The Daniel Nason, and a Cool Carriage

This locomotive is the Daniel Nason , built in 1858 for the Boston & Providence railroad line, and now on display at the St Louis Museum of Transportation. She's a wood-fired locomotive designed by George S. Griggs and built at the Roxbury shop just north of Ruggles street, on land now home to Northeastern University. Daniel Nason himself was the Superintendent of Transportation at the Boston depot of the Boston & Providence line. If you lived in Jamaica Plain in the following years, you would have seen the Daniel Nason chugging through the community, and perhaps it would have taken you to Boston to work or shop.



This carriage was found at the back end of the Boston & Providence Roxbury repair shop in the 1890s and refurbished for display. It was reportedly imported from England, and is now in the hands of the St Louis Museum of Transportation. Is this one of the earliest railroad passenger carriages in existence? It looks like a horse carriage dropped on to rail wheels. Which would make sense, given that a horse carriage was the only model they had, and early locomotives were small, slow-moving vehicles.

I was puzzled at first by the presence of what appears to be footrests on the top front and back of the car. Would a railroad car have footrests for a driver? Then, I found this image:



Here we have a photograph of a very early locomotive and two passenger cars that are very similar to the one shown above. And this explains the footrests - people sitting on the roof!


And finally, this 1849 map fragment shows the Boston & Providence and Boston & Worcester lines crossing in the Back bay. Notice the cars - short, with three windows each. While the drawing was only intended to indicate a railroad line on the map, the artist/cartographer would have modeled his drawing on real trains, and the carriages here bear a close resemblance to the one shown above.


For more on the Roxbury locomotive works and George Griggs, master mechnic of the shop, check out this co-post on my Boston blog here.

Norfolk Laboratory

1832 - found online.
The word Laboratory is difficult to read, but it is in the lower right quadrant, between the long straight Washington street and the meandering Stony brook above it. This is two years before the laying out of the railroad tracks, but this map and the one below show a similar area.

The Map of Roxbury (John G. Hales) 1832 at the JP Historical Society web site give a much clearer view from the same year.



Sidney & Shields, 1853 (BPL)
The word "Laboratory" goes through the dotted line of the railroad tracks, just above the large capital "R" near the lower right corner.

Finally, this 1874 map from the JPHS shows Chemical avenue, today's Cornwall street.



I've been puzzling over a street name for a while. Cornwall street, which runs from Washington street to Amory street, was once called Chemical avenue. The 1874 map linked above shows Chemical avenue ending at Brookside avenue, where the Aetna Rubber Mills stood. By 1885, the Cable Rubber Co. stood on the opposite corner. Now the process of vulcanizing rubber is a chemical process, but I would think that Rubber street would have been a more appropriate way to memorialize the business than Chemical avenue. Soooo.... I kept looking. Or at least I finally got around to looking into Chemical avenue.

I believe that I've probably accounted for the "Chemical" name by starting with a notation on an old map, seen above. Both maps, published 20 years apart, show the word Laboratory. It turns out that there was a Norfolk Laboratory in Roxbury during those very years. I suspect that Chemical/Cornwall avenue was the original driveway to the factory from Washington street. In the early 1830s, Amory street, Brookside avenue and Green street had yet to be laid out, so this was an isolated location, with easy access to the Dedham Turnpike (Washington street). The articles below tell us that there was a fire at the factory in 1830, and that they were still in business in 1847.

A note on the first article: they were producing ether in 1830 - that's before the discovery of the anesthetic effects of ether. It was being used for medicinal purposes, but the anesthetic powers of ether were not recognized until the next decade, when Boston played a major role in it's introduction into surgical use. Also, a demijohn was a large glass bottle of up to several gallons, often covered with a weaved matting for cushioning.

And finally, I finally found something to deal with my chronic King's evil.



Essex Gazette March 16, 1830


A Fire broke out on Monday noon, in the Chemical Works of the Norfolk Laboratory, in Roxbury, from the bursting of two demijohns of ether. The fire spread so rapidly that the whole building, with its contents, was consumed. Loss estimated at 10 or 12,000 dollars, and no insurance.




Boston Daily Atlas August 4, 1847

CHLORIDE OF SODA. An Article which has proved highly beneficial in scrofula, king's evil, and most of the cutaneous affections, and as a disinfecting agent. Prepared at the Norfolk Laboratory, and for sale at No.5 Hichborn Block, Ann street, by O.W.F. MELLEN.


Additional source: History of ether.

Farrington Manufacturing

Farrington Manufacturing produced jewelry boxes and eyeglass cases at the site of the old B.F. Sturtevant plant. They actually extended the facility over to Williams street, as shown in this 1924 map (look for the large pink colored building at the top of the page.) I don't know when Farrington closed, but I believe that the Factory Outlet store I remember from the early 1960s used the Farrington building closest to Williams street for the back section of the store. Anyone else remember the popcorn stink inside the Factory Outlet? They had a food counter in the middle of the store, and the smell of the popcorn oil pervaded the building.

