In relation to yesterday’s #ModernMonday posting on Woodrow Wilson Court (click here for that Instagram post), today we are highlighting the former Asa Morse Estate at 81 Magazine Street. Asa Porter Morse (1818-1906), the son of Daniel and Sarah Morse (first cousins), moved to Boston in 1840 and began business life as a bookkeeper in the house of Hayward & Morse, who were involved with West India trade. After accumulating enough capital to start a business for himself, Morse continued working in commerce and trade and moved to Cambridge in 1845. He served as a member of the Cambridge School Board, as an alderman, and as a state senator in 1879-1880.
Morse became involved with developing sections of Cambridgeport near his home. In 1861, he built a large Italianate-style mansion with a central tower on Magazine Street, which was lined with large homes and churches frequented by some of the city’s elite.
Asa and his wife Dorcas Louisa Short (1822-1864) lived at home with their three children. Upon Asa’s death in 1906, the house passed to his daughters Velma and Mary, who lived at home. Velma, the last living Morse, died in 1934 and the direct Morse line ended.
The 17-room mansion on Magazine Street, with its massive rooms, frescoed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, oak furnishings and paneling sat empty. In 1935, the Cambridge Chronicle reported that neighborhood boys were breaking in and removing items from the water heater to the slate roof. Outside, the garden with its once prim walks and flower beds became an overgrown tangle of vegetation, obscuring the once proud estate. The house was razed in 1940 and the lot was redeveloped into Woodrow Wilson Court years later.
Photographs taken of the interior by Charles Darling in the 1930s show the interior before it succumbed to vandals and the elements. The images were digitized by Historic New England.
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A major event in Morse’s life – and one that has often been omitted from his biographies – is his relationship with Anna Van Houten, a woman around 30 years old, who arrived in Boston from Spokane, Washington. Her life story is unclear, but it seems she grew up in South Carolina and San Francisco, and was married to a Mr. Van Houten, whom she divorced in 1889.
Van Houten and Morse met, and after a brief courtship, Morse proposed to Van Houten in 1891, buying her a $500 engagement ring and wedding dress. In 1892, however, Morse suddenly ended their engagement, claiming that Van Houten had concealed her earlier divorce. Van Houten sued Morse for $60,000 in damages for “breach of promise.” In 1893 she won her case and was awarded $40,000.
Later that year, however, Morse appealed, citing other reasons for breaking off the engagement. According to Morse, Van Houten had hidden her African-American ancestry from him. Van Houten denied this and presented photographs of her family in court to prove her white ancestry. Morse’s attorney contended that evidence showed that both Van Houten’s parents were black and that Van Houten was at least one-eighth black, and therefore that she had deceived Morse in the presentation of her lineage.
The appeal was heavily reported and sensationalized in newspapers, and November 1894, the original verdict was overruled by the court. Van Houten returned to Spokane, and Morse died in 1906. The overruling would have a wide-ranging effect on future cases, however, in particular Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)*.
As this blog post only briefly covers this story, feel free to make a research appointment with us to find out more information on the trial.
