USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Winthrop > The history of Winthrop, Massachusetts ; 1630-1952 > Part 23
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Richard P. McClintock, ordained 1929 in St. John's by Bishop Slattery, served at St. Paul's Church, Lancaster, N. H., later in Auburndale, Massachusetts, and now is Rector of Trinity Church, Watertown, New York.
Samuel A. McPhetres, ordained in the West in 1930, served in a Missionary field in Durango, Colorado, and is now Rector of Holy Trinity Church at Juneau, Alaska.
Albert Jenkins, ordained by Bishop Sherrill at St. John's March 11, 1944 is now Rector of St. Mattias Church, Whit- tier, California.
Eleonora Whipple left to enter the Sisterhood of St. Mar- garet in Louisburg Square, Boston, in 1924 and is known as Sis- ter Eleonora Margaret.
Ralph L. Tucker, ordained by Bishop Nash October 15, 1947 at St. John's. Served for a year in the China Missionary field, from where he was evacuated with his wife and two children when other missionaries left through the Communist uprising. Served at Salt Lake City for a year and now Rector of St. Mary's Church, East Providence, Rhode Island.
John C. Harper, son of St. John's Rector, and Thomas Leh- man are now preparing for the Ministry at Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge.
Miss Marion Grout, R.N., is a nurse at the Church Hospital at Fort Yukon, Alaska.
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CONGREGATION TIFERETH ISRAEL
By Rev. H. Leon Masovetsky
The history of Congregation Tifereth Israel is the history of the Jewish Community of Winthrop, for from the Synagogue emanated the creation of the many branches of activity that go to make up the Jewish sector of the Town of Winthrop.
The first Jewish family on record in Winthrop is that of Moses H. Schwartzenberg, who took up residence here in 1883. Because there were less than 10 Jewish families in Winthrop before the close of the nineteenth century, we hear of no com- munity activity. Mr. Schwartzenberg, who was Chairman of the Winthrop Town Government Association, took a considerable part in the Water Works fight. The case was so important that it finally went to the Supreme Court.
It wasn't until after the Chelsea fire in April of 1908 that the Jewish population in Winthrop began to grow. The hard- ships of those early Jewish settlers after the Chelsea fire can readily be imagined. Coming from a community where close to half the population was Jewish and Synagogues abounded every- where, they were put to the test in their new environment where they were but a small minority.
In April 1909 about a dozen men met for the purpose of find- ing a place where Jews might worship in accordance with their faith. For several years, religious services were held in private homes. It wasn't until September 9, 1912 that a meeting was called in the home of Samuel Shpunt, where the Congregation Tifereth Israel was organized. In 1913, the membership of Tif- ereth Israel had grown to 75. The first officers elected were: Samuel Shpunt, President; Israel Sisson, Vice-President; Jacob Abrams, Treasurer; Adolph Blumenthal, Secretary. On Decem- ber 30, 1912 the newly formed Congregation applied for a charter which was granted January 3, 1913.
After many difficulties, a lot of land was bought on Shirley Street on October 10, 1914. On August 22, 1915 the cornerstone of the Synagogue was laid, and on Rosh Hashanah of 1916 the services were held in the new Synagogue.
Rev. Herman Ben Moshe was the first Cantor and teacher to serve the Congregation 1920-1923. Rev. Joseph Snapper served the Congregation 1923-1927, as Cantor and Preacher, and Mr. Ben Ami was the first principal of the Hebrew School.
In February of 1925, the Congregation felt the need of a Community Center which would house every Jewish endeavor in charity, brotherhood, and Jewish education for young and old. The Ladies' Auxiliary which had been organized during the first
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years of Congregation Tifereth Israel and was of great help in the building of the Synagogue now came to the aid of the Com- munity center by presenting to the Congregation the lot of land on the corner of Pearl and Shirley Streets. On November 1, 1925, the cornerstone was laid and on December 5, 1926 the dedication ceremonies for the new building were held.
