Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 21

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802

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Retrace Baker St .; L. from Baker St. on US1; R. from US1 on Arborway. 109. The Arnold Arboretum (for pedestrians only), just beyond US1, is the largest living-tree and shrub museum in the country as regards foreign introductions. In May and early June its 223 acres are a paradise of blooming lilac hedges and cherry trees, forsythias, plum trees, mag- nolias, rhododendrons, and azaleas. Endowed (1872) by the late James

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Arnold, a New Bedford merchant, the Arboretum is owned by Harvard University (see CAMBRIDGE) and contains the buildings of Harvard's Bussey Institute of Horticulture and Agriculture.

Retrace Arborway; R. from Arborway on Centre St.

IIO. The Loring-Greenough House (1758) (open as a tearoom, except Tues.), 12 South St., in Whitcomb Square, is set in sizable grounds which once extended half a mile to Jamaica Pond. It is a square two-story frame mansion, with dormer windows, painted white, black blinds, a dentiled cornice, a slate mansard roof, white roof-rail, and white chimneys. There are three formal doorways, one of which opens from a porch (added later). Another has an iron lock eighteen inches wide and a keyhole the size of the human eye. The wide hall is especially fine, having a hand-carved stair-rail imported from early Georgian England, and landscape wallpaper of the same period. The large square rooms are wainscoted in white and furnished with valuable and beautiful antiques. A feature of the house is a large vault, built between two chimney flues. The house was first the home of Commodore Joseph Loring, a Tory naval officer who distinguished himself in the conquest of Canada. In 1775, it was the headquarters of General Greene, and later a hospital for Ameri- can Revolutionary soldiers.

Sharp L. from Whitcomb Square on Eliot St .; R. from Eliot St. on Pond St. III. The Children's Museum of Boston (open daily except Monday 9-5; Sun. 2-5; free), 60 Burroughs St., is a modern stucco building with white wood trim. Founded in 1913 and maintained by private subscription, its purpose is to stimulate the interest of children in the wonders and beauties of nature. Natural history specimens, including animal skele- tons, stuffed animals and birds, are displayed; and a collection of varie- gated minerals illustrates the simpler stages of geologic history. There is a small but instructive industrial exhibit, as well as a collection of dolls, ancient and modern, dressed in typical costumes of various countries.

II2. Jamaica Pond (refreshments and rowboats available; also fishing, by permit from Fish and Game Commission), junction of Pond St. and Arbor- way, a beautiful 65-acre expanse of fresh water, is encircled by 55 acres of parkway in the Boston Park Department.

Straight ahead from Pond St. on Jamaicaway; R. from Jamaicaway on Perkins St .; straight ahead from Perkins St. on Centre St.

113. The First Church in Roxbury (Unitarian) (open Tues. and Thurs. 1-3; Sun. service 11), Eliot Square, erected in 1804, was built after the design of the First Unitarian Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was known as the Church of John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians. It is a typical New England meeting house, simple and dignified, with a clock- tower and open belfry.

The interior, in ivory color and brown, has broad lateral galleries sup- ported by columns. There is a balcony pulpit, raised halfway between the floor and the galleries. Treasures of the church are John Eliot's

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Chair and a Simon Willard Gallery Clock, surmounted by a spread eagle, holding in its beak two strings of gilded balls. This famous design has often been copied, but this clock is one of the two or three authentic examples.

114. The Dillaway House (open daily 9-5), 183 Roxbury St., originally the parsonage, built 1714, is a fine type of the two-and-a-half-story gambrel-roof dwelling with dormer windows. Some of the rooms show the supporting corner posts; some have rounded corners. The wide, uneven floor boards and the hand-hewn timbers of the roof, are original, as well as the door-knobs, hinges, and massive locks.

Straight ahead on Roxbury St .; R. from Roxbury St. on Guild Row; L. from Guild Row on Dudley St .; R. from Dudley St. on Warren St.

115. General Joseph Warren's Statue by Paul Bartlett, Warren Square, shows the physician and Revolutionary hero as a handsome, imperious young man in his early thirties. Quite indifferent to personal danger, Warren had been a marked man to the British ever since he had outwitted their guard at the Old South Meeting House and climbed through a second-story window over the heads of British soldiers, to address the patriots within. His death at the battle of Bunker Hill was mourned throughout Boston.

