Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1914

Postcard. Caption on front: Dorchester, Mass. St. Gregory’s Catholic Church. Erected 1863. Postmarked Jul 13, 1910. Dorchester Center Station, Boston, Mass. With one cent stamp. On verso: The Hugh C. Leighton Co., Manufacturers, Portland, ME., U.S.A.

The following is from http://www.stgregoryparish.com/about-us/parish-history

In 1844 a Catholic parish was formed in South Boston under the name of Saints Peter and Paul. Its territory included all of South Boston, Dorchester, Milton, Hyde Park, Canton and Stoughton. Prior to that time the Catholics of Dorchester and Milton went to church in West Quincy or in Roxbury. Many immigrants moved to southern Dorchester because they could find work in the mills along the Neponset River and in the large homes in Lower Mills and Milton Hill. The pastor of Saints Peter and Paul, Father Fitzsimmons, and his associates found it difficult to serve such a far-flung parish, and in 1847 found a lot on the corner of Washington Street and Churchill’s Lane across from Richmond Street in Lower Mills where they hoped to establish a new parish.

Anti-Catholic sentiment prompted Father Fitzsimmons to use a straw to purchase the property, but soon the news leaked out, and a group of citizens attempted to buy the land from Father Fitzsimmons at a price even higher than he had paid. He refused, but opposition grew when rumors circulated that he intended to open a burial ground on part of the property. The townspeople attempted to influence that state government to pass a law forbidding a cemetery to be opened without the consent of the mayor and aldermen of a city, or the selectmen of a town. The law did not pass, but the strong feeling was clear.

Father Fitzsimmons began building but ran out of money, and the bank holding the mortgage foreclosed. On July 4, 1854, the building was set on fire, and it burned to the ground. Speculation was that the church was blown up by the “Know-Nothings”, the political arm of the nativist movement. In December, 1862, Father Fitzsimmons named Thomas R. McNulty as pastor of a new parish including all of Dorchester, Milton, Hyde Park and a section of Quincy called Atlantic, Squantum. Soon after, Father McNulty purchased land on Dorchester Avenue in Lower Mills close to the site of the earlier unfinished church. Construction of a new church building at 2221 Dorchester Avenue in the Romanesque Revival Style began on August 16, 1863.

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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. 1912

Postcard. Everbody’s Getting it in Neponset, Mass.  And I’m no dead one either.  Circa 1910.

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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. 1912

I always like seeing the design on this record sleeve from a 45 rpm record put out by the Future Dads entitled Dorchester Summer.

There is a You Tube video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dhkIpd4QxU

The band is described on that site as:

Short lived Powerpop/Surf/New Wave band from Boston led by former Unnatural Axe member Richie Parsons. They released their Dorchester Summer titled EP on Modern Method Records in 1981. Bassist Lee Harrington also played with the great Neighborhoods.

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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. 1911

Postcard.  Caption on front: Sometimes the girls kiss each other in Dorchester but its only between times. Postmarked Dorchester Center Station Nov. 7, 1912.  A pennant card.

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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. 1910

Postcard. Caption on front: Soldiers Monument, Meeting House Hill, Dorchester, Mass.  105374  Postally unused. On verso: C.T. American Art. Circa 1920.

The Soldiers Monument lists the names of those who fell in the service of their country during the Civil War.

Names listed on the

East Tablet

H.W. Hall
T.B. Fox, Jr.
W.R. Porter
F.R. Barnard
Walter Humphreys
G.F. Boynton
J.H. Stimpson
A.W. Clapp
H.D. Burr
Otis Sumner
E.B. Tileston
George Holmes
R.T. Holmes
J.H. Bradshaw
G.H. Clark
W.E. Blake
B.F. Bartlett
Jas. Campbell
T.S. Boynton
R. Wesselhoeft
G.W. McElroy
W.F. Pope
E.F. Adams
H.A. Evans

North Tablet

Benjamin Stone, Jr.
E.C. Foster
C.A. Browne
O.J. Dodge
H.C. Foster
Patrick Collins
J. McGoverin
A.C. Stone
J.E. Robie
Isaac Williams
David Brown
John Marter
G.E. Tolman
Charles Pool
G.R. Baxter
S.H. Cox
Cunnison Deans
C.W. Richardson
E.Q. Richards
R.T. McGukin
F.H. Sumner
M.W. Stone
J.E. Bird
Alexander Musgrave

