Susan (Snowden) Fessenden (1840-1932) lived in Dorchester from 1891 through 1900. During that time she was the president of the Massachusetts Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and attended the Cincinnati Female Seminary, graduating in 1857.
After graduating, she was a teacher at the seminary, until her marriage in 1864 to John Henry Fessenden. During that time, she became interested in church and temperance work and felt that she could contribute most effectively as a speaker, instead of a writer.
In 1871, Fessenden moved to Sioux City, Iowa. She spoke on such subjects as woman’s enfranchisement, help for the laboring classes, and prohibition of the liquor traffic. She started the Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) of Sioux City.
Fessenden moved to Boston in 1882, so her children could attend college. Her two daughters entered Boston University with the classes of 1886 and 1889, respectively, and later her son with the class of 1894.
Fessenden’s friends convinced her to work with the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Initially she held the post of National Superintendent of Franchise. In 1890, she was unanimously elected to the office of State President of the W.C.T.U. of Massachusetts and remained in that office for the next eight years.
Rev. John Codman, scion of a wealthy family, enlarged the old Thayer place at the top of Codman Hill. The estate, which had acres of sloping fields and looked out over Lower Mills and the Blue Hills, was a popular stop-over for ministers on their way from the countryside to theological gatherings in Boston. The Codman mansion was the scene of heated debates during the Congregational church’s “Great Schism” during the early 1800’s, when the more liberal Unitarian wing of the church broke away from the more conservative Trinitarians. Following Codman’s death in 1847, the junction of Washington Street, Norfolk Street, Centre Street and Talbot Avenue, known as Baker’s Corners, was renamed Codman Square in honor of the beloved reverend.
The house remained in the Codman Family until the Civil War. After the Civil War it was leased to a boarding school for young ladies, operated by Miss Hannah Perkins Dodge. In 1868, the Codman heirs sold the home property with the estate house and over six acres of land to Charlotte Cochrane, who operated a school for young women. The Codman heirs retained about thirty-nine acres of open land. In 1870, Charlotte’s resident students included Edith Blackler, 18; Lucy Abbott, 18; Lucy Hagar, 18; Eliza Nichols, 19; Alice Waterman, 17; Ella Richardson, 16; and Hattie Jenkins, 12. Giselle Dondist, a Fench teacher, also lived in the house along with three servants and Charlotte and her children, Arthur, 6; and Agness, 4.
The land from the former Codman estate was subdivided during the late 19th century and the early twentieth century. The Codman Mansion was destroyed by fire in 1928.
John Fottler, Jr. (1841-1929) came from an agricultural family.
The following is from A Healing Landscape: Environmental and Social history of the Site of Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Centre. Second edition (Lincoln, MA 2016) page 54.
“Who were the Fottlers? In 1830, Jacob and Barbara Fottler emigrated from Germany to America with their teenage sons John and Jacob Jr. and four other children. Passing through Boston, they originally intended to settle in the Midwest, but tragedy struck: In a much-publicized incident, a steamer sank in the Ohio River at Cincinnati, with Jacob Sr. and two sisters among the dead. Returning back east, the remaining family settled in Dorchester, where John, the eldest son, soon became breadwinner for the family with a job in Quincy Market.
”In 1838, John married Mary Donald, an English immigrant, and the couple began their own family. Making a career in the growing and selling of plants for the needs of the expanding city, John worked in a number of places around Boston; he helped to deliver and plant some of the first shrubs and flowers used in the new landscaping on Boston Common, worked in a nursery in Cambridge, farmed on Savin Hill in Dorchester, and worked his way up to serving as landscaping and agricultural supervisor for various large estates in the area.
“Meanwhile, John’s younger brother Jacob Jr. had married a Hannah Williams of Roxbury and settled on a farm just north of the future BNC, on land now occupied by Franklin Park. Not long after, John and Mary settled with their family on another farm nearby. In the 1870 agricultural census, the Fottlers were the only farmers in the area who sold more garden produce, vegetables and flowers, than did their competitor on Walk Hill Street, Joseph Lambert; and, since John Fottler maintained strong ties to the marketing side of the business, they established a sort of family empire combining both production and distribution in one operation.”
John was called the Father of the Boston Park System. For many years, he lived in a house with the present Franklin Park and owned 21 acres of land there. He broached his plan for the city to purchase the land and induced a committee of the city government to take a look. Mayor Prince wrote to say that posterity would be grateful to him for his service in helping to establish Franklin Park.
John, Jr., grew up in Savin Hill and established a prominent seed company downtown in partnership with Schlegel, possibly another German immigrant. The firm of Schlegel & Fottler published an annual seed and plant catalog from the 1880s through the first decade of the 20th century. John, Jr., was a founder of another nationally known seed and plant company, the Fottler Riske Rawson Company. John, Jr, had the house at 389 Washington St. built for his home.
