USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume III > Part 34
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
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eral bodies of water suitable for sailing. The club dates from 1866, was incorporated in 1868, and erected its handsome house that same year. The South Boston Yacht Club was organized in 1868, and built in 1886; the Dorchester Yacht Club, was founded in 1870 and incorporated in 1882. Nearly all the districts of Boston which border the bay have clubs, and there are many on nearby waters which are made up of Bos- tonians. The motor boat has come into popularity, and forms the prin- cipal craft of club members; but the sailing craft still holds the affec- tions of many and the yacht club races of the Hub make up one of the most attractive spectacles of the summer season.
There are many specialty clubs, formed for the promotion of some particular sport, or to encourage the getting together of certain classes who have a common interest. If one were to single out the welfare activities of Boston, one would find there were more than two hundred and fifty social agencies devoting their attention to social work. Forty- five carry the private burden of child care; there are thirty neighborhood organizations; there are twenty-six incorporated bodies whose purpose is to give service to the needy; and there are more than one hundred in the unclassified list. Probably there are as many professional and busi- ness organizations, some of which rank among the largest and most im- portant societies of the city. Boston is much given to organization, and its citizens do not try to go alone any longer when there is something worth while to be accomplished.
Social Clubs-Of the social clubs, or those which may be considered as being chiefly concerned with amenities of life and the pleasures of good fellowship, there are about thirty which are outstanding. The Union Club, housed for years in the former residence of Abbott Law- rence on Park Street, was founded on April 9, 1863, as a political club in support of the National government. It soon abandoned the politi- cal feature, becoming a purely social club. Its membership has been remarkable for its inclusion of the leading members of the bar and other professions, and other citizens of distinction. The first president was Ed- ward Everett, and among his successors were such representative Bos- tonians as, Charles G. Loring, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Henry Lee, Lemuel Shaw, William G. Russell, and the present incumbent, Fred- erick P. Cabot. On the occasion of the inauguration of the clubhouse in 1863, Mr. Everett in his address gave the following description of its location which is worth repeating for many reasons: "It is in a neigh- borhood as desirable as any in town, and its surroundings are of congenial respectability. Its proximity to the noble Common is a feature of ex- treme beauty ; the views from every story of the house are cheerful and attractive; those from the upper windows and the observatory on the
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roof are of unsurpassed loveliness. As I contemplated them the other day, gazing under the dreamy light of an Indian summer, on the waters in the center of the Common, sparkling through the tinted maples and elms; the line of the surrounding hills, Brighton, Brookline, Roxbury, Dorchester; the islands that gem the harbor; the city stretched like a panorama around and beneath-I thought my eye had never rested on a more delightful prospect."
A situation overlooking the Common was the great desideratum of the clubs of the city. The Somerset, one of the most fashionable as well as among the oldest, derived its name from the street on which it was located for some years prior to 1872. As indicated, it was the outgrowth of the Tremont Club, which was itself an offshoot of the ancient Tem- ple. As to the Tremont Club, its house was on that street, and when this organization was dissolved in 1852, the present club was formed, and oc- cupied a mansion on the corner of Beacon and Somerset streets. In 1872, it came into the possession of the home of David Sears, a descendant of whom, Herbert Sears, is now president. The site and the clubhouse are both interesting, for it stands on the ground on which was located the home of Copley the artist, and the Sears mansion was one of the finest of its day. The marble panels on the front were carved by Solomon Willard, who designed the Bunker Hill Monument, and other well known structures. The striking exterior of the clubhouse is well worth a visit, even by those who have not had the entrée to its exclusive hospitality !
St. Botolph, with its large membership among the professional men of the city, has a literary and artistic flavor about it which gives it a dis- tinction all its own. It was organized in 1880, and was established in the home of a famous Bostonian of affairs, Henry P. Kidder, banker and financier. The purpose of its projectors was to form a club after the pattern of the Century of New York City. Francis Parkman, the historian, held the presidency from its founding until his resignation in 1885, when General Francis A. Walker was elected. Odin Roberts is the present (1927) successor to the chair held by so many whose names are closely associated with the best of the city. In 1882, the club was presented by the Reverend George E. Ellis, a member, with a silver- gilt loving cup, formerly belonging to the corporation of Boston, Lin- colnshire, England, which is now one of its prized possessions.