With the coming of Rev. H. Leon Masovetsky to Winthrop, July 1, 1927, a new chapter of activity opened in the Jewish Com- munity. The Hebrew School, which then consisted of less than 40 children, grew into a five-day week school for over 125 chil- dren, a three-day week school of 35, and a Sunday School of over 100. Along with Rev. Masovetsky, who has served as principal of the Hebrew School for the past 25 years, Mrs. Rose Levine served as Superintendent of the Sunday School until 1949. Mr. Barnet Kramer has served as Chairman of the Board of Educa- tion. The Hebrew School also created a Library in Judaica which has the promise of developing into one of the finest of Jewish libraries in New England.
The Jewish population of Winthrop, which numbered about 200 families in 1927, grew to over 800 families at present. In 1935, after much ado, a Zionist District was organized in Win- throp which, from its insignificant beginnings, has become one of the most important Zionist districts in New England, and had a worthy share in the creation of the Jewish State of Israel.
The Hadassah Chapter of Winthrop, which is the Women's Division of the Zionist movement, celebrated its 25th Anniver- sary in 1951 and is recognized as one of the foremost chapters in the country.
In 1939, the first Inter-Faith movement was held in the Com- munity Center to which the entire clergy of the town and all the parishes were invited. The Inter-Faith movement is now an important factor in cementing good will and brotherhood in the Town of Winthrop.
During the war years 1941-1945, the Jewish Community of Winthrop, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Leon Masovetsky, served Forts Banks, Heath, and Dawes by instituting special serv- ices for the Jewish boys in the United States Armed Forces every Friday night. Rev. Masovetsky conducted their Religious Serv- ices at the Synagogue, and Mrs. Masovetsky, with her committee, served them an elaborate Sabbath meal in the Community center.
For sixteen years, Rev. Masovetsky served as the only Spir- itual Leader for the Jewish Community, being the Cantor and preacher at the Synagogue and Principal of the Hebrew School. In 1952, Rev. Masovetsky will have completed 25 years of service in our Community.
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By 1942, the Jewish Community had grown so that the first ordained Rabbi was engaged by Congregation Tifereth Is- rael. Rabbi Nathan Glustein served the Community for three years.
In 1948, the Synagogue engaged Rabbi Simon L. Eckstein to head the Jewish Community of Winthrop. His appearance brought new life to the community. The Synagogue now num- bers close to 500 members. The Brotherhood membership rose to 550. The Brotherhood News grew to become the all-embracing Jewish Community Bulletin, which is one of the finest periodicals of its kind in the State. The Hebrew School was augmented by the addition of the Daily Kindergarten, and the Rabbi's study has become the focal point of all Jewish endeavor in Winthrop. Rabbi Eckstein does not limit himself to his leadership in Win- throp. He is a recognized leader in Greater Boston and is Pres- ident of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council. Rev. Sidney A. Gordon has been serving the Synagogue as Shamash (Ritual Director) since 1935, and is highly esteemed by everyone.
The lay leadership of the Jewish Community at present is as follows: James L. Goldberg, President of Congregation Tifer- eth Israel; Samuel Harmon, President of Tifereth Israel Brother- hood; Mrs. Florence Goldschmidt, President Winthrop Hebrew Ladies Auxiliary and Sisterhood of the Tifereth Israel; Mrs. Frances Rudginsky, who served as first chairman of the Win- throp Hebrew School Council, is now succeeded by Mrs. Frances Groman.
The past presidents of Congregation Tifereth Israel were: Samuel Shpunt, Israel Sisson, Abraham Marcus, Moses M. Lourie, Louis Mitnick, Philip Kravetz, Jacob A. Rosenbaum, Nathan Goldberg and Max T. Gold.
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FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST
By Emilie B. Walsh
The Board of Directors of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, called a meeting on De- cember 10, 1915, of members of The Mother Church residing in Winthrop for the purpose of organizing a Christian Science Church in Winthrop, "for the public worship of God; for the heal- ing of sickness and sin, according to the teachings of the Bible and of Science and Health with Key to Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy" (By-Laws of the Winthrop Church).
At subsequent meetings Readers, officers and By-Laws were voted upon and accepted. An Executive Board was also elected and sixty-eight members, thirteen of whom were recognized Christian Science Practitioners, signed the Association paper or the Charter of the Church. First and Second Readers have been elected every three years since the formation of this democratic- ally governed church.
