Ice Cream Cone Holocaust.

This 1924 map shows the Cone factory in the small brick (red) building along Union ave. The next, angled brick buildings housed an automotive factory, and the larger brick row housed Farrington manufacturing, makers of jewelery boxes. Those buildings had once housed the Sturtevant blower works, which burned in an earlier and larger fire, before moving to Readville. Note the dotted line running between the two long rows of brick buildings on the left - the space between the buildings represents the path of the Stony Brook conduit, which had been built earlier in the century. The Burnett & Sherman automotive plant is new to me. The complex had housed a series of automotive concerns in the early years of the century, assembling and modifying cars. Burnett & Sherman was a Ford dealer, located on Commonwealth avenue in Allston, and they are listed in the 1925 Boston Directory as manufacturing auto bodies at Union avenue. Farrington lasted into the 1950s - I've written about them here. One section of the old Sturtevant/Farrington factory complex still stands along what is now Amory street extension.



Boston Daily Globe March 28, 1925


WALL CRUSHES FIREMEN; ONE DYING.

Trapped in Alleyway Fighting Four-Alarm $150,000 Spectacular Blaze in Cone Factory in Jamaica Plain -- Four Overcome in Building.

Thousands at Scene; Commissioner Glynn Hurt, Aids Rescues.


Trapped in an alleyway, with a smouldering tenement behind them and a tottering, roaring factory in front of them, four Boston firemen stood by their guns to the end last evening, and went down, crushed under a 60-foot brick wall. The fire was at Union av, Jamaica Plain.

No firemen were killed, but four of them were dug out of the blazing debris and sent to the City Hospital.

The injured are:

Lieut George Hennessey, Engine 12, of 38 Lindsey st. Dorchester, multiple contusions and abrasions of the body.

George A. Stuart, Engine 45, 567 South St, Roslindale, compound fracture of the left leg. Probably fatally hurt.

Albert F. Single, Engine 45, 16 Murray Hill Rd, Roslindale, compound fracture of the left ankle.

Lieut Bartholomew J. Dowd, Engine 45, 15 Johnswood road, Roslindale, multiple contusions and abrasions of the head and body.

George A. Stuart’s left leg was crushed in two places by the wall, and he was badly injured internally. Early this morning his name was on the dangerous list at the hospital and he was “very low.” The attendants said he would probably die.

The other three are expected to live. Two of them are officers of the department who clung to lines while sending their men back from the scene on errands.

Fire Very Spectacular

The fire was very spectacular, and because of the situation, was perhaps seen by more spectators than any Boston fire in years. Thousands saw the wall topple on the daredevils who fought to the last inch. A great human cry of horror went up.

The fire was in the Atlantic Ice Cream Cone Company factory, a three story brick structure 40 feet by 100 feet, fronting on Union av and with one side on an alley leading from Union ave to a second alley which runs alongside the railroad tracks at the point.

The factory is located between two railroads, The Providence division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and the elevated railway of the Boston Elevated. It is a short distance beyond the Green-st station of the Elevated. The box which was rung is located at the corner of Green and Amory sts. Four alarms were sounded.

Repeatedly Warned

The firemen who were hurt had repeatedly been warned that they were in danger in the alleyway. The brick factory was in all respects like a blast furnace. The roof had fallen in, carrying floors with it, and from the cellar the entire contents of the building was pouring in a forced draft straight up through the roof and 50 feet in the air.

On the other side of the 15-foot alley, a two and a half story wooden dwelling house, vacated under peremptory order of the Police Department, was smouldering at the roof and sides. Intermittently, flames broke out, covering the roof, and running down the front of the structure, almost scorching the backs of the rubber-coated “gunmen.”

Two of them hanging to each gun, the firemen delayed withdrawing until too late. They hoped by their streams to keep enough of the blaze back into the factory so that the dwelling would be saved. Other engine companies, from outside, were spraying them and the dwellings with a dozen streams.

