery.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dorchester, ice chest, icebox, Lower Mills, Sanford Street, Simpson Refrigerator, Uncategorized | Comments Off

April 14, 2019 Organizing Your Family History

Posted on March 31, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Historical Society, 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125

Sunday, April 14, 2019, 2 pm

Curious to discover more about your family history but don’t know where to begin? Perhaps you are looking for suggestions on how to organize the collection of photographs and records you have acquired from working on your family tree. Using examples from research she conducted on four generations of Dorchester’s Clapp family, speaker Eileen Curley Pironti will provide tips on how to make your family history research an interesting and rewarding experience.

Eileen is a genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. She and her husband, Paul, have been caretakers at the William Clapp House since 2015.

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Dorchester Illustration 2398 Henry Joseph Gardner

Posted on March 31, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2398 Henry Joseph Gardner

Hannah Clap married Henry Gardner, of Stow, Massachusetts, in 1778. Henry had been treasurer of Massachusetts, having been appointed by the Sons of Liberty to that office as early as 1774. Dorchester was one of the towns that voted to pay its tax to Mr. Gardner instead of to the treasurer appointed by the Crown. They had two sons, Henry and Joseph, both doctors of medicine. Henry moved to a house at the base of Jones Hill at the corner of Pleasant Street and Sawyer Avenue. His son Henry Joseph Gardner was elected a member of the Boston Common Council, 1850, ’51, ’52 and ’53, and in ’52 and ’53 was president of that body. He was a member of the House of Representatives, 1851 and ’52, and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1853. Henry, the son, purchased the old Trull estate on Hancock Street on the side of Jones Hill in 1853.

In 1854 Henry Joseph Gardner was elected Governor of Massachusetts on the ticket of the Know Nothing party.

The Commonwealth was faced with the challenges of social and economic changes due to the recent arrival of huge numbers of Catholic immigrants. Although semi-secretive, the Know Nothing party attracted large numbers of supporters who feared foreign influence in the United States and Roman Catholic domination. The party was definitely anti-immigrant. However Gardner’s election also depended on votes of antislavery Free Soilers. Possibly as many as 78% of Massachusetts Free Soilers voted for the Know Nothing ticket in 1854. Part of the party’s success in the election was a high rate of voters who stayed away from the polls, and part of the success was a category of new voters attracted by the attitudes of bigotry and prejudice. In following years many Free Soilers migrated to the growing Republican party.

The general election of November 6, 1855, did not give Gardner an absolute majority; the election was referred to the Senate in accordance with state law; and Gardner was reelected. He won a third term outright in the general election of November 4, 1856.

He may not have been the worst of the bunch. During his terms, legislation was enacted recognizing the property rights of married women and the abolition of imprisonment for debt. Sources give him positive reviews for other pieces of legislation enacted during his terms. “During his administration as chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, much healthy and long needed legislation was accomplished, and many laws enacted which time and experience prove were founded on right and reason, and which remain on the statute-books to-day—notably the homestead act, the alien pauper act, an act to regulate the appropriation of school money, an act regulating the membership of the General Court, and acts relating to the curtailment of the powers of the governor, reform in special election laws, and the “reading and writing” clause in the naturalization laws.”

The popularity of the nativist movement waned, and Gardner was defeated in the election of 1857 by a Republican anti-slavery candidate. Still the Know Nothings wielded some influence. Gardner had supported a constitutional amendment that a foreign-born male, even after obtaining final citizenship papers should have to wait 21 years to vote. The 1856 legislature cut this to 14 years. The measure failed to get the support of two successive legislatures, but in 1858 a limit of two years passed and in 1859 passed again. In the state-wide referendum on the amendment, the Know Nothing adherents voted in great numbers, while many other voters stayed away. The referendum passed. When the Republican party became more popular, the amendment was repealed in the 1860s.

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The Dorchester Historical Society’s historic houses are open on the third Sunday of each month (except April this year, when it is the 2nd Sunday) from 11 am to 4 pm. James Blake House, 735 Columbia Road (1661); Lemuel Clap House, 199 Boston Street (1712 and remodeled 1765); William Clap House, 195 Boston Street (1806).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anti-immigrant, Dorchester, Henry Joseph Gardner, Know Nothing Party, nativist, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration 2397 Prendergast Preventorium

Posted on March 24, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2397 Prendergast Preventorium

The Public Health Museum in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, reminds us that March 24 is TB day.

On March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB). At that time, TB killed one out of every seven people living in the United States and Europe. Dr. Koch’s discovery was the most important step taken toward the control and elimination of this deadly disease. A century later, March 24 was designated World TB Day: a day to educate the public about the impact of TB around the world.

Until TB is eliminated, World TB Day won’t be a celebration. But it is a valuable opportunity to educate the public about the devastation TB can spread and how it can be stopped.

A theory emerged in the later 1800s that fresh mountain air and sunshine were helpful in controlling the disease. It was only in the 1950s that it was discovered that a cocktail of drugs could cure the disease in 80 to 90 percent of cases. Newer drugs have helped improve the rate and shortened the treatment period to 6 months.