Retrace Warren St .; straight ahead from Warren St. on Harrison Ave .; L. from Harrison Ave. on Massachusetts Ave .; R. from Massachusetts Ave. on Tremont St .; L. from Tremont St. on Dartmouth St .; R. from Dartmouth St. on Montgomery St.

116. The Boston English High School founded in 1821, one year before Boston became a city, is the oldest high school in the United States.

Straight ahead from Montgomery St. on Tremont St .; R. from Tremont St. on Castle St .; L. from Castle St. on Shawmut Ave.

117. Morgan Memorial at the junction of Shawmut Ave. and Corning St., occupies a group of buildings. Here are the central offices of the far-famed Morgan Memorial activities, founded in 1868 by Henry Morgan. The various branches of this social service have been so ex- tended that they provide useful employment for many people unable to find work in other fields. The best-known of these projects is the Good- will Industries, which collects discarded clothing, furniture and household equipment of all sorts for resale.

MOTOR TOUR 2 (Charlestown) - 5 m.

N. from North Station, Boston, across Charlestown Bridge on Main St .; R. from Main St. on Chelsea St .; R. from Chelsea St. on Wapping St.

118. United States Navy Yard (open daily 9.30-4.30; adm. to cars and pedestrians), popularly known as the Charlestown Navy Yard, and con-

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tinuously operated since 1800, occupies 123 acres in a narrow, high-walled strip extending 112 miles along the waterfront. The great attractions of the yard are the U.S. Frigate 'Constitution' ('Old Ironsides') (open during yard visiting hours), and the Rope Walk, a long stone building where the great hempen cables of the fleet are carded, twisted, and wound. Ships in port may usually be visited.

Retrace on Wapping St .; straight ahead on Henley St .; R. from Henley St. on Warren St .; R. from Warren St. on Winthrop St.

119. Bunker Hill Monument on Breed's Hill (open 9-5, May to Sept .; 9-4, Oct. to April; adm. 10g) is a granite obelisk about 220 feet high, designed by Solomon Willard, a noted architect, and erected between 1825 and 1842. Its design shows the influence of the Greek Revival which lamentably dominated American architecture at the time. At the base of the monu- ment is a Statue of Colonel William Prescott ('Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes'), in a spirited pose, sculptured by William Wetmore Story. A small museum contains portraits, statues, and engravings of battle participants, both British and American.

L. from Winthrop St. on High St .; L. from High St. on Cordis St.

120. The Webb-Adams House (private), 32 Cordis St., with yellow clap- boards, low hip roof, small-paned windows, and semi-circular white Doric portico, is the best remaining example of the pleasant homes of nine- teenth-century Charlestown (1801). It has the frequent Charlestown feature of a front door at the garden side of the house, away from the street, frequent in Southern cities, but unusual in New England.

Retrace on Cordis St .; L. from Cordis St. on High St .; L. from High St. on Green St.

12I. The Boys' Club of Boston (open daily, 9-9; visitors welcome), founded in 1898, by Frank S. Mason, represents in its broad two-story brick build- ing, surrounding a flagged terrace, one of the finest civic undertakings in Boston. The combined membership, consisting of boys from 7 to 21, is 7500.

R. from Green St. on Main St.

122. The Site of the Birthplace of Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, 195 Main St., is marked by a white marble tablet.

L. from Main St. on Phipps St.

123. The Phipps Street Burial Ground, at the end of the street, dates from 1638. Here lies John Harvard, founder of Harvard College, beneath a granite shaft, erected in 1828, 190 years after his death, through popular subscription directed by Edward Everett, who limited contributions to one dollar a person, in order to give a large number of people a chance to participate.

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MOTOR TOUR 3 (East Boston) - 5 m.

N.E. from Haymarket Sq., Boston, through Sumner Tunnel.

124. The Sumner Tunnel (fare for passenger car, 15g), constructed (1931- 34) by the city at a cost of $19,000,000, was named for General William H. Sumner, founder of East Boston. At the Boston terminal is a brick and granite administration building. The tunnel is more than a mile long and serves the seaboard north of the city, passing under the harbor and emerging in East Boston. Blow-plants at either end supply air-condition- ing.

L. from Sumner Tunnel on Porter St .; L. from Porter St. on Meridian St. into Central Square.

125. The East Boston Social Centers Council (open) occupies an old red- brick building, formerly a church, in Central Square. Endowed by Jewish philanthropists, it offers to all creeds and races recreation, instruction in arts and crafts, music, drama, and health education.

