With his acquisition of Fred Row’s Pleasant Street market in 1885, Arthur Smith became a giant in further revolutionizing grocery shopping in Cambridge.
Cambridge Chronicle April 9, 1893
Like Fred Row, Smith was an émigré from England. Born in London in 1861, he emigrated to the U. S. as a boy in 1870, the year before his fellow Englishman, the teenaged Row. Perhaps because of the “English connection,” Smith briefly worked for Row during the late 1870’s. He then went on to work at other grocers, and established himself well enough that in 1886, at the age of 25, he bought Row’s Pleasant Street Market. The gumption of these two emigres to have bought businesses before they were 25 years old is remarkable—and a familiar immigrant story.
Cambridge Chronicle January 8, 1887
Cambridge Chronicle January 29, 1887
Smith seems to have learned a few things about advertising from his previous employer, changing the name to the impressive Mammoth Market. He printed a proclamation supporting Massachusetts Governor designating November 27, 1890 as a Thanksgiving holiday.
Cambridge Chronicle November 22, 1890
In 1891, Smith sold the Mammoth Market and moved to a larger location on Main Street in Central Square. He intended to build a two-story building with a market on the ground floor and offices on the second floor. But plans were delayed and changed, and it wasn’t until 1895 that he opened “Smith’s Manhattan Market” at 602-614 Main Street. Story has it that It was named “the great Manhattan Market on 125th Street [in] Harlem” (Cambridge Chronicle, Jan. 31, 1891). His advertising emphasized modern conveniences such a big “hygenic” refrigerators, a long- distance telephone on the premises and a “neat little room for ladies to sit in…”
Smith’s particular innovation in marketing was to include under one roof individual vendors for the usual grocery goods—meat, fruit & vegetables, canned goods, and baked goods. He also sold kitchen implements, and, believe it or not, music and musical instruments. There was even a piano available for “customers to try out the sheet music” before purchasing. An all-day lunch counter was an added attraction. The position of the individual vendors eventually morphed into departments under the same store management. The “Superb and Elegant” Manhattan Market was a big step toward the idea of what we today call a “Supermarket.”
Historically, the first supermarket as we know it today was the Piggly Wiggly, opened in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916. Customers were able to load items into their baskets (provided by the store) themselves and brought them to a central check-out counter. The Manhattan followed this and all subsequent trends in the management of grocery stores.
Excerpt: Cambridge Tribune August 31, 1895
The fine print:
After a very brilliant and successful reception, which was attended by thousands who spike in the highest terms of the beauty and completeness of its arrangements, has passed through a week of business which far exceeded our fondest hopes. It may be thought that because of its magnificence the prices may be on an equally magnificent scale. The Manhattan will entirely disabuse your mind of any such erroneous idea. The proof of the pudding is in the eating; so also the proof of the price is in the purchase…The Manhattan will give measure for measure and dollar for dollar as much as can be obtained anywhere.
Excerpt: Cambridge Chronicle September 11, 1897
Cambridge Chronicle February 25, 1905
Cambridge Chronicle April 20, 1918
Cambridge Chronicle June 22, 1918
Smith went on to open other stores in the Boston area, as well as a chain of “five and ten-cent” grocery stores. In 1929 the store became a part of Upham’s Corner Market. Smith soon stepped down from active management of the store in and went on to create United Markets, Inc.
Cambridge Chronicle February 1, 1929
Under changes in management and names, a grocery store remained at the site of the old Manhattan Market until at least 1999.
596-600 Mass. Ave. (left), 602-614 Mass. Ave. in 2019 (right) in 2019 (Google Street view)
Stay tuned for the final installment of our series on supermarkets!
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
These days we don’t think twice about going to the supermarket and picking up all of our groceries in one place. But back in the 1800’s, before there were supermarkets, grocery shopping required making stops at a variety of small, specialized markets. For instance, you might have visited:
Cyrus Fellows for fish and oysters: Fellows was born in New Hampshire in 1808. As a young man he walked the 50 miles to Gloucester, Massachusetts, for work. He became a stage driver and wound up in the fish business. It is thought he established one of the first fish markets in Cambridge. He died at age 93 in 1902.
Cambridge Chronicle January 4, 1849
Or stopped by William E. Fyfe’s shop for baked goods. The census of 1860 lists him as a “cracker peddler.”
Bakeries: City Directory 1866
Cambridge Chronicle August 11, 1866
Calvin Gove was well known for his meats, as was Andrew A. Ward. In 1860 Ward announced home delivery service, running “a wagon to the houses of individuals carrying meats of all kinds … In 1877 the two became partners and purchased a stall at Faneuil Hall Market.
Cambridge City Directory 1866
Cambridge City Directory 1860
Poultry: Fred Richardson on River Street was well stocked with a variety of edible birds:
Cambridge Chronicle September 15, 1883
Dairy: No need to worry that Munroe & Evans would run out of butter before you could get there. “Firkin” refers to the wooden tub in which the producers shipped their butter.
Cambridge Chronicle April 5, 1849
The word “grocer” comes to us via the medieval Latin “grossarius” and French “grossier,” finally landing in English as “grocer.” When the “Company of Grocers of London” was created in 1376 the term became more widespread. Eventually a grocer meant anyone who sold basic foodstuffs such as flour, sugar, coffee, tea, etc. (https://grocershall.co.uk/the-company/history)
Of the 84 names listed under “Grocer” or “Provisioner” in the 1866 Cambridge City Directory, 18 were on Main street or on a street corner “near” main Street. The Directory also listed 11 bakeries.
Apart from their particular specialization, some of these many stores also did sell other food stuffs. Over time, meat markets increasingly combined with greengrocers, fruit markets, bakeries, fish markets, etc., leading to the ultimate development of the “supermarket.”
Two of the most influential grocer/provisioners in 19th century Cambridge whose markets led the way were Fred J. Row and Arthur H. Smith.
Frederick “Fred” J. Row (1853-1910)
Row was born in Plymouth, England, in 1853. In 1871, at age 18 he emigrated to Boston.
