USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > Historical sketches of Brookline, Mass. > Part 9
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The next house on that side of the street, the one now owned by David Coolidge, Esq., was built by Nathan Winchester, the son of Captain John. It has been added to and altered since his day, but the original house is there, though much disguised, and its low ceiling and quaint architecture mark it unmistakably as one of the few old relics of the past, thoroughly identified with the early history of our country, and too rapidly passing away.
At this house, on the day of the battle of Lexington, a detachment of British troops, marching up Harvard Street, stopped for water and were served by the frightened in- mates, who received no harm. Like its neighbor this house came into possession of the Griggs family. The ancient doctor alluded to in our sketch of " the Downer house " in the village, came here to live, in the latter part of his life.
Mr. Joshua Griggs, the father-in-law of the present owner, Mr. Coolidge, also lived and died here.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
The Winchester family and the Griggs family are both so numerous, and located in so many parts of the town, that further mention must be made hereafter of the various branches of the families.
There was still another branch of the Griggs family located in Roxbury, near the southwest part of this town. They were all from the same English origin and the fam- ily coat of arms has within a few years been procured from England by some member of the family who was interested in Heraldry.
Further toward Brighton, and on the opposite side of the street, near Smelt Brook, there stood formerly a very old house, once owned by Amos Gates. He removed to Worcester, and tradition does not report what befell his house. This brings us to Brighton line or Allston, in this direction, and closes the history of Harvard Street. The north part of the town has various other points of interest, however.
Pleasant Street, until about twenty-five years ago, was only a green lane which served to connect Harvard Street with Brighton Avenue. The sides of the lane were a tangled thicket of wild rose-bushes and raspberry and blackberry vines. There were but two houses on Pleas- ant Street at that time. On the top of the hill, on the site of Mrs. Adams' late residence, stood a large house painted a light dull green. There was no beauty or cul- tivation around it and no wonder it changed tenants often, for it was as unattractive as a barrack, and too isolated to be identified with the interests of any neighborhood. It was occupied in the summer, several seasons, by Du- rivage, of some literary note. The green house took fire one day when a high wind was blowing, and was speedily destroyed.
On the corner of Pleasant Street and Brighton Avenue
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AN ANCIENT HOUSE.
was another house, with a blacksmith's shop attached, occupied for years by a thriftless family. We have al- luded before to the Francis house, further towards the river, once kept as a public house. This was occupied for many years by William Dearborn, now of Walnut Street, who carried on the extensive farms on that side of Brighton Avenue.
On the right of Brighton Avenue, about half way from Pleasant Street to Fourth Street, stood one more house belonging to either the Sears or Francis purchase, which for several years was occupied by Isaac Dearborn, brother of William Dearborn, and afterwards by Rev. Dr. Hague, now of Chicago.
Far down toward the marsh, on land now belonging to the Lawrence estate, near St. Mary's Street, was a most ancient house, but by whom built is unknown. It was on Judge Sewall's farm and may have been the house of John Hull, the ancient mint master of Boston, whose daughter became the wife of Judge Sewall, as it is well known that he built and occupied a house in that vicinity. This house was occupied by a Mr. Easterbrooks in the early part of the present century, and afterwards by Martin Morse. After Mr. Amos Lawrence purchased the place, the old house was taken down. While the work of demolition was going on, the workmen found behind the great old chimney a number of pine-tree shil- lings and ancient English copper money. They had used it nearly all to pay their toll from day to day over the Mill-dam, before it was known by any one who appreci- ated the true value of the coin, and but a few pieces were recovered.
This house was accessible originally by a road which skirted the uplands at the verge of the marsh, and of which Sewall Avenue was a part. On Sewall Avenue,
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
stood the old house of Col. Thomas Aspinwall, who com- manded Fort Sewall a part of the time during the Revo- lution, and which was burned some twenty years ago.