R. from Meridian St. on Paris St .; L. from Paris St. on Henry St.

126. The Lutheran Seamen's Home, II Henry St., occupying a pair of old bow-front brick dwellings, is a Scandinavian bethel, where comfortable shelter, regardless of the recipient's ability to pay, is provided and leav- ened by a measure of home life and wise counsel.

R. from Henry St. into Maverick Square; L. from Maverick Square on Sumner St .; R. from Sumner St. on Orleans St .; L. from Orleans St. at its end on unmarked Marginal St.

127. Saint Mary's House for Sailors (open 8-10), 120 Marginal St., a recreational center founded in 1890 by Phillips Brooks, furnishes reading and game rooms, shower baths, and foreign money exchange service free. In a wing is Saint Mary's Church for Sailors (Episcopal).

128. The United States Immigration Station, 285 Marginal St., is not very busy in these days of restricted immigration.

L. from Marginal St. on Jeffries St.

129. The Boston Airport (daily airplanes to New York, Albany, Burlington, and Bangor connecting at those cities for all other points) occupies a two- story yellow brick terminal, surrounded by five hangars.

BROCKTON . City of Shoes

City: Alt. 120, pop. 62,407, sett. 1700, incorp. town 1821, city 1881.

Railroad Stations: 104 Center St., 41 Station Ave., 31 Riverside Ave., and 847 North Montello St. for N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R.

Bus Stations: 104 Center St. and 233 Main St., for New England Transporta- tion Co .; Legion Parkway and Main St. for Great Eastern Line and Grey Line; 117 Main St. for Interstate Transportation Co.

Accommodations: Four first-class hotels.

Information: Chamber of Commerce, Legion Parkway.

BROCKTON is one of the two great shoe-manufacturing centers of New England. The middle of the city is occupied by block after block of factories making shoes and shoe findings. From this core stretch the areas crowded with the homes of the workers, tenements, and small houses. Beyond these, chiefly toward the south, lie residential areas.

In 1649 the lands now occupied by this city were deeded by the Indians to Miles Standish and John Alden for approximately thirty dollars. The district including Brockton was part of the town of Bridgewater until 1821, when it was set off as North Bridgewater.

The Revolutionary War did not vitally affect the everyday lives of the townsfolk of North Bridgewater, the scene of actual hostilities being comparatively remote. But the post-Revolutionary depression found them vigorously opposing the ruthless laws affecting small debtors. Militant townsmen snatched their hunting guns from the walls and came out into the street in sympathy with Shays's Rebellion.

Continuing their democratic traditions, the inhabitants of North Bridge- water played an important rôle in pre-Civil War days. The skilled shoe workers, most of whom had fled their respective countries to escape the tyranny of the old order and had come to America to help build a new and free world, felt a ready sympathy with the Negroes of the South. They became devoted followers of William Lloyd Garrison, and developed an intricate system of 'Underground Stations' to facilitate the escape of runaway slaves.

In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, just prior to the Civil War, the invention of the McKay sewing machine, which made it possible to sew together the uppers and soles of shoes instead of pegging them, changed North Bridgewater from a small unimportant farming center to one of the foremost industrial cities in Massachusetts.

Civil War days brought unparalleled prosperity to the owners of the shoe factories. Government orders for army shoes during the Civil

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War made it the largest shoe producing city in America. Half the Union Army was shod by North Bridgewater.

Workers streamed into town, and by 1880 the population of Brockton - the name adopted in 1874 - had more than tripled. William Cullen Bryant in describing the city said: 'The whole place resounds, rather rattles, with the machinery of shoe shops, which turn out millions of shoes, not one of which, I am told, is sold in the place.'

Before the Civil War the social life of Brockton consisted almost wholly of church functions characterized by a minimum of gaiety - a residuum from Puritan days. With the influx of foreign-born workers communal gatherings assumed a livelier cast. Public dances became the vogue. The Swedish workers were the first church group to sanction dancing, holding their parties in the church vestry. Volunteer firemen grouped themselves into engine companies and soon became leaders in the social life of the community. The Firemen's Ball became the most brilliant and colorful social event of the year. Local dramatic groups produced such plays as 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and 'Ten Nights in a Bar-Room.' The young bloods formed secret societies and musical clubs. The workers organized into trade unions, and various foreign-language groups erected halls which were later to become community centers.