Back to Farrington. The Help Wanted ads above are from 1923. My late uncle Chris worked there around the time he was graduating Jamaica Plain high school (1949), and he brought home a jewelry box as a gift for his mother. His sister - my mother - still has it on her bureau. The box is nothing special - it would probably get 50 cents at a yard sale - but it's special to us for the memories. I wonder how many of these jewelry boxes survive today.






Addendum: I've been poking around online, and it seems that Farrington was also an early manufacturer of what would later become credit cards. There are references to production of an embossed metal card in 1928 (remember when they put your card through a hand-pressed roller and printed a paper receipt?) By the 1950s, they were in Needham Heights, and involved in optical imaging of credit cards. By the early 1970s, they were in bankruptcy court.

Factory For Sale

Jamaica Plain, 1858.


This map segment shows the starch factory at the Boylston train station, just across Boylston street. Both the train station and the factory sit right on top of Stony brook. This map was published three years after the advertisement below, so perhaps someone bought the factory to keep it running instead of turning it into housing, as suggested in the ad. What did they make starch for? Laundry, paper, textiles, foodstuffs, paint and wood filling among other uses. About this time, they were changing over from wheat starch processing to corn, so perhaps that has something to do with the sale of the factory.





Boston Daily Atlas June 7, 1855


Starch Factory on Boylston street, Roxbury.

Tomorrow, June 8, at 3 1/2 o'clock, on the premises.


The real estate lately occupied by the Boylston Starch Company, situated on the corner of Lamartine and Boylston street, Jamaica Plain, directly opposite the Railroad station, consisting of a large 2 story wooden building, which may be readily converted into a number of tenements, and a lot of land, containing from 15,000 to 20,000 square feet, bordering upon the Providence Railroad.

Jamaica Plain Built

Here's a nice advertisement listing some of the many Sturtevant products manufactured in Jamaica Plain. They sold forges for use in school classrooms and ventilation fans that made life bearable belowdecks in Navy destroyers. One brick building remains of the old plant, now used for office space on the Amory street extension near English High School.

Cundy-Bettoney, Where Are You?

Bromley, 1931 - Roxbury (BPL) (Added 7/2008)



Here's a puzzler. The Cundy-Bettoney company published sheet music and manufactured flutes and clarinets. The earliest reference I can find to the company is 1910. The above advertisement, with Jamaica Plain address, comes from the Music Educator's Journal, March, 1936. They were publishing in Hyde Park in 1946-1954, and manufacturing flutes there in 1961. Maybe someone with knowledge of the company will find this site and enlighten us.

Edit: I found an online reference that puts the company at 106 Chestnut avenue. Google Street View shows a house at that address. More questions...

Addendum: I've had an email from Rusty, who informs me that William Cundy played clarinet in Gilmore's band, which was attached to the Mass. 24th Regiment, and travelled with the Burnside Expedition to North Carolina during the Civil War. Cundy started the business, which Bettoney took over in 1907. In 1919, Cundy-Bettoney took over Boston Musical Instruments.

Buff & Buff

Buff & Buff Transit



Buff & Buff Wye level





The story of the Buff & Buff Manufacturing Company is told on this page. As a young child I lived nearby, and never heard of the factory's existance. Just last year, with my interest in Jamaica Plain history peaked, I was talking to my Mother about the neighborhood, and she mentioned that she could see a factory out the back window of our Marlou Terrace apartment. Being puzzled by the idea of a factory in this residential district, I took a ride to the area, and poked around. Sure enough, in behind some trees on Lamartine street, I could see a brick building that I had never noticed in 40+ years. In that little building, with little local fanfare, world-class surveying equipment was made for much of the 20th Century.

I happened to find some Buff & Buff advertisements online, so I thought I'd make them available here. They come out of industry magazines that have been scanned.

3/5/2008 - I just found a new picture online - someone was selling the theodolite poster. Apparently there's a market for antique engineering equipment porn.

4/12/2008 - The two top pictures come from the Smithsonian Institution web site.

Jamaica Plain Builds Planes

The full story of the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company can be seen at the Sturtevant web site here.
It is interesting that the company history makes no reference to potential service in Mexico. The Aeroplane company was headquartered in Jamaica Plain, but some of the work was done in Readville. The linked story above tells us that the order for the four planes described below was cancelled at a later date. Not before I could get an entry about it.


Boston Daily Globe March 31, 1916


Battleplanes For U.S. Army In Mexico

Jamaica Plain Concern Is Building Four.

Machines of Special Design for Use Under Difficult Conditions.


The Sturtevant Aeroplane Company of Jamaica Plain has just received from the United States Army Signal Corps an order for four Sturtevant steel battleplanes for use in Mexico. Work on the machines has begun.

The planes will be equipped with (?)-horse power motors and are of a special design for use under the difficult conditions which the Army aviators have met with in Mexico.

Last winter Lieut B.Q. Jones experimented with the Sturtevant planes at Readville, and the concern was subsequently awarded a medal of merit by the Aero Club of America.

