Gail Willett with a display at Savanna Books, date unknown. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
Today we’re featuring Savanna Books, a bookstore specializing in books about children of color, and the store’s founder, Gail Pettiford Willett. As a Black woman and parent disappointed and frustrated by the scarcity of multicultural books for children and young adults, Willett took it upon herself to make such titles available to the local community as well as her own family. She began this endeavor despite having a psychiatric nursing background and no formal business training. The venture began in the early 1980s as a mail order business run from her home in Cambridgeport.
Gail Willett and her husband Walter inside Savanna Books, date unknown. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
When Willett was ready to expand the business to a storefront, her husband built counters, shelves, and other furnishings to outfit the first brick and mortar location at 858 Mass Ave, which opened in 1989. Willett notes that at the time, this was only one of two bookstores in the United States focusing on children of color.
Gail Willett (center) celebrates the grand opening of Savanna Books with her husband (left) and son, ca. June 1989. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
Gail Willett outside the first location of Savanna Books at 858 Mass Ave in June 1990. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
That same year, a pamphlet outlining the store’s goals was distributed at Freedom House’s 2nd Annual Cultural Holiday Bazaar. It read, in part: We believe that children must have books that reflect their cultures, teach their heritages, and expand their horizons. As parents we have searched for books which provide a positive variety of images for our children. Over the years we have watched many of the best books about children of color go out of print. We decided, then, to become advocates for this literature.
“Savanna Books information” by Gail Pettiford Willett, 1989. Freedom House, Inc. records (M16), Northeastern University Library. http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20329436.
Willett first started the business on her own. She later spoke with publishers who sent sales reps to offer assistance. She then began hiring help at the store, put together a board of friends, and hired a bookstore consultant. Willett started going in to schools for programming and then sponsoring contests to involve families and children.
Article featuring Savanna Books in The Cambridge Chronicle, 3 May 1990.
As part of her efforts, Willett participated in forums on cultural diversity, facilitated workshops and pop-up events at her store for parents and teachers. Willett very much enjoyed hosting author events at the store. Writer and illustrator Pat Cummings agreed to help celebrate the 1-year anniversary of Savanna Books in May 1990.
Gail Willet’s son (left) and two friends outside Savanna Books at 858 Mass Ave in September 1989. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
In 1993, when more space was needed for programming, the business was moved to larger quarters at 1132 Mass Ave in Harvard Square.
Gail Willett outside the second location of Savanna Books at 1132 Mass Ave, ca. 1993. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
Over the years, demand for books depicting diverse cultural backgrounds increased and other bookstores began carrying the titles that a local shopper could once find only at Savanna Books. Facing rising costs and competition, Willett closed her bookstore in January 1996. Following the closure, Willett pivoted back to her home mail-order business.
Gail Willett (right) with Savanna Books customers, date unknown. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
In 1999, Willett continued her path of bringing enrichment to children’s lives through literature and became a program coordinator at the Cambridge Public Library. Most recently, she and close friend Poppy Dade Milner have taken their passion for textiles to create Nguo Fabric Art where their pieces “celebrate and represent the beauty, confidence, creativity, and strength of African culture.”
Gail Willett (right) and Poppy Milner (left) stand with a Nguo Fabric Art display at the Cousen Rose Gallery on Martha’s Vineyard in June 2022. Image courtesy Nguo Art Instagram.
We thank Gail Willett for being a pioneer in bringing books of multicultural richness to the children of Cambridge and Boston for so many years.
Gail Willet’s son sporting a Savanna Books t-shirt, ca. 1990. Image courtesy Gail Willett.
In 1953, Xonnabel and Emory Clark began their married life with a 1,500-mile journey from New Orleans to Cambridge. Xonnabel, a graduate of Dillard University, had been awarded a scholarship to Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Emory, who had served in WWII, had a degree in pharmacy from Xavier University.
Xonnabel Green Clark, third from left. Still from “A Special Class Reunion,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, May 23, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTD7gtwj3A
In the Boston area, Emory found that drugstore owners were unwilling to hire an African American pharmacist. In Cambridge, he went door to door to every drugstore on Mass Ave in search of work. Many praised his manner and experience but were unwilling to risk hiring a black man for fear of losing customers. Eventually, he was offered a position as a clerk at Cole’s Drug Store in Central Square. Emory was soon promoted to pharmacist. His wife Xonnabel believes the offer of a clerk position was a way for the store owner to gauge the response of customers who were more accustomed to being served by white employees. This decision paid off, as many Black Cantabrigians took notice of Emory’s expertise and began to fill their prescriptions at Cole’s. Emory also started a shaved ice pushcart business, with a goal of raising capital to one day own and operate his own pharmacy. He eventually upgraded the pushcart to an ice cream truck and made daily trips to Columbia Point to serve Boston regulars.
Xonnabel Clark, Ed.M.’54 (far right) with classmates Barbara Cage, Ed.M.’54 and Rosetta Sanders, Ed.M.’55 as they appeared in “A Special Class Reunion,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, May 23, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTD7gtwj3A.
After receiving her master’s degree, Xonnabel became a teacher and counselor at the Hecht House in Boston and in the Newton Public Schools. She was also a devoted member of the Grace Vision United Methodist Church on Magazine St. During these years, the Clarks raised a family of five children.