These houses were all which then stood upon the whole territory now known as Longwood, except a small house on Sewall Avenue, which was once a cider mill and was altered into a dwelling house by the late Marshall Stearns. It is a matter of regret that the whole farm on the north side of Brighton Avenue, commanding as it does a beau- tiful and extensive prospect both up and down the river, and with the greatest variety of surface and noble old shade trees, could not have fallen into the hands of gen- tlemen of taste and wealth, and become a fitting precinct of beautiful Longwood .*
Until within thirty years the whole of that part of the town was quite wild and picturesque. Within three miles of the State House and closely bordering on one of the great thoroughfares leading to Boston, it seems strange that the dream of the founders of the Mill-dam should have so long remained unfulfilled ; but could they see it in its present wealth of cultivated beauty and select popu- lation, it would seem that they must find that the reality had exceeded their anticipations.
* By an Act of the Legislature of 1873-74, all the territory north of the . southerly line of Brighton Avenue became a part of Boston.
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HOLDEN'S HOUSE AND GROUNDS.
CHAPTER VII.
WASHINGTON STREET. - HOLDEN'S HILL. - LEED'S PLACE .- DANA PLACE.
R ETURNING to Harvard Square, it will be recol- lected by those who have read the early pages of this volume, that the old Dana Tavern, though it fronted upon the Square, extended somewhat toward Washington Street. In the rear of the old tavern, in what is now the easterly part of Mr. Panter's yard, was situated in the latter part of the last century a wheelwright's shop, oc- cupied by Mr. James Holden, the owner and occupant also of the house, which has been within a few years re- built entirely by Mr. Panter.
We have not been able to ascertain any facts respecting this ground before Mr. Holden's day, and probably his was the first house built upon that site, as the whole hill, including all the ground from Harvard Street to Wash- ington and thence to School Street, was once a part of the Davis estate.
Mr. Holden, having married the widow of the third Ebenezer Davis, who owned, besides a large part of the hill, all that is now Linden Place and a large tract of marsh below it, found the pursuits of agriculture more profitable than the making of wheels, and thenceforward devoted himself to the farm.
After the old tavern was burnt, if not sooner, the shop was removed and the yard in front of the house was filled with peach and cherry trees. Close to the sidewalk
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stood an immensely large and high buttonwood tree, perfectly straight and symmetrical, and a little east of it a fine graceful elm, also of large size. The lowering of the road to its present level made it necessary to cut these trees down. The buttonwood, like most of its kind, suffered from an epidemic about that time and was apparently in a dying condition. It was over a hundred feet high. Behind the house, and extending up the slope of the hill, was a small apple orchard, covering the ground now east of Holden Street as far back as the Baptist church and a part of what is in Holden Street, only it was higher than the roofs of the houses now situated there.
There are many persons who remember Mr. Holden and his wife perfectly well, and the great flat boxes of cherries containing a bushel or two apiece which used to stand along his yard, ready to be loaded upon his wagon for Boston market, and later in the season the peaches which loaded his trees and blushed in crimson and gold from the great baskets and boxes.
The aged couple preserved their old fashioned customs after many of their neighbors had discontinued them, and the bright andirons and red bricks made the sitting-room - cheerful, as the wood fire burned on the hearth in winter, and the old kitchen retained its wooden settle alongside the wide fire-place long after every neighboring kitchen was warmed by a cooking stove. Mr. Holden became a Baptist late in life, and was baptized by Rev. Dr. Shailer when over seventy years of age.
The next house also belonged to this estate, and has been entirely rebuilt and much enlarged since the deatlı of the old people.
On the opposite side of the street the ground lay open as a pasture, belonging to the Davis estate until 1833,
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SETH AND ISAAC THAYER.
when two brothers, Seth and Isaac Thayer, came to Brookline, and bought a large tract of ground, and set- tled here.
Mr. Seth Thayer had married into the Davis family, however, and his house-lot came in that way. He built the house now occupied by Mr. Eastman, lately by Mrs. Fitz as a boarding school, and his brother Isaac built and occupied the house now owned by Mr. Beck, fronting on Davis Avenue, formerly Washington Place.
The two brothers laid out the grounds with taste and elegance, terraced the sloping parts, and set out beautiful shade and fruit trees.