Cambridge Chronicle December 1, 1894
Before appearing in the Cambridge City Directory in 1877 as a “provisioner” at 80 Pleasant Street, he had briefly been a bookkeeper. His obituary states that he “originated” the Pleasant Street Market in 1875–which means he was only 22 or 23 years old at the time.
Row lived across the street from the store. He ran it until 1885, when he sold it to a former employee (Arthur H. Smith, see the forthcoming Part 2 of this post) and moved to larger space on Main Street.
Modern image of 80 Pleasant street, corner of Chalk St. (Google street view)
Row’s particular innovation in the grocery business was his savvy advertising. If there ever was a self-promoter, he was it. He even once referred to himself as a “hustler.” The Cambridge Chronicle noted: “Mr. Row is credited with having an abundance of ‘snap’ and his modern and liberal policy has effected a revolution in the local trade.” (April 19, 1884).
Cambridge Chronicle April 9, 1881
Advertisement in the Cambridge Chronicle November 23, 1878
Customer service was key. The advertisement reads:
“We shall have a bulletin board in front of our store giving the market prices every day, as sometimes prices change, and our customers may rely on getting the benefit of the market. All orders entrusted to our care will receive prompt attention, and will be charged at the market price on the day the goods are bought.”
His advertisements were witty, at times poetic, and at times screaming from the pages. A couple of his first ditties appeared in 1879:
Cambridge Chronical January 4, 1879
Cambridge Chronicle February 2 1879
Row’s advertisements were conversational. They had the effect of acknowledging the customer and speaking directly to them in a way that other advertisers did not. The paper may have printed his name incorrectly in the advert below, but what other market operator would dream up the idea of announcing that “The Country is Safe!” because of himself?
Cambridge Chronicle November 25, 1882
Business boomed at #80 Pleasant Street. In 1885, Row sold the market to Alfred H. Smith, who had worked for him as a boy. (More on Arthur H. Smith in the next post)
Fred established his new market at #423 (subsequently #818) Main Street, and named it the “Middlesex Market.”
Cambridge Chronicle October 24, 1885
After about three years, Row decided it was not only the Middlesex Market, but the “FAMOUS Middlesex Market” as in the ad below from 1888. It also features Arthur Ward, whom Row had brought on board in 1878, and made vice president of the company in 1888. In 1892, Row opened a second store at 11 Prospect Street, and put Ward in charge of managing it.
Cambridge Chronicle October 27, 1888
Ward, along with Row (and Smith), was featured in an article in the Cambridge Chronicle on “Men of Cambridge Markets,” (April 9, 1893):
Cambridge Chronicle April 9, 1893
They remained in business together until 1894 when Arthur departed to start his own business, “Ward’s Market, later Ward’s Central Sq. Market” at the corner of Pearl and Main Street (566 Main Street).
Back to Fred’s advertising: He took advantage of any public events to tie them to his store – the advent of electric cars, electric lights, and a presidential election. Below is a fun selection from over the years:
Cambridge Chronicle December 3, 1887
Cambridge Chronicle February 23, 1889
Cambridge Chronicle October 19, 1889
A “public exhibition” of his stock under the “Absolutely Searching Electric Light”:
Cambridge Chronicle October 19, 1889
Cambridge Chronicle June 21, 1890: “It goes without saying, that a Yankee is, or thinks he is, the smartest, brightest and keenest specimen of the Genus Homo” (that is Latin for Man) …
And here we have a description of the “Looks of Astonishment” that patrons displayed upon first seeing the store as he described the “activity, life and animation” they saw.
Cambridge Chronicle April 12, 1890
Cambridge Chronicle December 27, 1890
Cambridge Chronicle June 11, 1892
Cambridge Chronicle April 16, 1892
Fred Row closed up shop at the Middlesex Market in 1901. He briefly opened the Columbian Market at # 1½ Austin Street. He also managed a store on River street, but after the Columbian Market, he never again actually owned a grocery store. Fred Row succumbed to typhoid in 1910 at the age of 57.
Stay tuned for our next installment to learn more about Arthur Smith and the evolution of supermarkets!
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
Formed on December 6, 1893, the Rindge Club, named for real estate developer and major City benefactor Frederick H. Rindge, first met in the Odd Fellows Hall building in North Cambridge on December 27, 1893. To accommodate the club’s athletic classes and activities, leaders leased a gymnasium building at 9 Beech Street (now the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses) from Samuel F. Woodbridge. At the behest of Mr. Rindge, the group changed its name to the Newtowne Club in June 1895.
Exterior of the Rindge Club House when located at the Samuel Woodbridge gym, 9 Beech Street. Cambridge Chronicle, 20 January 1894
Earlier that year, plans for a new and larger clubhouse were prepared by Boston-based architect J. Chandler Fowler. In June, Mr. Adams, a member of the club’s governing board, purchased land for the purpose of erecting the new building at the corner of Davenport Street and Massachusetts Avenue, about one block southeast of the Woodbridge gym. With a bid of around $30,000, a contract to construct the building was awarded to Wellington Fillmore & Co. and ground was broken towards the end of June.
Drawing of Newtowne Club by architect J. Chandler Fowler, published in the Cambridge Chronicle, 19 January 1895
The club officially opened on January 29, 1896 and nearly 2,000 invitations to the open house were distributed to the community. The new club house was described as “one of the handsomest and most substantial buildings in ward 5.”
Exterior of the Newtowne Club, ca. 1895. Historic New England
Designed in the colonial style, the building was “square and grand, with a wide porch, generous windows and dormers on the roof.” The exterior was painted bright red and finished with white trimmings and green blinds. (Semi-Centennial)
A corner of the library and glimpses of front hall and ladies parlor, drawn by L.F. Grant for the Cambridge Chronicle, 1 February 1896
“The house contains a fine gymnasium, with stage, six of the best bowling alleys in the state, shower baths, billiard and pool room, ladies parlor, lounging room, ample lockers for a 500 [person] membership, and, all the appurtenance to a first class clubhouse.” (Semi-Centennial)
Detail of the corner of Davenport St and Mass Ave from Cambridge Bromley Atlases, 1903 and 1930
Over the years, the parlors, gymnasium, and other facilities were rented by area groups, clubs, and committees for events ranging from charity parties to film screenings. In 1916, the Newtowne Theatre opened as a tenant of the club on the north end of the building, offering matinee picture shows and small concerts.