In 1969, Emory bought the site of a defunct filling station at 407 Concord Ave. For two years, he worked to appeal zoning restrictions and gain financing and neighborhood support for a community pharmacy. “Emory’s Pharmacy” opened in 1971 – the first African American-owned and operated pharmacy in Cambridge. Emory’s Pharmacy operated until 1990, and today, “Emory J. Clark Square” at the corner of Concord Avenue and Fern Street honors his achievement.
We know Emory Clark’s story through the letters, photos, and documents that Xonnabel collected over the years. As well as being a distinguished educator, she is an historian – of Emory’s story and of the Grace United Methodist Church. In 2017, she embarked on a new project when a friend asked for book suggestions on African American history. In response, Xonnabel created “Roots and Wings: Notes Related to African American History and Culture,” a compilation of excerpts, articles, lyrics, photos, reading recommendations, and personal reflections. It was “a most rewarding extension of an unending learning process,” she wrote.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer and former intern, Susan Keane.
“My previous experience in Cambridge is that it is somewhat like Egypt, in the way that it is subject to various pests, particularly rats. These rats of course, cause a great deal of damage in the house, and the only way to get rid of them is to hire a rat exterminator; if this becomes necessary, through no fault of our own, I expect to deduct the cost of this sort of thing from the rent…”
That was written in 1919, in reference to #225 Brattle St. This account gives a slightly humorous sense of the many demands and expectations of those looking for housing in Cambridge.
Exterior of 225 Brattle St as it appeared in The American Architect, vol. 105, no. 2006 (June 3, 1914)
This post will serve as an introduction to a new series on the many aspects of late 19th and early 20th century Cambridge life revealed in the correspondence of William R. Ellis (1846-1903), real estate broker—expectations being one of them. Ellis founded his real estate firm in 1888. He dealt in sales, rentals, mortgages, and insurance. As you see below, he was also a Justice of the Peace.
Cambridge Chronicle March 16, 1889
Dealing primarily with properties in “Old Cambridge” west of Central Square, Ellis’s offices were always in the Harvard Square area: 910 Main Street, (the building that now houses the Hong Kong Restaurant at 1236 Mass. Ave), 440 Harvard Street, and, by 1893, the “Lyceum Building” (demolished in 1924, now the location of the Harvard Coop.) He also kept an office in Boston.
By 1890, Ellis had added “Auctioneer and Notary Public” to his resume. Note that he also maintained a registry of “Student’s Rooms and Boarding Places”:
Cambridge Chronicle January 11, 1890
In 1893, fellow realtor Robert J. Melledge (1855-1917) joined the firm, now called “Ellis & Melledge.” The firm dropped “Mortgages” from their advertising to focus on real estate and Insurance.
Cambridge Chronicle September 23, 1893
Above: Exterior of Lyceum Hall in Harvard Square (March 22, 1907). Boston Elevated Railway Collection. Below: detail of Robert J. Melledge and Benjamin P. Ellis advertisements in upper windows.
After the deaths of principals Ellis and Melledge, the firm went through several name changes as its management was taken over by the sons of both men in conjunction with other partners. But the name “Ellis” was always part of the company’s name. Under each of these iterations, the firm was active in Cambridge for over 100 years. In 1994, the Cambridge Historical Commission received a collection of the firm’s business correspondence covering the years primarily between 1893-1936. The collection provides extraordinary insight into the development of Cambridge, and the changing social, cultural, and economic forces at work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Here’s a portion of another letter from a prospective renter (June 8, 1907):
“Allow me to ask if you have a small house for Sale at a Bargain cheaply on a hilleven if it is outaways. I own a large library of about 2000 books & I must move them this Summer. …I wish to rent a small place that I buy & put all my Books in the attic, or one small Room…. I can pay down $250.00 or so & may be $490.00 to $500.00 & the Balance in payments. I own a farm in Oklahoma & whenever my share of Rent falls due I can pay that on my house – if I can get something for $1000 or $1200 – I don’t want anything where negroes live…I prefer Cambridge on account of Harvard University…”
Apart from the eccentricity of the request, this letter also reveals one aspect of the prejudices all too common during this era. Intolerances abounded against othered groups such as Jews, Italians, Catholics, and large families. We’ll revisit such biases in a later post.
Other topics revealed in the correspondence include: expectations for renting houses fully furnished, often counting china, linens and a stable; owners stipulations about to whom they will rent; rental unit complaints (“the tank in the Water Closet has bursted and we are without water…”); the effects of WWI on housing and the post war recession; housing arrangements for Harvard students (boarding houses, tea rooms); health concerns (renting a unit after an occupant suffered from scarlet fever); and the cost of insuring pigeons or Cadillacs. The list goes on!
Let’s close this edition of Real Estate Revelations with a reassuring excerpt from a letter written in 1910 by Harvard physics professor Harry W. Morse. Professor Morse worked at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, and planned to rent property at #42 Church Street, where he expected to do work in “…experimental electro-chemistry. There will be no work on a large scale and no explosives will be used nor will our stock of chemicals be any more dangerous than that of a drug store…” Whew! Quelle relief.