Strike At Sturtevant Blower Works

The Sturtevant Blower Works was the largest employer in Jamaica Plain - I've seen them listed at variously 100 and 500 employees. No doubt employment was fluid as they grew and contracts came and went (you can read about them here). Eugene Foss later became the Governor of Massachusetts, but at this time he was the president of the Sturtevant company. What were the men striking for? A nine hour day. As someone who has worked ten hour shifts in machine shops and foundries - with overtime - I appreciate that those who came before me fought to make the nine, and later eight hour day standard. We can also see that they were threatening to send jobs elsewhere back in the 1800s. Within ten years, Foss did move the jobs out of Jamaica Plain - to Readville.



Boston Daily Globe June 13, 1893


Strike At Jamaica Plain.

Employees of Sturtevant Blower Works Dissatisfied.


Three-fourths of the employees of the Sturtevant blower works, Jamaica Plain, are out on strike and the others are prepared to follow.

Nine hours' work and regular pay is their demand. The strikers left the shops at 8 o'clock yesterday forenoon and in a short time after the remaining employees had petitioned for nine hours' work with full days' pay. If their demands are not granted it is probable that the balance of the employees will come out some time during the day.

Last evening 300 of the men employed in the blower works assembled in the hall of the Bachelors' club on Green st and held a lengthy conference.

All save workmen in the shops were denied admission to the hall. The windows were opened for sanitary motives and at intervals cheers floated out into the damp atmosphere of the night, indicative of the good spirits of the strikers.

A committee was appointed after much talk to confer today with the manager of the company. If their demands are not granted it is probably there will be a long and bitter strike. Only the molders are organized, yet the strikers are confident that their temporary organization formed yesterday will be sufficient to win the day.

E.N. Foss, manager of Sturtevant company, says that the men have struck at a bad time, as their business at present is very dull and the competition in the west, where three-fourths of their business is, is very strong at present and the profit has been cut down to a small figure.

His version of the strike is as follows:

"I have been west on a trip for the firm for several weeks, and on my return three of the job masters who take contracts to do the work and hire their own men came to me and said that their help had petitioned for nine hours' work and 10 hours' pay."

He remarked to the job masters that he did not see how it concerned him, as they got so much for their work, and could make their own terms with the men. The job masters agreed that it did not concern him, and left the office.

Yesterday morning he was surprised to hear that

The Men Had Gone Out.

He went immediately to the shops, but it was too late to effect a compromise. The machinists were the leaders in the strike, and they were joined by all save the moulders and the tinsmiths.

Those who are now working immediately petitioned for shorter hours. The moulders belong to the moulders' union, and will not strike until they have received the sanction of their union, which they have applied for.

In regard to the demands of the employees Mr Foss said, "In the present condition of the trade it will be impossible for us to grant the position of the men. We have always paid good wages for good work, and have a skillful lot of employees. Our business is different from that of the boiler manufacturers and other in apparently the same line of work, for our customers are mostly in the west, fully three-quarters of our goods being sold in that section of the country.

"We have to import the raw material, coal and iron from the west and then have to send it back there. Our shopes should really be located in the west.

"Competition is very keen with the western firms, who have the advantage of lower rates of transportation. Now, the other firms I have mentioned sell their products in this part of the country for the most part, and can afford to give the men better hours.

"Their goods are not sold at listed prices, and the extra cost consequent on the demands of the men can be met by raising the price of the goods sold.

"With us this is impossible, as our goods are listed all over the country. We have to sitck to the advertised rates. In the machine shops, to show the effect of the demand, if we run only nine hours a day we curtail the product of our machines 10 percent. That means we should have to add 10 percent to our machinery, as the machines will only turn out so much work in so many hours.

"In the present state of the market we

Cannot Afford to Do This.

Last week we had to shut down the shop on Saturday or we would have had to discharge some men. We have a good lot of workmen and do not desire to scatter them. Accordingly we shut down.

"This week the holiday would have allowed us this day, and then the week of the Fourth we would have shut down for several days and taken stock. This is the direct result of the close market.

"Business is poor everywhere, especially in the west, and we feel it in lack of orders and some of those we have filled are not (?) and will not be duplicated. Only this morning we received a note from a customer stating he was supposed to be worth $500,000, but that as the money market is so stringent he cold not raise $5000 cash necessary to meet our bill.

"That is only a sample of business at the present time. In answer to the demands of the men we made the statement that we would give them 60 hours' pay for 59 hours' work, and that was the best we could do. If this offer is not accepted by them at present I fear the works

Will Have to be Closed.

"The demand is particularly unfortunate for the men just at this time, as business is so poor that we can afford to shut down. We do dislike to have the men scattered, as we expect to do a much larger business in the fall, and will then have work for all the old hands."

The first meeting of the strikers was held yesterday afternoon and the committee waited on Mr Foss and listened to his proposal of one hours' less work a week for the same pay. The proposition was submitted to the strikers at the evening meeting and they decided not to accept it.

Another committee was appointed to see if the desired nine hours could not be obtained and they will report at a meeting to be held at the same hall this evening. The moulders and the tinsmiths, who did not go out yesterday, will do so as soon as their union grants them the right.

The strikers say that other factories are giving their men the nine-hour day and think they deserve the same treatment. They also argue that the firm is very prosperous and making money, claiming that last year's profits were $250,000 and can well afford to concede to their demands.