Clipping from the Cambridge Chronicle, 9 December 1916
Although the Newtowne Club had been prosperous for many years, it soon found difficulty maintaining memberships and meeting the expenses of the building. In 1917, the building was purchased by the Ozanam Council, Knights of Columbus through a foreclosure sale. The K of C also purchased the club’s furnishings and acquired the moving picture accoutrements for the club’s private use. The club was then renamed Newtowne Hall. In 1924, the Mass Ave frontage was sold and a block of stores were built on the clubhouse lawn. The building was subsequently divided and rented to local organizations.
5 Davenport St, ca. 1975. CHC staff photo
In 1960, Stephen and James Zaglakas remodeled Newtowne Hall and opened Stephen James House, an 800-seat function hall and restaurant that was a popular site for social and political functions until it closed in 1991. Several rounds of interior and exterior repairs, alterations, and additions throughout the mid-twentieth century left the building nearly unrecognizable. By the 1970s, the only features from the original 1896 building were the the hip roof and right side dormer. The building was sold and demolished in 1994 to make way for a condominium development.
Sources Cambridge Chronicle, 19 January 1895 The Cambridge Chronicle Semi-Centennial Souvenir, 1 February 1896 CHC survey files “Newtowne Club” by the Cambridge Historical Commission and North Cambridge Neighborhood Stabilization Committee, 2000
Did you know that Paul Revere, in addition to being a silversmith, also made false teeth for several years?! In fact, by recognizing his own handiwork he was able to identify the remains of Dr. Joseph Warren who died at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Today we are celebrating National Dentist’s Day, March 6., and in particular three mid-19th century dentists in Cambridge: Drs. Andrews, Loomis, and Bullock were all innovators and public servants.
In the 1848 Cambridge City Directory, there were 14 doctors listed in the business directory under “Physicians,” but dentists were not yet listed in a separate category. They were listed individually, but it was not until 1860 they warranted their own category in the business directory:
Cambridge City Directory 1860
George P. Backus appears in the newspapers in 1847; Dr. Dillingham in 1857, and James L. Simonds’ arrival on the scene is unknown.
If you cringe at the idea of going to the dentist now, imagine what it would have been like in 1857 to make a visit to Dr. A. W. Dillingham, “Surgical and Mechanical Dentist.” Eeek!
Cambridge Chronicle January 5, 1861
Cambridge Chronicle March 26, 1859
It turns out that “mechanical” dentistry was not quite as medieval as it sounds. In the nineteenth century dentistry was divided into two branches: “operative” and “mechanical.”
Mechanical dentists made prostheses (read false teeth). Operative dentistry, involving removing decay, drilling teeth and making fillings, was considered requiring more medical knowledge, and therefore superior. Mechanical dentists on the other hand were often considered “undignified,” and “unclean,” as reported in the Report of the Committee on Mechanical Dentistry, Trans. Am. Den. Assoc., 1873-4:
“Mechanical dentistry is fast becoming a highway for all the quacks, charlatans and butchers that desire to enter the profession. The maker of artificial teeth will one day occupy the same relation to the dentist that the manufacturer of wooden legs now does to the surgeon.” —Eames, W. H
To counter these “charlatans,” in 1840 professionally trained dentists had formed the American Society of Dental Surgeons. A further step toward professionalism was the development of academic dental schools. The first university-associated dental school was that of Harvard University in 1867.
Dr. Dillingham qualified as a “surgical” (operative) dentist and a mechanical dentist.
* * *
DR. ROBERT ROLLINS ANDREWS
Dillingham’s successor was Dr. Robert Rollins Andrews, a graduate of the Boston Dental College, renowned dental researcher, and inventor, artist, poet, and author.
Image via History of Dental Surgery: Contributions by Various Authors, Vol. 3 (1909)
Cambridge Chronicle October 17, 1868
Cambridge Chronicle February 13,1869
Andrews began his dental training in 1858, when, he apprenticed in the office of his uncle in Boston, Dr. Robert L. Roberts. When the Civil War interrupted his apprenticeship, he enlisted as a private in Company H, 47th Massachusetts Volunteers, and re-enlisted with the 60th Massachusetts Volunteers. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant and served as a staff officer with Generals Butler & Banks between 1862-1864.
After the war he attended the Boston Dental College (later a part of Tufts University) and graduated as a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1865. His research in dental embryology led to his being appointed Professor of Dental Histology at the same school. After setting up practices in Boston and Hyde Park, in 1868 he took over A. W. Dillingham’s practice in Cambridge. Andrews remained in Cambridge for the rest of his career, with frequent time out to present his research papers in the U. S. and Europe. In 1880 he presented a paper at the International Medical congress in Berlin, which he attended as the Secretary from America. One of his inventions included a “mallet for condensing gold in filling teeth.”
In 1893 the Governor asked him to be a member of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Dentistry, and in 1899 he was made a Trustee of the Tufts Dental College. He received several honorary degrees and was elected to dental societies in Great Britain and Belgium. In addition to his dental practice, he was known locally as an exceptional artist, poet, and playwright. In 1870 he married Mary Emily Leseur, and they had five children.
In 1908 Andrews was honored by his colleagues with a banquet at the Somerset Club in Boston:
Cambridge Tribune March 7, 1908
After his death in 1921 Tufts University established the Robert R. Andrews Research Society of Tufts College, recognizing “that the work he accomplished in the profession of dentistry is epoch-making
Cambridge Tribune March 26, 1921
Andrews wrote a testament to the service of Charles Bullock and what he did to promote children’s dental health in Cambridge. (see below) in 1914.
