Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1693

Postcard. Caption on front: Washington and Harvard Sts., Dorchester, Mass. Postally unused.  On verso: No. 1363. Pub. by Boston Post-Card Co., 12 Pearl St.  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. 1691

Today we have a close-up detail from John Foster’s headstone from 1681. 

John Foster, the fourth child of Hopestill and Mary (Bates) Foster, was the earliest engraver in what is now the United States and was the first printer in Boston. He was not the sour Puritan of legend, for he played the fiddle and is believed to have painted the likenesses of some of his contemporaries, John Davenport and Richard Mather, among others. He excised a likeness of Mather on a wood block and printed an engraving of him. He was the author an almanac for which he made his own astronomical calculations.

John Foster graduated from Harvard College in 1667 and began to teach in Dorchester in October 1669. He began cutting in wood as early as 1671 and he set up a printing press in Boston in 1675. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 32.

John Foster made “A Map of New England” to illustrate William Hubbard’s Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New England printed in Boston in 1677.

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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. 1691

Built in 1901, the Roger Wolcott School was located at Norfolk & Morton Streets.  It seems to have been named for the 39^th Governor of the Commonwealth who served as Acting Governor in 1896 and was elected to serve as Governor from 1897-1901.  The school suffered a fire ca. 1980 and was taken down. The location is now the site of a drugstore.

Postcard. Caption on front: Roger Wolcott School, Dorchester.  Postally unused.

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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. 1690

Located at the corner of Washington Street and Welles Avenue, the Dorchester Temple Baptist Church was designed in 1889 by architect Arthur H. Vinal. The building is an unusual Boston example of a Shingle style church with powerful intersecting gabled roof forms and a tower showing the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

Postcard. Caption on front: Dorchester Temple. Postally unused.  On verso: No. 435. Pub. by Boston Post-Card Co., 12 Pearl St.

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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. 1689

Today we have a personal favorite postcard: Postcard. Caption on front: Walter Baker’s Mill. Milton, Dorchester, Mass. 1493 Postally unused. On verso: Pub. by M. Abrams, Roxbury, Mass.

Baker’s Chocolate is, of course, the most famous manufacturer in Dorchester’s history. We are looking directly at the Pierce Mill.  The Adams mill is behind turning the corner on Adams Street.  The three-story structure on the Dorchester side of the river is the Preston Mill, and the mill partly cut off on the right on the Milton side of the river is the Ware Mill.

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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. 1688

In 1885 a 26-foot high fountain was installed in memory of Theodore Lyman, Jr., Mayor of Boston in 1834-1835.  Lyman was called the first to introduce water into the city.  The fountain disappeared in the mid 20^th century. 

Postcard. Caption on front: The Fountain, Eaton Square, Dorchester, Mass. 105379. On verso: Published by American Art Post Card Co., Boston, Mass.   Postmarked May 31, 1933.

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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. 1687

 You could check out a radio program from WGBH about the rain garden at Peabody Square

http://www.wgbh.org/articles/A-Garden-Where-Rain-Is-Always-Welcome-4976

and you can see new solar power panels if you drive by the gas tank on the Expressway.  The following is from NationalGrid’s website

http://www.nationalgridus.com/masselectric/solar/dorchester.asp

Overview
The Dorchester project will be located in a prominent location in Greater Boston, next to the famous multicolored liquefied natural gas tank (LNG). This was formerly a manufactured gas plant site, and as a result the land is contaminated and has limited reuse capability, making it ideal for a solar project. The panels will be easily seen from Route I-93, showing Boston as a city that is serious about its renewable energy goals. This is the largest of our planned upcoming projects.

Project Phase
We received regulatory approval for the project in October of 2009. Construction of the system is expected to begin in 2010. At the moment, we are in the process of meeting with licensing and zoning boards.

Environmental Benefits
Over a 30 year period, this system is expected to save approximately 4,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 1,800 pounds of nitrous oxide, and 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide. This is equivalent to the emissions produced in generating electricity for 260 average households.

Specifications
The site will include 6300 solar panels spread out over 6 acres of land. This project is designed to generate 1300 kW of DC power, which will yield nearly 1600 MWh per year. All panels will be mounted on the ground with a fixed inclination and position.

Project Highlights:

Maximum Capacity:

1300 kW

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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. 1686

This old favorite view of many of you is still puzzling.  Whose sheep?

Postcard. Caption on front: Winter home of the sheep, “Franklin Field,” Dorchester. No. 2 Pub. by Boston Post Card Co.  Postmarked Dec 31, 1905. Roxbury Station, Boston. 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. 1685

St. Mary’s Infant Asylum was founded in 1872 under the charge of the Sisters of Charity. It was first started by the “White Bonnet” Sisters on the old Seaver estate at the corner of Homes Avenue and Bowdoin Street.  The house at the Bowdoin Street location was inconvenient for the work of the Asylum, and in 1883 the institution was moved to Jones’ Hill at Upham’s Corner.  The St. Margaret’s Hospital building appears on the campus in the 1918 atlas but was not shown in the 1910 atlas.

Postcard. Caption on front: St. Margarite Hospital near Uphams Corner, Dorchester, Mass. Postally unused. Dated Aug 23, 1918.  On verso: Published by German Novelty Co., Boston, 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. 1684

St. Peter’s parish was organized in 1872.  Its young pastor Father Peter Ronan had the vision to push for the construction of a great church and convinced the archdiocese to hire Patrick Keely, an American Gothicist, to design the new building.

Postcard. Caption on front: Dorchester, Mass. St. Peter’s Church and Parsonage. Postmarked Oct 6, 1908. Dorchester Station, Boston. With one cent stamp. On verso: The Hugh C. Leighton Co., Manufacturers, Portland, ME, U.S.A. 27887.

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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