The majority of the strikers admit that the firm is a good one to work for, and some few are willing in view of the stringency of the money market to go to work. The great majority rules, however, and all will stay out and try for the nine-hour day.

It is a question how good a fight they will make owing to their unorganized condition, but the 300 who were gathered in the hall last evening were sanguine that victory wold perch on their banners.

A delegation from the moulders has been appointed to wait on the union this forenoon, and they are also confident that they weil be ordered out and then all of the employees will fight shoulder to shoulder for their nine-hour day with present wages.

American Napier Automobile Company

1906 American Napier (picture found online)



Napier was a British manufacturer of automobiles in the early twentieth century. An American Napier company was formed to assemble parts shipped from Britain for sale in the United States. The Napier Motor Company of America opened their factory in part of the old B.F. Sturtevant blower plant between Green and Williams streets in 1904.
You can see the location of the company here. Look in the upper right, near the Jamaica Plain (Green street) train station.

I haven't been able to find much information on the cars, but the company was in the news in at least two occasions. In 1906, an injunction was requested against local 264 of the International Association of Machinists, restraining them from interfering with the operation of the Napier motor company and from meeting or patrolling near the factory.



The union men of the factory had gone on strike protesting the firing of workers. The company claimed that the men had threatened workers who would not join the union, while the union said that the men had refused to sign an agreement to pay for tools spoiled during work.

In a hearing in the court of Judge Fessenden, the judge seemed to respect the rights of labor organizations to strike. He had granted an injunction to a union in the past, and suggested that the two parties come to an agreement.

The court heard evidence from non-union workers that they had been threatened by union workers. The union men denied the charges. When three men were fired by the company, sixty union men went on strike in their support.

Days later, Judge Fessenden granted the injunction, and the matter disappeared from the news.

In March of 1909, the company was back in the news, this time because of bankruptcy. The company was reorganized and put under new management. The same arrangement with British Napier was retained, A medium priced roadster and a light delivery wagon were planned, and negotiations were under way with a taxi service for several hundred taxicabs to be built. The company also established a repair department at the plant.



The next month, 10,000 shares of preferred stock of the American-Napier Company was offered to the public.

"The Napier companies assets consist of a thoroughly equipped plant covering 4 acres and capable of turning out two complete cars per day, as soon as the desired additional force of men is put to work, also of complete parts - mostly imported for immediate assembling of a number of cars. To this can be added the American rights to the Napier, estimated at $30,000 per year in experimental work and designs alone.

"Dividends at the rate of 7 per cent per annum are payable quarterly, beginning the calendar year. The next dividend date is July 1.

"The automobile industry was never in better shape than at present. The big factory of American-Napier Company at Jamaica Plain is rushed with work for spring delivery. The repair department, established to accommodate the thousands of owners of good cars in Greater Boston, is working to capacity."


And that's the last mention I can find of the Napier Company of Jamaica Plain. The company seems to have survived until 1912, only to be replaced in Jamaica Plain - in another former Sturtevant building - by the Farnham & Nelson automobile company, as I've discussed here.



Boston Daily Globe March 9, 1906, March 14, 1906, March 7, 1909

Plant Company Nursery - And Much More!

At the Plant Company's Nursery for the Children of Women Employees.


I'll give a dollar to the first person who finds a 154-word sentence in a contemporary issue of the Boston Globe. In a world where the MCAS test is seen as an undue burden, the three-sentence paragraph is seen as too challenging for the average reader of the newspaper of record. Bah, humbug!



Boston Daily Globe June 23, 1918

Factory Maintains Nursery For Children While Mothers Work. Whole House in Jamaica Plain, With Kindergarten and Playground Given Up to the Little Ones, and House Next Door May Be Taken Soon.


When the Thomas G. Plant company, the shoe manufacturing concern in Jamaica Plain, announced a few months ago that it was prepared to employ women who had small children, and would give the little ones just as good - even better - care than they would receive at home while the mother was at work, some folks were skeptical. The idea of a shoe manufacturing company starting a nursery and kindergarten for the children of its employees was a new one.

But the plan has worked, probably better than even the most optimistic official of the company had hoped. The three-story house adjoining the factory on Bickford st, opposite the Lucretia Crocker school, already is threatened with being outgrown, and the company is prepared to throw open to the kiddies and their caretakers the roomy house next door.

Some time ago a small temporary nursery was established in the factory building itself, to provide for the children of the employees. But with the war the scarcity of male labor and the increasing numbers of women entering the field, the need for larger quarters became pressing.

In the new home every accommodation for the care and training of children from 3 months to five years of age, On the third floor are airy sleeping rooms, where the babies slumber peacefully in tiny white cribs. Downstairs is the big kindergarten room, for the older children, where educational play is the program. On the ground level are the dining and reception rooms and the kitchen where dainty, nourishing food is prepared.

And the yard! Out there, in the sunshine, is the big sandbox, where all by the youthful architects. And around this busy place is a big play space for the little mothers, with their dolls, and the brave soldier boys in paper caps.