* * *
DR. MAHLON LOOMIS
Photo: Lynchburg Museum, Lynchburg VA
Cambridge Chronicle June 11, 1853
Mahlon Loomis was born in 1826 Fulton Co., N.Y, to Professor Nathan Loomis and Waite Jenks Barber. When he was a teenager his family moved to Virginia, where, in 1848 he studied dentistry and built up a practice. In 1851 he moved to Massachusetts and landed in Cambridge. He practiced here for just a few years, between 1851 and 1856, after which he moved to Washington, D. C.
Cambridge Chronicle August 16, 1851
Cambridge Chronicle April 3, 1852
But while in Cambridge, in 1854, he invented a method for making “mineral plate” dentures out of Kaolin porcelain:
Cambridge Chronicle 9 September 1854
He applied for a patent on his process, which he finally received in 1857( U.S. Patent 10,847)
It was also patented in France and England:
Image: U. S. Patent Office
Cambridge Chronicle September 22, 1855. (Excerpt from the Cleveland Herald in Ohio)
As it turns out, his dental invention was overtaken in fame by his experiments with electricity performed after he moved to Washington. Keenly interested in wireless telegraphy, he wrote in 1864 “I have been for years trying to study out a process by which telegraphic communications may be made across the ocean without any wires, and also from point to point on the earth, dispensing with wires.” In 1866, (years before Marconi was even born), Loomis performed a successful experiment in the Blue Ridge Mountains. His “two kites, between 14 and 18 miles apart, a vertical antenna, a high frequency detector, and a spark gap transmitter” is considered by the Library of Congress as the first known instance of wireless aerial communication (Lynchburg Museum, Lynchburg West Virginia). https://www.lynchburgmuseum.org/blog/2018/12/28/dr-mahlon-loomis-pioneer-of-radio.
While not as internationally known as Drs. Andrews and Loomis, Charles Bullock is included here for what he did to promote dental heath for children in Cambridge. He was born in Providence,
R. I. in 1836, the youngest of twelve children. He studied first with his brother (a dentist in Hartford, Ct.) for two years. He spent another several years practicing in Collinsville, Ct. before moving to Cambridge in 1859.
He bought the building at #569 Main Street and began his practice. Bullock was an innovator, – – “the second person in the state to use gas” for anesthesia. Around 1880 he invented (and patented) an inhaler for a that purpose. He also used cocaine, which was popular in those days.
Cambridge Chronicle October 1, 1870
At some point in the 1870’s he teamed up with Dr. A. J. Sawyer:
Cambridge Chronicle February 15, 1879
In the late 1880s he sold out his portion of the practice to Dr. Sawyer, and continued his practice once again on his own. In the 1890’s he became acquainted with Clarence Hews, a recent graduate of the Baltimore Dental College. Hews worked in Bullocks office for about a year before forming his own practice in Malden. In 1907 he rejoined Bullock to form the Bullock & Hews Dental Co. They brought on an associate, Dr. Jones, and after figuring out a better light fixture to enable them to work in the evenings, they opened their practice until 8:00 P.M.
Cambridge Tribune May 11, 1907
Cambridge Chronicle May 26, 1906
Cambridge Chronicle, 13 October 1906
Charles Bullock served as an Overseer of the Poor for fourteen years. But perhaps his most significant contribution to the health of the citizens of Cambridge was his advocacy for children’s dental health:
Excerpt from interview: Cambridge Tribune May 11, 1907
In his will Bullock left a substantial amount of money, the income of which ($3,000 per year by 1937) was to fund the position of a dentist responsible particularly for educating school children on dental care. This remembrance of his contributions in this regard was written by Dr. Robert R.
Andrews, profiled above:
Cambridge Tribune April 11, 1914
Charles Bullock died on March 14, 1914. He is buried Mt. Auburn on Snowflake Path, Lot #5932
Cambridge Tribune March 21, 1914
FUN FACTS
Dentist’s Chairs. Dentist chair was invented by Josiah Flagg in 1790. Just a Windsor chair with an adjustable headrest attached:
Image: pg. 197 Weinberger’s Introduction to the History of Dentistry in America
The first reclining dental chair was designed in 1832 by James Snell of London:
mage via Oshawa Centre Dental Office
Toothbrushes. First invented in China, and first mass produced in 1780 by English inventor William Addis, the first American to patent a toothbrush was H. N. Wadsworth, in 1857.
Anesthetics. In 1844 Horace Wells discovered the anesthetic qualities of nitrous oxide, and used it for pulling teeth. In 1846, William T. G. Morton (buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery) “discovered” ether. The two discoveries got confused with one another, and a long controversy ensued over whether Morton discovered ether or discovered the use of it as an anesthetic. In 1864 and 1870 two “major health organizations in the United States—the American Dental Association and the American Medical Association—voted in favour of Horace Wells” (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Toothpaste. Before there was tooth paste there was tooth powder or dentifrice, including “Saponaceous” (soapy) Dentifrice sold at local pharmacies:
Cambridge Chronicle April 28, 1860
In 1873 the Colgate Co. produced toothpaste in small glass jars. In 1881 Dr. Washington Wentworth Sheffield of created “Dr. Sheffield’s Crème Angelique Dentifrice,” the first toothpaste sold in collapsible tubes. (https://stetsonhillsdentist.com/the-history-of-toothpaste/)
Drills. In 1871 James Beall Morrison (1829-1917) invented a high- speed foot-operated treadle drill. This drill could make 2,000 revolutions per minute, vastly speeding up the efficacy of removing decay.
Dental Floss. The first recorded patent for dental floss was issued in 1874 to Asahel M. Shurtleff, a partner in the Boston medical devices company called Codman & Shurtleff. They began selling unwaxed silk dental floss in 1882. (https://oralb.com/en-us/oral-health/dental-floss-history/)
A section of the Codman & Shurtleff exhibit at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
The first Black dentist. The first black man to receive a D.D.S. degree was Robert Tanner Freeman. Freeman, born to enslaved parents, graduated from Harvard University’s School of Dental Medicine in 1869 with its first class of six students.
This portrait of Dr. Freeman, painted by artist Stephen Coit, hangs in the lobby of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM)
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
View of St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church, 1964.