Our local history includes the establishment of the Prendergast Preventorium at 1000 Harvard Street, Mattapan and other camps, notably at the Boston Consumptives Hospital at 249 River Street.

Prendergast Preventorium.

John and Helen O’Brien were two of the happy youngsters who passed yesterday it the open air at the Mattapan Prendergast Camp. Nature’s remedies, in adult doses, are the sole prescriptions.

Excerpts from The Boston Globe, August 19, 1921

A children’s party for 50 was held yesterday at the Prendergast Camp in the woods off Harvard St., Mattapan. Boston Tuberculosis Association was the host and primarily the party was a demonstration to bring public attention to the preventorium planned to be established at the camp as soon as the association can finance it. Dr. John B. Hawes, president of the association, says that Boston is 10 years behind the times because it has no preventorium. Since Boston has been the pioneer in every progressive project of tuberculosis care, cure and prevention, it is distinctly up to Boston to treat the situation properly.

Children from various parts of the city who are in homes where there are adult cases of consumption or who already show signs of a tuberculosis infection were the guests for the all day picnic.

Autos donated by various local motor companies transported the children to camp. Games and the facilities the camp affords for fun were enjoyed. On little girl discovered an excellent sliding place on the bulkhead from the cellar.

At noon a sumptuous repast was handed out. In the afternoon before they journeyed home they were each given a pint bottle of milk and a straw to convey the contents to the proper place. Another feature was a milk fairy, who entertained the children with stories about milk with moral lessons. Another feature was a tooth brush drill. Each child was given a tooth brush and then they all showed how much system they knew about “eight strokes up, down, etc.” There was a cracker-eating contest and then whistling, or–in case of girls–singing, to prove the crumbs were all “down.”

Prendergast Camp was begun 10 years ago as a lodging place for working men who were not free enough from consumption to sleep in their city homes. Later it developed into quarters for men on the waiting list for State sanatoria. Now that use is over and it is planned to use the camp as a preventorium for children.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged consumption, Dorchester, Mattapan, Prendergast Preventorium, tuberculosis, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Open Houses in April moved to the 2nd Sunday of the month

Posted on March 17, 2019 by earltaylor

Due to Easter falling on the third Sunday, our historic houses will be open on the second Sunday in April.

William Clapp House, 195 Boston Street; Lemuel Clap House, 199 Boston Street; James Blake House, 735 Columbia Road. 11 am to 4 pm

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Dorchester Illustration 2396 Blue Hill Bank and Blue Hill National Bank

Posted on March 17, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2396 Blue Hill Bank and Blue Hill National Bank

Blue Hill Bank and Blue Hill National Bank of Dorchester

The Dorchester and Milton Bank opened in 1832. In 1850 it suffered a robbery, losing $32,000 and the printing plates for their bank notes. In 1851 the name of the bank was changed to Blue Hill Bank. The bank obtained a national charter on October 3, 1864, with the new name of Blue Hill National Bank of Dorchester.

In 1872, the Bank moved to the brick building shown in today’s illustration, located at the corner of Washington and Richmond Streets, a block north of the early bank building. E.J. Bispham became president and S.J. Willis cashier in 1876. The name was changed to The Blue Hill National Bank of Milton in 1882, when it was moved to Associates Building, Milton . That year, the building at the corner of Richmond Street was sold to the City of Boston. Station 11 of the Police Department was for a long while located here, and the Lower Mills branch of the Boston Public Library operated from this building for many years.

The building is now a private residence.

The check in the illustration was written November 4, 1876, and was signed by George Vose, the treasurer. A 2-cent Internal Revenue stamp was affixed to the upper right corner. During the Civil War the United States created the Internal Revenue Service to raise money for war expenses. The Internal Revenue Service imposed taxes on mortgages, bonds, contracts, bank checks and other documents. The initial bank check tax was instituted in 1816 and required a 2-cent tax on each bank check above the amount of $20.

During the Civil War years the National Banking Acts included provisions to limit the issuance of banknotes to federally-chartered banks. The U.S. Treasury began to issue circulating notes, and by the 1880s the Treasury issued large quantities of paper currency, eventually eliminating the use of state banknotes and national banknotes in the period from 1870 to 1900.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Blue Hill Bank, Blue Hill National Bank, Dorchester, Lower Mills, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Dorchester Illustration 2395 Wales House

Posted on March 10, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2395 Wales House

The Wales house is another house lost to history. The popularity of last week’s interior photos of the Torrey House has led us to find other interior photos.

The Wales House was located 93 Olney Street and was built at least by 1831. It appears on the 1831 map of Dorchester. The house appeared on plate 12 of the 1933 atlas, so it was taken down some time after that date. The photographs are scans from glass negatives of about 1900, provided by Philip Wales.

Nathaniel and Susan Wales came to Dorchester in 1635 on the same ship as the Rev. Richard Mather. There is a note in a biographical sketch of Benjamin Read Wales that Timothy Wales, one of the sons of Nathaniel and Susan found his second wife so disagreeable that he fitted up a cave in the woods, in which he lived many years. In the 19th century William Wales operated a nursery business, providing ornamental shrubbery, flowers and plants. S. Walter Wales was a president of the Dorchester Gentlemen’s Driving Club about 1900 and had a stable business at Grove Hall.