Manager Charles M. Lawrence of the company has a personal interest in the welfare of these little ones, and frequently drops in to call on them. Dr Lewis, the company's staff physician, not only visits the kindergarten regularly twice a day, but is always within instant call.

Miss Euphemia Christie, formerly a kindergarten teacher in the Boston Public schools and the Perkins Institution for the Blind, is constantly with her little charges. Miss Mary O'Leary is in charge of the nursery.

The mothers come to the house just before 8 o'clock each morning and leave their children. Following supervised play in the morning, the larger children have lunch at 11:30. The smaller tots and the babies always have plenty of milk. Then in the afternoon comes the interesting and instructive play in the kindergarten.

The children seem to be delighted with their life. The mothers, too, like it, and new children are constantly being received. Today, of the Plant Company's 5000 employees, 2500 are women,and the number is growing rapidly.

This work for the children is only one of the services which the Thomas G. Plant Company gives to its employees. The factory features include separate rest and recreation rooms for men and women, equipped with pianos and games; reading rooms, with a free lending library of 3600 volumes; a restaurant and dining rooms, with service at less than cost; a hall for club dances and parties; women vocational experts to assist women workers; a hospital supervised by Dr Lewis, the staff physician, who is in the factory during working hours, and who is assisted by Miss Armstrong, a professional visiting nurse; a private park of several acres, adjoining the factory, with a greenhouse growing flowers for employees, sold at cost; a roof promenade for the noon hour; separate locker for every worker, a refrigerating plant, providing drinking water throughout the establishment; a heating and ventilating system that changes the air completely every three minutes; bright, clean factory interior; bowling alleys, billiard and pool rooms, a barber shop and facilities for getting cigars, soft drinks and candy.

A corps of investigators is constantly employed to look up absentees, especially among the younger people, whose parents in many instances do not know when the youngsters stay away from their work. For the boys and girls a private continuation school is maintained.

Jamaica Plane

This is the second reference I've found to planes being built in Jamaica Plain. This needs more digging to find out exactly where it was built. As a postscript to the story, Mr Hodgdon came in second to a British pilot flying a Sopwith Camel. Damn those Brits!



Boston Daily Globe May 19, 1919


Hodgdon's Flight A Boston Triumph Local Plane Shows Speed With Small Engine

Atlantic City Meet Offers Chance for Private-Built Machines


The flight made by Melvin W. Hodgdon from Boston to Atlantic City, N.J. last Wednesday afternoon for the Boston Globe's trophy and cash prizes is in some respects one of the most extraordinary distance flights that have been made in this country, for Hodgdon averaged 90 miles an hour in this flight with an engine of less than 100 horsepower. That is a very remarkable time.

Of course, the answer in this case is that the Whittemore-Hamm biplane, which Hodgdon piloted, is an exceptionally fine airplane - well-built, on fast lines, and remarkably well balanced. And the satisfactory thing about it, in one way, is that both the pilot and the machine are of Boston. In fact, this airplane is, with one exception, the only successful flying machine ever designed and built in Boston. It was built out at Jamaica Plain.

During the war the government ignored this machine and pinned its faith on some machines that only a rash pilot would attempt to fly from Boston to Atlantic City. But that was the fate of other machines which the government specialists ignored. Almost as soon as Hodgdon had reached Atlantic City the machine he flew was purchased for an aviation station at Falmouth, in this state, where ti will be flown this Summer. That also shows that somebody else has confidence in the L-2.

In point of fact, the L-2 is the fruit of careful cooperative study by Dr W.C. Whittemore of Cambridge and Walter E. Homan of Jamaica Plain, both of whome have devoted six years to the perfecting of the machine, and in that time Melvin W. Hodgdon has been the pilot for the inventors. He has grown up with it, and if it were large enough to carry the necessary fuel he would not hesitate to cross the Atlantic Ocean in it. That is the kind of confidence he has in the machine.

Hodgdon's flight has made some of the other entrants for the Globe trophy pause and it is doubtful now if some of them will fly in the kind of machines they were calculating to use. But there are some machines, like the Christmas Bullet, a speedy little biplane designed by Dr Christmas, but not yet completed, which may break the record Hodgdon made.

In point of fact the only opportunity a new inventor gets with his flying machine is in such contests as the Globe's and the contests for the other newspaper trophies which are free to all at Atlantic City. Besides the Globe trophy and prizes offered by the New York World, one by the New York Herald, one by the Atlanta Journal, and on by the Cleveland Plaindealer and one by the Detroit News.

And it should be clearly understood that there are inventors and flyers in these different cities all anxious to try for these prizes, so that there is no telling what the Atlantic City aviation meet will reveal before May 30, when it closes.


New addition: for photos of the plane, and the location of where it was built, go here.

Airplanes in Jamaica Plain?

Here's an interesting historical nugget: a pilot having an airplane built in Jamaica Plain in 1911 for a flight across the Atlantic. Needless to say, he never made it, and Jamaica Plain didn't enter the aeronautical history books.