On February 22, the Cambridge City Council unanimously voted to designate St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church a Cambridge Landmark. This designation recognizes only a select number of individual properties that are important to the City as a whole, protecting them so that their unique qualities are maintained for the benefit of all the residents of Cambridge.
Located at 137 Allston Street in Cambridgeport, St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church is owned by the Trustees of The St. Augustine’s Mission. The church is also the home of Black History in Action for Cambridgeport (BHAC), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting programs focused on sharing Black culture, arts, history, and education with the general public. BHAC’s mission is to sustain and revitalize St. Augustine’s as a neighborhood center for assembly, empowerment, and outreach.
View of St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church with recently completed new roof.
The property was originally part of the estate of Mrs. Washington Allston [Martha Remington Dana Allston] as drawn on a survey by William A. Mason and W. S. Barbour dated May 1, 1862 and filed in the Middlesex County (South District) Registry of Deeds, Plan Book 33, Plan 5. The rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Central Square, Rev. Edward M. Gushee, acquired the property in 1886 to construct a mission of St. Peter’s. Rev. Gushee died in 1917 and bequeathed the property to his son Richard, an Episcopal minister in California. A new priest was appointed by the Diocese of Massachusetts, but the congregation dwindled over the next few years and could not sustain the church financially even though Rev. Richard Gushee continued to own the property. In 1927 Rev. Gushee sold the property to Central Square furniture dealer Morris Bobrick, who may have intended to use the property for storage but who defaulted on his mortgage. The property was bought at auction by Nettie E. Fernandez who in turn sold it to individuals associated with the African Orthodox denomination in 1931. The St. Augustine’s property continues to be owned by the trustees of The St. Augustine’s Mission.
Allston Street was named for Washington Allston (1779-1843), an artist who pioneered America’s Romantic movement of landscape painting. He married Martha Remington Dana, the daughter of Chief Justice Francis Dana, who owned most of the property in this area. Allston Street is a through street parallel to Putnam Avenue and intersecting with the main thoroughfares in the neighborhood, including Magazine, Pearl, and Brookline streets. The neighborhood is characterized by dominant north-south streets, uniform intervals between the cross streets, and sustained setbacks. Only on four streets – Green, Franklin, Allston, and Putnam – can one traverse the entire area in an east-west direction. Early building locations appear to have been determined by land elevation or proximity to Central Square. In 1830 there were only three cross streets; in 1854 there were six; and by 1873 the current street layout was virtually complete. South of Allston Street is a slightly elevated and once heavily wooded area known in the 19th century as Pine Grove. In 1838 Edmund Trowbridge Hastings (1789-1861) and other Dana heirs laid out the Pine Grove subdivision with 131 house lots on Allston, Chestnut, Henry, Waverly, Sidney, Brookline and Pearl Streets. The original plan included a residential square around Fort Washington and another on Brookline Street that became today’s Hasting’s Square. Although some lots were sold, the area was too isolated to attract development even after the Cottage Farm (B.U.) Bridge was completed in 1851. Martha Allston’s land on the north side of Allston Street (including the site of St. Augustine’s Church) was subdivided in 1862 but remained substantially undeveloped until the 1880s, when the neighborhood began to fill up with one- and two-family houses. Construction of the Morse School in 1890 spurred development, and by 1910 the neighborhood was complete. It remains essentially unchanged today, although the school was demolished in 1957 and the site became a park.
From the founding of Cambridge in 1630 to the construction of the West Boston (now Longfellow) Bridge in 1793, only three families lived east of Quincy Street on “the Neck,” a marshy, wooded peninsula formed by the Charles and Millers rivers. The opening of the bridge spurred development. By this time two Cambridge men owned most of the land in Cambridgeport: William Jarvis controlled properties north of Massachusetts Avenue and Justice Francis Dana to the south. (Much of the rest – and all of East Cambridge – fell to Andrew Craigie.)
Jarvis was the U.S. Inspector of Revenue. Dana, who descended from an old Cambridge family and resided on a large estate on Dana Hill, served as Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1791 to 1806. The two men worked with the Proprietors of the West Boston Bridge to lay out Massachusetts Avenue and Main Street but did not otherwise develop a master plan for the area. Justice Dana developed his holdings slowly and carefully. In 1798 Jarvis was convicted of misappropriation of customs duties; the federal government seized his properties and sold them off to multiple owners.
Justice Dana died in 1811, and his heirs continued to develop Cambridgeport in the same careful pattern. What is now Allston Street was a part of Justice Dana’s estate left to his daughter, Martha Remington Dana Allston (Mrs. Washington Allston).
St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church was built in 1886-87 as St. Philip’s, a mission of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Central Square. The remote site was chosen to attract parishioners from the surrounding neighborhood who found it difficult to get to church in Central Square. It was the first house of worship to open in the former Pine Grove neighborhood and attracted so many worshipers that it needed to be enlarged two years later.
St. Philip’s was designed by the New Bedford architect Robert Slack, who oversaw both the original construction and the 1888 expansion and worked with the local builders Kelley & McKinnon. Talented and prolific, Slack did not specialize in one style; he designed private homes, churches, and institutions, including a new wing at Harvard’s Peabody Museum.
The church is reminiscent of an English village chapel but is distinctly American in its wood construction and simple expression. The exterior was shingled and stained dark red with trimmings of dark blue. The 50-foot-tall tower was surmounted by a gilded cross and enclosed a bell made at the Meneely foundry in Troy, New York. The main entrance was through a foyer on the right front. The interior featured an open-timbered auditorium with rows of cane chairs with hassocks for the congregation, double-hung windows with colored lights, and five decorative chancel windows high above the altar. The 1888 expansion involved cutting off the chancel end and moving it back 31 feet and building a section between with a transept on the south side, making the inserted section 31 feet by 34 feet. This increased the overall length from 60 to 90 feet and doubled the seating capacity to about 400. The basement was finished for use as Sunday School and guild rooms.
Image of church after expansion. Note the original side entrance. Cambridge Chronicle, Sept. 15, 1888.
