Do you know where this picture was taken? It is at the intersection of Craigie and Brattle Streets, where the circular fountain in the center of the picture was placed in 1889. The house in the background is 27 Craigie St, built in 1854. After the installation of the fountain, the intersection was often referred to as “Washtub Square.” It appears to have gotten that sobriquet the same year it was erected:
The nickname may have derived from its shape, which resembled a washtub, or it may have been because it was planted smack in the middle of the busy intersection, causing a jumble of traffic jams – as though caught in a “washtub.” More on that below.
How did this come about? In 1889, Mary Edgcumbe Blatchford (1838-1931) of 156 Brattle St got permission from the City Committee on Water Supply and Drainage to erect what she called a “fountain” to commemorate her friend Abby Williams May who had died in 1888.
Mary E. Blatchford was born in New York City in 1838 to New York lawyer Hedgecumbe (frequently misspelled Edgecombe) Heath Blatchford and Mary Ann Hubbard, who hailed from Boston. Daughter Mary grew up in New York and was sent to Switzerland for her education. Her father died in 1853, and by 1860 she and her mother had moved to Craigie Street in Cambridge. (A note of interest is that she was a cousin of Mable Hubbard, who married Alexander Graham Bell.)
Blatchford was an author of children’s books including the two pictured below. More importantly, she was deeply interested in education. It was that interest that drew her to the circle of Miss Abby W. May (1829-1888).
Abigail Williams May was born and raised in Boston, the daughter of Samuel May and Mary May Goddard. Her father was a hardware merchant active in a variety of social causes including the anti-slavery and temperance movements.
In Abby’s case, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. She was also a social reformer, suffragist, and advocate for women’s education. Her list of accomplishments is lengthy: founder of the Horticultural School for Women, Vice-president of the New England Women’s Club, President of the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association, and Vice-president of the Association for the Advancement of Women. She worked to form the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War and later became a trustee of the Tuskegee Institute. In 1874 she was appointed to the Massachusetts State Board of Education. (Another interesting tidbit: her first cousin was author Louisa May Alcott.)
A year after Abby May’s death in 1888, Mary Blatchford commissioned an architect to design a memorial to her. At the time, Blatchford was living with her sister and brother-in-law Samuel H. Scudder at 156 Brattle Street, corner of Lowell and Brattle. She later purchased the house in 1903.
Blatchford submitted a formal request to the Cambridge Committee on Water Supply and Drainage for permission to erect the fountain:
As described in The Cambridge Tribune of November 2, 1889, the fountain consisted of “two granite blocks 9 x 9, each being 2 ½ feet thick. The bottom one is solid and the upper is hollowed, forming a basin. The following inscription encircles the basin; ‘Abigail Williams May, born April 21, 1829, died Nov. 30, 1888,’ the fountain being erected in honor of the deceased. Two sprays of wheat are cut in the space beneath the names in the inscription. It is said that the fountain stands rather high, but this objection may be offset by grading.”
Although Blatchford referred to it as a fountain, it was primarily a watering trough for horses with an accessory water fountain for humans. This was not unusual. Watering troughs were common, and many included drinking fountains. The costs were frequently paid by private citizens. They could be found in Harvard, Lechmere, and Porter squares, and major street junctions throughout the city: Cambridge and Bridge St, Main and Broadway, and Broadway and Hampshire, to name just a few.
(An article in the August 14, 1909 edition of The Cambridge Chronicle titled “Thirsty Horses Can Now Drink” reminds us of the need for a horse trough in Central Square: “…During the recent hot spell, the need of a watering place for horses in the square became very apparent, for hundreds [bold added] of them pass this point daily en route to Somerville, Brighton, and to different sections of the city…”) For more on the number of horses in Cambridge, see our blog Clip Clop: Urban Life with 4,000 Horses.
On the map below you can barely make out the circle in the middle of the Craigie/Brattle St intersection that indicated the location of the fountain.
Ms. Blatchford’s fountain was well received. The April 6, 1889 edition of The Cambridge Press declared “… Possibly no prettier tribute could be paid to the memory of a departed friend than to erect a structure in granite from which man and beast may quench their thirst on a hot summer’s day…It will not only be ornamental in a conspicuous place, but it will be decidedly useful.” Cambridge Aldermen agreed:
Others, however, felt it was practical, but rather plain-looking:
On a related note, a writer for the Tribune made a connection with a similar water source: “Speaking of fountains, the pigeons, the robins, and especially the dogs (who have been overlooked in the Craigie Street watering trough in “Wash-tub square,” as it has been facetiously called by Cambridgeport people), take great delight this hot weather in this little fountain in the yard of the Ross house.” (The Cambridge Tribune) August 5, 1893. Be sure to stay tuned for more on the Ross house fountain in a later post.
In 1922 the city abandoned the water trough and instead planted flowers in the basin. But by 1923, with the increase in automobile traffic, the structure was deemed a traffic hazard. The City Council voted to have it removed. So, in January of 1925, 36 years after its inception, it was demolished. Miss Blatchford, now age 87 and still in residence at 156 Brattle Street, generously agreed. Even without the fountain, the intersection continued to be referred to as Washtub Square.
Mary E. Blatchford passed away in 1931, outliving her friend by 43 years. She is buried in lot #4260 Myrtle Path, Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Abby Williams May is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.
Today’s post was written by Kathleen M. Fox
Sources
“Abby W. May.” Boston Women’s Heritage Trail. https://www.bwht.org/about/biographies/abby-may/.
“Abby W. May” by Elisa Rolle. https://www.elisarolle.com/queerplaces/a-b-ce/Abby%20W.%20May.html.
Ancestry.com
Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development by Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan (2016). MIT Press.
Cambridge Historical Commission research and subject files.
Cambridge Public Library’s Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection.
Newspapers.com.
Love this! Did you find any mention of what happened to the “washtub” when removed? I’m curious because it was a memorial with an inscription (‘Abigail Williams May, born April 21, 1829, died Nov. 30, 1888’) and so it would have been worth preserving.
Great question! An article that appeared in the January 3, 1925 edition of The Cambridge Tribune reads, in part: “The old drinking trough which for nearly half a century has stood at the intersection of Brattle, Sparks and Craigie streets, was removed Wednesday, and has temporary lodgment in the city yard on Raymond street. What its final disposition will be has not been decided.”
We couldn’t find any mentions of its final fate in the newspapers or annual reports…