Charles H. Belledeu was a contractor who built several houses in the Ashmont section of Dorchester.
The following article about Belledue was published in the The Dorchester Beacon on May 5, 1900, is an example of local journalism from the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries that emphasized positive messages.
Charles H. Belledeu
“The subject of this sketch was born in West Deer Isle, Maine, October 7, 1860. His father was Louis Belledeu, a sea captain, and was born in France. His mother was Lucy Sweetser, a native of Deer Isle. His father retired after following the sea many years and settled down on the farm which was the old homestead. C. H. and his father could not agree. He told his father one day after a reprimand for some boyish prank he was going to leave home and come to Boston, but his father laughed at the idea and said he would have to go and bring him home, as he would never be able to support himself.
“One morning, he packed up his valise and bade that all good-by, and started for Boston with $3.50 in his pocket, arriving here without any friends or anyone to help him. He looked for work until his money was all gone, then thought what his father told him. He could not bear to think of going back unsuccessful and made up his mind to get a job. He at last got a chance to learn the carpenter’s trade in Mr. Lilford’s shop at the north end. After three years and a half, he had learned his trade and then went to work for J. & C. A. Noyes, 5 Province Court, Boston. He saved his money and went to school evenings and finally got to be foreman.
“When his firm dissolved partnership, he bought out J. Noyes and started for himself. At the end of ten years, he went home on a vacation and told his father he could buy him out then. The old gentleman was pleased with his success. Mr. Belledeu has built several houses and a hotel in Dorchester, which he rents, also other houses in the suburbs of Boston. He has had some large contracts for buildings in Boston. He also makes a specialty of store fittings, which he sends all over the country.
“Mr. Belledeu is a 32d degree Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine. His is a great lover of horses, which is his hobby. He is secretary of the Dorchester Gentlemen’s Driving Club and one of the racing committee of the Boston Driving Club.
“Mr. Belledeu married Miss Viola A. Powers, October 26, 1887, a daughter of the well-known physician and surgeon, Dr. T. F. Powers of Boston, and a niece of Senator Powers of Vermont.”
Dorchester Illustration 2627, Baker Chocolate Company
Baker Chocolate was a frequent advertiser of its products in national magazines before the era of radio and television. Many of its ads were aimed toward parents. The advertisement in the today’s illustration targets the mid to upper classes — or at least those who would like to think they are part of those classes.
James Baker started the Baker Chocolate Company at Dorchester Lower Mills in 1780. His grandson Walter Baker gave the company the name Walter Baker and Company in the mid-19 th century. The company was sold to the Forbes Syndicate in 1896, which carried on the business until it was sold to Postum Cereal in 1927. It is now part of the Kraft Heinz conglomerate.
Dorchester Pottery Works produced commercial and industrial stoneware and later decorative tableware until the 1970s. Founded in 1895 by George Henderson, the business was located on Victory Road near Mill Street. The Dorchester Pottery Works kiln and its building have been designated a Boston Landmark.
Today’s illustration shows a circa-1910 image of the very popular foot warmer, a stoneware hot water bottle.
Dorchester Pottery’s wares evolved over the years from primarily agricultural products, such as mash feeders and chicken fountains were cast from molds. Acid pots and dipping baskets were in demand by jewelry manufacturers, and Henderson’s popular foot warmer was known as a “porcelain pig.”
In 1940, Dorchester Pottery’s line of distinctive gray and blue tableware was introduced. It was shaped on a potter’s wheel and plates were shaped both using a mold and on the wheel.
In 1914, Mr. Henderson built an enormous beehive kiln 28-feet in diameter of his own design made of unmortared bricks. When it was carefully stacked with two or three freight car loads of unfired pottery, the opening was sealed and the kiln was slowly heated with 15 tons of coal and four cords of wood to a temperature of 2500-3000 degrees Fahrenheit. After days of cooling, the door would be opened, brick by brick, and the fired pieces removed. The entire process took about one week to complete.
There is an extensive collection of Dorchester Pottery on display at the Dorchester Historical Society’s William Clapp House.
Grove Hall Universalist Church, Dorchester Illustration 2625
Holy Tabernacle Church is located at 70 Washington St. This section of Washington Street is between Columbia Road and Blue Hill Avenue.
The illustration of the church building is from American Architect and Building News, June 20, 1894.
The society that built the church was the Grove Hall Universalist Church. Architect Francis R. Allen and his associate W. H. Brainerd designed the building.