Civic improvement kept pace with the rapid industrial and social growth of the town. It is claimed that the first central power station in the United States from which power was distributed through three- wire underground conductors was located here, becoming the present Edison Electric Company. An early experimental street railway espe- cially built for the use of electric power was developed here, and Thomas Alva Edison came to Brockton to see the first car run over the line. In 1893, Brockton worked out a solution of the sewage disposal problem for inland cities, and investigating committees came from foreign coun- tries as well as from many cities of the United States to learn the Brock- ton system and arrange for its adoption.

In 1929, in the neighborhood of Brockton there were thirty thousand skilled shoe workers employed in sixty factories. Three of the largest shoe manufacturing corporations in America are today located in Brock- ton, as are also several of the largest plants producing tools and supplies for the shoe industry.

During the last few years the emigration of shoe industries from New England, due to attractive offers of cheap unorganized labor and tax rebatements in other States, has noticeably affected Brockton. This movement, along with antiquated production methods and lack of foresight on the part of the manufacturers, has been a primary factor in the decline of the shoe industry. Between 1919 and 1929 local pro- duction fell off forty-nine per cent.

On the whole, Brockton has been remarkably fortunate in relationships between employer and employee. Aside from two large strikes, the city did not participate in the series of violent industrial revolts that swept

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the country at the beginning of the twentieth century. Eighty per cent of the local shoe workers are members of the Brotherhood of Shoe and Allied Craftsmen. Brockton had one of the first Socialist mayors in the United States, Charles Coulter, elected in 1900.

POINTS OF INTEREST

I. The Brockton Fair Grounds, on Belmont St., are the property of the Agricultural Society. The Brockton Fair, held here in September, has been famous since 1874. It includes agricultural, industrial, and educa- tional exhibits, vaudeville acts, an automobile show, horse and automobile races, and other popular attractions.

2. The Bryant House (open; present occupant, a relative of the poet, permits visitors), 815 Belmont St., corner of Lorraine Ave., is a simple unpainted frame dwelling. Here William Cullen Bryant lived for a time while studying law, and here the famous New England poet is said to have composed 'Yellow Violet' and a part of 'To a Waterfowl.'

3. Stone House Hill, opposite 330 Belmont St., has a boulder-studded, pine-covered crest from which, or from a rock near-by, according to tradi- tion, the Indians relayed smoke signals from Plymouth to the Blue Hills.

4. The Public Library (open weekdays 9-9, Sun. 3-9), White Ave. and Main St., will eventually house the Walter Bryant Copeland Collection of American Masters of Art, which was bequeathed to the city with a fund to maintain it.

5. The Walk-Over Shoe Factory and Club (open; permission at office), 82 Perkins Ave., occupies the old Keith plant, which includes a hospital with health clinics, clubhouses, and a park.

6. The W. L. Douglas Shoe Factory (open; permission at office), occupies 133-173 Spark St. Begun in 1876 by W. L. Douglas with a capital of $875 and a small group of carefully chosen workmen, it has grown into a $10,000,000 business.

7. D. W. Field Park, Oak St., beautified by woods, gardens, ponds and artificial waterfalls, is one of the show places of the State. From a tower in the grounds it is possible to see Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. Municipal golf links adjoin the park, which was named after a citizen who helped to create it - Daniel Waldo Field (1856), leading shoe manu- facturer, agriculturist, dairyman, philanthropist, and author.

BROOKLINE . Opulent Comfort

Town: Alt. 18, pop. 50,319, sett. about 1638, incorp. 1705.

Railroad Station: Brookline Station, Station St., for B. & A. R.R.

Bus Station: Blueway Line, Boston to Springfield, stops at Brookline Village, 115 Washington St.

Accommodations: Three hotels and several private houses.

Swimming: Municipal Pool, Tappan St. (fee 10g). Separate hours for men and women.

Annual Events: National championship tennis matches at Longwood Cricket Club; horse show and races at Brookline Country Club.

Information: Chamber of Commerce, 306 Harvard St.

BROOKLINE is almost exclusively a residential town. Over its three hills, Fisher Hill, Corey Hill, Aspinwall Hill, and along Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue, around the Reservoir and over into Chest- nut Hill, spread the homes of people who find their source of income in the business districts of Boston. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Brookline was popularly known as the 'Town of Millionaires.' By 1910, however, it had begun to open its doors to residents of far more modest means. Restricted areas are still occupied by hedged and landscaped estates, handsome showplaces of the metropolitan area. In other sections the beautiful old estates have begun to be split into house lots; apartments have appeared, especially along the boulevards; large private dwellings have been turned into rooming houses. Half of Brookline still remains the closed citadel of wealth and leisure; the other half has become a modern residential hive for the better paid of the busy workers of Boston.