30-42 Church Street (demolished ca. 1927) was originally built as a stable and was later used as a gymnasium. Photo: detail of 1921 Harvard Square aerial with 32-40 Church St circled. U.S. Army Air Service photo, Harvard University Archives.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox
Today for National Small Business Week, we’d love to give a hearty shoutout to Cambridge’s most happening vintage consignment shop, Raspberry Beret! The kind you find in a second-hand store.
Views of 2298-2304 Mass Ave at the corner of Rice St in 1970 and today (CHC staff photos)
The business was founded by Rachael Bankey of Brookline and has been operating in Massachusetts for over 15 years, but their North Cambridge location at 2302 Massachusetts Ave. opened in 2017. When asked what inspired Rachael to break into the vintage business she said, “I have always loved clothes and vintage since I was able to walk into my mom’s closet and try on her clothes. I like knowing that a piece of clothing has a history and that it’s one-of-a-kind. Being able to provide a fun place for people to find interesting and fun clothes is very rewarding.” She said choosing to open her second location in Cambridge was a natural choice because “Cambridge has always been a destination for the creatives.”
If you consider yourself a fashionable creative, with fun clothing to contribute to this awesome business, Raspberry Beret accepts consignments by season on an appointment basis. Visit their website to schedule your appointment today and read to the end to see how I style some of my own Raspberry Beret finds!
It’s not just the clothes at Raspberry Beret that have a cool history. The building that the store currently occupies was originally a two-story residential home with a mansard roof, built in 1867 by Stephen Stiles as shown in this c.1890 photograph taken by Donald C. Presho. At that time, the address was recorded as 6 Rice St.
6 Rice St (now 2298-2302 Mass Ave) c.1890 (CHC collections)
In 1907, a permit was granted to the owner, Adaline Lonergan, and architect, G.H. Tyler to have the existing two stories raised with an additional floor added underneath and add a brick storefront to the perimeter of the house. It’s possible this was done in an effort to preserve the original mansard roof. The 1907, Cambridge Tribune documents the cost of these alterations to total $8,500. The three atlas photos below (1873, 1903, and 1916, respectively) document the building’s evolving footprint and eventual brick addition.
Details of 1873 Hopkins, 1903, and 1916 Bromley atlases (via Atlascope)
This storefront has been home to many businesses over the years including Water House Market, Dover Market, X Files Recovery, and a vintage furniture store.
Exterior of 2302 Mass Ave when it was occupied by Dover Market (CDD Urban Design Study, 1981) and later XFiles Recovery (Assessor’s photo, 2015)
And now for the reveal!
Today’s post was written by CHC Archivist, Viv Williams
The warm weather in early 2022 made it hard to believe that as late as 1935 commercial quantities of natural ice up to 13” thick were harvested from a disused clay pit in North Cambridge.
Annual ice cutting campaign at the Johnson plant, Rindge Avenue. Cambridge Sentinel October 11, 1924
In the days before mechanical refrigeration, ice harvested from local ponds was harvested in huge amounts every winter, stored in enormous wooden icehouses, and distributed to households everywhere. The role that Cambridge’s own Nathaniel Wyeth and Frederick Tudor played in developing this industry at Fresh Pond has been extensively documented, but after the City of Cambridge closed the ice houses in 1891 most of Cambridge’s domestic ice – apart from a small amount harvested from the Glacialis, or Artificial Pond, off Concord Avenue – was sourced from Spy Pond in Arlington or from New Hampshire.
Layout of the Johnson Ice Cream plant. Sanborn Map Co., ca. 1929
Cambridge’s defunct ice industry was resuscitated in 1920 under unlikely circumstances. John B. Johnson, a New Hampshire native, had been making ice cream on Columbia Street since 1911. Johnson purchased 225,000 square feet of land off Rindge Avenue in the fall of 1919 and announced that he expected to save up to $15,000 a year by harvesting his own ice from Jerry’s Pit. He immediately erected a small icehouse (a double-walled wooden building insulated with sawdust) and that winter filled it with 3,000 tons of ice. In 1920 he built a two-story ice cream factory adjacent to the icehouse and closed his Columbia Street plant.
J.B. Johnson Ice Cream factory, 361 Rindge Avenue. L-R: factory, icehouse, and stable. Cambridge Sentinel, April 1, 1922
The next few winters were suitably cold, and in 1921 and 1922 Johnson was able to harvest 4,000 tons in each season, filling the icehouse with a conveyor belt at the rate of twenty-six 400 lb. cakes per minute over ten working days. After storing surplus ice outside under tarpaulins for a few seasons, Johnson more than doubled his storage capacity in 1925. Not every year offered suitable weather – at least a few weeks of clear, very cold nights and an absence of significant snowfall – but there were substantial harvests in 1930 and 1934, when up to 70 men and several horses brought in cakes 13” thick. 1935 turned out to be the last harvest, as Johnson fell ill and was unable to keep up with mortgage payments. The business continued in other hands until 1938, when the lender foreclosed. The factory buildings were cleared in 1940. The Board of Health denied a subsequent owner permission to use the pond as a dump, and the Dewey & Almy Co. purchased the property in 1942.