At 10:30 the roof fell with a terrifying roar. The firemen clung closer to their nozzles. Twenty minutes later, at 10 before 11, the 60 foot wall folded up like a jackknife, swayed in midair, and dropped on the four valiant hosemen.

The blaze was abandoned as the firemen on the other wagons leaped to safety. But it was only for a moment. In a trice the men of Engine 12 had leaped back on their wagon and were searching the blazing debris with frantic streams to keep the wreckage from becoming a funeral pyre.

Rescued From Smoking Ruins

Other companies, not in a position to render this humane service, dropped their task of property saving, and, risking the imminent fall of the other walls and remaining spire of the broken wall, pawed through the smoking ruins of brick and wood until they got their comrades out.

Stretchers arrived quickly. Everybody gave way to let the doctors and firemen work. A Catholic priest started posthaste for the hospital. Fire Commissioner Theodore A. Glynn, himself bruised by the tumbling brick, took command of the rescue work, assisted by Deputy Foley. Chief of Department Sennott, who had been attacking the blaze from another angle, was on the scene within two minutes.

After the unconscious men had been carried to ambulances, the work of extinguishing the blaze went on. A second wall was in danger of collapsing on the Union-st side and crushing another home. This did not happen, however, and all the dwellings were saved from serious damage. Firemen estimated the loss at $150,000.

Four Overcome in Building

Twenty men were at the work in the cone factory when the fire started, and so quickly did it shoot through the building that at least four men were overcome before they could reach the street. No one seemed to know how the fire started, but it was agreed there was a rush of flame from the vicinity of the gas meter. By 10 o’clock a crew from the gas company had shut off the gas main at Green and Washington sts.

James Kelley of 49 Union av. next door to the factory, heard there were men still in the building as other workmen rushed out. He plunged into the smoke-filled doorway, closely followed by patrolman John Kilduff of Station 13.

Between them they half-carried half-supported four men out of the building. Then patrolman Kilduff found the alarm had not been sounded. He ran to the corner of Green and Amory sts and sent in an alarm at 9:35.

By the time the apparatus arrived the flames were bursting through the upper-story windows and tinting the sky. A second alarm was sounded at once and it had scarcely ceased ringing when a third was ordered. Chief Sennott came on the third and when he got to the scene, at 10 o’clock, a forth alarm went banging over the wires.

Shortly after Chief Sennott’s wagon got to the fire, he was followed by Henry A. Fox, assistant chief of department, who took up the work of directing operations from the railroad side. Commissioner Glynn arrived and got immediately where the fight was the thickest.

Thousands of Spectators

Probably no Fourth of July bonfire has ever been witnessed by such a crowd, not has any Fourth of July bonfire been as spectacular. The factory is situated in a hollow, surrounded by vacant lots which form a natural amphitheatre. On two sides the railway structures furnished ideal grandstands. Ignoring instructions of police, thousands made their way to the railroad right of way.

On the other side, passengers on Elevated trains gazed from the windows at the blazing ruin. Motormen slowed down their trains. Sheds, precariously built, bore hundreds of spectators who risked their necks for a view. Every knoll in the vacant lots held spectators who elbowed and scrambled for position.

The streets on the way to the fire looked like the Larz Anderson Bridge after a Yale game. For miles the streets were lined with automobiles filled with spectators, so that a special traffic detail had to be sent from Station 13. Even at that the task was almost hopeless.

Before the traffic men arrived, and while route policemen were establishing fire lines, a fireman stationed himself under the Elevated structure at Green and Washington sts, clearing the way for apparatus, which was arriving momentarily.

The factory is at No. 47 Union av. On one side of it, separated by only two feet, and dwarfed into insignificance, is the little single dwelling of James Kelley, No. 49. Flames swept and mushroomed out over the roof of this little house for hours, from the second story windows of the factory, but firemen took a stand behind the protection of the gable roof and sent streams into the building. They themselves and the roof were kept dripping by other companies. The roof was somewhat damaged, however.