The following is from Parish Register of the Grove Hall Universalist Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts and Favorite Recipes, 1913.
“The Grove Hall Universalist Church came into existence March 3, 1878, being an off-shoot of the Roxbury Universalist Church, and in its inception received the cordial support of that parish. On January 9, 1878, a meeting was held at the residence of Mr. Franklin S. Williams for the purpose of organizing a church.
Starting as a mission church, holding its first or preliminary meetings at the residents of various interested persons, it soon wanted a centrally located temporary home, and began holding its meetings in Wetherell Hall, at or near the junction of Washington Street and Blue Hill Avenue. That served its needs for a time, but the desire for a home having more the churchly appearance prevailed, and the church on the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Schuyler Street was built.
This amply served the purposes of the society until about 1892, when the subject of a new larger church was agitated, resulting in the building of the present edified. At about this same time it also ceased to be a mission church, and since then has been able to maintain services without calling upon the state Convention for aid.
The present edifice was completed in 1895, and cost, furnished, about $45,000: $25,000 of this was provided for by a mortgage; the balance was raised by canvassing our parishioners. To our good member, kind and generous neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Ivers W. Adams, we are largely indebted, both for their liberality in subscribing for the building and in their continued liberality in contributing to the wiping out of the mortgage debt, which has lately been accomplished and made possible largely through their instrumentality.”
Ernest M. Skinner (1866-1960) was the most prominent organ builder of the early 20th century. Skinner believed an organ should be able to play all music effectively and with infinite tonal variety. His organs were highly orchestral in character. The high point of Skinner’s career may have been the installation of one of his organs in the Washington National Cathedral.
Skinner married Mabel Hastings in 1893, they lived at 293 Savin Hill Ave. for 2 years, and then 33 years at 7 Evandale Terrace on Savin Hill. One of his three children, Eugenia Shorrock, married in 1917, and moved to 259 Savin Hill Ave. at the corner of Evandale Terrace.
In the late 1890s, Ernest Skinner supervised the installation of numerous organs made by the Hutchings Company, including one in the Pilgrim Church in Dorchester. In 1900 he started his own company, the Ernest M. Skinner & Co. In 1905 it was incorporated as the Ernest M. Skinner Company.
In 1914 the company moved into a new factory building in Dorchester at Crescent Avenue and Sydney Street. The company became the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in 1932, and Skinner’s association with the firm ended in 1936. He and his son, Richmond, opened the Ernest M. Skinner & Son Company in Methuen, Mass., this company built the organ for the Washington National Cathedral in 1937.
CowParade in Fields Corner Dorchester Illustration 2623
Two life-size fiberglass cows are on display at Fields Corner’s Memorial Square at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Adams Street.
They are part of a herd of 75 life-size cows displayed across the city. Each cow was painted by a New England artist and will be sold to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to mark the 75th anniversary of the Jimmy Fund.
One of the cows in Fields Corner, Sally Sunset, (on the left in the photo) has been bought. The other one called Spreading Love is still available. The cows will remain in Dorchester until Sept. 4.
CowParades are public art events that serve as fundraisers for local nonprofit organizations. They have been held since 1999 in 80 countries, more than 6,000 cows have been created.
Franklin Farrington operated a small grocery store at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and East Street at Glover’s Corner from 1856 until his death in 1901. The Farrington Store building still stands at Dorchester’s most historically dangerous intersection where Freeport Street meets Dorchester Avenue. Traffic improvements have made the intersection safer.
The following puff piece about the business was published in the booklet “Picturesque Boston Highlands, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester” (New York: Mercantile Illustrating Co., 1895).
“Among the many grocery establishments carried on in this city, that conducted by Mr. Fr. Farrington, at No. 1261 Dorchester Avenue, corner of East Street, Dorchester District, deserves particular mention on account of the age and the high character of the enterprise. It was inaugurated about 1830 by Andrew Glover, who sold the business in 1863 to the present proprietor, who had been in business on the opposite side of the street for six years previous, or since 1856, and in this connections it is interesting to note that Mr. Farrington’s business cards refer to him as a dealer in ‘West India Goods,’ as all groceries were called in the days when the most important goods they handled came entirely from the West Indies. But we would not have our readers infer that there is anything ‘behind the times’ about this establishment, for it is thoroughly ‘up to date’ in every particular although Mr. Farrington does adhere to the old-fashioned policy of giving ‘full value for money received.’ He carries a large, carefully-chosen and compete stock of staple and fancy groceries, including the choicest teas and coffees and the purest spices that the market affords, and a very complete line of imported and domestic table delicacies, the very best canned goods, etc. Employment is given to three competent assistants, and all orders are assured prompt and careful attention.”
