Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1924

Scan of illustration from King’s Hand-Book of Boston. Boston: Moses King Corporation, 1889. 9th ed. King’s Hand-Book says that the Consumptives Home Grove Hall was incorporated in 1870, six years after it was founded by Dr. Charles Cullis, who is still the manager.

“Grove Hall has gained a fame all through this country and others as occupying a unique and unrivalled position in the treatment and cure of a disease hitherto regarded as incurable. The originator and manager is Dr. Charles Cullis, and under his able direction this institution, incorporated in 1870, has grown steadily until it has attained its present preeminence. It has relied entirely on voluntary contributions, and from this source around $600,000 have now been received, and nearly 2,000 patients have received treatment. The main building, known as the Consumptives Home, is a large and elegant mansion, capable of accommodating eighty patients. There are other buildings, including two homes for children, one for those suffering from diseases of the spine, and a free chapel. When we remember that this great work was begun entirely without funds, and that no solicitation for aid has ever been made, but what has come has been voluntary, no wonder that Dr. Cullis calls it a work of faith, and believes in answer to prayer. The system which has been maintained since the beginning has been that of the famous Orphan Asylum of Muller, and it admits all poor persons sick with consumption, without home or friends, whether white or black, old or young, foreign or native. The success and fame of this noble work is no less an honor to Dorchester, than it is an unmeasured blessing to thousands suffering from this scourge of New England which has been combatted so unsuccessfully in the past. That it will continue to grow in prosperity is no less the desire than the assurance of all who have known it.”

in Historical Sketch of Dorchester. From: Leading Business Men of Back Bay, South End, Boston Highlands, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester.  Published 1888 Mercantile Publishing Company, Boston.

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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. 1923

Bronze plaque in Watertown.  Another plaque describes the scene depicted:

Here landed Roger Clap and the Dorchester men, June, 1630.

We went up Charles River, until the river grew narrow and shallow, and there we landed our goods with much labor and toil, the bank being steep.  And night coming on, we were informed that there were hard by us three hundred Indians.  One Englishman that could speak the Indian language, (an old Planter) went to them and advised them not to come near us in the night, and they harkened to his counsel and came not.  In the morning some of the Indians came and stood at a distance off, looking at us but came not near us.  But when they had been a while in view, some of them came and held out a great bass towards us so we sent a man with a biscuit and changed the cake for the bass.  We had not been there many days, though by our diligence we had got up a kind of shelter to save our goods in, but we had order to come away from that place which was about Watertown unto a place called Mattapan, now Dorchester, because there was a neck of land fit to keep our cattle on.

From Roger Clap’s narrative.  Erected by the Historical Society of Watertown, 1947.

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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. 1922

Folded card with slots to hold dimes. Turn your chicken feed into a golden nest egg. Dorchester Savings Bank. copyright 1955.

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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. 1921

Photograph of sketch of John Marshall elementary school, 35 Westville Street, published in Boston Herald, January 12, 1971.  The school was designed to introduce open-space learning.

The principles of the plan were: Students working in multi-age groups, teachers as coaches, teams of teachers worked collaboratively with one another, spaces reconfigured to for large and small group projects and individual work, architects commissioned to design schools without walls, teachers given discretion to create new academic courses, and students direct their own learning.  It is my impression that educators later decided the plan was unsuccessful for the elementary grades, but there seems to be a resurgence of interest with the advent of new technologies

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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. 1920

Folded card with title: Save Dimes to Have Dollars.  Dorchester Savings Bank.  Spine title: Thrifty Savers Book. Copyright 1952.

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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. 1919

Photo of 43-45 Fremont Street, Mattapan.  The building is the subject of a demolition delay scheduled at the Boston Landmarks Commission on December 11th at 6:05 pm.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission has this building listed in its MACRIS website as the Edward Stern House also known as the Saint Angela Roman Catholic Church Convent.  The site says it was built about 1860 in the Greek Revival style.

The City of Boston assessing website shows the building under the address of 120 Babson Street.

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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. 1918

Folded card with title Piggie bank dime saver put out by the Dorchester Savings Bank, copyright 1954.  Inside there are slots to receive dimes with the cumulative total listed for each successive slot.  In this case, years have been written under each slot, so it seems that a child was intended to put in a dime each year.  The first year is 1935 although the card was copyright 1954, so I am guessing this card belonged to a coin collector.

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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. 1917

Architectural elevation and plan for semi-detached cottages, Dorchester, Massachusetts, designed by architect Frank E. Wallis, published in American Architect and Building News, January 24, 1885.

Does anyone know if this house exists?

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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. 1916

Historic New England has in its collections a set of architectural drawings by Jacob Luippold (c. 1846-1917).  Today’s illustration shows his elevation for the Philip Albret House, Dorchester, 1888.  Later directories show that Albret lived at 10 Folsom Street.  The 1889 map does not show a house at that location, but the 1894 map does with Albret’s name attached to it.

Today we have the architect’s elevation and a photo of the house as it is 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. 1915

The Codman Mansion on Codman Hill, built by Seth Thayer in 1790, and purchased by John Codman when he became pastor of Second Church in 1808, stood at the junction of Washington and Ogden Streets and Wilmington Avenue. Its address was 951 Washington Street although it sat high on the hill. As Codman’s family increased he put on several additions to what was originally just a square house. Ells were succeeded by ells until the house had the appearance of a ropewalk. After Codman’s death in 1847, his oldest son occupied the house for some years. The family later rented the house to a female boarding academy under Miss Dodge, and they later sold the property to Mrs. Cochran who ran a school as well.

The explosion of an oil stove in February, 1923, led to the fire that nearly demolished the house.  The building was razed the following year.

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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