Spectators marveled that this little house and that of Anna Kelley, on the other side of the alleyway, were not destroyed. Again and again the houses seemed to have been raised bodily to the kindling point, and again and again they smouldered and licked into flame. At such times the spectators would shout “The roof, the roof,” and streams would be switched from the doomed building to these dwellings.

Directly opposite the factory, on the other side of Union av, is another dwelling. This had the protection of the 30-foot width of Union av, but was endangered by the precarious, toppling Union-av wall of the factory. From its front dooryard streams were tossed into the windows of the blazing structure. This dooryard is 10 feet above the street level, which gave the firemen an added advantage. Those streams were manipulated by the crews of Engines 33, 17 and 26. Each had a man watching the toppling wall, ready to order them back.

All of these houses were ordered emptied by the police, who refused to let the occupants stay long enough to take out anything but the most easily portable valuables. A dozen children were taken out of the house of Anna Kelley unhurt.

Another Plant Takes Fire.

In back of the fire, toward the steam railroad, are more wooden structures which would have been easy to kindle. These were kept safely wet down. Also, there are the brick factories and shops of Burnett & Sherman, an automobile company; a wet wash, and a manufacturer of jeweler’s specialties. Burnett & Sherman’s plant caught for a few minutes, but was soon drowned out. Ladder 1 worked over the Sherman plant.

Engine 13 had the post of honor and danger, under the wall, which finally fell. Four hosemen, Arthur J. Belaskyh, Frank J. Scott, Edward Brickley and P.F. Hegerty were on the wagon, working a gun and a line. They were silhouetted against the sheets of flame sweeping up from the building.

The crowd saw the wall crumple, without any noise or other warning. The firemen didn’t see it until it had fallen half-way down, like an avalanche of snow from a sloping roof.

Then they looked up, hesitated for what seemed minutes, and jumped. They jumped on the lee side of the wagon, which saved them from death. They were pelted with fragment, buffeted by bricks, but the wagon took the brunt, and they escaped.

The groan of horror went p from the crowd, which had seen the four firemen go down. In a trice the Engine 13 men were back on their wagon, striving desperately to extinguish the blazing timbers which formed a bonfire about the place where their comrades lay, under a ton of bricks.

A pathetic incident was furnished by the streams which the unfortunate heroes had held, bubbling like streams through the blazing debris. The wires of the neighborhood had long since gone, and were lying about crackling where they touched metal. That put the neighborhood street lights out, and only the glaze of the blaze furnished light for the rescue squads, which blistered their hands, tossing aside burning embers and red-hot bricks, until they made a hole in the ground, where lay their broken and bruised comrades.

Glynn Hurt, Aids Rescues

It was the work of but a few minutes to send stretchers scurrying in four directions. Commissioner Glynn, brushing from his civilian clothes the mortar from the brick which struck him and the mire from the ground where he had been brought to his knees by the crash, plunged into the work.

At his side, and similarly injured, were his aid, Lieut John J. Crehan; Chief Sennott’s aid, Lieut John Goode; Lieut Haleyh of Engine 12 and Hoseman Buckley.

The crash shook the ground for blocks. Rev William P. O’Connor of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes hastened to the hospital to administer the last rites of the Catholic church if necessary.

When the injured men had gone to the hospital, and it was feared some would die, the firemen went back to their work with set faces. For hours the fire blazed but it did no further substantial damage. The factory was at that time a hopeless ruin.

Charles T. Kerwin, 40, of 1475 Columbus av, a “spark” who had been standing beside the firemen when the wall went, and who escaped, was thrown into slight hysterics. He went about pointing to the spot, saying “Four of them. In there. Four of them. In there.”

Commissioner Glynn said his men were handicapped by lack of pressure. The difference between the streams from the six-inch mains in the vicinity of Union av and those from the 16-inch mains of Washington st was noticeable.

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.

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.

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.

