USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > Historical sketches of Brookline, Mass. > Part 2
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* Since this was written some of these buildings have given place to new ones, and some have other occupants.
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21
FIRST PUBLIC COACHES.
present stores of Russell, Brown, Doherty, and De Frees, and were afterwards moved to their present situation. The spot where Lyceum Hall stands was vacant for sev- eral years.
The first line of coaches which was established be- tween Brookline and Boston, was owned by a Mr. Spurr. Perhaps we should have said the first public carriage, as there was but one, a sort of small stage which went to Boston and returned twice a day, and the rate of fare was fixed at twenty-five cents.
Mr. Spurr built and occupied the house now used as the Massachusetts Infant Asylum, and his stage started from the " Punch Bowl." This was about 1816 or 1817. For want of patronage it was discontinued after a year or two.
Perhaps if that generation had been less hardy or less energetic, Mr. Spurr's enterprise would have succeeded better, but some of the brave women of the times thought twenty-five cents altogether too much to pay the stage-driver, and so they walked to Boston, after their house-work was done, over Roxbury Hill and the Neck, made their purchases, and walked home with their parcels in their hands. The mother of one of our prominent cit- izens made a practice of doing this, though in possession of abundant means for riding, had she chosen to do so.
The New York mail stage passed through the town once or twice a week ; the Uxbridge stage three times a week, but these did not accommodate Brookline travel. After a few years another line of Brookline stages was started, and with more or less success struggled along for several years ; and then a regular stage from Brighton was established, which was driven by Mr. Sumner Well- man, a gentlemanly and accommodating man who soon won the respect of all his Brookline patrons.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
When Mr. Wellman gave up driving, he was suc- ceeded by Mr. B. W. Hobart, so long known as an affable conductor, and now station master at the Boston and Albany Railroad Station. There were other regular Brookline stages after awhile, which accommodated the town till the Brookline Branch Railroad was opened.
On the left or south side of the street as one enters the village from Boston, lay the Ward farm, for many years the property of John, Samuel, and Henry Ward. It remained a part of Roxbury till this family was nearly extinct, at least in name, in this vicinity, and was sold by the heirs to the Brookline Land Company in 1860. A part of the land and the old buildings remained in possession of Sylvester Kimball, who had married into the Ward family ; but within a short time has been sold for house lots. It was a beautiful tract of land, finely watered and wooded, and during its existence as a farm cultivated with great care. It included nearly all the land from Pond Avenue to Chestnut Street, and once nearly all from Washington Street to Jamaica Pond, being a part of Governor Leverett's allotment.
Among the old places of interest in and about the vil- lage, was once an old chocolate mill. This was accessi- ble from the street by the lane through what was lately the estate of S. Kimball, passing the old Ward house, lately burned. It was situated where the water finds its outlet from Willow Pond. There was a large pond there then, receiving surplus water from Jamaica Pond ; also a dam and flume, parts of which are still to be seen. After some time, the old mill having ceased to be used for its original purpose, a forge was established here, and the water-power used to run a trip-hammer. An English- man named Montague kept the place, and manufactured hoes and shovels. About the beginning of the last war
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THE BARNARD HOUSE.
with England, a Mr. Faxon of Roxbury hired this prop · erty, and cast cannon, which were used during the war.
The old flume is on the right of Pond Avenue, is well grass grown, and partially concealed by bushes ; and the old dam has a row of willow trees growing upon it. The aqueduct subsequently built to convey Jamaica Pond water to Boston, took all the surplus water, thus reducing the pond on the Ward place, and destroying the water- power. The place has since undergone many alterations under the hands of the Brookline Land Company. Mr. Faxon, who made the cannon, removed his business to Roxbury, where he built the first stone building on " Fax- on's Hill," so called, in front of the stone quarries. It was originally but one story high, and of its present length, but was subsequently carried up two or more stories.
On the street in the village, on the site of the house and yard of the Barnard place, stood until a few years ago, a long, old house, of the style called a " ten-footer." This house was originally a part of the barracks used by the Americans at the siege of Boston, and after the dis- lodgment of the British was bought by Mr. James Pierce, and removed from its location on Parker's Hill to this spot, where it stood till torn down by the late Mr. Bar- nard. Some excellent people, now passed away, and others still living in our town, were born beneath its roof.