For a dozen or twenty years these were the finest houses and grounds in that vicinity. There were no other buildings on the grounds, the store on the corner not being built till the latter part of Mr. Seth Thayer's life.
From the time the front corner was taken for that purpose the beauty of the place had departed, and a few years after, Mr. Edwin Field bought another lot next it and built the store now occupied by M. Kingman. The more recent changes thereabouts are familiar to all. Mr. and Mrs. Thayer both died in the house and their large family of children are scattered. The second son, John Gorham, was a fine, manly boy, very popular among his schoolmates ; his handsome face and deep, strong voice are well remembered by all who knew him. He had left Brookline before the War of the Rebellion, but he en- listed in the service and did brave duty as a cavalry offi- cer till his health was sacrificed and he retired from the army to die. He was brought home to Brookline cem- etery, where he sleeps in an honored soldier's grave.
Theodore A. Thayer, sixth son of Seth T. Thayer, was Captain of Company G, Massachusetts Forty-first
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
Regiment. Clarence H. Thayer, the seventh son, was promoted from Company A, First Massachusetts Regi- ment, to rank of Captain in a colored Regiment. He died in South Africa in 1873.
Mr. Isaac Thayer, it will be remembered, bought and took down the old Punch Bowl tavern and built ten houses in the village. He also at one time owned the land now belonging to the town between Holden, Pros- pect, and Pierce streets, which was very high and with- out trees or buildings. On the summit of this hill he in- tended to build an academy. He terraced the southerly slope of it and ground was broken for the cellar of the proposed building, when his enterprises met sudden re- verses and he left town. The whole of the ground now owned by the town in that vicinity, was at one time pur- chased by Mr. Samuel C. Davis for four hundred and fifty dollars.
After the town purchased the hill, and began to dig into it for gravel, it remained for twenty years or more an unsightly gravel bank. The top was often used on holi- days as a sort of public ground, and for years a cannon was fired from there on the morning of the Fourth of July, greatly to the excitement and delight of the boys. It was a favorite spot also for kite-flying, and many a favorite kite has soared from its youthful owner's grasp on Holden's Hill, and been wafted away into the un- known, a fitting emblem of later losses of what seemed more substantial treasures.
In 1845, enough of the original hill was leveled and graded to admit of building thereon the wooden town- house now known as the Police Station on Prospect Street. There was a great celebration at the " Dedica- tion," which took place on the 14th of October. Dr. Pierce, of the First Church, was the orator, and his ad-
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THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
dress " bristled with figures," for he was eminently a man of statistics and much valuable information was preserved to future generations by his careful compilation for that occasion .* Two apartments in this building were fitted up for school-rooms and were thus used until the erection of the Pierce Grammar School-house.
The gravel-bank in the rear slowly diminished as the town had occasion to use the gravel, but it was an un- sightly place for several years. The wooden building was removed in the spring of 1871, to make room for the new Town House. The Brookline Public Library, which began in the old Town House, is said to have been the first in- stituted under the general statute authorizing towns and cities to raise and appropriate money for founding and maintaining public libraries. It was established by a vote of the town, March 30, 1857. The sum of $934, being $1 for each ratable poll the preceding year, was appropriated for its foundation ; and an additional sum of $233, being 25 cents for each ratable poll, was voted for its increase and maintenance during the then current year.
These were the extreme sums which could be legally raised by taxation for the purpose.
The Library was opened in an apartment on the first floor of the old Town House, December 2, 1857. It then contained 900 volumes, and here it remained until the completion of the new and commodious building in 1869. The Library during the first thirteen years of its exist- ence was under the care of Mr. John E. Hoar as Libra- rian. It increased, by donations and appropriations, to 11,000 volumes, when the new building was ready to
* The author of this work is greatly indebted to the valuable information in the appendix to this address, as to location of ancient houses, and other mat- ters of interest.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
receive it, and since 1870, when the generous fund of $10,000 was presented by John L. Gardiner, Esq., the number of books has been increased to 16,000.