The Norfolk Blanket Cleansing Company

A century ago, the Jamaica Plain News published a series of articles proclaiming the virtues of a series of local businesses. It's not clear to me whether the companies had to pay for the priviledge of being so praised, or whether it was the boosterism of the publisher at work. In any case, this article informs us that one Jamaica Plain business of the time was a national leader in its field.



Jamaica Plain News November 18, 1905


A New Enterprise.


The important transfer of real estate on Brookside avenue, near Green street, which occurred recently, whereby the J.B.Shaw factory, situated on a lot of land containing sixteen thousand square feet, became the property of the Norfolk Blanket Cleansing Company, develops an interesting addition to the industries of Jamaica Plain. There are about ten thousand square feet of floor space available in the main building of two stories, and a thorough renovation of the interior, with the installation of a sixty-horsepower engine and boiler, places a first-class factory on the list. The engine and boiler house will be an addition, situated at the northwest corner of the building. Another contemplated improvement is a large stable.

The rear land follow the line of old Stony Brook, the centre of the brook marking the line. This gives ample yard room and space for future improvements. The Norfolk Blanket Cleansing Company will install in a part of the new factory its blanket cleansing and bedding department, leaving the carpet cleansing department in the old building on Call street. Increased business makes this move a necessity, it being a somewhat remarkable fact that the largest business of this nature in America is conducted in Jamaica Plain, and by this company, and it will interest many to learn that from San Francisco to Jekyll Island off the coast of Florida, blankets are forwarded here for treatment. Add to that fact that steamship lines and parlor-car companies have everything cleansed at frequent intervals, and that this concern handles the cream of this trade, with a constantly growing local business, and it can readily be seen that more room is needed.

The balance of the space in the new factory is to be fitted up as a first-class laundry establishment, with the latest improved machinery and methods and with power and water furnished by the new owners, to a suitable tenant, or if that is not available, the Norfolk Blanket Cleansing Company will add the above feature to its regular business, and under the management of the same progressive gentleman, who for a quarter of a century was engaged in the manufacture of blankets, and as a consequence is peculiarly adapted to the business of cleansing them, there is no doubt that the new venture will prove successful.

Enterprises of this nature should be encouraged and the district is indebted to this company for its consideration in making such an important investment here, thus adding to to the commercial importance of the district, the wage earning capacity of its inhabitants, and the trade of its merchants.

Fires At Brookside Ave

Richards, L.J. 1899 (copyright © 2000 by Cartography Associates)
David Rumsey Collection


I'm not a big fan of fires, but fires are one of the only ways that businesses get into the newspaper. The site of these fires is now a playground that was rehabilitated by neighbors back when it was just an empty lot and a nuisance. When Brookside avenue was laid out, the Aetna Rubber Company built a factory on the site. It shows up on a Sanborn fire insurance map in 1874. Cornwall street was Chemical avenue at the time, and Ophir street did not exist.

By the time of the first article below, there was a bluing factory on the site. Bluing is the process of adding a small amount of blue dye to laundry to keep white fabric from appearing its natural yellow as it ages. Bleach has largely replaced bluing as a stand-alone product, but it is still used today in laundry cleaners.

In the second article, I'm guessing that the Chase carbonating company was carbonating water for beverages. There was a Star refining company with offices at 50 State street in Boston. Could that be the same company? I found this entry in the Sampson & Murdock Boston city directory of 1925.

"Star Refining Co E P Barrett pres and treas brass founders and metal dealers 110 to 122 W First S B"

And sure enough, E.P. Barrett is listed under the 50 State street address in the 1905 directory as well. So the "refinery" was refining metal - it was a foundry.

In 1905, the Sanborn fire insurance map shows only the brick buiding, owned by a William A. Gaston. In 1914, the building is labeled "Laundry" My mother remembers a laundry on Brookside ave in that area in the 1930s - perhaps the same business.




Boston Daily Globe December 21, 1898


Watchman Lost

Caretaker in Faunce's Bluing Factory Not Heard From - Supposed to be in the Heart of a Fire.