South Tablet

M.H. Warren
J.T. Black
Rufus Choate
M.M. Shepard
S.S. Chadwick
John B. Phelps
J.W. Templeman
C.H. Marsh
I.A. Howe
Dallas Southworth
H.A. Fuller
W.W. Richards
G.C. Millet
Augustus Deutling
J.O. Hill
S.W. Young
James Driscoll
G.L. French
J.E. Harris
John Doody
G.E. Lambert
S.B. Harris
G.H. French
Henry Morrow

West Tablet

W.G. Hewins
B.R. Pierce
Frank Carr
Andrew Fais
A.J. McIntire
Andrew Wilson
W.B. Gaskins
C.F. Dale
Jas. Teelan
J.H. Blackman
Harrison Glover
Lemuel Tileston
Sylvester Wheeler
M.O. Connor
J.C. Clapp
T.S. Dennett
Jeremiah Hendley
C.E. Tolman
G.O. Baxter
William Quigley
C.E. Hart
Fritz Goeth
J.W. Sterling
Geo. B. Young
Frederick Veit

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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. 1909

Postcard. Caption on front: The girls don’t allow you to get too gay in Dorchester, Mass.  But it’s not a slow town though.  Postally unused.  Pennant postcard. Circa 1910.

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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. 1908

Upham’s Corner is named for Amos Upham, who kept a general store at the corner of Dudley and Boston (now Columbia Road) Streets.

Amos Upham, eighth child of Lieutenant Phineas, was born atWeston,Mass.,March 11, 1789, after the death of his father.  He resided with his mother until a well-grown lad, when he was apprenticed to learn the baker’s trade.  In 1817 he came toDorchester, purchased a tract of land and established a grocery store at the place now known as Upham’s Corner, which he carried on for the rest of his life.  He was prominent citizen.  He was marriedDecember 28, 1819, to Miss Abigail Humphreys, daughter of Deacon James Humphreys, ofDorchester.  They were the parents of four children: James H.; Charles Amos, bornMarch 10, 1822; Abigail, who died at the age five and half years; and Amos, Jr., who died inPhiladelphiawhen about thirty-two years old.  Amos Upham, the father, was an active member of the old fire department.  He was a Free Mason and member of the First Church of Dorchester.   His death took placeJanuary 25, 1872.  His wife diedDecember 19,1878.

Source of text: American Series of Popular Biographies.MassachusettsEdition, 1891.

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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. 1907

In January, 1856, the Washington School opened in Neponset, combining the Stoughton and Neponset Schools, freeing up the name Stoughton. The school on River Street at the Lower Mills had been called the Winthrop School, but after a new building was opened in March, 1856, the name was changed to the Stoughton School in honor of Gov. William Stoughton, Dorchester’s most prominent citizen of the latter half of the seventeenth century.

The Eighteenth Annual Report of the Finances of the Town of Dorchester for the Year ending February 1, 1856 shows that G. J. F. Bryant was paid for drawings, working plans, etc. for this building.  Architect Bryant also designed the Everett School, the old Mather School, the Neponset School and the Gibson School in the 1850s.

Wikipedia reports: Gridley James Fox Bryant was a 19th century Boston architect and builder.  His work was seen in custom houses, government buildings, churches, schoolhouses, and private residences across the United States.   He was a leading proponent of the Boston “Granite” style, and together with Arthur Gilman he devised the Back Bay’s gridiron pattern. Some idea of his popularity as an architect may be had from the fact that 152 buildings that he designed were destroyed in the Boston fire of 1872, and he received commissions to rebuild 110 of them.

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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. 1906

27 Carruth Street circa 1900.

Scan of photograph published in The Extravaganza King by Anne Alison Barnet who tells the story of her ancestor.  This is the entertaining tale of Robert Barnet (1853-1933), a prosperous Boston sugar merchant, and the enormously popular musical theatricals he wrote and produced for the First Corps of Cadets, a volunteer militia of young upper-class Boston businessmen.  He and his family lived at 27 Carruth for a number of years.

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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. 1905

Tax bill to Lemuel Crane in the amount of 5 pounds -10 shillings -10 pence for state and town taxes.  John White, 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