Mr. Pierce was a native of Dorchester, and a brother of Rev. Dr. Pierce, and long a member of the choir of the First Church. Whether living in a house which had once served the Revolutionary soldiers as a barrack inspired him with patriotic fervor or not, we do not know, but when he was seventy years of age he walked to Con- cord, Mass., and back, on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the battle monument, to hear Web-
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
ster's oration, a distance of eighteen iniles each way. Mr. Pierce died in 1826. His widow, a much beloved lady of the olden style, survived him several years.
As all the residents on that side of the street were citi- zens of Roxbury, they were obliged to send their children to its distant schools, and go there also to "Town Meet- ing." It was very inconvenient ; and in the year 1844, Mr. J. Lyon and other citizens petitioned to be annexed to Brookline. The request was granted, and the town lines so adjusted as to include the whole village. There was no post-office in Brookline until after 1820. It is a little singular that the first Brookline post-office was kept in Roxbury, at the tailor's shop of Mr. Phippen, for two or three years. It was the building next west of the Metropolitan Railroad stable and car house.
After Mr. Phippen, the late Oliver Whyte, Esq., was postmaster ; and the office was kept in the grocery store of Whyte & Sumner, in the building which was removed two or three years ago to make room for Whyte's Block ; and here it remained till 1840. Mr. Whyte's successor was S. S. C. Jones. Mr. Whyte also held the office of Town Clerk for over thirty years. He is still well re- membered by all who knew him for his venerable pres- ence and courteous manners. And here, in passing, we cannot forbear an allusion to his beloved and honored widow, who has so recently passed from among us. Long will her memory be green in the hearts of all who knew her ; and the recollection of her cheerful, unselfish, and beautiful old age, cheer and sustain others whose faces are turned toward the sunset, and who feel their steps growing tremulous as they approach the silent river.
Another of the venerable houses of the village, fast go- ing to ruin, is the old house next east of the brick black- smith's shop. It takes something like a flight of imagi-
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OLD FAMILIES.
nation to recall the time when this house and the one next it were attractive abodes; yet there are many who can remember when it was a pleasant family mansion. with fresh paint and green blinds, and a grassy yard in front inclosed with a neat white fence.
This house was probably built for Edward Devotion, who was a prominent man in the town, in the early part of the last century, as he moved hither from what is now known as " the old Babcock house," and died here in 1784.
The house was next occupied by Mr. Thomas Brewer, who was a blacksmith, and built the brick shop before the Revolution. In this old house Mr. Brewer lived for many years, and his children intermarried with other old Brookline families. Now, the very name is extinct in Brookline, as of many another old family. One mem- ber, a nephew, bearing the name of Thomas Aspinwall Brewer, still lives, a resident these many years in Macon, Ga. The old house, after the Brewers ceased to occupy it, passed into the hands of Mr. Lemuel Foster, who for many years carried on blacksmithing in the shop adjoin- ing. He built the modern house on Walnut Street op- posite Whyte's Block, and resided there several of the last years of his life.
Contemporary with these families was that of the Davenports, the elder Mr. D. having married a Miss Brewer. The old house at the entrance of Walnut Street was built by him, and his long life was passed there. Mr. Davenport was a tailor by trade ; and on the site of the block next east of the Brookline House, so called, he had a store ; at first, a sort of tailor's shop, with small wares in the dry goods line for sale. Mr. Davenport had no children, but adopted a nephew, who rejoiced in
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
the Scripture name of Jerathmiel, but which was merci- fully shortened into " Jerry," for common usage.
As the old gentleman grew feeble with advancing years, the nephew took the shop, which he stocked with dry goods and groceries, the tailor's business having been taken up by a Mr. Phippen, in the next building east. The store was an old gambrel roof building one story high, gable end to the street. In this building a singular accident occurred which is said to have caused the death of the elder Mr. Davenport. At that time, a slaughter- house was kept on the Ward place ; and one day an ox, which had been struck but not killed, broke loose from the slaughter-house, rushed madly up the street and dashed into this store, knocking down the old gentleman and so injuring him that he never recovered from the effects, but died not long after.