An alarm was rung in from box 515 at 3:48 this morning, for a fire in the wooden building corner of Brookside av and Cornwall st, owned by J.T. Shaw and occupied by J.B. Faunce as a bluing factory.

It was rumored that a watchman was lost in the burning building, but at the hour of going to press the rumor had not been substantiated.



Boston Daily Globe September 19, 1901


Started in Unoccupied Shop.

Blaze at Corner of Brookside Av and Cornwall st, Jamaica Plain, Caused a Loss of About $5000.

For the third time within a few years the old plant corner of Brookside av and Cornwall st, Jamaica Plain, formerly occupied by Aetna Rubber company, was on fire last evening. Two alarms were sounded, the first at 9:15 from box 515, on the corner where the fire was located, and in five minutes another alarm was given.

The plant consisted of a brick building about 75 feet long and two stories in height, and in the rear was a wooden building three stories in height and a shed. The fire started in the wooden building, which was unoccupied, and completely destroyed it. The shed, in which was stored a small amount of timber, the property of Hapgood & Long, was also destroyed. The cause of the fire is unknown and the loss will not exceed $5000. The building is owned by E.F. Gifford.

The brick building is occupied by three firms, the Chase carbonating company, J.D. Lawler, manufacturer of metal portions of harnesses, and the Star refining company. The manager of the brass company said the company's loss would be small.

The building burned has not had on occupant for more than six months. The firemen are at a loss to find the source of the blaze.

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

William Bourne & Company - Piano Makers

Bromley & Bromley, 1895
David Rumsey Collection


In 1837, at a time when Ohio was still considered "the West," William Bourne set up a piano factory in Dayton, a city of 1000 souls. Within three years, he had removed to Cincinatti, where he took a lead position in another piano factory. In 1842, he took a job with Chickering in Boston, becoming a department foreman. In 1846, he started his own business. Bourne died in 1885, leaving the company to a son. In 1911, the company built a factory on Highland avenue in Needham.

The 1895 map segment above shows the location of the Bourne Piano factory on Lamartine st. The information I've located about the Bourne company is thin, but I thought it was worthwhile to record that Boston's extensive piano business extended as far as the edge of today's Jamaica Plain.

Sources: Pianos and Their Makers, History of the American Pianoforte, History of Needham Massachusetts.

Fire At The Fireworks Factory

I'd like to know where this business was. It could have been outside of what we consider Jamaica Plain now, as I can't find it on any map.


Boston Daily Globe October 2, 1877


Explosion And Fire.

Wedger's Fire-Works Manufactory in the West Roxbury District Destroyed - The Proprietor Severely Burned.


About 3:20 yesterday afternoon an alarm was sounded in the West Roxbury District for a fire in Wedger's fire-works manufactory on Canterbury street. The buildings, two in number, were small, two-and-a-half story structures, situated apart from other buildings. Most of the stock was removed some days since, and consequently the loss was small. The fire was caused by an explosion of chemicals and the building was totally destroyed. Loss $600, with no insurance. In his effort to extinguish the flames Mr B.M. Wedger was severely burned about the face, arms and neck.



Boston Daily Globe October 30, 1891


Loose Powder Fired.

Mimic Pyrotechnic Display Made in Fireworks Factory.


Consternation prevailed yesterday after noon shortly before 3 o'clock in the manufacturing room of B.M. Wedger's fireworks factory, Jamaica Plain.

One of the employees in making an experiment did not exercise the usual care essential in making such tests and a spark communicated with some of the loose powder scattered about the bench, causing a mimic pyrotechnic display.

Soon one of the benches was in flames. Some of the girls in the adjoining room screamed, while several of the men, acting with commendable coolness, hastily extinguished the flames.

Meanwhile an alarm had been sounded from box 530, but by the time of the arrival of the department, the crisis was passed. The damage was slight.

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.

Tying Up Loose Ends

106-108 Chestnut avenue, from Forbes street. May, 2008.