Johnson Ice Cream advertisement. Cambridge Chronicle, Dec. 14, 1934
Jerry’s Pit has always had a checkered reputation. Brickmaker Jeremiah McCrehan mined clay at the site until one morning in 1860, when, as his son told the story to the Cambridge Chronicle in 1927, he went to work at the pit and found 4’ of water in it. Some operators that tapped underground springs found it profitable to pump their pits dry, but McCrehan abandoned his mining operation instead. Ice was harvested there for domestic use in 1892, but the Board of Health objected, calling the water “entirely unfit for this purpose.”
The pool is a favorite place for such washing as is done by the foreign element who live in the neighborhood; it is a capital place for drowning stray cats and it is often used in this manner by the festive youth who gambol on its banks and who plash about in its shallows in their bare feet; it is, in a way, the cesspool of that neighborhood, and yet during the coming summer a large number of people will dilute their water with ice cut from its surface.
Cambridge Tribune, May 21, 1892
Jerry’s Pit was a de facto neighborhood recreation center, a site for swimming in the summer and skating in the winter in a neighborhood with few such opportunities. J.B. Johnson’s use of the ice in its manufacturing operation was apparently unobjectionable because it was not sold for human consumption. Johnson permitted swimming and skating throughout his ownership, and in 1927 allowed Cambridge’s Recreation Department to improve the facilities and staff the place with lifeguards. In 1943 the Dewey & Almy Co. built a bathhouse and toilet room at its own expense, which the city operated until the Metropolitan District Commission opened the Francis J. McCrehan Pool nearby in 1960.
“It’s a long wait for Linda Lavin, Donna Labo and Tommie Robichaud as they line up at the diving board of Cambridge’s new MDC pool to be the first to try it out.” Boston Record-American, July 25, 1960. CHC Photo Morgue Collection
Today’s post was written by CHC Executive Director, Charles Sullivan
Sources
Cambridge Historical Commission files
Cambridge Public Library, Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection
Sinclair, Jill. Fresh Pond: The History of A Cambridge Landscape. The MIT Press, 2009
Weightman, Gavin. The Frozen Water Trade. HarperCollins, 2001
So, how to make a good cup of tea? Here are instructions from the Cambridge Chronicle:
How to Make Tea Properly. – The proper way to make a cup of good teais a matter of some importance. The plan which I have practiced for these twelve months is this: The teapot is at once filled up with boiling water,then the tea is put into the pot, and is allowed stand for five minutes beforeit is used; the leaves gradually absorb the water and as gradually sink to the bottom; the result is that the tea leaves are not scalded, as they were whenboiling water is poured on them, and you get all the true flavor of the tea. In truth, much less tea is required in this way than under the old and common practice.
Cambridge Chronicle August 15, 1856
We all know about the Boston Tea Party of 1773. But did you know the tea in those boxes hurled into the harbor was green tea? Green tea began life in China, and over the centuries bounced around to Japan, Korea, India and ultimately Europe, the United States, and everywhere else. It all started with a chance dead tea leaf floating in the Emperor’s cup of water somewhere around 2737 B. C. Apparently, he liked the taste, and green tea was born. In the 1500s, thanks to the efforts of English, Dutch, and Portuguese merchants, tea began its worldwide migration. In the 1600s, the Chinese began brewing fermented tea leaves which gave us what we now think of as traditional, black tea.
VARIETIES OF TEAS
All true tea comes from the Cammellia sinesis plant. The varieties derive from the different ways tea leaves are processed and brewed, as outlined in this article from the Cambridge Chronicle:
Cambridge Chronicle February 13, 1851
The article also included a list of green teas: Gunpowder (rolled into “bullets”), Imperial (Great Pearl tea), Hyson, Twankay (after a stream by that name in China), and Brick tea (a block of tea invented by the Tartars to make it easier to carry). Although Oolong was on the green tea list too, it is actually a black tea, but was listed because it tasted green.
TEA DRINKING ACCOUTREMENTS AND CUSTOMS
Teapot and lid. Left side is marked “America: Liberty Restored” and right side is marked “No Stamp Act.” Manufactured ca. 1766-1770. National Museum of American History.
The original Chinese tea cup did not have a handle. When tea arrived in England, this tradition was continued until the 1750s, when cups with handles emerged to protect delicate fingers from hot cups. Your host might also offer tea to gentlemen in a “moustache” cup which enabled sipping while keeping the “moustache” dry:
And the teapot may have been perched on a “teapot tile” to protect the table:
Ceramic reproduction of Victorian tile. Image via Zazzle.com
INFUSING TEA
Originally, loose tea leaves were added to hot water. When the leaves were brewed, the water would be filtered through a strainer into the teacup. These strainers ranged from the fancy…
English Tea Strainer. Image via Aspire Auctions
…to the simply practical.
Antique tea strainer with rocking mechanism. Image via catawiki.com
Next came the invention of a perforated metal ball filled with tea leaves and dunked into the pot or cup. Also available from fancy to plain:
Image via Pinterest
Image via theteasmith.com
Finally came tea bags. It is generally thought that a New York tea merchant named Thomas Sullivan invented the teabag. Actually, silk tea bags had been around since the early days in China. The first patent for the tea bag in the U. S. was given to two women: Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren of Milwaukee in 1903.