Boston Daily Globe February 11, 1911


To Fly Across The Atlantic Carter Starts March 19 in Aeroplane. Aims to Do It in 49 Hours After Leaving Sandy Hook. His Machine Will Be Built at Jamaica Plain.


Harry Graham Carter, the English aviator, yesterday afternoon leased a building in Jamaica Plain in which he will have constructed an all-metal aeroplane in which he will attempt to fly from this country to England in 49 hours, starting March 19.

With several men well-known in the automobile business he closed negotiations in which he takes over the lease of a three-story garage at 10 Green st which runs through to 13 Centre pl. Here in a few days, work of constructing the aeroplane in which he will attempt the record flight will be started by a force of mechanics. Mr Carter will remain in Boston to supervise the work.

"I shall start from Sandy Hook March 19, and I expect to make the flight across the ocean in 49 hours," said the aviator to a Globe reporter last night.

Mr Carter estimates the distance he will fly as 2400 miles. His aeroplane is to be equipped with two 30-horse-power motors, which will drive twin-screw aluminum propellers. The machine, it is expected, will have a maximum speed of 90 miles an hour, but the average will be between 65 and 70 miles.

"I am serious in my purpose to fly to England," said the rosy-cheeked English aviator. "That's what I am in America for. I am convinced that I can do it. I hope to strike the coast about at Queenstown. I shall go as straight as the compass will let me steer.

"I have tried out my motors. They will run for 27 hours, but I expect to perfect them so that they will run for 54 hours. The aeroplane will carry 36 gallons of gasoline.

The aeroplane in which Mr Carter expects to make the remarkable flight will be tandem. All the frame work is to be made of steel, and the wings are to be covered with a special material which he calls parchment. The planes are to be 50 feet wide. The framework is to be of hollow tubing, in order that it may be filled with gasoline. In this way the aviator hopes to carry the necessary fuel without adding undue weight and head resistance. He will carry sufficient food in a compartment to last several days.

Mr Carter said last night that probably a week will be spent in making the building in Jamaica Plain ready for the purpose to which it is to be put, and as soon as this is done the work of constructing the aeroplane will begin.

He added that he is strongly tempted to try his skill at making a flight from New York to San Francisco, as a prize of $20,000 has been offered for such a flight.


********************************************************************************



This map shows us the top of Green street in 1899. The pink colored block owned by T.E. Turnbull is at 10 Green st. By 1905, there was another brick building standing behind this one on Centre place (now Greenview street). I assume that the Turnbull building is the one referred to in the article.

Another company built airplanes in Jamaica Plain, but that's another story.

Randall-Faichney Company

Randall-Faichney manufactured automotive parts on Amory avenue, off Amory street and along the east side of the railroad tracks just north of Boylston station. For some reason, they give Jamaica Plain station (Green street) as an address. Perhaps they were using the post office as their mail drop. They later started producing medical supplies, including syringes. The spark plug listed above seems to have been patented in 1914.

Advertisements like the one shown above are being cut out of old magazines and sold as collectibles, so if your grandparents have piles of magazines, hold on to them.

The Raising of the Railroad Tracks - Park IV

If I am guessing correctly, the building being moved above is one at the Sturtevant factory. The horses appear to be harnessed to capstans to apply the pulling force.

Edit: You can see how buildings were moved by horses here.


Boston Daily Globe July 10, 1895


Away With Grade Crossings

Details of the Work Commenced by NY NH & H Railroad Company.


Starting at West Chester pk, the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad have commenced the abolition of every grade crossing, eight in all, from this point to Forest Hills. The lowering of Center st at Hoggs bridge, below the track of the road and the widening of other thoroughfares, is also planned.

A conservative estimate of the cost of this great undertaking is $3,000,000. Of this amount the railroad pays 65 percent, the state 25 percent and the city 10 percent.

It is going to take about two years to do the work, and during this time the railroad company expects to so arrange matters that their traffic will be uninterrupted.

Since May there has been great activity all along the main line of the road, on the points named, and officials of the road have been busy adjusting claims of abbutters whose property has been taken. The railroad officials say that they have dealt with all property owners liberally, in most cases paying two and one half times the assessed value.

More than 100 houses and business buildings have been taken for the purpose of widening the roadbed, and along Boylston av, in Jamaica Plain, it has been found necessary to acquire the entire westerly side of the street.

The railroad is doing it own filling and grading, as this has got to be done between trains and it is not considered advisable to allow contractors to have a hand is such a delicate matter. The rest of the work will be done by contract, however, and already two contracts aggregating $1,250,000 have been awarded New York firms.

Engineer Ingersoll, who has charge of the job, has established headquarters in Jamaica Plain, where he has located his efficient force of engineers.

Starting at West Chester pk, there will be an easy rise in the grade of the road. As the tracks approach the present roundhouse, it will be about five feet higher than now, but there will be no difficulty running into the roundhouse on this account. Workmen by the score are now getting ready for the elevation at this point.

The roundhouse on the baseball ground side of the road will be discontinued.

Continuing along to Ruggles st, the tracks of the roadway will pass over the street by means of a steel girder-plate bridge, which will have 13 feet head room. At Prentiss st the tracks will pass over a bridge of similar design, (?) feet wide. All along here small strips of property have been taken to widen the roadbed.