Some years afterward, Mr. Jerry Davenport tore down the old store and built a modern two-story one which has since been remodeled to its present form. In front of the old store were two very large buttonwood trees, a pump, and a long watering-trough. Shade trees and plenty of fresh water by the way-side for man and beast, were a part of the good old customs that should never have been allowed to fall into disuse.
Jerry Davenport, as he was familiarly called, was as much one of the village institutions as the old " Punch Bowl." His ruddy face, erect figure, short steps, and ready jokes are well remembered, and also his twenty- seven years' courtship, his slyly-planned marriage so quickly detected, and the Calithumpian serenade which followed, making night hideous, from Heath Street to Corey's Hill. Neither will his sudden death be soon for- gotten ; nor the singular circumstance of his body being taken from the tomb a day or two after burial, and set
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27
MR. LYON AND MR. BROWN.
upright in the coffin to be photographed. "Alas ! poor . Yorick."
The two buildings next west of the old grocery store above mentioned were, when new, occupied the one by Dr. Downer's family, the doctor having died, and the other by Mr. Hancock's family. A generation later there was intermarriage between these families. About the year 1819, two young men, Mr. J. Lyon and Mr. W. H. Brown, commenced business in the village - Mr. Lyon being a wheelwright, and Mr. Brown a harness-maker - in a shop which was built for them in the westerly end of the old " Punch Bowl " out-buildings, by Mr. Laughton, for many years the proprietor of this famous old tavern. When the time came for the destruction of these build- ings, these young men removed their business - Mr. Brown to a new shop, next to Baker's present paint-shop, and Mr. Lyon to the opposite side of the street up the yard to the Hancock house, as it was then called, which he had hired and was occupying. Subsequently this house and the one now called the " Brookline House," became Mr. Lyon's property. Here he became widely known and well patronized in his business, and earned the reputation of making wheels that would " never wear out," so thoroughly was his work done. Mr. Lyon, after many years of faithful toil in Brookline, sold out and re- tired to Lancaster, Mass .*
Mr. Brown purchased the house at the foot of Vil- lage Lane of a Mr. Barry, a hatter, who was its original owner ; and here he spent the remainder of his days. Mr. Brown was for many years identified with the First Par- ish, as a musician, before an organ was aspired to, and contributed his share unfailingly from Sunday to Sunday through summer and winter, in the stirring melody with which the old congregations worshipped.
* He died in February, 1873.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
The old house now called the Brookline House has had a multitude of tenants, in various useful callings, in its better days, it being for several years the location of the post-office, under the care of Mr. S. S. C. Jones.
We will now retrace our steps a short distance, to the corner of Brookline Avenue. Before the Mill-dam was built, for nearly a hundred years there stood, in the rear of the present gas-works a dwelling-house, with a large yard in front of it ; east of this, where the roadway is now, was a small school-house belonging to " Roxbury
Precinct." The ground sloped down, till the grassy up- land joined the marsh on this side of Muddy River, which was then from forty to fifty feet wide. In the rear of the dwelling-liouse above mentioned was a bit of orchard or garden place which sloped northward to the marsh, which was overflowed with deep water at every tide. This house, with all the land adjoining on both sides of Muddy River, was in ancient times the property of the Griggs family. As early as 1635, the name of George Griggs appears in the annals of Muddy River. From that time downward the name is constantly found in the records of the town.
On the opposite side of Muddy River, nearly opposite Heath Street, stood another ancient house which is barely recollected by some of the oldest inhabitants, and this was also the property of one of the Griggs families. George Griggs, the doctor previously mentioned, inher- ited the ancient house on the site of the gas-works, and built early in the last century, or at least before the Rev- olution, the old house, now for these many years a tene- ment house, and known sometimes as the " Tontine," but of late years as "the long house." The western half, with the ornamental portico over the front door, was afterward added by Dr. Downer. Dr. Griggs did not
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AGREEMENT TO BUILD A DAM.
remove the old house which he had inherited, and at his death it became the property of his daughter. He lived to a great age, and died in the latter part of the last cen- tury.