Lawson and McLaren’s patent (US723287A)
Sullivan’s claim to fame is that he took the idea of tea bags and used them as a way of packaging his tea samples for vendors.
MILK & SUGAR? OR LEMON?
The English began adding sugar to tea in the late 1600s. The French soon came up with the idea of adding milk to bring the temperature down (and avoid the teacup cracking). It was the Russians who introduced adding lemon to tea served at travel posts along highways. Lemon was thought to soothe stomachs upset by the rigors of jolting carriage travel.
TEA PARTIES
John Tenniel’s illustration of The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland (1890). The British Library.
It’s generally agreed that European tea parties became popular in the 1840s, when the Duchess of Bedford initiated the custom as a needed afternoon pick-me-up around 4:00pm. It evolved into the standard 4:00 tea for the upper classes, and a later, “meat tea” (more like supper), for laborers after work. The 4:00 tea was often a social affair:
Cambridge Chronicle December 26, 1846
Cambridge Chronicle October 22, 1870
AND HOW ABOUT THOSE “MARTHA WASHINGTON” TEA PARTIES!
The “Martha Washington Tea Party” became popular at, during, and after the country’s centennial celebrations in 1875-1877. They mimicked Martha Washington’s famous tea parties, which she began when she and the General moved to Philadelphia after his inauguration in New York. Initially her invitee list included only Philadelphia’s upper-class ladies. As the tea parties became weekly affairs, they also evolved into intellectual and political salons. Others followed her lead. One hundred years later, at the time of this country’s centennial, many ladies celebrated with what by then were called “Martha Washington Tea Parties.” The main point of these affairs was to dress up in Revolutionary era costumes:
Cambridge Chronicle April 24, 1875
ADVERTISING TEA IN CAMBRIDGE
The first advertisements in (digitally available) Cambridge Newspapers for Tea were for the Boston Tea Company.
Cambridge Chronicle May 14, 1846
That same year, someone felt compelled to rant against “Imposter Tea,” in particular “Canton Tea”
Cambridge Chronicle July 23, 1846
Cambridge Tribune September 23, 1899
The “Big Tea Kettle” was put up by the Oriental Tea Company in 1873—and it still exists today—now outside Starbucks Coffee by Boston City Hall.
Photo by Mary Blake – WBZ NewsRadio 1030 via CBS Boston
THE INFLUENCE OF TEA DRINKING ON SOCIAL CUSTOMS: TEA HOUSES
Initially, any shop selling tea would call itself a “Tea House”
Cambridge City Directory 1880
The term “tea house” evolved to refer to a social place where friends could to sit down and enjoy a light lunch and “cuppa.”
Cambridge Chronicle July 10, 1909
Cambridge Chronicle September 20, 1919
THE BLACKSMITH HOUSE
Today perhaps the most well- known Cambridge tea shop was the Blacksmith House at 56 Brattle street.
Mary Walker’s House at 54 Brattle Street. Source: Cambridge Center for Adult Education.
Formerly The Cock Horse Inn, and then Dexter Pratt’s blacksmith shop, it was subsequently owned by escaped slave Mary Walker (1817-1873). Mary had been a seamstress on a plantation in North Carolina. She made her escape to freedom in 1848 while on a trip her enslaver’s family to Philadelphia. She settled in Cambridge where she earned her living as a seamstress. Mary later purchased the Dexter Pratt blacksmith shop from Pratt’s children in 1870. She ran it as a boarding house and ensured that it remained in her family by stipulating in her will that it must do so until her youngest son turned 21. It remained in her family until 1912.
Portrait of Elsa Brändström Ulich (1929) Image via Wikipedia.
Elsa, “the Angel of Siberia” had an extraordinary life. She was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, where her father was the Swedish military attaché. The family returned to Sweden where Elsa grew up and went back St. Petersburg when her father was made the Swedish Ambassador to Tsar Nicholas II. During WWI, Elsa was a nurse with the Imperial Russian Amy and served in Siberia. After the war, she was worked with the Swedish Red Cross and got involved with, or started, a number of aid organizations for soldiers, POWs, women and children. Elsa moved to the U. S. in 1933 when her husband, Robert Ulrich, was appointed a lecturer Harvard. In Cambridge, she started a consignment shop to employ Eastern European refugees from the War. It was located at 102 Mt. Auburn Street and was called The Window Shop. In 1947, the shop moved to “The Blacksmith House”, enabling her to expand her tearoom and pastry shop. Sadly, Elsa died of cancer just a year later. By 1971, the original purpose of the shop had been met, and it closed its doors. The property was purchased by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in 1972.
Cambridge Chronicle March 11, 1948
NEXT CAME TEA DANCES
Tea dances emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century and provided a means for young ladies to mix with young men while being discreetly chaperoned. Private tea dances were a means of introducing debutantes to society. Some of the most popular tea dances were held at hotels with a full orchestra.
Boston Herald January 18, 1914 (excerpt)
HERBAL TEA
This post has focused on traditional black tea, but of course herbal teas have been used for medicinal purposes for millennia and have their own long and interesting history. Perhaps a post for another day!
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox
Welcome to the second and final installment of our series about the evolution of eating oysters and the Cambridge restaurants and eateries that served them in the 19th century.