St. Philip’s was a personal project of Rev. Edward M. Gushee, who served at St. Peter’s Episcopal in Central Square until Easter 1888, when he became rector of St. Philip’s. A wealthy, generous man, Rev. Gushee owned the building, presided at services, and was the parish’s sole financial benefactor. Gushee died in 1917, leaving a small allowance to the parish but bequeathing the building to his son Richard, an Episcopal minister in California who apparently had no wish to return to Cambridge. The diocese supplied the parish with a priest for a few years, but the congregation dwindled and could no longer support either a rector or the building. In 1927 Richard put the building up for sale, advertising it as suitable for “storage, church or remodeled for dwelling” (Cambridge Chronicle, August 26, 1927).
In August 1928 Richard Gushee sold the property to Morris Bobrick, a furniture dealer in Central Square who may have used it for storage. Two years later Bobrick sold it to the trustees of a new church, identified in the newspapers as the African Orthodox Society. In 1932 the Cambridge assessors gave the trustees as George Alexander McGuire, Rev. Gladstone St. Clair Nurse, and Elvira Headley.
Historic plaque located on the site.
Bishop George A. McGuire (1866-1934) established the African Orthodox Church in 1921. McGuire was born, raised, and educated on Antigua; he came to the U.S. in 1894 and two years later was ordained an Episcopal priest. He served in numerous parishes and was praised for both his preaching and his organizational skills. In 1910 he attended Boston University’s medical school, but in 1913 he went back to Antigua to nurse his mother.
In 1918 McGuire returned to the U.S. and began to move in a new direction. He campaigned for equal rights for Black Americans and severed his ties with the Episcopal Church to protest its systemic racism and discrimination against Black clergy. McGuire became an associate of Marcus Garvey and worked with Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA); Garvey in turn endorsed McGuire’s idea that true equality and spiritual freedom could only be achieved by an all-Black religious denomination – a church attended by people of color and administered by Black clergy. The bishop broke with Garvey in 1924, probably over the latter’s increasingly radical ideas on racial nationalism.
In the fall of 1921, St. Luke’s African Orthodox Church opened at 252 Green Street (now the site of the Green Street Garage). In 1931 the denomination took possession of the dilapidated St. Philip’s and renamed it St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Pro-Cathedral, with Bishop McGuire at its head. (A pro-cathedral is a church named by a bishop to serve as his seat but which remains under the governance of the vestry.) When Bishop McGuire died in 1934 the African Orthodox Church could claim approximately 30,000 members in thirty congregations in the United States, the West Indies, South America, and Africa.
General Sources
Cambridge Chronicle, June 6, 1887; September15, 1888; January 17, 1930.
Cambridge Sentinel, January 13, 1940.
Cambridge Tribune, June 18, 1887; January 28, 1888.
Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge, Cambridgeport. Cambridge Historical Commission, 1971.
On the night of September 20, 1848, “a capital specimen of a ‘Sucker’ Whig, six feet at least in his stockings,” gave a speech in Cambridge City Hall in favor of the Whig candidates for president and vice president, General Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore (Boston Atlas). “Sucker” seems to have been a general term at the time for a Midwesterner, although its origin is unclear. 1
Abraham Lincoln. Library of Congress
This Sucker Whig was the Representative from Illinois, the Honorable Abraham Lincoln. He had attended the state Whig Convention in Worcester on the 13th and delivered campaign speeches in Worcester, Lowell, Dorchester, and Chelsea. On the morning of the 20th, he spoke in Dedham.
After having run a successful race for the train departing Dedham, Lincoln returned to the Boston and Providence Railroad depot near Boston Common, arriving in the early evening. He walked across the city to the station of the Fitchburg Railroad on Causeway Street [now North Station] to catch another train. This one took him in a westerly direction, across the Charles River to Cambridge. 2
The Fitchburg Railroad crossed Miller’s Creek (north of East Cambridge), then ran through Somerville to North Cambridge (and beyond). Lincoln would have alighted at one of three stations: two in Somerville, Prospect Street or Somerville (also called Park Street) stations in Somerville and one in Cambridge, Porter Station in North Cambridge (in the same location as today’s). From there, he would have walked.
A lively crowd of local Whigs (and a few reporters) awaited Mr. Lincoln at City Hall, then a simple wood building at the corner of Norfolk and Harvard streets completed 1832 (now site of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church).
Detail from 1854 map of Cambridge. The CEMETERY at the top middle is the Cambridgeport Burying Ground, now the site of Sennott Park. The cemetery is bounded to the north by Broadway, east by Essex Street, west by Norfolk Street, and south by Harvard Street. The townhouse is at the northwest corner of Harvard and Norfolk streets.
A committee of prominent citizens studied the matter of a townhouse carefully and in March 1831 recommended that it should be erected in Cambridgeport, “as more central to the populations of the town than the present house [in Harvard Square].”
The house is to be of wood, forty-six feet in front or breadth, and seventy-six feet long, with posts twenty feet and four inches high, and the roof one fourth of its base in height; on each end of the building, in addition to the aforesaid length, will be a portico, of six feet in width, consisting of six fluted Doric columns, with an entablature and pediment.3
The town hired Asher Benjamin, a skilled housewright-turned-architect, to design the building in the Greek Revival style then considered suitable for houses of government. (Benjamin published a series of pattern books for ordinary builders. Each included a primer on architectural history and style elements, as well as complete house plans and measured drawings of circular staircases, mantlepieces, fences, and the like.) The town house cost $4,351.19, including furniture and fencing, the first town meeting was held there in March 1832. It burned down on 29 December 1853.
Local newspapers did not print the text of Lincoln’s Cambridge speech on September 20th, nor have letters or diaries written by those in attendance been found, but a reporter for the Boston Atlas, a Whig newspaper, wrote about the rally enthusiastically.
A sudden shower had descended just before the meeting began, but it did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the Whigs present. It was one of those old-fashioned Whig gatherings, which it does a true Whig good to witness. … when the Old Cambridge [Zachary] Taylor Club entered the hall with a splendid band of music, and were received with cheer upon cheer, until the rafters shook and the roof rang, it seemed as if the building could not possibly contain the numbers who thronged to enter it. [The speech was] plain, direct, convincing … a model speech for the campaign.4
Since there was no late train from Cambridge, Mr. Lincoln had to return to his rooms in Boston’s Tremont House by carriage or on foot.