Richards, L.J. 1899 (copyright © 2000 by Cartography Associates)
David Rumsey Collection



In an earlier entry, I posted an advertisement from the Cundy-Bettoney musical instrument company. The company manufactured flutes and clarinets and other instruments, and listed an address of 106 Chestnut avenue. I waited for some good weather to drive down to Chestnut avenue and poke around, looking for any evidence of the factory. I parked at the other end of Chestnut avenue and walked north looking for number 106. What I found was the building in the photo above. Number 106 is on the left, connected to 108 by a brick separating wall. The building certainly doesn't look like a standard home in the district, and I was pretty well convinced that I had found the old C-B factory.

When I got home with the photo, I took a look at some old maps of the area, including the one shown above. It turned out that 106 Chestnut avenue was right in the middle of the old Massachusetts Infant Asylum, which I've posted about before. Comparing the photo of the current building and the footprint of the Asylum building, they look very similar but not quite the same. The Asylum building is longer, and the front doesn't quite match up, but the general position is much the same. If you cut off the north wing of the Asylum - the top in the map - the look very close. If you look at this 1924 map, (upper right) you'll see that the Asylum building seems to have been added on to, and now looks very similar to the building in the photo.

So the take-home message is that I believe the Massachusetts Infant Asylum was purchased by Cundy-Bettoney for their musical instrument factory. In the maps, the building seems further away from the street than the current building, but the match is too good to let that impression sway me. So, in one fell swoop, I've figured out what happened to both the Asylum and Cundy-Bettoney - they survive to this day as housing. Not bad for a spring day's work.

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.]


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


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?

Stony Brook - And More Stony Brook

This picture shows the washed-out sidewalk along the Thanish Carriage Factory on Brookside avenue, near Green street. The building is still there today.



I pulled these stories from my other site: Stony Brook: Gone, But Not Forgotten. I got interested in Stony Brook because its path runs through the heart of Jamaica Plain, but since the brook runs from Hyde Park and West Roxbury through Roslindale, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, I'm going to keep them separate. I probably will migrate some more entries from SB:GBNF to here, but only the JP-related ones.



It Isn't Easy Being Green (st.)

Here are two articles from 1902. Both concern the intersection of Green st and Brookside ave, so they go together nicely.


Boston Globe March 2, 1902

Stony Brook Maintains Its Reputation

Its Overflow of Yesterday Morning Will Cost the
City a Considerable Sum for Damages - Buildings
Undermined.

Yesterday morning's rampage makes more firm the
title of Stony brook as Boston's most expensive
drain.

Another large expenditure will be necessary from
the city treasury before the damage done by the
flood of Friday night and Saturday morning can be
made good. While damage has been done to property
all along the brook, the greatest loss has been
inflicted in the more thickly settled parts of
Jamaica Plain, where the very number of buildings
gave the angry torrent scope for its work of
destruction.

The prompt and effective work of the sewer
department warned the residents near the danger
point along the brook, and also was the means of
preventing much greater damage than did take place.
This damage began first with small cave-ins, then
came the falling in at Brookside Ave in front of
the Thanish factory. The walls of that four-story
brick structure cracked with a loud report.
Later the sidewalk in front of Gaffney &
McDermott's completely fell in and there is nothing
but open space to be seen for quite a distance
under both structures.

Fears were expressed that both buildings might
fall, and extra precaution was taken to prevent
this if possible. The great weight of the two
buildings being in the center and well back from
the cave-in saved them.

In the cave-in along Brookside ave the gas pipes
were twisted and wrenched so that in many places
they were broken and the gas was escaping in great
quantities yesterday. One of the employees of the
gas company in investigating the breaks managed to
get too close to the leak and his torch ignited the
gas. A heavy explosion followed, but he was not
injured.

When the danger from the broken water pipes and gas
mains had been attended to the residents who had
left their homes for safety returned to them.
In the West Roxbury district the overflowing water
from Stony brook made many streets impassable, but
most of the water had been drained off my noon
yesterday.