The Winthrop church was incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts, under date of December 22, 1915. The first church service was held in Wadsworth Hall on January 2, 1916, while the Sunday School for children, up to the age of twenty years, was held at the same hour in the Board of Trade Hall, Wadsworth Block. On January 23, 1916 the location of the Sunday School was changed to Columbia Hall, Wadsworth Block.
A free public reading room was opened on February 21, 1916 at 29 Jefferson Street, Winthrop, where it remained until October 21, 1918 when it was moved to a store in Wadsworth Block. This reading room is now located at 71 Jefferson Street and is open daily from one until four-thirty except on Sundays and holidays.
Free public lectures have been held yearly in accordance with the Manual of The Mother Church, sometimes twice in one year. The first lecture was held in the Winthrop Theatre, No- vember 12, 1916.
A building fund was started by the church January 1, 1918, and the land now occupied by the church edifice at 165 Winthrop Street was purchased on March 6, 1920. Additional Sunday School space was required from time to time and secured by the addition of several of the Odd Fellow's club rooms in Wadsworth Block, adjacent to Columbia Hall.
The church voted to accept plans for a new colonial type church home, with a seating capacity of approximately three hundred and thirty, on September 19, 1922. Church services were held in the basement of the new building for the first time on November 4, 1923, the Sunday School being held in Social Hall
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in the Masonic Building until the spring of 1924. The reading room was made ready in the church and the furnishings moved in on November 1, 1923. The Sunday School convened in the unfinished church auditorium during the summer of 1924 and the years 1925 and 1926. The work on the interior of the auditorium progressed as the funds came in, and church services were first held upstairs in the auditorium on Thanksgiving Day, 1926. Thereafter the Sunday School occupied its own quarters down- stairs in the edifice.
In the year 1924 Sunday evening services were held during July, August and September, and for a number of years there- after they were held during July and August, but have since been discontinued. Church services and Sunday School are held each Sunday morning at 10:45. Testimonial meetings are held every Wednesday evening at eight o'clock.
The church was dedicated, free of debt, on November 30, 1930, at which time the following announcement from "The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany" by Mary Baker Eddy was read: "This church is hereby dedicated 'in faith unfeigned, not to the unknown God, but unto Him whom to know aright is life everlasting.' "
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Chapter Fifteen THE SECOND FIFTY YEARS
DURING the first half of the 20th Century, the period of Winthrop's second fifty years as an independent town, the com- munity experienced many developments. In the main, the town simply mirrored the cavalcade of events which it encountered as part of the State and as part of the nation. Within the town's own control, in general, Winthrop continued to enjoy the same placid existence and steady growth which has always been its charac- teristic. In the sense of great and dramatic events, Winthrop has had no history and is thus, as the old saying has it, fortunate.
For the sake of simplicity, the fifty years now ending may be divided into a few periods, which are actually periods of state and national origin. Until about 1914, the town enjoyed that calm and quiet era which ran from the Spanish-American War (hardly more than a squall so far as Winthrop was concerned) to the outbreak of the First World War. This was a halcyon time and its days seem so calm and peaceful in retrospect that no one now much over 50 can but look back upon them without a degree of nostalgia. Undoubtedly there were troubles enough and to spare then, but in contrast with the past 35 years, they were happy beyond anything we now alive are likely to know again.
Then there was the brief but poignant period of World War I when, for the first time, America marched on to the world stage and played its part as a world power. Probably no one then real- ized what was to result when we poured our money, our natural resources and our young men overseas. Possibly, few Americans yet realize what has resulted.
Next came the twinkling twenties when, like adolescents, we all went on a merry spiral of pleasure and profit, each accord- ing to his opportunities and desires. No matter what stock a man purchased, no matter what real estate he acquired, prices went up and up-until the crash came that dreadful day in 1929.
Thus came the next decade which, roughly, covers the time of the great depression-when nothing was worth much in money. Winthrop, with few families of wealth, did not share more than modestly in the prosperity of the Twenties, but as jobs collapsed and wages contracted, for those who still clung to a payroll, Win-
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throp did suffer severely. To many Winthrop residents, the worst of the depression years were then like a nightmare, and they still seem like a bad dream. Gradually, of course, we worked our way back into prosperity again, and then marched upwards into a kind of prosperity once more when the next period opened-that of World War II.