There were a great many social organizations formed between 1881 and 1892. The Boston Art, to which reference has been made, dates from 1881. The Algonquin, Tavern and Puritan were all formed in 1886. The Algonquin was really organized late in 1885, but was not incorpo- rated nor did it have the use of its palatial clubhouse on Commonwealth Avenue, until the next year. General A. P. Martin, a former mayor of
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Boston, was the first president. The Tavern was formed as one of the dining clubs of which Bacon writes so interestingly. It filled a place, soon to be left vacant by others of like character, where the literati and the professional men could meet, and extend hospitality to the author, artists, or other notables who might visit the Hub. William D. Howells was for many years the president, and many famous actors, musicians, and other distinguished guests have been entertained. The Puritan was a sort of a junior Somerset or Union, to provide suitable accommodations for the younger social set.
In 1888 the Boston Athletic Association was established, one of the largest of its class, with a magnificent clubhouse on Exeter and Blagden streets. In 1892, the University Club was formed and took up quarters in the Back Bay, in the one time residence of General Whittier and Henry L. Higginson. Beginning with 1900 there were numerous social organizations started, the Twentieth Century takings its name from this period, with a house on Beacon Hill. The Boston City Club was another of the organizations starting with the new century, and like many of those which have been founded within the last twenty-five years, was a society with a purpose including more than social enjoyment. The Twentieth Century Club desired to foster civic and social reform in the city, and encouraged the discussion and action of any measure tending towards the improvement of their loved Boston. The City Club explains why it was established on a bronze table inserted in the cornerstone of the present home. "To bring together in friendly associa- tion as many men as we can, of as many creeds as we can, and thus create conditions of good fellowship and good citizenship for the serv- ice of the city, and also destroy the class, religious, and racial prejudices which exist when men don't know each other, and which are used by grafters and selfish men to further their schemes to the great harm of the city, State, and the Nation." A large program that, and expressed in straightforward English. In 1914, the second of its clubhouses was opened on the corner of Ashburton Place and Somerset Street, a wide- flung, eleven-story structure, the largest clubhouse in the city. It is said to have the largest dining clubhouse in the United States. The member- ship was brought to 4,000 when the new home was dedicated; it since has been doubled.
Women's Clubs-Women's clubs were relatively slow in developing, although one of the first to be founded in this country, the New Eng- land Women's Club, had the vitality to survive until the present, over a period of one less than sixty years, a thing that can be said of but very few of the many men's organizations of former years. It is really one of the famous institutions of Boston, rather than a mere social affair.
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Perhaps the reason for its vitality lies in the fact, that it began, and continued, a social work which extended over so wide a field. It was founded at the house of Dr. Harriet K. Hunt, about 1868, and the pres- ent title adopted. Clubrooms were secured on Tremont Street to serve as the meeting and resting place for women interested in philanthropic and civic works. The rooms were soon outgrown, and until recent years, headquarters have been at 5 Park Street-they are now on Boyls- ton Street. The activities of this first of woman's clubs have been too many for enumeration; not the least of these is that it showed that the femi- nine sex were as clubable as men, and by so doing paved the way for the establishment of the enormous number of women's organizations which are so interesting and valued a feature of the present century.
It was not until after 1900, that another women's social club was founded in Boston, and the first of several was the Mayflower, a purely social body, patterned after the men's model, and was as exclusive as its name might indicate. The "rich Chilton, of high degree," social arbiter in many of the society events of the Hub, occupies its Back Bay home on Commonwealth Avenue. Other organizations of this period are the Women's City Club, with its pleasant house on Beacon Hill; the College Club, on Commonwealth, a club consisting of graduates from women's colleges, and the Business Women's Club, opposite the State House.
Dating from 1910 and later are the Engineers' Club, on Common- wealth Avenue; the Tennis and Racquet, on Boylston Street; and "the newest note in modern club architecture," the House of the Harvard Club, on Commonwealth Avenue.
