Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration no. 2158

 Photograph of George N. Clarke.  Handwritten note on verso: George N. Clarke, Dorchester, MA.  Died in the war.

 A tinsmith from Dorchester, Massachusetts, George Clarke served with the 11th MA Infantry and died of disease at Falmouth,Virginia.

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The Dorchester Illustration is sent occasionally. 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 illustration, 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 no. 2157

Joseph A. Hartin died in France in 1918 during WW I . He volunteered for a dangerous mission and was killed 5 days before the Armistice was signed. Awarded the Légion d’Honneur medal from the French government, he was given full military honors at burial after his body was exhumed from France.   

Dedicated in 1919, Joseph A. Hartin Square is in Fields Corner at the intersection of Adams Street and Dorchester Avenue.

His family home was at 28 Ditson Street, Meeting House Hill.  The woman standing in front of the caisson in the photo is his mother.  She grieved long and hard for him even though she had twelve other children.  She refused to go to the dedication of a square in his name but one daugher who was 15 at the time did go.  Another daughter who was only 10 stayed at home and said her mother sat in the parlor and cried all day.

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The Dorchester Illustration is sent occasionally. 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 illustration, 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 no. 2156

Pennant postcard.

Postcard. Caption on front: It certainly pays to stop in Dorchester, Mass.  I’ll give you her address.  Postmarked Dec. 16, 1914 with one-cent stamp.

 The senders of the card (Frances and Herbert) seem to have written their own address 25 Mather Street on the front.

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The Dorchester Illustration is sent occasionally. 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 illustration, 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 no. 2145

Pierce and Adams-Street Mill 1899

Photograph of the mill buildings of the Baker Chocolate company on the east side of Adams Street from article Some Notes on the Food Value of Cocoa and Chocolate, Harper’s Weekly, 1899.  The Adams-Street Mill is connected to the Pierce Mill at the left corner where Adams Street makes the turn.

The article cites Brillat-Savarin’s Physiology of Taste: After a good, complete, and copious breakfast, if we take in addition a cup of well-made chocolate, digestion will be perfectly accomplished in three hours, and we may dine whenever we like.

The people who make constant use of chocolate are the ones who enjoy the most steady health, and are the least subject to a multitude of little ailments which destroy the comfort of life; their plumpness is also more equal.

Join the Dorchester Historical Society and the Department of Conservation and Recreation for a walking tour of the Baker Chocolate buildings, Saturday, May 10, 1 pm, starting at the Milton Landing.  Tour length is less than a mile.

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The Dorchester Illustration is sent occasionally. 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 illustration, 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 no. 2144

Demolition of the silos at Baker Chocolate in 1987.

Eighteen large silos and a grain elevator were built in 1941 as storage, in anticipation of World War II and expected difficulties in securing cacao beans. The “Baker Chocolate” painted silos remained a landmark in the Lower Mills for four decades. The silos were never filled to capacity, and in 1987 they were demolished.

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The Dorchester Illustration is sent occasionally. 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 illustration, 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

Saturday, May 10                              1 pm- 2:30 pm

Sweet  History Stroll along the Neponset River

Meet at the public parking lot in Milton Lower Mills, beside the Milton Yacht Club at 36 Wharf Street in Milton.

Parking is limited at the parking lot next to the Yacht Club, but there is street parking on Adams Street. Public transportation is encouraged via the Milton Station of the MBTA Mattapan High Speed Line.

For more info, visit http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/neponset.htm

What do chocolate and the Neponset River have in common? Join a DCR Park Ranger and Dorchester Historical Society volunteers on a scenic stroll in Milton and Dorchester Lower Mills to find out. We’ll explore the former Baker Chocolate Factory site and learn about the sweet history of Lower Mills as part of Historic Preservation Month in Massachusetts. We’ll end our tour at the Baker Chocolate Artist Lofts (Administration Building) and learn about the DCR’s Historic Curatorship program. For ages 10 and up.

The route is less than one mile.

Dorchester Illustration no. 2143 Lifeguards at Malibu Beach

Lifeguards George MacMasters and Karen Hartley raking Malibu Beach 7-29-1988.  They said it was the worst ever – they found trash, dead rats, fish, pigeons, eels, etc.  Photograph Arthur Pollock.

 The following currently appears on the Boston Harborwalk website:

Malibu and Savin Hill Beaches are great sandy spots for summer sunbathing. Substantial upgrades include a new ADA-compliant promenade along the beach, providing superb views of the Harbor and access to a wide section of the waterfront. A new playground, new sand, new lighting and additional landscaping add to the atmosphere at these beaches. Malibu Beach offers protected swimming and a bathhouse. Savin Hill Beach has a tot lot, baseball fields and a protected swimming area. Both beaches are owned and operated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Both beaches also provide a close-up view of the Keyspan Gas Tank, one of Dorchester waterfront’s most recognizable landmarks. The tank, decorated with giant rainbow-colored stripes, is the world’s largest copyrighted artwork.

Nearby is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial of Dorchester across Morrissey Boulevard. The memorial consists of two stone arch structures; inscribed are the names of the fallen Vietnam Veterans from Dorchester. A path leads to the memorial and there is extensive landscaping with decorative flowers and bushes.

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The Dorchester Illustration is sent occasionally. 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 illustration, 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 no. 2142 River Street Fire Station

Realphoto postcard.  Caption on front: Ladder #6, Dorchester, Mass. Postally unused. On verso Pub. by Herbert E. Glasier & Co., Boston, Mass.  Early 20th century.

The building was built before 1874 and still showed up on the Lower Mills plate in the 1933 atlas.  Does anyone know when it was taken down?

Ladder no. 6 is now in Peabody Square at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Ashmont Street.

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The Dorchester Illustration is sent occasionally. 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 illustration, 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

April 27, 2014.  2 pm  Dorchester Historical Society public program.

Wheaton College professor Delvyn Case will explore the music of three of Ameri­ca’s homegrown composers – Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, and George Gershwin – and how they forged a uniquely American style of classical mu­sic that incorporated the folk and popular music they heard across the country. Case is a composer, conductor, scholar, performer and educator who has taught at many area colleges and universities.

Donations welcome.