In 1630, the Company of Massachusetts Bay, bringing the Charter and its Governor, John Winthrop, arrived from London. Shortly afterward the worthy citizens of old Boston found their Common overcrowded with cows, and the town fathers found it needful to seek a new place to the west for grazing.

Governor Winthrop first mentions 'Muddy River Hamlet' in his writings in connection with early allotments made for 'planting.' John Cotton, urbane, affable, and of easy fortune, as his well-fed embonpoint testified - the foremost divine of Boston - was granted the first tract of land. Following him, other distinguished citizens of Boston hastened to secure for themselves generous grants, until by 1639 the available acreage began to run decidedly short. After the first famous allotment of Janu- ary 8, 1638, the grants were smaller, more numerous, and made to less well-known applicants.

In the earliest days, agriculture was naturally the most important in-

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dustry. Truck farms raising produce for sale in Boston, and fields, were under cultivation as early as 1662, and a clerk of market was ap- pointed to represent the Muddy River farmers at Old Faneuil Hall Market, Boston. Growth of the little village went forward, and in 1705 it was granted recognition as the separate town of Muddy River Hamlet (now euphemistically called Brookline), having been named for the estate of Judge Samuel Sewall, of witchcraft fame, who owned a large tract in Muddy River.

During the Revolution much property in Brookline owned by Boston Tories was confiscated. A Mr. Jackson, living near the present Public Library, sold his home and moved away when he was forced to provide quarters for Continental soldiers. The house of Henry Moulton, man- damus counsellor for the British Government, was mobbed by a crowd of boys who broke the windows with stones.

By the middle of the nineteenth century a larger town hall was built; the first railroad ran through the town; telegraph posts and wires were beginning to appear; the Coolidges had a store near the spot later to be known as Coolidge Corner.

As time passed, many leading citizens of Boston were attracted to this flourishing suburb, so far removed in appearance as well as in name from the Old Muddy River Hamlet. Taxes were low. Brookline was near Boston and could be reached by train and trolley in a short time at a moderate fare. It was an ideal commuter's town.

In 1870, Boston attempted to annex Brookline. Aroused, the citizens gathered in town meeting and blocked this proposal. Five times more did Boston attempt to pull out this coveted plum from the political pie, but each time met with failure, though at times the margin of votes was narrow. Brookline is today an 'island' almost entirely surrounded by Boston. A modified form of town government is still maintained to avoid expense and political complications, although the population of Brookline makes it by far the largest town in New England. In the last forty years the racial character of the general population has materially changed; it is now about equally divided among native inhabitants, foreign-born residents, and those of mixed parentage. Among the latter, the Irish strain predominates, with the Jewish influence second.

Among the famous citizens of Brookline was Hannah Adams, said to be the first woman in America to follow the profession of literature. In recent times the roll of honor has included such diverse personalities as Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Jack Sharkey, the former heavyweight champion prize-fighter of the world; and the poet, Amy Lowell, known to the general public as much for her masculine appearance, her blunt speech, and her long black cigars as for 'What's O'Clock' or 'A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass.' During her later years, however, Miss Lowell was the most striking figure in contemporary American poetry. She lectured widely. Among her contributions to poetry must be reckoned the perfecting, in her best

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Brookline

work, of the technique of free verse; her almost unrivaled command of the vocabulary of sensuous impressions; the wide range of the themes to which she has given poetical expression; and the clarity and restrained beauty of many of her shorter poems. Her most important critical work was the biography of John Keats.

TOUR - 14 m.

W. from State 9 (Boylston St.) on Washington St.

I. The Brookline Public Library (open weekdays, 8.30-9; Sat. 2-9), at 361 Washington St., was designed by R. Clipston Sturgis and erected in 1910. It is set well back from the street in landscaped grounds. The library houses the Desmond Fitzgerald Collection of Paintings, in which among other artists are represented Maufra, Bloos, Banderweiden, and Dodge MacKnight.

R. from Washington on School St .; L. from School on Harvard St.

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Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 21

Author: Publication date: 1937 Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company Number of Pages: 802

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802