USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > Historical sketches of Brookline, Mass. > Part 4
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A few years since Mr. Davis removed to his present residence, and the old homestead was sold.
Mr. Davis is too well known to need mention in this place ; yet we trust one may allude, without apology, to his services as a selectman of the town ; and he will ever be identified in the annals of the Handel and Haydn Society as one of its most enthusiastic members during the greater part of his long and useful life. During fifty years, Mr. Davis was at his stand in Faneuil Hall Mar- ket three hundred times a year.
In this neighborhood there stood another ancient house, when as yet the houses of the two Davises, on either side, were the only other dwellings fronting on the Square.
This building stood upon the site of a part of Panter's building, Hunting's grocery store,* and Mrs. West's house. It was known as " Dana's Tavern," and was kept for many years by Mr. Jonathan Dana. It was a large gam- brel-roofed house, with a row of sheds and out-buildings behind it reaching nearly across from Washington Street to Harvard Street.
* Now Howe's furniture store.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
This tavern was a great resort for country produce dealers, but never had as large a local patronage, or en- tertained as much fashionable company as the Punch Bowl, - as the latter had a large dancing-hall, which the Dana Tavern had not.
The easterly end of this building had a shop attached to it, in which Mr. Peter Parker, the original owner of the building, had a shop in which he worked at shoe- making. His son, John Parker, born in that house, be- came a very wealthy man, and his name is still perpetuated by "Parker's Hill," on which he lived, and " Parker Street," which passed his house. He held important and very successful contracts under the United States govern- ment during the second war with England.
There is an amusing incident connected with the old tavern which may not come amiss in this part of our record. There was a notorious thief, well known in Brookline and the adjoining towns, by the name of Tom Cook. He had many eccentricities, among which was a habit of stealing from the rich to give to the poor. In horse-stealing he was specially expert. He was frequent- ly arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment at " the Castle " (now Fort Indepen- dence), that being then the common prison for all of- fenders in Boston and vicinity.
On one occasion Tom stole a goose from a country- man's wagon, which was under the shed, at Dana's Tavern ; not, however, with generous designs for any of his poor proteges, but for the satisfying of his own appetite. But as an uncooked goose would be about as unsatisfactory as no goose at all, Tom resorted to the old school-house - school not being in session - to cook and devour it. The school-house was in what is now School Street, at the corner of Prospect Street, then concealed
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DANA'S TAVERN.
from observation on the east by a high hill. The nearest house was the great square old house on Harvard Street, which was removed two or three years ago from the corner of Harvard Avenue. It was occupied by Esquire Sharp, the School Committee and Justice of the Peace. The Squire with his sharp eye on the interests of the town, discovered a smoke arising from the school-house chimney, and as " where there is smoke there must be fire," he proceeded to reconnoitre, and caught Tom in the very act of roasting the goose. Laying the strong hand of the law upon him, he made him confess where he got the fowl, and march back with it, under his own escort, to the tavern ; and before the assembled inmates of the bar-room, gave him his choice to take, then and there, a public whipping, or be tried and sent to the Cas- tle. Tom considered briefly, and decided to take the whipping.
The countrymen agreed, and flourished their long whips upon him with such vigor, that Tom's appetite for roast goose was abated in a summary manner, and the punishment proved more effectual than his various sojourns at the Castle.
The same causes which tended to reduce the " Punch Bowl," caused the Dana Tavern to be discontinued as a public-house, and for several years it was let as a tene- ment house.
It was destroyed by fire in January, 1816. It was in the night ; and Benjamin Bradley, afterward the owner of " Bradley's Hill," saved the life of a woman and child by mounting a long ladder and taking them from an upper window.
. Let us hope this good deed was set down to his account.
In front of the old Dana Tavern, on ground that is now Harvard Square, there stood for many years the
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
only hay-scales in the place. (This was prior to the days of those alluded in the previous pages.) These were placed there by Dr. Aspinwall, Senior. They presented almost exactly the appearance of a gallows, there being a vertical beam with a horizontal one extending from it. To weigh a load with this clumsy contrivance the horses were detached, the wheels chained, and the wagon and its contents lifted bodily off the ground by the use of fifty-six pound weights successively applied till the result was reached. How they ascertained the fractional parts of fifty-six pounds we are not informed. This apparatus may have been useful but could hardly liave been orna- mental to the neighborhood.