The ground on the south side of the street, including both sides of Thayer Place, and the site of the Engine House, was pasture land and belonged for many years to the Thayer estate. It extended southward to Dr. Shurt- leff's line, and included the whole space which has been so highly improved by Mr. E. C. Emerson. The rocky nook, with the brook winding about it, was known for years as "Brignal Banks " by many who delighted in its picturesque beauty.
On the north side of Washington Street, from the corner of Prospect Street to the grounds of the Public Li- brary (and including a small strip of that ground), and on the south side of the street, from the Engine House to the house of William Heath, was the " Leeds place," so called for fifty years or more, prior to 1868.
In the latter part of the last century and the early part of the present one, this place was occupied by a mechanic named King, though the ground on the south side of the street was then a part of Benjamin Davis's farm. For many years Mr. King was the only wheelwright in Brook- line. The two taverns brought much business of this kind into town, and this man, an excellent workman, had a monopoly of his particular line of work.
He had a large family of children and could have main- tained them all comfortably and brought them up, an ad- dition to the wealth and prosperity of the town, but for the excessive use of liquors, in which he not only indulged himself, but to which he brought up his children. From the time the little ones left the cradle they were accus- tomed to the free use of rum and molasses, both of which were kept standing upon the kitchen table, and to which
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THE LEEDS PLACE.
they early learned to help themselves. The result was as might be expected. The whole family grew up worthless in mind and body, and one by one became town paupers.
The parents died, but the children were numerous, and though they scattered in different places they surely came back, in what might have been the prime of life, helpless and worthless, for the town to support, till it became a question with the selectmen whether Brookline would ever see the last of the Kings. . The race has been extinct now for several years and it were better their memory should perish with them, only for the lesson it bears for those sim- ilarly tempted. Brookline could furnish material for more than one temperance lecture, from more than one class in society.
More than fifty years ago, the place, of which the Kings had been the thriftless occupants, was purchased by Mr. James Leeds. In his early manhood Mr. Leeds was a boot and shoe manufacturer, and was the only. per- son in that business in the place, for several years. Later in life he invested his capital in a more extensive and profitable business of another sort, in Boston, and having acquired a handsome property retired to enjoy the fruits of economy and enterprise, and employ his leisure in making his surroundings attractive.
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The house, which had been thoroughly refitted and ever after kept in repair, was the house a few years since removed from the site of the houses of Messrs. Collins and Chase. On the site of the Express stable was the barn and what was once the shoe-store of Mr. Leeds.
Mr. Leeds made his place a marvel of cultivation and neatness. Choice fruit trees and grape vines were planted in every available spot, and the very grass was rich and wavy under successful fertilization. Near the shop door, just east of the pump which stood close to the sidewalk,
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
overhung by a cherry tree, were two poplar trees which shaded the shop from the glare of the sun, and from one to the other a ladder extended horizontally some twenty feet from the ground.
Along this ladder a grape-vine which crept up the cherry tree extended its length and let down its tempting purple clusters between the green leaves and among the rounds of the ladder. Many were the school-children who stopped at the pump, and gazed up at the grapes like the fox in the fable, but never thought of calling them " sour," for the September rains beat down the ripest, and those who picked them up well knew how sweet they were.
Behind the house, the hill rose steep and green and well covered with fruit trees, among which was one white mulberry. Here, too, was a cluster of three trees from one root, in which was placed a small platform with seats and a railing around it, a few feet from the ground, and very happy were the young people who were so fortunate as to be invited to play there. At the foot of the hill, behind the house, extended a long trellis of grape vines, and on the sunny side of it, above the gravel walk, bloomed a gay display of flowers, from the blue and white fleur-de-lis of May, and the dark red peony of June, to the gorgeous and towering dahlias of late au- tumn.
Two great boxes of hydrangeas bloomed in the front yard, half shaded by the cherry trees, and under the par- lor-windows blossomed, early in spring, the quaint, old- fashioned crown-imperial. Mrs. Leeds was one of those people for whom plants always blossom, like Aaron's rod, because they cannot help it.