A curious old paper, dated 1721, contains the auto- graph of George Griggs, who if he was the same who was afterwards the doctor, must have been quite a young man at that time. This paper is a bond or agreement between Joseph Craft, George Griggs, and William Heath (afterwards the General), to " build a dam ajoyning to Muddy River Bridge." This must have been where Washington Street crosses " the creek " or Muddy River, now the boundary line separating Brookline from Bos- ton, as there was no other bridge over Muddy River at that time. The road was low, and the tide-water went far up the marshes and lowlands.
The Heath property lay along both marshes and up- lands west and south of Heath Street, abutting upon what is now " the Ward farm," or Brookline Land Com- pany's property. Where the Craft lands lay we are not informed, except that it included all that lay on both sides of the street, for some distance above and below the old house on Tremont Street, which bears the date of 1709 on the chimney.
George Griggs' part of the agreement read as fol- lows : -
" In order to building a dam ajoyning to muddi River Bridge I Gorge Griggs of Roxbury do hereby offer and Ingage one half rod wide next sd Rode which shall be for Building a dam on and that I will pay one pound to the proprietors Besides my Equail proportion to aid in Building sd Dam provided the Northeron face of said Dam shall be made with a good stone wall four feet high so far as is needful to make a Dam."
" February 24, 1721.
GEORGE GRIGGS."
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
It would be interesting to know whether this dam was ever built, and if so, when it was removed. The mead- ows south of the street were formerly flooded, and as be- fore stated there was water power enough from Willow Pond to run a chocolate mill, and afterwards a trip ham- mer in a blacksmith's shop at the point where the brook flows from the pond. But the dam now surmounted by a row of willows, next Willow Pond, is not " ajoyning Muddy River Bridge," and we have sought in vain for information among the old inhabitants and old documents respecting it. The only reason for thinking of this dam in connection with Willow Pond, is that William Heath agrees in his part of the document that " the stones shall be taken out of the west end of my pasture Lying on the south side of the Great hill, taking all that is movable that I shall appoint." Perhaps the dam was eventually built thus far up the meadows, instead of " ajoyning Muddy River Bridge."
Dr. Geo. Griggs left one child, a daughter, who became the wife of Capt. Wm. Wyman ; and the house and land now occupied by the Gas Company, including some land now covered by Brookline Avenue, some marsh land and many acres now on the Boston side of Muddy River, all originally belonging to this estate, were long known as the Wyman property. The descendants of this branch of the Griggs family are still in existence under various names.
Mary Griggs was very beautiful, and quite an heiress. A large tract of land belonged to ler in Brookline and Roxbury, and much more in Brighton, Newton, and Need- ham. She married in opposition to the wishes of her parents, and lived an uncongenial and most unhappy life. It was by marriage with her daughter that Dr. Dow- ner became connected with this family and its possessions.
١٠
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HOUSES OF CAPTAIN WYMAN AND DR. DOWNER.
The original Griggs house, which the old doctor would not have removed when it became untenable, was held with equal tenacity by Captain Wyman, who would neither sell, repair, nor destroy it; and it stood until it leaned over with age and fell piece by piece into the cellar. A gale of wind (some say the September gale of 1816) finished it. There are persons now living who can re- member playing among the beams of it in their child- hood.
When the Mill-dam was built and the Brookline branch of it opened, in 1821, it cut off Captain Wyman's yard. Afterwards a blacksmith's shop was built on the east cor- ner of the avenue, which was after a number of years moved across the street into the lot now bordering on Pond Avenue. After Captain Wyman's death and the sale of his property, the old house now owned by the Gas Company was kept as a tavern for several years, with the sign of the Punch Bowl; but it had little except local patronage, and that of the lowest sort, and was finally given up:
The houses of Captain Wyman and Dr. Downer both originally set back further from the street than at present, as the widenings which have taken place from time to time have cut off the yards. Captain Wyman's house had cherry trees about it ; and on the east side, before the street cut off his ground, there were green grass and flower-beds. Many persons can remember when " the Downer house " or "long house " had a broad green yard shaded by tall buttonwoods and two Lombardy poplars, while a beautiful elm was between the two houses. The whole village was beautifully shaded from one end to the other, until within thirty years, with fine large elms and buttonwoods.