And now THE BIG QUESTION: Are Oysters an Aphrodisiac?
Jacob Ochtervelt, The Oyster Meal, 1664-65. Private collection.
Eating oysters frequently raises a slight naughty twinkle in one’s eye. Remember Albert Finney in the classic Tom Jones movie? The jury is out on scientific proof about the oyster’s aphrodisiac qualities. These days, it is thought the zinc and amino acids in the bivalve might possibly stimulate sexual desire. So, who knows—the legend might be true. At least Casanova thought so.
OYSTER NEWS Oysters were so popular that items about their origin regularly made the news:
New York: Cambridge Chronicle January 4, 1849
Long Island Sound, New York: Cambridge Chronicle October 15, 1859
Cambridge Chronicle September 19, 1868
Cape Cod: Cambridge Chronicle June 7, 1879
Virginia: Cambridge Chronicle January 1, 1870
Providence River: Cambridge Chronicle March 15, 1879
PRIORITY ON THE MENU
Eduoard Manet, Oysters, 1862. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
“An oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life.” M. F. K. Fisher
Oysters became so popular that they were often the first food highlighted in restaurant advertising, ahead of meats, fruits, ice cream, etc. They were also featured various celebrations.
George Teague again:
Cambridge Chronicle December 29, 1855
Cambridge Chronicle May 28, 1859
Cambridge Chronicle November 12, 1864
Cambridge Chronicle December 25, 1880
Cambridge Chronicle October 14, 1875
AND WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE OYSTER SHELLS?
What happened to all those oyster shells, you might well ask? They were added to cement, road beds, railroad beds, ground up for chicken feed for hens (for digestion and calcium for egg shells), compost for vineyards, and cleaning the insides of coal burning stoves. Oysters were not allowed to be dumped just anywhere:
Excerpts: Cambridge Chronicle July 2, 1846
THE DROP IN CONSUMPTION
Susan Koolman, in the “Great Oyster Craze” writes: “Whereas New Yorkers in the 1800s ate an average of 600 oysters per year, today Americans eat an average of less than three oysters per year.” Several factors were in play: over-harvesting native beds led to importing oysters, which brought disease with them, which diminished the supply. There were concerns about the sanitation of oyster processing facilities. These concerns were addressed in 1906’s Pure Food and Drug Act. The new regulations were costly, and many oyster houses went out of business. In addition, the 1924 typhoid outbreak in New York, Washington, and Chicago was associated raw oysters.
Madera Tribune (California) December 11, 1924
Then along came Prohibition, closing a lot of the saloons and taverns that specialized in oysters. All in all, these factors put the “kaybash” on consumption. Later in the 20th century, evolving expectations about environmentally correct and ethical oyster farming have elevated the cost of raising oysters once again.
FOR FUN
More on the love of oysters is best demonstrated by following samples of ads and commentaries over the years. Have you ever considered that thunder might kill oysters? An opposite theory is that thunder inspires oysters to spawn…
Cambridge Chronicle June 4, 1870
“Never serve oysters in a month that has no paycheck in it.” – P. J. O’Rourke, political satirist and journalist
“A good oyster cannot please the palate as acutely as a bad one can revolt it, and a good oyster cannot make him who eats it live forever though a bad one can make him dead forever.” – Rebecca West, author
“Give me oysters and beer, for dinner every day of the year, and I’ll be fine.” – Jimmy Buffett
“All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.” – Federico Fellini, Italian film director
“Oysters are the most tender and delicate of all seafoods. They stay in bed all day and night. They never work or take exercise, are stupendous drinkers, and wait for their meals to come to them.” – Hector Bolitho ‘The Glorious Oyster’ (1960)
“Animal rights, taken to their logical conclusion, mean votes for oysters.” – Bertrand Russell, polymath
“You ought to try eating raw oysters in a restaurant with every eye focused upon you – it makes you feel as if the creatures were whales, your fork a derrick and your mouth Mammoth Cave.” – Lillian Russell, actress
“I prefer my oysters fried; That way I know my oysters died.” – Roy Blount, Jr., writer
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox
The Great Oyster Craze: Why 19th century Americans Loved Oysters. MSU Campus Archaeology Program. (2019, January 17). http://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=4962.
It’s time for a historic building spotlight! We are featuring the former filling station at the corner of Concord Avenue and Walden Street in North Cambridge. Today, the building has a whole new look.
Concord Avenue near the corner of Walden Street, facing east. September 6, 1933.
In the early twentieth century, Concord Avenue served as a main transportation route, though the area had evolved from its early rural roots to a more suburban character. The advent of the automobile as a mode of transportation for the average person opened up this area to further residential development. Fresh Pond and Kingsley Park were also major draws for day-trippers taking a drive into the countryside. With people and cars came the need for fueling stations. The gasoline station at 299 Concord Avenue was one of 8 gas stations to be built along Concord Avenue between 1905 and 1930.
Rotogravure originally printed in the March 8, 1925 edition of the Boston Traveler as part of the series “Colonial Filling Stations of Boston.”
