Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1942

The Rev. John Codman, who served as the first minister at Second Church from 1808 till his death in 1847, lived off Washington Street on Codman Hill on what is now Ogden Street.  Later in the 19th century his house was used as a school for young women.  The house was destroyed by fire in 1923.

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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

View from St Marys Infant Asylum, later St Margarets Hospital.

Postcard. Caption on front: View from St. Mary Infant Asylum Looking N.E.  Postmarked at Dorchester Station Sept 12, 1910 with one-cent stamp.  Handwritten message: A view from Dorchester looking towards the flying machine field.

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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. 1940

Railroad station at Mt Bowdoin that was located at the corner of Washington and Eldon Streets.  The new stations on the railroad line that were recently constructed look somewhat different.  The postcard is from about 1920, and the line was then under the New York, New Haven and Hartford R.R. Co.

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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. 1939

Baker Chocolate trade card showing factory buildings.

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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. 1938

The Pierce House on Oakton Avenue, built in 1683, has been a popular subject for photos over the years, partly due to its lean-to backside.  Boston Edison put out a small series of lithographs in the mid twentieth century including a drawing of the Pierce by Nelson Fisher.

Historic New England owns the house and provides the history of it at

http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/pierce-house/pierce-house-history

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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. 1937

Today we have a silver-plated teapot made by the Roswell Gleason factory, which was located on the east side of Washington Street between Park Street and Bowdoin Street from the 1830s to about 1870.

For more detail about Gleason see Anthony Sammarco’s History:

http://anthonysammarcoshistory.blogspot.com/2011/04/roswell-gleason.html

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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. 1936

Miss Clara Pinckney, first female stenographer to be employed by Walter Baker & Co., Inc., operating an early typewriter.

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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. 1935

Today’s illustration shows Dorchester resident Mark Ridge in Cambridge, MA, in an early version of a pressure suit ready for a test in cold temperatures.  Known as an aviator and daredevil, Ridge was testing a suit designed to protect him against the extreme cold of the upper ethers.  The temperature in the tank was 110 degrees below zero, which did not bother him, but his test was short-lived.  As carbonated gas from the ice penetrated his mask, he had to leave the tank shortly after he entered it.   This press photo seems to be dated December 1948.

Wikipedia in the topic Pressure Suit says: In 1931, American Mark Ridge became obsessed with breaking the world altitude record in an open gondola balloon. Recognizing that the flight would require specialised protective clothing, he visited the UK in 1933 where he met with Scottish physiologist John Scott Haldane, who had published a concept for a fabric full pressure suit in the 1920s. The two sought the assistance of Robert Henry Davis of Siebe Gorman, the inventor of the Davis Escape Set, and with Haldane’s and Davis’ resources a prototype suit was constructed. Ridge tested it in a low-pressure chamber to a simulated altitude of 50,000 feet. However, he received no support for further work and never made his attempt on the world record

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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

This Month’s program has been changed from the 20th to the 27th at 2 pm, and the topic has changed.

Victorian Dorchester: The Ascent and Revival of the Railroad Suburb

Mr. Saxe presents his revised lecture on the architecture and history of the wonderful houses of 18th and 19th century Dorchester.

He will cover the neighborhoods of Five Corners, Pleasant Street, Jones Hill, Savin Hill, Melville Park, Ashmont Hill, and Carruth and explain the houses’ architectural and historical significance.  Could Dorchester’s Victorian neighborhoods serve as models for the new American suburb?

 Last time we had to turn people away, so this time note that the talk will be held at New England Carpenters Training Center, 750 Dorchester Avenue. Enter main lobby from the street level.

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1934

Car and driver at 60 Ocean Street in 1921.

Today is the last illustration until after the holidays.  Enjoy the time off.

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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