With fear and some panic but with mounting incomes, Win- throp people watched the great horror engulf more and more of the world. Like the rest of the nation, Winthrop in large part hoped that we could stay at comparative peace-a hope which vanished that Sunday in December of 1941 when our radios told us that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. The tremendous upsurge of patriotism which swept this indignant nation soared as actively in Winthrop as elsewhere, and we were so busy during the following years until VE Day and VJ Day that we had little; awareness of what was happening to the town, the state and the nation.
Just so, in the present period of "peace", we are so harried, so busy, so fearful, that we cannot understand what is taking place. Certainly the world we knew, when the town drowsed under its elms and upon its beaches when the century opened, has gone forever. We have been so twisted and broken in the tumultuous years that it will be several generations before an adequate historical analysis of what has happened to us can be attempted.
For this reason, it would be idle, particularly in a history of a single community, to attempt any such analysis. About all that can be of present value is a simple, narrative account of what seems to have been important locally during these years. No historian can judge his own times adequately.
During the first decade or so, so very little happened that those happy and fortunate years lump themselves together in a golden haze. Probably the outstanding features of these years in Winthrop were two in number : the very great increase in pop- ulation and the change from a "summer resort" to a year 'round town.
Many things also hinged upon these two points-the building of the boulevard along Winthrop Beach, the development of Cot- tage Park, Court Park, the Highlands and other residential prop- erties, the growth of the schools, and all the rest, but, fundamen- tally, it was the increase in population that caused the demand for houses and more houses, and civic services and all the rest.
As the 19th century drew to its close, fully half of the houses in town were habitually closed for the winter. Of course, once the Narrow Gauge was firmly established, residents began com-
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muting regularly to their jobs in Boston, but these were largely men of comparative importance, not men of subordinate position and employment. The year-round citizens of the town, by which is meant those who took part in town meeting and worked mostly within the town, such as store-keepers, builders, masons and the like, were still few in number. Gradually the number of perma- nent residents grew, and soon after the close of the Spanish- American War, the number of these residents began to boom.
In 1855, for example, Winthrop was a pleasant summer re- sort which attracted 407 summer residents from Boston. They moved into residence along in May or early June and remained until mid-September or early October. The permanent residents of the town were farmers, as they had been for more than two centuries, plus some fishermen who occupied the Boston harbor side of the town.
During the following 20 years the population of the town increased but 220. The farms were still being cultivated as in the beginning and transportation was still inferior. By 1880, however, transportation began to improve and by 1890 the pop- ulation had consequently mushroomed to 2,726. People came for the summer months, found the Narrow Gauge gave reliable trans- portation and found the town so attractive a place to live that they built, purchased or rented homes and settled down to stay.
The need for civic services on a larger scale was exemplified in the building during the next decade of the Shore Boulevard, which forever ended any possibility of Winthrop Beach being commercialized. With unusual common sense, the town so lim- ited development along the too familiar summer resort lines (like Revere Beach), that residences became physically attractive. Restrictions were written into each deed which made it manda- tory that houses be attractive, substantial and, hence, desirable. Another factor which attracted many new residents was the determination of Winthrop people that the town was not to be industrialized. The Revere Copper Works with its noxious fumes, the kerosene factory with its odors-these crystallized opinion against any other such development. Winthrop was to be a town of homes-and nothing else. The wisdom of these attitudes on the part of Winthrop people is demonstrated in the population figures. Between 1890 and 1900, Winthrop increased in popu- lation by 225 per cent, and in the ten years between 1900 and 1910, the population rose from 6,058 to 10,132. Winthrop thus by 1910 was well developed and its character firmly fixed. It had become the town we know today.
It was largely during this period that the development of the town culminated in the present familiar eight sections-
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which is a large number after all for a town of only a little more than 1,000 acres. Much of this development traces back to Civil War days, but it was only during the first part of the 20th cen- tury that the various sections were more or less completely built up.