With the exception of the hay-scales the ground for- merly occupied by the tavern and out-buildings remained vacant for several years after the fire. It was owned by the heirs of Jonathan Dana, one of whom was a minor . child living in Maine, the other a youth following the sea. The property was of course under guardianship.
In the year 1827, the few Baptists living in Brookline began to hold meetings in private houses in this neigh- borhood. There had been for several years before, gatherings of persons calling themselves " New Lights," who mostly met in the upper part of the town, who drew in all who for any reason had lost interest in the old or First Church. There were many shades of belief among these people, some of whom came out on the strong ground of Orthodoxy, and connected themselves with the churches of that faith at Brighton or Roxbury, .while others became Baptists, and joined the church of Father Grafton at Newton, or the churches at Roxbury or Cambridge.
The meetings held by the Baptists were soon too fully attended to be accommodated in private houses, and they
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THE BAPTIST CHAPEL.
began to think of securing a piece of ground on which to build a chapel.
But the spirit of the times was averse to religious toleration, and the old animus which drove Quakers behind carts in Boston, and banished Baptists to Rhode Island, had not wholly died out ; and an opposition was raised which aimed to prevent the success of the enter- prise, if possible.
The principal movers in the Baptist interest were Dea- cons Elijah and Timothy Corey, Deacon Thomas Griggs, David Coolidge, and Elijah Corey, Junior. This com- mittee were desirous of securing the land owned by the Dana heirs, and after some trouble and a visit to East- port, finally succeeded in hiring on a three years' lease that part of the land which belonged to the heir in Maine. They in the mean time had their timber got out for a chapel, and all ready to put together, hoping that when the other heir returned from sea they should be able to get possession of the remainder of the land.
The chapel was raised in the early part of 1828, and occupied in March as a place of worship, greatly to the surprise of the opposition, who little imagined how energetically their Baptist neighbors were at work. It scarcely seems credible, yet it is true, that a wealthy gentleman then residing in town, whose zeal for his own sect was more active than his love for his neighbor, actu- ally sent his carriage and horses regularly to the door of the Baptist Chapel, at evening service, to convey to Brighton to the Congregational meetings, any who could be induced to go.
In the mean time the heir returned from sea, and the guardian purchased for himself the much desired residue of the land.
On the 5th of June, 1828, thirty-six individuals, eleven
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
males and twenty-five females, were publicly organized as a church. The congregation at once became so large that their little new chapel would not hold them, and steps were soon taken to build a church. The five gentle- men above mentioned agreed to build it at their own expense, and each give a certain percentage of the whole cost, whatever it might be.
Deacon E. Corey pledged forty per cent., Deacon T. Corey and Deacon Griggs each twenty per cent., and the others each ten. The church was built at a cost of about six thousand dollars ; a few friends who had moved in gave from ten to a hundred dollars each, and the work was paid for. But there was no room for sheds, and hardly room enough to walk around the church on the west side, on their own ground which they had now bought.
At last the owner of the much desired piece of land, seeing that the church was built, signified his willingness to sell for a sufficient bonus.
Deacon Corey offered fifty bushels of corn, in addition to what was asked in money, and his offer was accepted. The land was secured, the sheds built, a strip west of them now in Mr. Panter's yard was sold to Mr. Holden, the next owner on that side, and thenceforward the Bap- tist ship sailed in smooth water.
The meeting-house was dedicated November 20, 1828. But the little chapel stood in front of it, and the gallows- like hay-scales in front of that. The hay-scales were bought and taken down, the chapel moved to the rear of the church and altered over into a parsonage; it still stands with additions and improvements, next south of the present church. The green in front of the church was fenced and planted with trees, and soon became a very attractive spot.
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THE BAPTIST MEETING-HOUSE.
The meeting-house had a brick basement for a vestry, partially under ground, and was entered by a door from the side next Harvard Street.
