Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1933 Styles of the twenties

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 19323

Styles of the twenties.

Photo labeled Helen Curley, Mary Daly 1928.

 

____
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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1933 Styles of the twenties

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1932 Henry Lillie Pierce house

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1932

Today we have a photo of the house that belonged to Henry Lillie Pierce house on Washington Street, now occupied by the Vargas & Vargas Insurance Agency.

From Wikipedia: Henry Lillie Pierce (1825–1896) was the son of Colonel Jesse Pierce (1788–1856) and Elizabeth Vose Lillie Pierce (1786–1871) of Stoughton, Massachusetts. His father had been an educator at Milton Academy and later served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. As a gentleman farmer, he maintained a large farm in Stoughton (formerly a part of Dorchester) until he moved, in 1849, to Washington Street in the Lower Mills of Dorchester with his wife and two sons. Edward Lillie Pierce was then attending Brown University, while Henry Lillie Pierce was at Milton Academy and was to later attend the Bridgewater Normal School. In 1849, Henry L. Pierce was hired to work as a clerk at the Baker Chocolate Company. Walter Baker, the owner of the chocolate company and stepbrother of Pierce’s mother, hired him at a salary of three dollars per week. However, as their political views invariably clashed and caused tremendous animosity (Pierce was a vociferous and deeply opinionated Free-Soiler), Pierce left after only a year of politically tinged employment to take up newspaper work in the Midwest. At the request of Sydney Williams, brother-in-law of Baker and managing director of the chocolate mill, Pierce returned to Boston after a year and was appointed manager of the Walter Baker Counting House at 32 South Market Street in Boston (now a part of the Quincy Market retail area). Pierce was obviously a hard worker, for after the deaths of both Walter Baker (in 1852) and Sydney Williams (in 1854), he was permitted to lease the chocolate business from the trustees of the Baker Estate.

The trustees of the Baker Estate, fully aware that Pierce had only been with the company for five years, leased the business to him for a two-year probationary period, “subject to a life interest payable annually to Mrs. Baker,” widow of the owner and step-aunt to Pierce, until her death in 1891. He began manufacturing under the name and style of Walter Baker & Company. He was obviously successful, for in 1856 the trustees extended the lease a further eight years, during which time Pierce began an expansion that would eventually absorb his competitive chocolate manufacturers in the Lower Mills. The trustees continued the ten-year lease until 1884, when “all terms under the Walter Baker will having been satisfied, the entire property is conveyed by the Trustees to Henry L. Pierce.” In 1860, Pierce bought the Preston Chocolate Mill from Henry D. Chapin, to whom it had been sold the previous year, and in 1881, Josiah Webb sold his chocolate mill to Pierce. In 1864, the trustees of the Baker Estate renewed the lease for a second decade. This decade was decisive for Pierce, as he began to enter his chocolate in competitive exhibitions both in this country and abroad. In 1867, Baker’s Chocolate and Cocoa won an award in the Paris Exhibition for the quality of the product. In 1873, the company won the highest awards at the Vienna Exhibition, and in 1876, at the Philadelphia Centennial, Walter Baker chocolate and cocoa won the highest awards. With mill managers and mill employees, Pierce was able to expand the chocolate business and build new mills. In 1894, these were equipped with chocolate-making machines, most of which were imported from Germany, that saved power and were easy to attend.

Pierce followed in his father’s footsteps and was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1860 to 1862, and again in 1866; he also served in the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses from 1873 to 1877. His interest in not only his employees but also the voters of Dorchester made him a very popular choice. After Dorchester was annexed to the city of Boston on January 4, 1870, Pierce was nominated and elected mayor of Boston in 1872 and 1877. It was during his terms as mayor that Pierce’s business began an extensive marketing and public relations campaign to make Walter Baker & Company a household name or, better, the household choice for chocolate and cocoa. In 1883, the company formally adopted the trademark La Belle Chocolatiere as its logo. Used earlier in the company’s history, this famous design was copied from the pastel portrait of Das Schokoladenmadchen by Jean-Etienne Liotard, an 18th-century Swiss painter. The chocolate girl was to become as famous as the company she promoted. It was not until 1884 that the trustees of the Baker Estate allowed Pierce to purchase the company outright. Once done, it was incorporated as Walter Baker & Company, Ltd.

Pierce was honored by the City of Boston when the school committee voted in 1892 to name the new grammar school just south of Codman Square in his honor. The school was designed by Boston city architect Harrison H. Atwood (1863–1954) and was an enormous hammered granite building at the corner of Washington Street and Welles Avenue (now the site of the Codman Square Branch of the Boston Public Library). It was considered one of the most advanced schools in the Boston public school system, and after the Great Depression, its focus became that of a “Baking School,” which offered trade classes.