In Roslindale there was quite a flood around the Mt
Hope, Florence and Catherine sts section. The water
reached almost up to the houses and in some cases
cellars were flooded.

Beyond the flooding of a few cellars in the Keyes
and Williams sts section of Jamaica Plain, little
damage was done there.

At Forest Hills between Washington st and the
railroad tracks the back yards and cellars were
filled with water.

[The rest of the article covers other areas around
Boston]

Boston Globe August 14, 1902

Hard To Fight

Quicksand in Stony Brook Conduit

Workmen Find Treacherous Footing in Trench

Picks, Shovels and Boots Soon Disappear
Driving of Sheet Pilings Necessary to Save Abutting
Buildings

Interesting Statement Given Out by Supt Donovan

Workmen on the Stony-brook conduit have just opened
up a deep bed of quicksand at the Green st end,
Jamaica Plain. The quicksand will cause the sewer
department no end of trouble.

Supt Donovan of the street department this morning
gave out the following statement on the Green st
difficulty in particular and the conduit in
general.

"Stony brook conduit, 17 feet wide and 15 1/2 feet
high, has now been constructed from the Fens to
Green st, Jamaica Plain in accordance with the
report of the commissioners of 1886. We are now
crossing Green st, and at this point we have
encountered a deep bed of quicksand. This has
necessitated the driving of sheet pilings, tounged
and grooved five inches thick, and 35 feet long,
making what is practically a coffer dam, or rather,
a succession of coffer dams, inside of which the
conduit is being constructed. This is the only
means by which this material can be confined and
prevented from flowing into the treach at such a
rate and in such quantities as to possibly damage
or destroy the abutting buildings.

"There is probably just enough clay mixed with this
quicksand to make a very tenatious or gelatinous
mass so that it is difficult for the workmen to
find a footing in working at the bottom of the
trench. They are in considerable danger of losing
their picks and shovels, and even their boots.
Several of the men have been partly engulfed.

"Green st is closed to public travel, and a
temporary way has been provided across the brook
and among the buildings to the south. It is
expected to get the conduit across Green st and up
to Washington near Williams at this fall.
Construction in this material is necessarily slow,
on account of the extrordinary precaution that has
to be taken, but borings show that this bed of
quicksand disappears at about the location of the
Sturtevant blower works, beyone which point
construction should proceed much more rapidly.

"It would be less expensive to excavate this trench
in solid rock that to deal with this treacherous
material. It is the worst material that has bee
encountered on Stony brook at any other point. It
is calculated that it will cost at least 50 percent
more to build in this material than in good
digging.

"In connection and carried along with this work on
the Stony brook conduit a low-grade sewer is also
being constructed. This will afford drainage in the
vicinity of Williams, Washington and Keyes sts as
the existing system of sewers there is too high an
elevation to properly drain this territory. This
low-grade sewer is of brick, 2 by 3 1/2 feet, and
is carried on the haunch of the arch of the Stony
brook conduit.

Studies are being made for the improvement of the
Roslindale branch of Stony brook, from Washington
to Cohassett sts, thence to Central station. Floods
on this branch have become more and more frequent,
and have become so severe that travel has been
stopped on some of the streets, the school children
have been unable to get through them, and even the
cars of the Suburban street railway company have
been stopped on Belgrade av. Engineer Dorr has made
plans for building an enlarged channel from
Washington to Cohassett sts, the bottom of which
has been scoured out by the velocity of the
current. The walls have partially tumbled in. This
work will be started as soon as the street
commissioners have obtained the necessary rights,
after which the sewer division will proceed to
improve the remainder of the channel by deepening
and widening it up to and along teh embankment of
the Dedham branch of the New York, New Haven &
Hartford railroad, as far, at least, as Central
station.

"This will take care of a territory which as grown
rapidly within the past few years, and in which
many new streets have been laid out, constructed
and built upon, and many swampy places drained or
filled. All these operations tend to increase the
severity of the floods. The storm water, which,
under the old condition of things, lay in swamps
and low places for several days, is now discharged
into the brook channel in a few hours.