The building was painted white on the outside, but inside it was unpainted and uncarpeted, except the pulpit and front of the gallery. The pulpit being white, had a green blind behind it as a back-ground, and the read- ing-desk was draped with red damask in folds which were hung with tassels like a fringe. The counting of these tassels beguiled many a weary juvenile who could not appreciate the strong doctrine on which the seniors were fed. The gallery, on the southerly end over the vesti- bule, was occupied by a volunteer choir, of which Mr. David Coolidge was for many years the leader, while his daughter was " head singer," among the female voices. The instrumental music was furnished by a bass-viol, or sometimes a violin, in the hands of an eccentric old man by the name of Humphrey, and irreverent urchins were only too ready to laugh at the sawings and scrapings of what they termed " Daddy Humphrey's fiddle."
The house was heated by a square box-stove, the funnels extending over each aisle and hung with little tin pails to catch the drip of the steam generated by the wood fire.
In the vestibule hung a frame in which from time to time the " publishments " of parties about to marry were hung for three weeks, to be read by all who chose to avail themselves of the interesting information.
In the year 1830, the Rev. Joseph Driver was settled as the first pastor. For some reason his stay was short, and he was succeeded the following year by Rev. Joseph A. Warne, an Englishman, who was said to be " mighty in the Scriptures."
Sixty-five persons were added to the church during the
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
six years of his pastoral labors. Mr. Warne had an ac- quaintance, an Englishman, living in another town, who was something of an organ-builder, and he was very de- sirous that his friend should have an opportunity to exer- cise his skill on behalf of his parish. Accordingly he built a small organ (which proved to be a miserable af- fair), and Mrs. Warne was organist. Mr. Humphrey's bass-viol was banished to the vestry, where he had abun- dant opportunity to use it. This old man invariably car- ried with him to church a good-sized round bundle, in a red pocket-handkerchief. It lay upon the seat beside him and was carried away by him to his home after ser- vice. What it contained was a mystery to the young- sters which was never explained.
Mr. Warne was an irritable man and very abrupt in speech. On one occasion when his friend's organ gave a prolonged squeal instead of the desired harmony, he called out to his wife across the church, " Emma, stop that or- gan ! It makes me nervous ! "
A lady parishioner entered one Sunday, and as there were others behind her whom she expected would follow, she left the door open. She had not reached her pew be- fore she was startled by Mr. Warne, calling out sharply, " Go back and shut that door!" an injunction hardly conducive to devotional feelings we should judge.
On another occasion, not in church, he told his ex- cellent senior deacon, who used to sing in the vestry "with the spirit and the understanding also," that his singing always reminded him " of a pig under a gate."
Mr. Warne's soundness of doctrine was thought by many to be a sufficient offset for his lack of " the sweet charities " and social amenities, but not all his mental acuteness, or vigor in expounding the Scriptures could make him popular with the young people, and after nearly six years, his connection with the church ceased.
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BAPTIST CLERGYMEN.
He was succeeded the same year, 1837, by Rev. Wm. H. Shailer, now of Portland. Mr. Shailer was pastor of the church sixteen years and was much beloved. The next year after Mr. Shailer's ministry began, the attend- ance became so large that it was found necessary to en- large the church edifice. It was raised higher, several new pews were added, a mahogany pulpit took the place of the pine one, the whole house was painted, inside and out, the aisles were carpeted, a new organ bought, the damp and mouldy vestry was enlarged and made lighter and dryer, a furnace was put in, and altogether the place assumed a modern air.
In February, 1854, Mr. Shailer having been repeatedly invited to Portland, resigned his charge here, and re- moved to that place. Under his ministry the church here received two hundred and four additional members.
In Mr. Warne's day the rite of baptism was at first administered in the open air in the salt water at the lower end of the village. Where Muddy River passes under the street, now narrowed to a scanty stream, and almost covered with the houses of the Irish population, was then a broad, clear stream, or " creek," as it was generally called, at certain states of the tide, convenient for this purpose.
Some large flat stones were arranged as stepping stones for the minister and candidates.
The same spirit that would have prevented the build- ing of the church if possible, prompted some ill-disposed person to remove the principal stone one Sabbath, when a baptism was to take place, and the result was that Mr. Warne took a deep step into the stream unexpectedly and somewhat ungracefully. He recovered himself, how- ever, and the ceremony proceeded, but after that a bap- tistery was provided in the meeting-house.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
During Mr. Shailer's ministry the church frequently resorted to the beautiful bend of Charles River always known as the "bathing place." Since then, Jamaica Pond has been the favorite resort for open air baptism, but this is less frequently practiced of late years than for- merly.
