Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1570
The building at 15-17 Grant Place is the subject of an application to demolish. The Boston Landmarks Commission staff recommended that the Commissioners conduct a hearing under Article 85 Demolition Delay. I believe the property owner presented information last Tuesday at a community meeting. The hearing before the Commissioners is scheduled for Tuesday, June 28th in room 900 of City Hall. If the Commissioners vote for a delay, the property owner will have to wait 90 days before receiving the permit to demolish. In this time frame interested parties who oppose demolition could approach the owner with offers to purchase or with alternative ideas about how the property might be used although the owner does not have to entertain the offers.
It appears that the building at 15 Grant Place may have at one time been the Ruggles Furniture Factory. The 1850 map shows the Ruggles house adjacent to Washington Street and the factory symbol behind.
Ruggles opened his furniture factory in the early nineteenth century, and it became a flourishing business with 32 apprentices at one time. The history of furniture-making in Dorchester has not been studied. We know that Stephen Badlam made furniture in Lower Mills in the late 18th and early 19th century, but it is possible that Ruggles was the first with a factory employing others.
Lower Mills has a long history of commerce and industry including its best known company the Walter Baker & Co., chocolate manufacturers. Briefly we know of other factories: a gunpowder mill, a playing card factory, textile factories, starch mills, paper mills, Mason Regulator Company, Cain office furniture factory, Strangman carriage factory and planing mill, Ripley office furniture factory, and Simpson’s refrigerator factory. The Ruggles factory therefore has a place in the context of the industrial history of Lower Mills, a spot convenient for shipping with access to the ocean through the Neponset River. Dorchester had other famous industries located at short distances from Lower Mills including the Gleason pewter/silverplating factory and the Putnam horse-shoe nail factory. Dorchester has the potential to be an excellent place for the study of the industrialization of America in the Federal era and throughout the 19th century.
Ownership history of the property from maps:
1831 house belonging to Ruggles appears adjacent to Washington Street
1850 house plus factory back on Grant Place appear on map
1858 Steam Cabinet Manfy may be where 15 Grant Place is located.
1874 several buildings including #15 on property owned by Edward H.R. Ruggles
1882 several buildings including #15 on property owned by Ed H. Ruggles
1884 several buildings including #15 on property owned by Ed H. Ruggles
1889 several buildings including #15 on property owned by E.H.R. Ruggles
1894, 1898, 1904, 1910 buildings at back end of Grant place including #15 owned by Susan V. Carter
1918 no. 15 owned by Robert & Annie Leggett
1933 no. 15 owned by Helena B. Trefrey
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