The very walks from the door to the street, though paved with bricks, which always had the appearance of
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THE LEEDS COTTAGE.
being newly scoured and carefully wiped, were gay in all their chinks with the bright little pansy, or ladies' delight, and not a weed was suffered to show its head. The Missouri currant and the yellow rock roses grew on either side of the gate, and the crab-apple tree hung its pretty little fruit west of the parlor window.
For years, as closely identified with the place as its master and mistress, was their good-natured yellow dog, Diamond.
As long as the daughter of Mr. Leeds remained un- married and at home this house was a favorite resort for a circle of young people on whose memories every detail of this charming old place is minutely photographed .
On the hill between Mr. Leeds' house and Prospect Street, fronting Washington Street, stood a cottage which he also owned, and which he rented from time to time to various tenants. It must be remembered that the hill extended from the old Baptist church to School Street, behind the row of houses on Washington Street, and neither Holden Street or Prospect or Pierce Street was then dreamed of. The Leeds cottage was high up on the hillside, and approached by three flights of steps in the terraces in front. From the southerly windows was a delightful prospect. In the rear was a garden. For several years this place was occupied by Mrs. William Sturgis of Boston, a lady of much taste, who kept it at- tractive with flowers.
Prospect Street, when first laid out, went only to the top of the hill, and was merely a rough cart-road, which when the hill was dug down enough to admit the build- ing of the Town House, was left high and impassable, lead- ing nowhere.
The digging of this down to its present level, necessi- tated the removal of the whole hill west of it, and the
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
lowering of the Leeds cottage, which was set back, al- tered into a two-story house, and is now occupied by C. W. Bachelder, next the Police Station.
The land belonging to the Leeds place, on the south side of Washington Street, was till so recently a green field covered with apple trees that it needs no description. No part of the town has altered so essentially or so rapidly as this street from Harvard Square to School Street within a few years, and it would be difficult for a former resident who had been ten years away to identify it.
The grading of the street to its present level, has pro- duced a corresponding change on either side. Formerly there was a deep depression in the "road " in front of the present Library grounds, so that in sleighing time scarcely a day passed but some rapid riders came to a sudden halt and total discomfiture in going through it.
The Leeds house was on a bank, and reached by a flight of stone steps, while in the field opposite, the hollow was so deep as to hold quite a skating pond in winter, and late in spring small boys resorted to it to paddle about on rafts.
Not much more than twenty-five years ago there was not a house from the Thayer house to the Tolman house, corner of Cypress Street. Now there are some forty buildings on the south side of the street between those two points.
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THE FIRST ENGINE-HOUSE.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT .*- THE DANA PLACE. - MRS. TOLMAN.
THE next place of interest, upon the south side of Washington Street, is the lot occupied by the Engine and Hook and Ladder Houses, and on which the town has lately erected a commodious brick building, which it is expected will meet the wants of this part of the town in the accommodation of adequate fire-apparatus, for years to come.
Before further mention is made of recent buildings there, it will be necessary to go back a little, as the his- tory of the fire department properly belongs to "the village," that is, below the bridge. The first engine- house was situated for several years at the point of junc- tion between Walnut Street and what. was till lately called " Village Lane." It was a little building ten feet by fifteen, and when Mr. Oliver Whyte was about to im- prove his front yard, was easily transported to the lot between Walnut and Boylston streets, where Quinlan's building now stands. About when this transfer took place it does not appear. However, it was certainly lo- cated on the last mentioned spot in 1820, and for some time after, as the last surviving member of the company of that date remembered, that a tree which stood upon that lot was blown over, and the roots upturning, broke
* Rewritten March, 1873.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
a hole through the side of the house, which remained unmended as long as the old building stood.
It will be remembered that about half the old Punch Bowl Village was then a part of Roxbury, so the engine was owned by both towns, and the men, fifteen in num- ber, were chosen nearly or quite equally from the two towns. The members " took turns in being Captain," like a boy's military company, believing evidently in "ro- tation in office." It would be charitable to hope that the system worked more successfully in cases of fire, than it sometimes does in politics.
· A list of the old " Vigilant " company of 1820, pre- sents names familiar to all old residents of this town : -
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