Aero Club of New England, 141 Milk, room 943; William Carroll Hill, secretary.
Algonquin Club, 217 Commonwealth Avenue; Jacob Frederick Brown, president; Wash-
ington B. Thomas, Frank C. Webster, Henry E. Russell, James G. White, Edgar R. Champlin, Francis W. Fabyan, vice-presidents ; Henry L. Wilson, treasurer; E. Dwight Fullerton, secretary.
American Folk-Lore Society, Boston Branch, 45 Newbury; H. Addington Bruce, presi- dent ; Samuel B. Dean, treasurer.
American Lawn Bowling Association, Franklin Field, Dorchester; Dr. W. H. Johnson, Buffalo, New York, president ; Lawson Reid, secretary, 71 Simpson Avenue, Somerville.
Apollo Club of Boston, 3 Joy; Courtenay Guild, president; Edward W. Bancroft, vice- president ; Horace J. Phipps, secretary ; Frank F. Savage, treasurer; H. A. Den- nison, librarian.
Appalachian Mountain Club, 5 Joy ; Charles W. Blood, president; Dean Peabody, Jr., J. Ashton Allis, vice-presidents; William O. Witherell, treasurer; William B. Dickey, recording secretary; Frank H. Burt, corresponding secretary.
Army and Navy Club of Boston, Hotel Bellevue; Colonel Fred W. Stopford, U. S. A., president ; Major-General Edward L. Logan, M. N. G., first vice-president ; Captain
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James P. Parker, M. N. G., second vice-president; Captain Horace B. Parker, M. N. G., treasurer ; Lieutenant-Colonel Dana T. Gallup, M. N. G., secretary.
Artists League of Boston, Inc .; W. Thatcher Folsom, president; Ira Jalilian, treasurer ; Daniel G. Fox, secretary, 80 Boylston, room 1107.
Beacon Society of Boston; Harold G. Donham, president; Charles H. Cross, treasurer ; James T. Wetherald, secretary, 110 Newbury.
Bibliophile Society; Professor W. P. Trent, president; H. H. Harper, 80 Boylston, room 833, treasurer ; J. A. Farrer, secretary.
Boston Architectural Club, 16 Somerset ; H. R. Shepley, president; H. Daland Chandler, treasurer ; Millard B. Gulick, secretary, 26 Pemberton Square; F. V. Little, execu- tive secretary.
Boston Art Club, Newbury, corner Dartmouth; Gino L. Perera, president; J. S. Hath- away, treasurer; Arthur F. Clarke, secretary.
Boston City Club, 14 Somerset; Charles B. Breed, president ; John B. Dore, secretary ; Charles E. Hatfield, treasurer.
Boston Library Society, 114 Newbury, founded 1792; Allen Curtis, treasurer; Wil- liam C. Endicott, secretary, 71 Ames Building; Miss Luella M. Eaton, librarian ; 50,000 volumes.
Boston Numismatic Society; Malcolm Storer, president; Henry J. Perry, vice-presi- dent and curator; H. O. Comstock, treasurer; Shepard Pond, secretary, 258 Boylston.
Boston Philatelic Society, Inc., meetings 322 Tremont Building, first and third Tues- days, excepting July and August; Charles K. B. Nevin, president; Frederick W. Stiles, secretary ; Oscar Hill, international secretary, 60 State, room 521; Gideon G. Ryder, treasurer, P. O. Box 2179.
Boston Society of Architects ; Hubert C. Ripley, president ; Frank A. Bourne, treasurer ; Gordon Allen, secretary, 18 Arlington.
Boston Square and Compass Club, 448 Beacon; William L. Terhune, president; Robert G. Wilson, Jr., first vice-president ; Ezra J. Brownell, second vice-president ; Irving C. Findlay, third vice-president ; Alfred R. Shrigley, treasurer ; Vernon L. Greene, clerk; Rev. George P. Bentley, chaplain.
Boston Yacht Club, 5 Rowes Wharf; J. R. Hodder, commodore; Walter Burgess, secretary-treasurer.
Bostonian Society, Old State House; Grenville H. Norcross, president; Courtenay Guild, vice-president ; Charles F. Read, clerk and treasurer.