Lincoln made one or two more speeches locally and left for Illinois on September 23, 1848.
1 Sucker Whig: A commenter on an etymology blog noted that people from Illinois used to be called suckers in some neighboring states, perhaps, as another writer speculated, because Illinois men used to travel up the Mississippi River each spring to work and return home in the fall—Missourians called them “suckers” after a common fish that migrated in the same fashion. The Whigs took their name from those Revolutionary American Whigs who had opposed tyranny; this party, formed ca. 1834 in opposition to the authoritarian policies of Andrew Jackson and his Democrats, supported Congressional over presidential power and favored a program of modernization and economic protectionism. In 1854, most Northern Whigs joined the newly formed Republican Party.
2Abraham Lincoln Among the Yankees: Abraham Lincoln’s1848 Visit to Massachusetts by William F. Hanna (Old Colony Historical Society, Taunton, Mass. 1983)
3The History of Cambridge, Massachusetts by Lucius R. Paige 1877
Mount Auburn Cemetery, the first rural cemetery in the United States, is credited as the beginning of the American public parks and gardens movement. Dedicated in 1831 and marked with classical monuments in a rolling landscaped terrain, Mount Auburn Cemetery marked a distinct break with Colonial-era burying grounds and church-affiliated graveyards. The appearance of this type of landscape coincides with the rising popularity of the term “cemetery,” derived from the Greek word for “a sleeping place,” instead of graveyard. The cemetery, shared by Cambridge and Watertown, has evolved greatly in its nearly 200 years but remains one of the most picturesque landscapes in the country.
General view of Mount Auburn Cemetery with monuments, gravestones, and rolling topography.
When strolling Mount Auburn Cemetery, some monuments and funerary art stand out more than others. Attentive visitors may notice numerous sculptures of dogs that seem to watch over their owner’s graves; a contrast to the fact that dogs, living or deceased, are not allowed onto the cemetery’s grounds. These types of sculpture are known as psychopomps whose primary function is to escort souls to the afterlife. Historically, dogs have symbolized guidance, protection, loyalty, and unconditional love, all important roles for a psychopomp.
Here, we will give a brief history of some of the dogs found in Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Perkins Monument Dog
The Perkins Family Tomb, on Central Avenue at Mount Auburn Cemetery, is guarded by this marble dog. The monument commemorates Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764-1854), “the Merchant Prince” of the China trade. In 1843 Perkins visited the Italian studio of Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), considered America’s first professional sculptor and one of the first to receive a national commission, and commissioned him to carve Perkins’s Newfoundland dog in Florentine marble. The dog seems to have been installed at the family tomb at Mount Auburn a year later. As a young man Thomas Perkinswas a slave trader in Haiti, a maritime fur trader who transported furs from the American Northwest for trade in China, and then a major smuggler of Turkish opium into China. Perkins invested in textiles and granite quarries. Among his many philanthropic works, he gave his Boston residence to the Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, which was renamed the Perkins School for the Blind in his honor. Today, however, we can contextualize the multiple layers of Perkins’s life story, including an examination of how he acquired his wealth. Perkins was originally interred at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston; he was removed to the family tomb at Mount Auburn in 1914.
Harnden English Mastiff
Further along Central Avenue, this English mastiff is sheltered from the elements by a Neoclassical monument. This marble watchdog remains in excellent condition, his gaze as vigilant as ever and the sharpness of his claws and loose skin folds still remarkably intact. William Frederick Harnden (1812-1845) was the founder of Harnden and Company, one of the first independent express shipping companies in the United States. Harnden died of consumption (tuberculosis) in January 1845 and was buried next to his 10-month-old daughter, Sarah, who had died three years prior. In 1866 the Express Companies of America erected this monument in Harnden’s memory, replacing his original, plainer marker. The corporation hired Boston sculptor Thomas A. Carew to carve the English mastiff as a symbol of fidelity and security on the journey into the afterlife.
Full view of Harnden Monument.
Wingate Whippet
Located on Olive Path, this sculpture of a whippet is a small decorative element at the rear of the Wingate family plot. The dog lies in a crate-like enclosure, measuring 32″ wide x 16″ high x 18″ deep, which was originally made of glass and bronze and has since been replaced with plexiglass that has become somewhat opaque. The sculpture, which dates to 1866, includes a base inscribed “Their Favorite.” This diminutive whippet protects the graves of Abbott P. and William A. Wingate, Jr. (“Willie”), both of whom died in 1865 at ages 20 and 18, respectively (it is believed that they died in the Civil War). Sculptor Martin Milmore is best known for two prominent local memorials to the Civil War dead: the gigantic Sphinx (1873) facing the Bigelow Chapel at Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Boston Common (1877).
Richardson Dog
On Oak Avenue at Mount Auburn, the Richardson Dog serves as a psychopomp to William Taylor Richardson, Jr. (1846-1864), an infantryman in the Massachusetts 33rd Regiment during the Civil War. It is unclear in which battle Richardson died, but over the course of the war his regiment lost 104 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 77 enlisted men by disease. Young Richardson was was only 18 years old when he was laid to rest at Mount Auburn Cemetery. His parents commissioned Alexander McDonald, who operated a monument works on Mt. Auburn Street, to carve the dog for his grave.
Francis Calley Gray English Setter
Tucked away on Hemlock Path, you will find this mournful English Setter resting atop a granite slab. The memorial marks the tomb of Francis Calley Gray (1790-1856), who served as private secretary to John Quincy Adams and later became a philanthropist, legislator, art collector, and one of the earliest proprietors of the Mount Auburn Cemetery. His vast collection of early engravings and prints made him America’s first great print collector. In 1837 Gray visited Rome, where he met Joseph Gott (1786-1860), a sculptor who specialized in life-like animal and human sculptures; Gray soon commissioned Gott to carve an English Setter in marble. The sculpture was originally intended for placement at Mount Auburn in an unknown location. However, in 1849 Gray gave the sculpture to his friend and fellow art collector William Appleton. Following Gray’s death in December 1856, Appleton had the dog placed on Gray’s grave at Mount Auburn. The setter appears to be in grief, with its head resting on its front leg and eyes open.
