Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1806

Now known as Little House, the Channing Unitarian Church was organized in 1900 and was located on East Cottage Street, near Dorchester Avenue. 

Postcard. Caption on front: Channing Church, Dorchester.  Postmarked Uphams Corner Station, Dec. 28, 1907. With one-cent stamp.

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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. 1805

Today we have a postcard showing St. Margaret’s Church

St. Margaret’s R. C. Church, Dorchester, Mass.  Postmarked Dorchester Station Sep 2, 1908 with one-cent stamp.  On verso: The Rotograph Co., N.Y. City Printed in Germany 56479.

Notes from Boston Landmarks Commission neighborhood description:

St. Margaret’s Roman Catholic Church, by virtue of its tall, distinctive spire, is the major landmark in the area. St. Margaret’s was built in 1899-1904 at 802 Columbia Road from designs provided by Keeley and Houghton. St Margaret’s parish was set off from the older parish of St. Peter’s, June 10, 1893. The first services of the new parish were conducted in a hall on Cottage Street on July 16, 1893. From November of 1893 until 1900, the congregation worshipped in a wooden church on Boston Street, now the site of 180 to 190 Boston Street. In the mean time, the present 16-room rectory at 800 Columbia Road was completed in 1898.

The church was renamed for Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta when the St. Margaret’s parish and the St. William’s parish combined in 2004.  The rectory has been replaced with a school building in the past few 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. 1804

The Wiswall-Blackman house stands at 29 Adams Street.  Owners at different times were William Wiswall, Lemuel S. Balckman, William D. Swan, Samuel Swan, and Robert T. Swan.  The Boston Landmarks Commission estimates the date of construction as about 1820 and says the house appears on the 1831 map.  Their survey form describes the house as a 5 bay hip-roofed Federal house with brick ends.  The porch and siding have been replaced.

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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. 1803

I know it’s not really time to think about Thanksgiving, but I saw my friend Bill Bauer this weekend, who offered a memory of Dorchester in the 1930s.

Bill’s dad owned a bakery on Washington Street from 1931 to 1945.  This memory is from the year Bill was 13 years old.  Bill is 88 now or will be in a week or two, so this was 75 years ago, or 1937.  The Ashmont Grille was a cafeteria-style restaurant at that time, but at Thanksgiving they roasted turkeys for the neighbors.  Bill’s dad went to the Ashmont Grille to cook turkeys for people from the neighborhood.  People would bring in their turkeys, and Bill’s dad would put them in the oven to roast at the proper time, do the basting, etc.  Then at the pre-arranged time, the neighbors would come by up to pick up their cooked birds.   Bill’s dad was the cook in the family, but that day he was so exhausted the family came to the Grille and ate their Thanksgiving dinner at the cafeteria.

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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 Descendants Celebrations, 2012

Saturday, June 23^rd at 2 pm

Illustrated Book talk: Boston Organized Crime by Emily Sweeney

Sunday, June 24^th

Super Dorchester Trolley Tour about 2 ½ hours.  Noon at 195 Boston Street, $35 incl. lunch

Friday, June 29    Art Show Reception

6 – 8 pm  Opening reception for exhibit: Dorchester Artists Past & Present in collaboration with Dorchester Arts Collaborative

 Saturday, June 30^th    Talk, Art Show, Open Houses

10 – 4 Dorchester Artists Past & Present art exhibit continues

10-4 Open houses at Dorchester Historical Society historic buildings

Saturday, June 30^th at 10 am  St. Botolph’s Town – Boston, England, and Boston, Massachusetts

Wilfred Holton will speak about St. Botolph’s Town: Boston, England the Founding of Our Boston with a few notes from Earl Taylor about Dorchester, England, and Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Sunday, July 1

Art Show continues 10 am – 4 pm

Dorchester’s Collections wins award! 

You may have seen the message that the Dorchester Historical Society’s book Dorchester’s Collections: Illustrating a Community, 1630-1930, published for 2011’s Dorchester Descendants Celebration has won First Place in the New England Museum Association Publications Competition for books costing over $10.  You can buy a copy by sending a check for $25 to DHS, 195 Boston Street, 02125 or you can go to the sales shop tab on the website www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1801

 You may have seen the message that the Dorchester Historical Society’s book Dorchester’s Collections: Illustrating a Community, 1630-1930, published for 2011’s Dorchester Descendants Celebration has won First Place in the New England Museum Association Publications Competition for books costing over $10.  You can buy a copy by sending a check for $25 to DHS, 195 Boston Street, 02125 or you can go to the sales shop tab on the website www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org

Today we have another view of the Gilbert Stuart School on Richmond Street.  And yes in response to questions, it was named for the artist.  We don’t have this actual post card in our possession, so we don’t know the mailing date.  Interesting that the school is identified as being in Milton – seems as if some people thought Lower Mills was totally in Milton.

In reference to yesterday’s image, Doug Wynne sent the following:

Thanks for this image, evocative of so many memories.  My mother, my three siblings and I all graduated from “the Gilbie.”  In fact, one of my mother’s teachers (Mary Lanigan) was one of mine.  My mother had her in Miss Lanigan’s first year, and I had her in her last year.  One of the strongest influences in my love for learning was Miss Grace Hickey.  All four of us Wynne kids had her for third grade, but while I was in the fourth grade (Miss Mary Welch), Miss Hickey switched to fifth grade, so I was privileged to be taught by her for a second time.  (without being held back!)  My Aunt Stella Kennedy and her family lived in the house directly behind the Village Tavern, and her front yard ended at the chain-link fence at the back of the Gilbie’s schoolyard.  Many mornings, I would leave home (18 River Street) early and my aunt would feed me a second breakfast, then hold up the bottom of the fence so I could slip under when the bell rang.  I can still remember the names of at least ten of my classmates (one of whom was the Best Man at my wedding) and what they looked like, and could probably do even more if I could find my fifth or sixth grade class picture.  I guess early imprints truly last a lifetime.  Thanks again for the picture.

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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. 1800

The Gilbert Stuart School at 27 Richmond Street stood where the Lower Mills branch of the Boston Public Library is located today.  The school building was constructed in 1896 and closed in 1975.

Postcard. Caption on front: Gilbert Stuart School, Dorchester Lower Mills, Mass.  2335 Published by G. W. Gragg.  Postmarked June 17, 1907, Dorchester Centre Station with one-cent stamp.  On verso: N.E. Paper & Stationery Co. Mfrs, Ayer, Mass.

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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. 1799

Illustration of the birthplace house of Edward Everett at the corner of Columbia Road and Boston Street.  Published in Appleton’s Journal, May 31, 1873.

You may need to zoom in to see the picture at its best.

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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