Business Women's Club, Bellevue Hotel, 21 Beacon, room 101; Miss Katherine W. Ross, president; Miss May M. McCarthy, recording secretary; Miss Ellen R. Mc- Carthy, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Agnes C. Blake, treasurer.
Canadian Club of Boston, Hotel Bellevue, 21 Beacon; Ansley M. Johnson, president ; Donald J. Ferguson, James H. Morson, and Daniel H. Rose, vice-presidents; John F. Masters, historian; J. Ernest Kerr, secretary; D. Currier Doleman, treasurer ; J. Arnold Farrer, assistant secretary.
Cecelia Society, The; Archibald J. Jackson, president, 415 Boylston; Arthur A. Lincoln and Mrs. Wallace Wales, vice-presidents; J. Russell Abbott, treasurer ; Edward M. Harris, secretary, 75 Tremont; William J. Riley, librarian; Malcolm Lang, conductor.
Clerical Club of Boston, meets second Monday of each month, October to June at 6 P. M .; Rev. Edward Tillotson, secretary and treasurer, 60 Monument Avenue, Swampscott.
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College Club, 40 Commonwealth Avenue; Mrs. James K. Blake, president; Miss Mar- garet McGill, treasurer; Mrs. Frank E. Mansfield, corresponding secretary.
Colonial Club of Dorchester, Claybourne, corner Park, Dorchester; L. C. Gleason, pres- ident; Melvin W. Kenney, clerk; Frank Haley, treasurer.
Colonial Society of Massachusetts; Fred N. Robinson, Ph. D., president; William C. Endicott, treasurer, 71 Ames Building; Arthur S. Pier, recording secretary, 881 Commonwealth Avenue; Rev. Charles E. Park, corresponding secretary, 347 Marl- borough.
Commercial Club; Lewis K. Morse, president; Charles Francis Adams, vice-president ; Henry P. Kendall, treasurer; S. St. J. Morgan, secretary ; Perry L. Burrill, assist- ant secretary, P. O. Box 1153.
Copley Society of Boston, Rogers Building, 491 Boylston; Holker Abbott, president ; Wm. T. Aldrich and H. Winthrop Peirce, vice-presidents; Alfred L. Fish, treasurer ; Frederick W. Coburn, secretary.
Daughters of Massachusetts; Mrs. Austin C. Wellington, president; Miss Jennie C. Moseley, recording secretary, 1197 Beacon, Brookline; Mrs. James C. Peabody, treasurer, 47 Allston.
Engineers Blue Room Club, 12 Berkeley, meets second Saturdays; Leslie B. Brown, president, Lynn; Blane Sweatt, vice-president, Everett; Thomas B. Constant, treas- urer, East Boston; Thomas H. Veinote, secretary, Cambridge.
Engineers Club, 2 Commonwealth Avenue; Irving E. Moultrop, president; Charles L. Gagnebin and Arthur S. Knight, vice-presidents; Frederic H. Fay, treasurer ; Frank M. Gunby, secretary.
Field and Forest Club, 585 Boylston; Rev. Charles W. Casson, president; Miss Theo- date Burpee, secretary, 1318 Commonwealth Avenue, Allston; Mrs. Nessis F. Libbey, treasurer.
Fifty Club, The, 21 LaGrange; John J. Kennedy, president; William Denney, secre- tary; William Yates, treasurer.
Grand Army Club, 3 Boylston Place; George A. Hosley, commander ; Charles O. Bur- bank, adjutant; Alvin R. Bailey, quartermaster, 60 Congress.
Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; Frank W. Benson, president; Leslie P. Thompson, treasurer; Mrs. Thomas S. Perry, secretary, 312 Marlborough.
Handel and Haydn Society, Huntington Hall, 491 Boylston; Courtenay Guild, presi- dent; George M. Brooks, treasurer, 79 Milk, room 401; John C. Brodhead, secre- tary, 38 Montclair Avenue, Roslindale; George E. Banks, librarian.