One of the latest of the sections was Court Park, made from the Lowell, Loring and Emerson estates. It was laid out with great care and restrictions were written into each deed, so that the houses had to be built above a minimum cost. This resulted in the section being characterized by substantial houses. The Thornton and Cottage Park sections, older in age, are marked by houses of a more traditional style, counterparts of homes built in New England villages all along shore from Provincetown to Eastport. It was in these two divisions that many of the older permanent residents made their homes, and thus a few houses well over a century old stand beside and amid houses of the typ- ical style of the 50s and the 60s and, of course, those of much later date. Some of these houses are probably the very best of Old Winthrop. Such, for example, is the McKee house on Wash- ington Avenue opposite Thornton Park. It is not an old house but it was built in the old fashion, by master craftsmen, who put the mansion together with painstaking care and used only the very best of materials.
Running from the corner of Washington Avenue and Win- throp Street, Pleasant Street follows the harbor side, more or less, in a grand quarter circle down to meet Main Street near the bridge to East Boston. Here are found other sections of Win- throp. Such is the Villa, the Sproule Estate, Sunnyside, Cottage Park and the rest. Although largely enclosed now by houses of much later vintage, a few of the Victorian type villas remain- bulky, ornate but proud and sturdy-relics of the days when wealthy Boston families selected Winthrop for their summer residences. The Center of the town, now largely business, al- though only comparatively such, occupies a sprawling and indefi- nite section and is very mixed in character. In with stores, banks, schools, town buildings, churches and the like are many homes, some very modest, others more pretentious.
Opposite the Center, across the former marsh, now Lewis Lake and the Golf Links (the latter leased from the Town by the Winthrop Golf Club) are the Highlands and the three sections of the Beach, so called from the railroad stations which formerly served them-Ocean Spray, Playstead and the Beach. The High- lands, with its three hills, two of them bluffs partly washed away by the surf, are the relatively open section of the town. Where house lots at Thornton and the Center, for example, might run
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1850. The Charles W. Bartlett home on Bartlett Road at about the present number 175. In later years additions were made for conversion into the Cottage Park Hotel shown below and operated by Orlando F. Belcher.
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ABOUT 1917. The Cottage Park Hotel on Bartlett Rd. The rear portion will be recognized as the above view of the Bartlett house. The ground facing the hotel ran down to the water's edge to the left. Torn down about 1920.
about 5,000 square feet; at Court Park, at about 6,000 feet; and at Cottage Park up to perhaps 10,000 feet; in the Highlands, particularly on the outer two hills, a 15,000 foot lot is not un- common, although some of them in recent years have been sub- divided. There are very few building lots left in Winthrop. The Highlands is well gardened as a whole, because of the larger area available for most homes. The town, as a whole, however, is also well gardened, and a planting of street trees, maples and elms for the most part, made about 1880, has greatly beautified the entire town, save along the ocean front where winds are too severe to permit tree growth. For many years, up to 1951, these trees were under the care of the late Millard Smith, tree warden, who devoted his life to working for the town.
The three sections of the Beach, really all one, are built up in sharp contrast. The older buildings, for the most part, are summer cottages made over into winter homes after the time of the Chelsea fire, when a large number of Chelsea families, burned out, moved into that section of the town. In with these are a few old houses, very large in size and made over into apartments now. At one time there were a number of large and prosperous hotels along the Beach, but most of these were burned down and the hotel business was not rebuilt on its original scale. The New Winthrop, formerly the St. Leonard's, is the only large summer hotel still remaining, although it is hardly a hotel in the former sense. Winthrop does have two hotels, however,-the old Cliff House, largely for summer people, and the Winthrop Arms, a year 'round hotel, which is largely an apartment-type hotel. Both are on the ocean side of the Highlands, adjacent to Fort Heath.
This fort, which occupies an ideal site on the outermost point of Winthrop into Broad Sound, has had a varied career recently. Built originally to protect Boston and the northernmost fort armed with 16-inch rifles, at the time of the Spanish-American War the largest cannon made, it fell into disuse, although it was alerted during World War I. In World War II, again alerted, it came to be used as an experimental base for radar development. About 1948 it was announced by the War Department that the fort would be abandoned. High hopes were held by real estate development experts that the area could be turned into a mag- nificent new "park", and it was fairly well agreed that the War Department would give title to the town and the town in turn would sell the area to home owners through an agent. However, just at the last minute, the War Department changed its mind, as the Russian situation became stormy and the Korean War broke out. Since that time, highly secret experiments have been
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