Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2106

September 2013

Dear DHS Members and Supporters:

Restoration of the Clapp Family Barn is almost complete!

But we have one s[h]ingle thing left to do:  reshingle the exterior before the snow flies.

WILL YOU HELP?

Thanks to the generosity of Dorchester residents and other stakeholders, the Dorchester Historical Society has raised $200,000 to ensure that the mid-19th century Clapp Family Barn will stand for generations to come.   

Rotted sills and deteriorated posts and beams have been replaced, so the building is now level, square and solid.  New doors, hung with the original hinges, have greatly enhanced the appearance of the Barn and improved access and security.  And a badly needed new roof was put on earlier this year.  No we need to make the Barn weather-tight, to protect not just the restored structure but also the extensive collection of 19th-century agricultural tools that it houses.

A private donor has pledged $5,000 towards the shingling…provided that we raise the same amount from our members and supporters.  Won’t you pitch in so we can meet this challenge?

From 1630 well into the 20th century, the agricultural economy of Dorchester was critical to the growth and vitality of the town and beyond.  On its completion, the Barn will provide the ideal venue for the Society to explore and interpret this agricultural heritage for students, residents and visitors alike.

Join us in this vital step towards bringing to life an important but little-known aspect of Dorchester’s history for everyone.

Please send your contribution to Dorchester Historical Society, 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125 or make a secure online payment at www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org  (You will also find a side show documenting the restoration of the Barn on the website or at http://bit.ly/15vd2ox.)

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Earl Taylor

President

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2105

Postcard. Caption on front: Walter Baker Chocolate Mills, from the Big Chimney. copyright 1905 Frederick A. Frizell. Postally unused.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2104

Postcard. Caption on front: Walter Baker Chocolate Mills, Power House. copyright 1905, Frederick A. Frizell. Postally unused.

For most of the early years, the Baker chocolate mills relied entirely on water power. In 1868, Henry Pierce installed the company’s first steam engine and over time each mill created and used its own steam power. It was not until 1906 that Baker’s finally built a stand-alone, 3,000 horse power, central power house to permanently serve all the mills. It contained three boilers and two generators that brought electricity to each building, allowing electric lights and motors to be installed throughout the complex. The use of coal to generate power was replaced in 1921 when the central power house switched to cleaner-burning fuel oil.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2103

Linda Little wrote to me about her ancestor Edwin Lansil (1839-1904) who lived with his family including brothers Walter and Wilbur, well-known painters, for about 20 years in Dorchester at 101 Maxwell Street, and she provided the vintage photo of that property.

Today we have before and after pictures of 101 Maxwell Street where the family lived in the late 19th century.  There is quite a contrast between the photos, one showing the original ornamentation and the other showing the house stripped of it decorative details and covered in stucco.

Check out:

http://passagetothepast.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/a-trip-to-venice-by-walter-franklin-lansil/

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2102

Today we have a postcard of the old library in Codman Square.

Codman Square was featured on WBUR yesterday.  The first in a series about the squares of Boston as the background for the mayoral race, this piece mentions Bill Walczak and his achievements with the Codman Square Health Center. Check out

http://www.wbur.org/2013/09/04/codman-square-transformation

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2101

Postcard. Caption on front: Blaney Memorial Baptist Church & Parsonage, Dorchester Lower Mills, Mass. Postmarked Dorchester Center, Boston, July 25 ?. On verso: No. H 12793 The Robbins Co., Boston, Mass. and Germany.

About 1910.  The Church was located at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Richmond Street, where the parking lot of the Meeting House Cooperative Bank is located today.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2100

Today in response to a request we have a photo of First Church after the re-installation of the lantern room at the top of the steeple.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2098

A fountain was dedicated in October 1885, in memory of Theodore Lyman, Jr., Mayor of Boston in 1834-35.

The Lyman Fountain, which now exists only in memory, was installed as a monument to the memory of Lyman as he was the first to propose the introduction of water into the city of Boston. The fountain was described:

… The fountain is a highly ornamental structure of original design and fine proportions, and is believed to be the highest and handsomest fountain in the New England States. Its entire altitude is twenty-six feet. The basin is of Monson granite and thirty-three feet in diameter. The first pan is twelve feet and six inches in diameter; the second pan six feet and eight inches. The surmounting group of figures represents Venus, Cupid, and swan, while the figures about the pedestal stand for the four seasons. The supply of water is from three pipes attached to a three-inch main, a sixty-pound pressure providing ample force. One of these pipes discharges through the swan’s mouth and through four dragons on the first pedestal and four griffins, between the first and second pans. Another furnishes a supply for one hundred and forty-four jets in the rim of the first pan, and eighty in the second, while the third pipe feeds the four cascades at the base of the pedestal. The water from the jets does not overflow the pan, but discharges through four gargoyle heads.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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 of the Day no. 2097

The most distinctive product from the Dorchester Potter was the porcelain pig used as a footwarmer or bedwarmer.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. 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 DIOTD, 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