Harvard Club of Boston, 374 Commonwealth Avenue; Charles Francis Adams, president ; Nathaniel F. Ayer, vice-president ; Edward Wigglesworth, treasurer; Thorvald S. Ross, secretary.
Junior League of Boston, Inc., The, 37 Commonwealth Avenue; Sarah Winslow, presi- dent ; Frances Howell, vice-president; Miss Lydia Bullard, secretary; Elinor K. Sutton, treasurer.
Ladies' Catholic Club Association, 18 East Brookline; Mrs. James S. Fox, president ; Mary Crosby, vice-president ; Mrs. Daniel J. Holland; Gertrude F. Sullivan, finan- cial secretary ; Rev. George P. O'Connor, treasurer, 18 East Brookline.
Lincoln Club of Boston, Inc., The (Republican), 6 Beacon, room 1009; Hon. Grafton D. Cushing, president; Walter R. Meins, secretary.
Massachusetts Golf Association, 199 Washington, room 608; Raynor M. Gardiner, presi- dent ; S. Harold Greene and Francis D. Ouimet, vice-presidents; W. F. Garcelon, secretary ; Joshua Crane, treasurer.
Met. Bos .- 66
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Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs, 687 Boylston, room 312; Mrs. Arthur Devens Potter, president; Mrs. Ernest R. Brackett, clerk; Mrs. Clinton A. Fergu- son, 7 Beach, Marblehead, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Frederick S. Davis, treas- urer, 146 Massachusetts Avenue.
Middlesex Club (Republican), 40 Court, room 204; Charles S. Proctor, president ; Charles H. Ramsay, treasurer ; Walter R. Meins, secretary.
New England Women's Club, Chauncey Hall Building, 585 Boylston; Mrs. Frank T. Wren, president; Mrs. Henry Lynch, recording secretary, 41 Mason Terrace, Brook- line; Miss Lillian G. Horne, corresponding secretary, 19 Hancock, Winchester.
New England Women's Medical Society; Alice H. Bigelow, M. D., president; Letitia D. Adams, M. D., vice-president; Ilia Galleani, M. D., treasurer ; Anna Q. Church- ill, secretary, 32 Percival, Dorchester.
Old School Boys of Boston; Clarence H. Carter, president, 44 Bromfield, room 803; Edwin J. Lewis, Jr., vice-president; T. Julien Silsby, secretary and treasurer, Old State House; Roswell D. Cushing, historian.
Republican Club of Massachusetts, 294 Washington, room 343; Eben S. Draper, presi- dent, Hopedale; Slater Washburn, secretary, Worcester; Henry Parkman, Jr., treasurer, 60 State; J. Ernest Kerr, executive secretary ; Charles M. Davenport, chairman executive committee.
Roosevelt Club, 6 Beacon, room 308; Harcourt Amory, Jr., president ; Augustus P. Loring, Jr., treasurer ; Lawrence J. Watson, secretary.
St. Botolph Club, 4 Newbury; Odin Roberts, president ; Charles M. Loeffler and Charles M. Davenport, vice-presidents; Hazen Clement, treasurer; Charles N. Cogswell, secretary.
Society of Arts and Crafts, 9 Park; William T. Aldrich, president; Henry Percy Macomber, treasurer and secretary.
Somerset Club, 42 Beacon; Herbert Sears, president; John A. Blanchard, treasurer ; John B. Chapin, secretary.
Tavern Club, 4 Boylston Place; Bliss Perry, president; Philip Hale and Dr. Edward Reynolds, vice-presidents; Henry G. Vaughn, treasurer, 53 State, room 1020; Dr. Walter C. Bailey, secretary.
Tennis and Racquet Club, 939 Boylston, Philip S. Sears, president ; Thomas K. Cummins, treasurer ; George D. Wells, secretary.
Twentieth Century Club, 2 Joy; James Monroe, president; William F. Burdett, treas- urer ; Harold P. Whitney, secretary.
Union Club, 8 Park; Frederick P. Cabot, president; Henry Wheeler and Allston Burr, vice-presidents ; Pliny Jewell, treasurer; Frank W. Grinnell, secretary.