[The article goes on to discuss work being done in
the Fens and Dorchester.]

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.

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.

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.

His Master's Voice

Bromley, 1931 (BPL)


This map segment shows that the R.C.A. Victor Company had a factory in Jamaica Plain between the railroad tracks and Amory street just north of the Boylston train station. I've never seen a reference to R.C.A. Victor being in Jamaica Plain, so I'm putting this online in hopes of drawing some information out of anyone with knowledge. The buildings are still there between Atherton street and Marbury terrace. Did your Grandpa work for R.C.A.? What the heck did they make in JP? Inquiring minds want to know.

Lucrecia Crocker School

Lucretia Crocker school (City of Boston Archive Flickr photo group).



Crocker school, Bickford street, 1895.



Once more, I have to add a school that I've long had in mind. This time, I must confess the failure was one of memory, rather than material. The school sat between Bickford and Parker streets, and under the shadow of the Plant shoe factory. The Crocker opened as a primary school, consisting of grades 1-3.

The eponymous Lucretia Crocker deserves more attention than I can do justice to here. She was very active in education, with a particular interest in the sciences, and was one of the first women to be elected as a Supervisor of the Boston Public School system. For more about here, please go here.

Patrick Meehan - RIP

Many people think that they could write a book about their lives. Patrick Meehan seems to have kept himself busy enough to deserve volumes. An immigrant from Ireland, Meehan worked in different businesses, lived in different states and made his fortune in helping to build Jamaica Plain and Boston. Looking at a Jamaica Plain map of his time, you find yourself saying "there's another Patrick Meehan property, and another, and another." He seems to have kept his holdings mostly in one small area, between Washington street and the railroad tracks. Perhaps he liked to keep an eye on all his properties. His home was on Washington street, a stone's throw from B.F. Sturtevant's blower works, the largest factory in the area. Clearly, this was not a man who wanted to take a country estate and live among bankers and lawyers. Someone needs to do some digging and give this man the write-up he deserves.



Boston Daily Globe February 16, 1916


Patrick Meehan Dead. Extensive Real Estate Owner in Jamaica Plain and Formerly Prominent in Politics.


Patrick Meehan, a holder in much real estate in Jamaica Plain, and formerly very prominent in Democratic political circles, died yesterday at his home, 3451 Washington st, after an illness of several weeks.

Mr Meehan was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, on March 15, 1834, the son of Thomas and Katherine (McMorrow) Meehan. He came to this country in 1846. At first he went to work on a Connecticut farm. After a few years, he entered railroading, and was for a time with the old Boston, Hartford & Erie Road. Later he went to New Orleans and followed steamboating for a number of years.

In 1860 he returned to this State. He made a fortune in the constructing business and settled in Jamaica Plain with his family.

He next turned his attention to real estate and at the time of his death owned much property on Washington st and along the length of Green st. He was one of the original organizers of the Boylston Brewery, later selling out his interests.

He was chariman of the old Democratic Town Committee, when West Roxbury was a town, and he also was chairman of the Democratic Ward Committee for many years after the town's annexation by Boston.

He was married in 1864 to Miss Mary Sheehan, who died about four years ago. Surviving him are two sons, John J. Meehan, who was associated in business with his father; William P. Meehan, Harvard, '94, and Harvard Law School, '96, now a lawyer in this city, and four daughters, Mrs Albert J. Hill of West Roxbury, Mrs Frank I. Johnson of Fitchburg, Mrs Frank M. Flanagan of Brookline and Mrs Ward N. Boylston of Princeton.

The funeral will take place on Thursday morning with a solemn high mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church at 10 o'clock.






Richards, L.J., 1899. (copyright © 2000 by Cartography Associates.)
David Rumsey Collection

When I first saw this property on Amory Street at Boylston station, I assumed the owner lived here, but the obituary places him on Washington street. Maybe one of the sons lived here.







Count the Patrick Meehan properties.





A strange place for a real estate tycoon's home, no?