The Dorchester Historical Society’s historic houses are open on the third Sunday of each month from 11 am to 4 pm. Exception: in April the houses will be open on the 2nd Sunday. James Blake House, 735 Columbia Road (1661); Lemuel Clap House, 199 Boston Street (1712 and remodeled 1765); William Clap House, 195 Boston Street (1806).

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Dorchester Illustration 2394 Torrey House

Posted on March 3, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2394 Torrey House

One of the spectacular houses built in Dorchester was the Torrey House at the corner of Washington Street and Melville Avenue. Today’s illustration shows the interiors of two rooms from the late 19th century. When the building was demolished in the late 1920s or very early 1930s, the 67,000 square-foot lot was subdivided and a gas station took the small piece at the corner, a commercial building was built south of that, houses and an Odd Fellows Hall were built on what became Melvlle Lane and on the next two lots along Melville Avenue.

Elbridge Torrey (1837-1914) was the president of Torrey, Bright & Capen, whose carpet importing and sales business was located in Boston proper at 350 Washington Street. The business did well after its founding in 1875, and four years later in April, 1879, Elbridge’s wife Alice bought the property in Dorchester. They hired the architectural firm of Cabot and Chandler to design a grand house, and they moved into it in 1880. An artist’s rendering of the house appeared in American Architect and Building News in April of that year.

The 1880 census showed that they had only one live-in servant. In 1900 the Census listed them living in Cohasset with a housekeeper, cook, maid and coachman. But by 1910 they were back in Dorchester with two maids. Elbridge died before the Census of 1920, and Alice continued to live in the house until her death, sometime in the 1920s. Between her death and the publication of the 1933 atlas, the property was subdivided.

Elbridge served as a deacon at the Second Church in Codman Square and supported the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. He traveled extensively, visiting missions in Ceylon and Turkey.

He served as a trustee of Mount Holyoke College from 1899 until his death; was elected a member of the Board of Trustees at Hartford Theological Seminary, where he served 17 years, the last 3 of which he held the office of President. He was President of Central Turkey College, and at the time of his death, of the Cullis Consumptives’ Home in Grove Hall. He was one of the original members of the Boston Congregational Club, a member of the Board of Council of the Home for Aged Couples and for fifty years was identified with the Second Church of Dorchester, where he was Deacon forty-five years and Chairman of the Board of Assessors of the Parish. for forty-two years. He was Vice-president of the Congregational Church Building Society and a Director in the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He was for several years on the Board of Directors of the Elm Hill Home for Aged Couples. He was also for seventeen years on the Board of Trustees of Bradford Academy.

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2019 March 10th Sunday 2 pm Boston in the American Revolution

Posted on February 24, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Historical Society, 195 Boston Street – 2 pm, Sunday, March 10, 2019

For nearly a year between 1775 and 1776, Boston was a town under siege. Heightened tension made life frightening and unstable for all trapped in the town, including Loyalists, British soldiers, and rebels. Join the Dorchester Historical Society for our March program featuring Brooke Barbier, author of Boston in the American Revolution: A Town versus an Empire, as she discusses what led to the siege, what life was like during the siege and how Boston was ultimately liberated on March 17, known today as Evacuation Day.

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Dorchester Illustration 2393 Christopher Gibson School

Posted on February 24, 2019 by earltaylor

Dorchester Illustration no. 2393 Christopher Gibson School

Designed in 1893 and constructed by 1894, the Francis A. Brooks Grammar School was constructed opposite the end of Morse Street on the section of Bowdoin Avenue located northwest of the railroad tracks at Mount Bowdoin. The design for the school by city architect Edward March Wheelwright was shown in the American Architect and Building News, December 30, 1893. The completed school was shown in the magazine in the January 4, 1908, issue with the name Christopher Gibson School.

The name change occurred at least ten years earlier in honor of Christopher Gibson, one of Dorchester’s early benefactors. The Gibson name had been applied earlier to a school built in the 1850s on School Street. Gibson Street and Gibson Field were also named for Gibson, who was a 17th century soap boiler.

In 1872 the N. Y. and N. E. Railroad had laid down tracks that cut Bowdon Avenue into two segments. This segment of the street was sometimes called Little Bowdoin Avenue or North Bowdoin Avenue, then between 1910 and 1918 it was renamed Ronald Street.

The lower photo by Ollie Noonan is from 1958 and shows the back side of the building as the children line up to enter the boys’ entrance. Jonathan Kozol was a teacher at the school when he wrote Death At An Early Age as an indictment of the Boston Public Schools.

The building was demolished in 1975 after a fire. The city-owned site is now being called 16 Ronald Street, and in 2016 the city approved a design submitted by Hearth, Inc., to build a new four-story building including 52 one-bedroom affordable senior housing units and 2 studios. I don’t know if the project has gone any further than the approval.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christopher Gibson School, Dorchester, Francis A. Brooks Grammar School, Ronald Street, Uncategorized | Comments Off