The bend of the river alluded to above was bordered by a pebbly beach, half screened by overhanging trees and clustering bushes on either side of the farm road by which it was approached. The trees and shrubs are now gone and the whole place for half a mile is covered with a network of railroad tracks.
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. HARRISON PLACE.
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CHAPTER IV.
HARRISON PLACE. - ST. MARY'S CHURCH. - LINDEN PLACE THOMAS A. DAVIS. - ASPINWALL AVENUE, OR, "PERRY'S LANE."
B EFORE proceeding further up Harvard Street in our description, it will be necessary to turn aside a lit- tle and mention briefly the " Places," leading off from it along the easterly side.
Harrison Place was originally nothing but a cart-road leading across the Davis farm by the old house and barn, down to the marsh which was then undreamed of for any other use than the production of salt hay.
Could one of the old proprietors awaken from a sort of Rip Van Winkle sleep and see the roads and dwellings and people that now cover the once green acres where the tide rose and fell, and the wild ducks swam, and the sea-gulls came sailing in on their white wings before a storm, he would be quite as amazed as at any other dis- covery his astonished eyes might make.
Nearly down the slope of the upland this cart-road led to a beautiful, clear spring of cold water which was over- shadowed by a great oak tree.
Under its wide-spreading branches the men of the vil- lage used to assemble on " Election Day " and " Fourth of July," to celebrate and make merry with unlimited quantities of punch. There are people among us, not very old, who speak of having seen "a bushel of lemon rinds " at a time as the débris of such a festivity.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
The attractions in Boston were not so great as in more modern times ; no long steam-trains rolled shrieking and smoking into the city on holidays, swarming with their living freight, neither did crowded horse-cars afford their patrons the opportunity to pay for the privilege of hang- ing up by a leather strap during a four miles' ride.
On the contrary, Boston parties of Masons in regalia, or truckmen in their white frocks, with bands of music, and sometimes a military escort, used to make equestrian trips through Brookline, stopping often at the " Punch Bowl," and returning through Brighton and Cambridge on Independence days. So those who stayed at home solaced themselves with the sights that came out to be seen, and vented their patriotism in punch and gunpow- der under the old oak. The boys found it a favorite re- sort in their games, and the hay-makers in summer noons rested under its shade.
But the punch drinking proved the bane of many who indulged in it, and one of the proprietors not liking the idea of having that sort of rendezvous on his place, cut down the grand old tree, and ended the sport of those who frequented it.
.After the farm was sold, the first house built upon a lot purchased from it, was the one formerly owned and occupied by the late David R. Griggs, now (1871) owned by Dr. Lowe. Mr. Griggs occupied the house till a few years before his death. He was so long identified with the neighborhood, and so much beloved as a superintend- ent of the Baptist Sabbath-school for many years, that he will be well remembered and long missed by all con- nected with that society and living in that vicinity ; and hosts of other warm friends will ever cherish his memory with tenderness.
Mr. Griggs' house was built in 1833, but the road-way
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ANDEM PLACE. - CHURCH OF ST. MARY.
was not opened to its present length till 1837, when the house now occupied by Mrs. Phillips was built for Mr. Luther Thayer, who soon died, and the house was pur- chased by Mr. Mellen, who occupied it for several years. The name of Harrison Place was first given it in 1840 in honor of President Harrison.
Andem Place was not opened until some ten years later, and was named for Moses Andem, who lived for many years in the old Davis house. For some little time the Catholics of Brookline had held services on Sundays in Lyceum Hall. In 1854 the Church of " St. Mary" was built in Andem Place, and was first occupied for reg- ular services on Christmas Day of that year. Rev. Mr. O'Bierne was the first priest of the parish, and was suc- ceeded by Rev. J. M. Finotti in 1856.