Mary Prentiss Saunders Dog
On Larch Avenue in Mount Auburn Cemetery, the smallest of all the funerary psychopomps can be found in the Saunders Family Plot. The dog serves as a guide to little Mary Prentiss Saunders (1843-1849), who died at just 6 years old. Mary was the daughter of William Saunders and Mary Prentiss; she was their first child, born two years after they married. As a wedding gift, William’s father, a housewright, built the couple a stunning Greek Revival house on Massachusetts Avenue. The house was later moved to Prentiss Street and is now known as the Mary Prentiss Inn.
We are happy to announce the addition of 28 images to our CHC Flickr account. These images come from the Lois M. Bowen Collection. Bowen was a Cambridge-based photographer and entrepreneur who owned a camera shop, Cambridge Camera and Marine, in Harvard Square from the 1940s to 1995.
Kodak film cannister owned by Lois M. Bowen, ca 1960s
Ms. Bowen was a freelance photographer for several organizations and publications around Cambridge and Boston, including The Architects’ Collaborative and Architectural Forum Magazine, as well as advertising agencies and admissions publications for colleges and universities.
Cover: “Architectural Forum: The Magazine of Building”, June 1964
Pages from “Architectural Forum: The Magazine of Building” featuring the work of Lois M. Bowen, June 1964
Bowen’s work was primarily focused on architecture, but her photographic subjects spanned the Northeast and included documentation of her own life and community.
View of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, 4 September 1978
Contact sheet: images of Strawberry Banke, October 1966
In addition to the photographic materials there are business papers and documents as well as personal correspondence and ephemera.
Interior view of Cambridge Camera and Marine, ca. 1960s
Interior View: 14 Old Dee Road in Cambridge, ca. 1960s
This post was authored by our Simmons 438 Archives intern, Jacky Martin.
You may have heard of the Clarks before. Emory J. Clark Square sits at Fern Street and Concord Avenue. Emory’s Pharmacy was the first Black-owned and operated pharmacy in Cambridge.
But this collection is about Xonnabel.
Xonnabel Clark was a teacher and counselor for various area schools over the years. She received a Masters of Education from Harvard University. She raised five children. She was a very active member of her church, Grace Vision United Methodist. And I think – because I’ve not met her – that she is curious and passionate about learning and likes piecing puzzles together.
It’s the last two sentences that are important for this collection.
Clark became the unofficial historian for her church back in the 2000s, when the congregation needed to find the official deed for the church building. She traveled to the Cambridge Registry of Deeds and successfully located the document. That adventure sparked an interest in records and the history of her church that led to her working with the CHC to make the church into a historical landmark, and writing a report called The History of Grace Vision United Methodist 1871-2009: 138 Years of Christian Service (yes, we have a copy and yes, I’ve read it).
After spending two weeks with this collection, I understand her interest.
A colored postcard of the church
The Grace Vision United Methodist Church was built in 1887. Its original congregation was an outgrowth of a Sunday School-type program called the Sabbath School, which was run by Baptist, Congregational, and Methodist churches including the Harvard Street Church. The original congregation was called the Cottage Street Methodist Episcopal Church, due to its location on Cottage Street, before it moved to the Magazine Street building and renamed itself Grace Methodist Episcopal Church. Since then it’s gone through four name changes (from Grace M.E. to Grace Methodist to Grace United to finally Grace Vision United). That’s five different names for one enduring congregation.
And by all accounts, the congregation’s focus on community and outreach that started with the Sabbath School didn’t change. The church sponsored Scout Troops, ran arts programs, and remained an active part of the community. From the original Sabbath School to Grace Academy, the Grace Vision UMC strove to always contribute to the local community.
One of the many Boy Scout Troops the church sponsored
The collection itself is an interesting mix of official documents and informal photographs.
An old church newsletter; note the baseball statistics
The largest part of the collection (aside from the History) are the church programs that Clark kept over the years. From Martin Luther King Day celebrations to joint Easter Sunday services with other churches to Anniversary services and banquets, these programs run the gamut of the various events that are a constant part of a church’s life.
One of the multiple programs for Martin Luther King, Jr. celebrations
More interesting – to me at least – are the newsletters and correspondence in the collection. Much of the collection consists of formal minutes from the multiple inter-church organizations that Grace United Methodist was a part of, but the rest includes church newsletters and messages to the congregation. My favorite is the “Cakeless Cake Sale” letter, which is written almost entirely in rhyme.
A Cakeless Cake Sale, a novel new way to do bake sales
The collection is a unique snapshot of the life of a church, taken by someone who clearly cares greatly for this church and its history.
A photograph of Sunday service
View the finding aid for this collection here. If you would like to learn more about this collection, please call us at 617.349.4683 or e-mail our archivist, Emily, at egonzalez@cambridgema.gov to make a research appointment.
If you are in the Boston-Cambridge Metro area, consider attending this “Transcribe-a-thon” on February 14 at Northeastern University, in celebration of Frederick Douglass’s 200th birthday. Archives staff members at the CHC will be participating online, which you can do, too. Click here for more information on participating online.
Details on the Northeastern event below:
Please join us this Valentine’s Day for a transcribe-a-thon in celebration of Frederick Douglass! In partnership with the library’s Open Access programming, the NULab for Texts, Maps and Networks and the Women Writers Project, Northeastern University’s Digital Scholarship Group will be hosting a local event at Northeastern’s Snell Library, as part of a much larger celebration organized by the Colored Conventions Project, the Smithsonian Transcription Center and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Although Douglass was born into bondage, and never knew his birthdate, he chose to celebrate every year on February 14. We will commemorate his birthday by creating Black history together, transcribing at our library while streaming online with the national event. Pizza and snacks will be served!
Participants should bring their own laptops, if possible, but no previous experience is required. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP here: https://northeastern.libcal.com/event/3916854.