During Pierce’s ownership of Baker Chocolate Company, from 1854 to 1896, he was to increase business greatly, so much so that he created an urban mill village with modern chocolate mills along the Neponset River.

____

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

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1932 Henry Lillie Pierce house

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1931 Jeremiah E Burke High School

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1931

Jeremiah E Burke High School for Girls at Dorchester, Mass., George Ernest Robinson, architect.

Photograph of elevation published in the Boston Herald, September 2, 1933, with a handwritten note on the back of the photo that the school is currently under construction.

____

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1931 Jeremiah E Burke High School

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1930 Pierce Mill

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1930

Today we have a photo of an ornament on the Pierce Mill at the Baker Chocolate factory.

The following is from: http://www.bostonhistory.org/sub/bakerschocolate/SWEET_HISTORY_2005.pdf

Built: 1872 – Original

Designed by: Bradlee and Winslow

Named for: Henry Lillie Pierce, fifth owner of Baker’s

Style: Second Empire

Construction: Three-story, brick, mansard roof

Henry Pierce built the Pierce Mill (also called the Main Building or Mill No. 4) to expand all areas of production. This massive building, with its 20-inch-thick brick walls, originally included a basement to cool and pack chocolate, a floor for cocoa mixing and preparation, a packaging and storage area, a shipping office, and the large tower that housed Henry Pierce’s office. Directly behind the Pierce Mill stood the Steam Mill (sometimes called the Boiler House). The five-story, brick Steam mill, completed in 1868, housed the first steam engine used at Baker’s. Up until this new invention, mills relied on the power harnessed from water wheels.

____

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1930 Pierce Mill

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1929 Tileston House

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1929

We have received word that a permit application has been filed to demolish the house at 13 River Street.  The application will be the subject of a demolition delay hearing (no date set) at the Boston Landmarks Commission after the applicants hold a public meeting in the neighborhood to discuss the demolition.

The following is from the Area form for Lower Mills West prepared for the Commission in 1994.  The Tileston House at 13 River Street was built ca. 1770 and ranks among the oldest houses in the Lower Mills West area. Although altered by vinyl siding, this house’s distinctive 5-bay, 2-pile, gambrel roof form provides clues to its early origins. During the 19th century, this building was owned and occupied by Charles Tileston whose stove, heating, and plumbing store was next door on the very busy corner of River and Washington Streets.

_____

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1929 Tileston House

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1928 Simco

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1928

Question regarding:  “Home Hamburgers” at the foot of the Neposet Bridge (Now a Sozio appliance store).  To your knowledge did Home Hamburgers have any other locations?  Do you know who owned Home Hamburgers?

Today’s illustration is a photo of another venerable institution — the sign for Simco’s on Blue Hill Avenue.

_____

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1928 Simco

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1927 waiting room at Norfolk & Nelson

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1927

Waiting room at the corner of Norfolk and Nelson Streets. ca 1900.  Owned at that time by the West End Street Railway Company.

_____

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1927 waiting room at Norfolk & Nelson

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1926 Store at Fuller Street

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1926

Scan of photograph owned by the Dorchester Historical Society of a store at the corner of Fuller Street and Dorchester Avenue.  Pencil date 1878. Building has sign: Silva Building.  Written on back: 1878 Store corner of Fuller Street and Dorcester Avenue, Ashmont, the only store between Milton Lower Mills and Fields Corner.  John A.Hall, 9 Butler , Dorchester, Mass. The building was located at the south side of the intersection.

_____

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1926 Store at Fuller Street

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1925 Dorchester Pottery

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1925

Founded in 1895 by George Henderson, Dorchester Pottery Works successfully produced commercial and industrial stoneware for many years. Dorchester Pottery’s wares evolved over the years from primarily agricultural products to decorated tablewares.
When Henderson died in 1928, his son, Charles, and daughter-in-law, Ethel Hill Henderson, took over the business. Ethel had been a clothing and design teacher at Dorchester High School, and it was she who in 1940 introduced the Pottery’s line of distinctive gray and blue tableware.

_____

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1925 Dorchester Pottery

Dorchester Historical Society Holiday Party

Dorchester Historical Society Holiday Party, Sunday, Dec. 9th, 2 pm

Welcome Home to the William Clapp

House, the “newest” of the 3 homes

maintained by Dorchester Historical Society.

Built in 1806, the house is a fine example

of a country Federalist-period mansion.

 

Enjoy food and refreshments, as well as

holiday music to put you in the holiday spirit!

Buy holiday gifts in the shop.

Admission is by donation of any amount.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on Dorchester Historical Society Holiday Party