At Roxbury there will be a wonderful geographical and architectural change. Here will be an inward and outward station, and Tremont st at this point will be about 100 feet wide. Forty-foot driveways will approach the station on either side independent of Tremont st, and one may cross from one station to the other by an underground passageway. When these improvements are carried out trains will run to the right, instead of to the left, as is now the case.

Between Roxbury crossing and Heath st a lot of property has been taken in order to carry out the improvements.

Old Heath st will be crossed by a 50-foot steel bridge, and the present dingy station will give way to two new brick structures.

Just above Heath st is Hoggs bridge. Center st now runs over the railroad, but under the new plan the railroad will run over the new Center st, which is to be widened to 80 feet. This is considered a great improvement to property in this section.

The old freight yard at Heath station is to be transferred to Lamartine st, just beyond Hoggs bridge, and work of filing in at this point is now going on. Land on both sides of the railroad has been taken at these points.

At Boylston station there will be a great change. Buildings have been removed and another station will be built, and a bridge across boylston st is planned.

Old landmarks like D.A. Brown's store at Green st, Jamaica Plain, have been torn down, and the great wooden building, Bartlett's block, across the street, is to be removed. Two elevated stations are to be built at Jamaica Plain also.

Between Boylston station and Forest Hills there is more building moving going on just now that in any part of Boston. It is a veritable harvest for the building movers, who can command their own price for the work. The biggest job that is going on in this line is the moving of a big brick factoryy at Jamaica Plain. It is 150 feet long and 50 feet wide, and requires 10 horses to furnish the motive power. Generally one or two horses suffice to move ordinary buildings.

Beyond this point Keyes st will be crossed by one of the steel girder bridges, similar in design to the others mentioned. At Morton st there will be a beautiful masonry five-arch bridge under which will pass the parkway, connecting Franklin Park with the Arboretum, and just beyond this will be another steel span bridge over Washington st, Forest Hills.

The branch will be three-tracked to a distance of 2000 feet toward Roslindale with a gradual elevation of the tracks until Forest Hills is reached. Hundreds of workmen are now employed at this point pushing the work along. The old Forest Hills station has been moved back, and two stations, one on either side, will be built.

Holtzer-Cabot - Made In Jamaica Plain

Bromley, 1924 (BPL).




I found this picture online - the year is right for manufacture in Jamaica Plain. Isn't that cool? Read more about it here.

The map on top shows the Holtzer Cabot factory in 1924. By this time, they were making electrical equipment, and the automobiles were long gone.

Jamaica Plain Gets Gas

O.H. Bailey & Co. 1891 (BPL)
(Note: Keyes (McBride) street is mislabeled Caroline on this map. The view is looking down from the Franklin Park side of Washington street.)


Building on the previous post, I thought I'd focus on the Jamaica Plain Gas works. The plant was on the east side of the railroad tracks at Keyes (McBride) street, facing out on Washington street. Many will remember it as the site of the Boston Gas Company offices, and it was converted into a school when Jamaica Plain high school closed.

The original plant manufactured gas from coal. It was that process, and the later carburetted water gas process that provided the fuel for street, factory and home lighting during the 1800s and into the 20th century. Due to the inefficiency of pipe welding technique at the time, the industry could not be centralized, and small plants like the one in Jamaica Plain were found wherever gas lighting was provided. At the end of the 19th century, a series of consolidations led to the many community-based companies in the Boston area coming together as the Boston Gas Company. Various reasons conspired to replace manufactured gas with natural gas in the 20th century, and local companies shifted from being producers to distributors.

The manufactured gas industry of the 19th century was the equivelant of today's petroleum industries in two important ways. One is that there were many important byproducts of the coal gas process. This was a chemical process, and coal tars were a byproduct. Finding useful applications for those byproducts was one of the major industrial/technical efforts of the 19th century. It is entirely possible that some of the local factories just up the street used the byproducts from this site. Cornwall street, which runs from Washington to Amory streets, was formerly called Chemical avenue. It would make sense that someone would locate a factory near the source of a basic raw material.

The other way in which the production of manufactured gas was similar to today's petroleum industry was in it's co-production of pollution. Not all of the byproducts were useful, and much solid and liquid waste was produced. If you go back to the previous post and look at the map, you'll see a brook coming from the far side of South street and passing around the gas plant before it flows into Stony brook. I've often seen it said that breweries were built in Jamaica Plain to take advantage of the pristine waters of Stony brook. I don't think so. The breweries would have drilled wells into the aquifer, to avoid surface pollution such as the gas plant would have produced. Reading the following site, you get the idea that the pollution, including from the chimneys, must have been massive. A veritable hazardous waste soup on the ground, in the ground water and in the air. And such is the price of progress.

This site has a nice album of pictures of the remaining gas street lamps of Jamaica Plain. They certainly are nostalgia-generators, but perhaps we should keep in mind that like all beneficial technology today, they came at a cost. I'd love to know whether there were site assesments of the Gas Company site before it was converted for use as a school. I'm guessing that ten minutes with a backhoe could reveal some nasty secrets.