Dr. Downer was a skillful surgeon, though a hard,
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
rough man. A story is related of him which proves that he was a man of mettle. On the day of the battle of Lexington, in returning home toward night he met with or overtook a straggling British soldier in the field. They had a hand-to-hand fight, which resulted in the doctor's pinning the poor fellow to the ground with his bayonet, though he plead for mercy.
For several years there was a brewery kept in one end of this old house, and an old malt-house stood on the opposite side of the street. After Dr. Downer's death, a Dr. Sylvan came to the village, and took up his resi- dence in this same house. He is best remembered as " the rain-water doctor," as he professed to cure nearly all " the ills that flesh is heir to" by the use of rain- water. Like more modern quacks who deal in more dangerous, though quite as useless nostrums, he found plenty of dupes for two or three years ; but at last public opinion became so excited against him that he was forced to take speedy leave of the town.
Lyceum Hall was built in 1841 by a stock company of Brookline gentlemen, and subsequently passed into the hands of Samuel A. Walker, its present owner. The post-office was removed here and kept for several years by different postmasters, and with the exception of a brief interval there has always been a well-kept grocery store in this building.
The hall was for several years quite a fashionable re- sort ; and balls, concerts, and Lyceum lectures were well sustained here by the élite of Brookline.
Near the old elm which stood in front of this building a skeleton was once dug up in the street. It was found in a sitting posture facing the east, and was thought to have been an Indian. This was during the excavations made by the Boston Water Company for the laying of
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ESTATE OF THOMAS WHITE.
the main pipe in 1848. The bones, which were much broken by the workmen who removed them, were de- livered to Dr. Edward A. Wild.
The fact of this solitary skeleton being found under this great tree, would seem to indicate that the tree itself was of great age, and of all the fine trees which once ornamented the village this was the only one which was allowed to die a natural death, all the rest having been ruthlessly destroyed when in full vigor.
An old landmark, quite recently removed, was the double house between Boylston and Walnut streets, on the site of Whyte's block. Its original owner was Mr. Thomas White (the family name was originally spelt White, but was changed by one branch of the family to Whyte). The estate comprised not only all the build- ings and land bounded by three streets in the village, but also all the meadow, between Boylston Street and the north side of White Place, and west from Washing- ton Street nearly to Dr. Shurtleff's line, and much wood- land elsewhere.
The original house was the easterly building, and at first fronted on Washington Street ; a grocery store was kept for many years in the lower story, and dwelling apartments on the second floor. A long shed extended from the east side of the store as far out as the great elm, which was cut down two years ago when the block was built. Here was a pump in an excellent well of water.
The other part of the house extending westward was built by Mr. White for his daughter, who resided there for a while, but subsequently that branch of the family left town, and Mr. White occupied it himself, having let the store and apartments over it.
The store was kept for many years after Whyte and Sumner, by Mr. George W. Stearns, the father of Messrs.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
John G. and George W. Stearns of this town, and who is remembered as an honest, kind, and most worthy citizen. After Lyceum Hall was built and the grocery opened in that building, this old house was remodeled, the shed and pump removed, and a large and beautiful yard, adorned with shrubbery and vines, occupied the place of the old out-buildings. The village probably was in its best attire from 1840 to 1855, or thereabouts; the old houses were all in good condition, and the yards tastefully kept, while the more modern houses were then so new as to look fresh and agreeable. In the front or easterly part of this house lived for several years Dr. Joseph Hobbins, a most skillful English physician, who won the warm regard of his numerous patients. He was suc- ceeded by Dr. Wm. Dexter, who afterwards removed to Jamaica Plain.
Another physician, a Dr. Barrus, lived for several years in the old house called " the Brookline House ; " and in more recent times Dr. E. A. Wild, now more widely known as " the General," was for a while a boarder in the house of Mr. Lyon.
Our present excellent Dr. Francis was located at the entrance to Walnut Street during the first three years of his practice in Brookline; so that until within a com- paratively few years there has been most of the time some physician in the town below the railroad bridge.
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