As an example of an early gas station, the Colonial Filling Station at 299 Concord Ave was built in 1924 for $7,000. The building was designed in the Colonial Revival style and executed by Boston-based consulting engineer Allen Hubbard. Born in 1860, Hubbard spent his early life in Westfield, Mass and later became the town’s first major league baseball player. Hubbard attended Yale to obtain an engineering degree and became the college’s baseball team captain. Soon after his graduation in 1883, Hubbard left his baseball career behind and worked as a bookkeeper and engineer for contractors in Boston before forming a business partnership with Hollis French in 1898. Throughout his career, Hubbard would consult on various large-scale engineering projects, including the Boston Public Library.
Allen Hubbard in his Yale catcher’s uniform (via adonisterry.tripod.com)
Hubbard’s design for the hip-roofed structure was elaborately detailed with dentil moldings, a Federal-style doorway with elliptical fan light and side lights, round-arched windows with lancet-arched muntins, red roofing shingles, and a wood balustrade at the roof peak. The masonry detail further embellished the station, with arched brickwork over the windows and a soldier course of bricks at the base, topped by a course of headers. A large sign band filled the space between the doorway and the cornice.
299 Concord Ave ca. 1973-74. Photograph by Richard Cheek.
The station went through a series of owners over the decades. A garage bay for automobile servicing was added in 1938. When the building was surveyed by the CHC in 1973, it was in nearly original condition and one of the oldest surviving of its kind in Cambridge. By 1978, gasoline services had ceased, and the building was converted to office use. Then-owner Cambridge Alternative Power Co., Inc. (CAPCO) undertook major alterations to and built an addition. Subsequent projects included the construction of a windmill and solar greenhouse.
299 Concord Ave in October 1982. Photograph by CHC staff.
In 2003, the CHC received an application to demolish the former gas station and its additions to make way for new construction. Rather than demolish the structure, an updated proposal was submitted in which the new design would preserve the original fabric of the façade to the fullest extent possible.
299 Concord Ave 299 (June 4, 2003)
View of work on façade (August 4, 2005)
Today, the original filling station façade can be seen from Concord Ave.
View north from Concord Ave via Google Street View (October 2017)
SOURCES
“1883 Yale Baseball Captain Added to the Bulldog Club Posthumously” article by Dan Genovese (The Yale Newsletter, Winter 2005) Cambridge Public Library Online Newspaper Database CHC survey files
Wilde is referring to the saying “the world’s mine oyster,” from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. In the story, the character Falstaff is haggling with another man over money. After Falstaff refuses to give him a single penny, the man replies “Why, then, the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword will open.” His meaning: I’ll get anything I want any way I can—i.e. stabbing with a sharp instrument as in shucking oysters to find the pearl. Over time, the phrase morphed to mean “You are in a position to take the opportunities that life has to offer.” (Oxford English Dictionary)
“An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful before all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it, and courage to execute? The exterior is not persuasive.” (Henry Ward Beecher 1813-1887, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Even when induced to pry open the shell however, the creature inside was somewhat intimidating. As Jonathan Swift said, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.”
No kidding! Just look at them:
Image: bbcgoodfood.com
Though it’s a little hard for some of us to see how anyone found them tempting, LOTS of people did. Oysters have been eaten for eons, but at the beginning of the 19th century in America only the wealthy could afford them. This changed by mid-century when improved harvesting techniques, canning, refrigeration, and railroad express delivery brought the price down substantially. The oyster craze swept the country; eventually even the ordinary working family could afford oysters. Oysters became cheaper than meat, fish, and poultry as a source of protein. By 1885, oysters cost $0.03 each (equivalent to $0.73 today) and dropped to $0.01 (equivalent to $0.25 today) each by 1889.
The oldest restaurant in Boston—the famous Union Oyster House—opened its doors in 1826 under the name Atwood & Bacon’s Oyster House on Union St. in Boston’s Haymarket. It is reputed that Daniel Webster ate there regularly, consuming six plates of oysters at a single sitting. Over the years it became known simply as the Union Oyster House:
Union Oyster House or Capen House, Union St. Built ca. 1714, became oyster house in 1826. Photo: 1855. From Boston Pictorial Archive via Digital Commonwealth
Atwood was “Hawes” Atwood. Originally from Wellfleet, Mass., the Atwoods were active in the oyster business for generations and it is likely that S. C. Atwood in the Cambridge advertisement below was related in some way to Hawes. S. C. mentions his catering experience in Boston. Hawes’ son, Benjamin F. Atwood, also had an oyster house in Boston, and there is a David Atwood appearing in the Cambridge City Directory from 1872 as an oyster dealer living on Seaver Place, with his business at Fanueil Hall Sq.
Cambridge Chronicle November 3, 1866
The earliest reference to oysters in the Cambridge newspapers that have been digitized is the advertisement below for Benjamin Seaver’s Temperance Oyster Saloon. The influence of the Temperance Movement of the 1820’s and ‘30’s was increasing, and Seaver may have thought that providing a “dry” place to eat might lure more customers:
Cambridge Chronicle July 16, 1846
On the other hand, by a few months later, Seaver may have had a change of heart. His ads no longer mention the temperance angle.
Cambridge Chronicle December 3, 1846
Cambridge Chronicle December 10, 1846
George M. Teague, who owned several different eating establishments in Cambridge, did not mention temperance in the advert below, but the following article of the same date about the restaurant did:
Cambridge Chronicle February 20, 1851. #418 Main St, corner Magazine.