Car Talk

I found this picture online. Someone was auctioning it off. The body is by Farnhan Nelson.



I have a particular interest in manufacturing in Jamaica Plain. I suppose there are two reasons. First, the Jamaica Plain I grew up in was almost exclusively residential and retail. There was some industry on Washington Street between Forest Hills and Green Street, but in any case I didn't pay attention to it. Second, I've worked in factories, and I have a general interest in old machine tools and technology. I certainly would never have guessed that Jamaica Plain was home to more than one automobile manufacturing plant. I had a little Detroit just up the street and I had no idea!

Near the top of this 1914 map, you can see the pink (brick) buildings of the former Sturtevant Blower Works. Near where Union avenue makes its right angle turn, you can see the Farnham and Nelson name on an angled brick building, part of the old Sturtevant facility.

Foreign Labor, 1887 Style

The Boston Thread Works was between the railroad tracks and Washington Street at Keyes Street (that's McBride Street now). In the picture taken from a bird's-eye-view map of Jamaica Plain published by O.H. Bailey in 1891, it is on the left, marked 17 (open the full size picture to see the number). Ross & Turner was the sales agent for Boston Thread and Twine, so the names are confusing. They were across the street from what later became the Boston Gas company building, which became Jamaica Plain High School, and then English High School. The present buildings at the site do not appear to be from the Thread Works era.



Boston Globe August 29, 1887

Imported Female Labor.

Alleged Violations of United States Law.

Irish Flax Spinners Contracted to Boston Twine Manufacturers.

Five Girls Detained on the Catalonia by the Emigration Commissioner.

Information was recently received at The Globe office that a firm of twine manufacturers in this city was conducting a wholesale importation of foreign female help, and that for several weeks past Scotch and Irish factory girls ranging all the way from 17 to 30 years of age, in parties of from five to 10 each, have been arriving by Cunard steamers. It was reported that 60 operatives arrived by the same line of steamers two weeks ago, having a contract to work for a twine firm in Ludlow. It was also reported that five more girls were expected to arrive Saturday on the Catalonia.

As a similar case charged against a Providence firm a short time ago excited much interest, such importation being illegal, a Globe reporter was sent to investigate the matter.
The firm in question is that of Ross, Turner & Co., manufacturers of thread and twine, with a factory at Jamaica Plain. About 125 hands are employed, and at least 25 of this number are foreign female operatives, who have been in this country but a few months. They are rapidly learning the methods of manufacture and are superseding the "Yankees" as they call them. They are from the north of Ireland and Scotland, and are considered skilled laborers. They were induced to come to this country by the promise of good wages, to perform the same labor they have been accustomed to in the factories at home. It has been represented to them that their steamship passage was paid by friends in this country, who sent them tickets: but it is said the firm has paid it through their agent, Samuel G. Rea, and $1 per week has been deducted from their slender earnings by the firm until the full amount of the passage money, $21.25, has in each case been paid. Ninety cents per day and certain kinds of work were promised them, but it is estimated that less than half of them are receiving that amount, the balance being obliged, till places are mode for them, to put up with 85 cents, and in a few instances the youngest among them receive only the paltry sum of 80 cents per day.

The kind of labor has been objected to, and two weeks ago when a certain piece of work was assigned to them to do, which the Yankees had refused, they struck in a body. The difficulty was quickly adjusted and they only remained out one day, receiving a promise of different work. It has been given out that skilled laborers were required and that none could be obtained in this country; but the fact that they are required to do the same work as others already employed would seem to disprove the statement. The business is practically a monopoly, as in addition to the two above-named places there are but a few factories located in New York city, Patterson N.J., and in Ohio.

A call was made last evening on several of the operatives at Jamaica Plain. The first seen were two sisters, one 19 years of age, the other 21. The conversation was addressed to the youngest, who was barefooted with the merest apology for a dress. She said she was from the north of Ireland, and had done flax spinning since she was 10 years old. "I have been in this country for only a few weeks, and was induced to come here with my sister and a few other friends by an agent of the company, who promised us 90 cents per day and steady work. Tickets were furnished for our passage over here and 91 cents each week was to be deducted from our earnings by the company, but you see it will take five months for me to pay them, and it leaves me nothing to send to my folks at home, who are dependant on me for help. I am more fortunate than some and get $5.10 per week. My board costs me $2.50 and taking out the dollar for my passage, it leaves me $1.60 per week. Some girls I know have only $1.30 left a week.
"The work is not what I expected, and I shall only stay here till I pay the firm and then hire out for housework or go back home, where I made better wages than I can here. Besides, the hours are longer. I do not think the girls are treated fairly, and wish something could be done to prevent others from coming here.

Inquiries about a number of others elicited about the same replies, all being emphatic in denunciation of the firm and anxious to obtain other work.

[The article goes on to describe a search of passengers on an arriving steamship.]


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I found it interesting that these young women were not helpless victims. They were willing to walk off the job, and ready to go back home if necessary. Of course, the desire on the part of companies for foreign labor hasn't changed, has it?