University Club, Trinity Place, corner Stuart Street; Joseph W. Powell, president ; James Jackson, treasurer ; Frederick J. Dunn, secretary ; Frank H. Chase, librarian. Women's City Club, 40 Beacon; Mrs. William Z. Ripley, president; Miss Sybil H. Holmes, treasurer; Mrs. Frederick S. Fogg, secretary.
Women's Municipal League of Boston, 25 Huntington Avenue, room 228; Mrs. Robert Treat Paine, 2d, president; Mrs. Henry D. Tudor, treasurer ; Miss Catherine E. Russell, organizing secretary; Mrs. David J. Evand, general secretary; Miss Doris Cummings, assistant secretary and treasurer.
YD Club of Boston, Inc., 200 Huntington; Carroll J. Swan, president; Major-General Clarence B. Edwards, honorary president; Ralph M. Eastman, treasurer; William Snyder, secretary.
CHAPTER XIX. TRANSPORTATION AND SHIPPING.
Transportation has been one of the most vital factors in the making of Boston and one of its greatest problems. Before ever the pioneers could even reach Massachusetts, there were difficulties in getting staunch ships for the journey, and long and careful preparations to be made before it was safe to set out upon the perilous sea. When all was made ready, it was long weeks, even months, before the voyagers could hope to make land. Arriving in this new far country, plans had to be made to keep in touch with the old, since it would be some years before the colony could produce for itself the bare necessities of life, and nearly two centuries passed before it became independent of Europe. There was the problem of keeping in repair the long bridge across the Atlantic. It was the foresight of John Winthrop in sending back the "Lion" for food immediately after the settlement of Boston which saved the town from abandonment, for had not this little vessel arrived when it did, six months later, with supplies, it is likely that those who survived the first winter would never have had the courage to face another. Charles- town records show that "the people were necessitated to live on clams muscles, and ground nuts and acorn." The Governor himself "had the last batch of bread in the oven" and was seen giving "the last handful of meal in the barrel unto a poor man distressed by the wolf at his door." It took six months for the "Lion" to make the round trip, and the occa- sion of its return, February 22, 1631, was celebrated as the first Thanks- giving Day in Massachusetts. Not only this but the next Thanksgivings were regularly appointed days of gratitude for the benefits derived from a successful, although slow, transportation system.
Transportation Problems-When Winthrop and his followers chose for the site of the principal settlement of the colony a peninsula that was practically an island, they sought safety for themselves, but in so doing provided transportation and traffic problems which never yet have been solved. Millions have been spent in the straightening and widen- ing of the crooked narrow streets of Boston. The Metropolis is the port nearest to Europe, but its topographical and geographical situation has always delayed the development of direct and well connected railroad lines. While capital hesitated to create the land transportation needed to sustain ocean shipping, some other city with fewer difficulties of loca- tion, took the lead. Boston developed an ocean traffic very early, and became the most important town in America because of it. The first
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railway system in our country was put into use near Boston, but the first steam railroads were built elsewhere. Even when these roads were constructed about the city they extended but a few miles into the back lands, and it was long years before the Metropolis was connected with the near West. Hence we have the picture of the pioneers in shipping and railroads fighting for their places in the sun against rivals strongly entrenched because their natural situation was less isolated and they had managed to get off to a fine start, often financed by Bostonians.
The Choice by Winthrop of an Isolated Peninsula-The isolation of the peninsula first known as Shawmut was just the feature that appealed to the Puritans. They chose the spot not merely to have good drinking water, but that they might be safe. The few adventurers and fisher- men who had preceded them on the New England coast, had mistreated the Indians and suffered because of it. The tales of their adventures, grossly exaggerated no doubt in the telling, had made out the Indian to be a treacherous, gigantic beast, something to strike terror in the hearts of the Puritan seekers of peace with religion. It was but little known that before Winthrop had sailed from England, the Indians of Massa- chusetts had all but been wiped out by a plague. And the pioneers were slow to learn that the remnant of the aborigines were nothing to fear, and probably never had been. Then there were all sorts of stories about wild animals and the like ready to pounce down upon the unwary or, at the very least, destroy the cattle, so that safety first was always in the background of the minds of the pioneers.
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