Cambridge Chronicle February 20, 1851
Poor George Teague: his first wife died, and 12 years later in 1890 he married his second wife. Three years later (and four years before his own death) the notice below suggests that it was not a good match:
Cambridge Chronicle September 2, 1893
Teague had assumed ownership of the eatery from D. Stone, who in 1847 advertised “City Lunch,” at the same location, under Joseph A. Holmes Co. on Main St. This was in the same building as the Cambridge Chronicle.
Cambridge Chronicle April 8, 1847
Also, in 1851 Charles H. Foster advertises his Oyster Saloon under Lyceum Hall (built 1841) in Harvard Square. The Harvard Coop demolished the Hall in 1924, but the columns of the current façade are reminiscent of the original. Note the sign for “Restaurant” in the lower right. Over the years there were several iterations of restaurant at the location, including one run by Charles F. Belcher, who also briefly ran the concession at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery Reception House.
Cambridge Chronicle September 27, 1851
Lyceum Hall ca. 1860. Image: Southwest Harbor Public Library.
Close by, in at least 1848, John Goodridge had an “Oyster Saloon” on Brattle Street in Harvard Square several years before this advert below appeared in 1852 (Brighton St. was the current JFK Street):
Cambridge Chronicle February 21, 1852
HOW TO EAT OYSTERS
Oysters are an excellent source of vitamin B12 and are also rich in minerals, including selenium, zinc, and iron. The best way to get all of their nutritional benefit is to eat them raw. It was once thought that one should eat oysters only in months whose name contains an “R,” which excludes May, June, July and August. The theory was that one might avoid oysters during this time as there are bacteria levels in “red tides” in the summer months, or to give oysters a break while they spawn. Some claimed that summer oysters had a bad taste.
Cambridge Chronicle May 10, 1873
Cambridge Chronicle October 29, 1853
These days, oyster farming is highly regulated and these conventions no longer apply.
Oysters were eaten in pies, pickled, escalloped, stewed, fried, raw, or in soups. According to an article in the Salem Register in 1850 (March 11), “Stewed oysters and boiled eggs are digested in three hours and a half—an hour more than is required by the same articles raw.” Mmm…
Fried: Cambridge Tribune April 21, 1888
Pickled: Cambridge Chronicle October 7, 1847
Stewed: Cambridge Chronicle March 28, 1868
Oysters were sold by the quart or gallon:
Cambridge Chronicle March 22, 1856
(Maybe this was the problem that befell this Maine lady after eating four quarts)
Cambridge Chronicle December 13, 1873
And eaten with style
Cambridge Chronicle December 27, 1873 (excerpt from article on the American Restaurant)
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox. Check back soon to read part two!
Welcome to the final installment of our series on supermarkets in Cambridge!
SUPERMARKETS
The 1920’s and 30’s saw a flourishing of these new supermarkets in Cambridge:
Cambridge Chronicle July 20, 1929
Cambridge Chronicle November 11, 1932
Cambridge Chronicle February 17, 1938
Cambridge Chronicle March 3, 1938
Cambridge Chronicle May 12, 1938
And finally, the evolution of supermarkets in one location: 115 Prospect Street.
Cambridge Chronicle June 11, 1942: First National
Cambridge Chronicle November 15, 1979: Bread and Circus
Cambridge Chronicle March 10, 1994: Whole Foods
FUN FACTS ABOUT GROCERY SHOPPING Excerpts from: The Evolution of the Supermarket Industry: From A&P to Walmart by Paul B. Ellickson, March 15, 2015
7 Inventions That Made Grocery Shopping Easier
Shopping Carts The first shopping cart was invented in 1937 by Sylvan Goldman, who was distressed at seeing women who quit shopping when their own wicker baskets got too heavy with groceries. His solution was to design a “folding basket carrier.” These carts didn’t take off right away, despite the convenience they offered. It wasn’t until the rise of the supermarket that more shoppers recognized the benefits of using one.
Supermarkets By 1960, over 70 percent of the nation bought their groceries at supermarkets. But it’s more than just groceries these supermarkets had to offer: Along with food, supermarkets provided a convenient way for shoppers to buy beverages and household products.
Grocery Bags Carrying several heavy brown paper bags that had been in use for decades could be challenging. It became more convenient to carry groceries in plastic bags equipped with handles. These plastic bags made their debut in the United States in 1979 but it wasn’t until 1985 that a large majority of supermarkets offered plastic bags.
Credit Cards Credit cards were invented in 1958, but it took grocery stores a long time to accept this form of payment. Before grocers accepted credit cards, most customers paid by check which caused increased wait times in line. Before 1991, only 800 supermarkets accepted credit cards. After 1992, more than 5,000 supermarkets began to take this convenient form of payment.
Self-Checkout The first-self checkout, called “the service robot,” was invented in 1992. By 2003, supermarkets across the country offered self-checkouts.
Online Shopping Nowadays, people don’t even have to set foot in the store to buy their groceries. They can buy their groceries online from the convenience of their own home and have them delivered. According to the latest statistics, there are about 93 million online grocery purchasers.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