In 1855, on Thanksgiving Day, November 27th, the church narrowly escaped being destroyed by fire, from some accidental cause. It was repaired and has since been enlarged and improved. The great increase of this congregation made it necessary that there should be an assistant in the clergyman's duties, and for some time Rev. J. C. Murphy was associated with Father Finotti as colleague, The latter gentleman closed his labors with this church at Easter, 1873, leaving the parish in charge of Rev. Mr. Lamb. This young man was much devoted to the interest of the young people in his church, and was highly popular. But greatly to the regret of all, his health failed, and he went South hoping for restoration. He died in New York on his way home, July 5, 1873, and his body was brought to St. Mary's Church, where impressive funeral services were held, attended by an im- mense congregation. Father Lamb was succeeded by Rev. L. J. Morris, the present pastor.
A branch of the great Catholic Temperance organiza-
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
tion, called St. Mary's Total Abstinence Society, is con- nected with this church.
Webster Place, named for the great statesman, is of more recent date than either of the others, the only house built previous to 1850 being the first on the left, built by Mr. Bela Stoddard and 'now occupied by his son-in-law, Mr. A. L. Lincoln.
To picture Harvard Street as it was previous to 1843, it will be necessary to recall briefly the description re- specting the entrance to this street, from the " square," so called, - on the right there being no house, after Mr. Griggs' residence on the corner, except Mr. Stoddard's just mentioned, as far as Aspinwall Avenue. On the left, after the old Baptist Church, with the sheds and parsonage behind it, were Mr. Seaverns' buildings on the top of the hill, accessible only by a rather steep drive- way, or numerous wooden steps in a terraced bank, the common sidewalk going up over the lower terrace. From there to School Street was no building. The street, dug somewhat below the level of the hill, was much higher than at present, and bordered by high banks on either side, with a low stone wall on the top of each, overhung all the way on the left side by barberry bushes, with here and there a wild cherry or apple tree. On the right, the bank was overgrown with blackberry bushes, and other wild shrubs and vines, and some young buttonwoods which had sprung up from old stumps, for Brookline was luxuriant with buttonwoods until a comparatively recent date.
These trees made a litter with their falling bark and downy round balls, but they were picturesque, with their bare white spots, and made a grand shade when the mer- cury was rampant among the nineties, for they often towered to a great height besides being spreading, and thickly set with their fan-like leaves.
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LINDEN PLACE. - THE DAVIS FAMILY.
The site of Linden Place was formerly an extensive cherry and apple orchard. An old barn stood where the entrance is, with a pair of bars beside it, where a cart-road began. This ground remained the property of the Davis family till 1843, though often called " Holden's farm," a Mr. James Holden having married the widow of Mr. · Eben Davis, 3d. It was then laid out in house lots and sold at public auction. It was the first land thus sold in Brookline, and the highest price paid for any part of it was five and a half cents a foot.
Times have changed since then, and it is perhaps pos- sible, that there are children now living in the town who will see it five and a half dollars a foot.
The central lot was taken by Mr. Thomas Aspinwall Davis, and for him was built the house now occupied by Mr. Goodnow.
Hon. Thomas Aspinwall Davis, who built the house in the centre of Linden Place, was born in the old Davis house in Harrison Place, in December, 1798, and was baptized in infancy by Rev. Dr. Pierce, then the only minister in Brookline. He was the child of Eben Davis, 3d.
His name was given him in honor of his maternal grandfather and great-grandfather, his mother being of the Aspinwall family and the Gardners, two of the oldest families on record in the town. He was a bright and interesting boy, ready to learn according to his oppor- tunities in the Brookline schools, and full of the activities of boyhood, nutting in the Aspinwall woods, hunting and fishing along the marshes and creeks, and ingenious with tools. A little cider-mill of his construction is remem- bered by the playmates of his childhood. While a boy rambling over the marshes one day, he was accidentally shot in the breast by a Brookline gentleman who was
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
aiming at a flock of plovers on the wing. Much alarm was felt at first, but no permanent injury resulted from it, and the gentleman made all the restitution possible. When the boy was fourteen years of age he was placed in a jeweller's shop in Boston to learn the business, com- ing home only on Saturday nights, which occasions were looked forward to with the greatest pleasure by the family. He soon became acquainted with a young Paris- ian who could speak no English, and they became mutual teachers, each thus learning the other's language.
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