Biweekly Newsletter June 22, 2024

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
(Joni Mitchell, The Circle Game)

Around we go again. Spring is not quite here but there are hints everywhere, snowdrops at Sheep Pasture, crocuses and budding daffodils at Governor Ames, sixty-degree days. The ice on Old Pond and New Pond is melting and this week, all of a sudden, people appeared on the sidewalks.
Spring is when life comes round again. Each new year brings novelty, even though it’s all an approximation of previous years. There will still be cold and blustery days; there might be snow.
But hope has sprung anew and for today that is enough. We go round and round in the circle game of seasons.

Crocus at Governor Ames

Spring has arrived in what we call the town of Easton for 300 years and though many things have changed, many remain the same. Queset brook, unchecked, was here before 1725, as were the giant glacial boulders at Borderland. I’m guessing lady slippers in the woods were also, along with cranberry meadows, and bog iron.

Queset in Spring

So enjoy the earth as it warms. Happy (almost) Spring!

At the Same Time

There’s a skunk dead in the road at Old Pond,
at New Pond dozens of red-winged blackbirds
sweep through slender tree branches
wrapped in circles of green and white.

Across town, a mourning dove
mourns in the shagbark tree
at dusk.

Call me a thief of lilacs, defender of
dandelions. Farmer of days, slicer of soil,
walker of the rhododendron path,
but never a deceiver of time.

Once, wild asparagus, rhubarb,
blackberries, huckleberries, lady slippers,
all grew within a half mile of here,
Right here, where it’s beautiful and sad

at exactly the same time.

Anne Wooster Drury

Biweekly Newsletter March 1, 2025
What Richardson Never Built

Just a quick follow-up to last week’s newsletter about the new Richardson book, Henry Hobson Richardson: Drawings from the Collection of Houghton Library, Harvard University (Monacelli Press / Phaidon), by Jay Wickersham, Chris Milford, and Hope Mayo.

Below is a sketch showing an icehouse designed by H.H. Richardson that F.L. Ames at one time intended to construct on his Langwater property. It would have been at the northern end of the estate off Elm Street. Apparently, Ames, Olmsted, and Richardson all got together, and a sketch was produced. You can see it below.

Note the pond in the forefront and the ramp to move the ice up into a storage area. The wing on the right is where carts would drive up to retrieve the ice. Ames decided not to go ahead with the icehouse which would have been near the gate lodge. Perhaps it would have taken away from the landscape design? No one knows.
The fact that there was a plan for an icehouse at Langwater was not discovered until 1976 when Larry J. Homolka, a Ph.D. student at Harvard University, found a reference in a letter that F.L. Ames sent Olmsted and published the information in his dissertation.
In addition, there was a freight house designed by Richardson to sit south of the RR Station, but it was never built. It would have been a one-story building with an attached cylindrical water tower to service steam engines. A freight house was built about 1890, south of the station but it wasn’t Richardson’s design. Again, this information was published in Homolka’s dissertation.

Sketch of H.H. Richardson freight house that was never built.
By 1900/1903 the freight house was in a different location on Oliver Street near where the Y is now. Whether it was moved or torn down and another rebuilt is not known. Neither freight house was Richardson’s design. This is according to a Sanborn Fire Insurance map issued 1892 and amended 1900.

In the left rear, behind the rail cars is the top of what is believed to be the freight house (off Oliver St). The roofline looks like the one in a photo of first freight house, making it likely it was moved to the Oliver Street location.

Another view of second freight house location. From 1903 document.
Always something new to learn.
Reminder: There will be a presentation at Oakes Ames Hall, 2-4, on April 6. The new book is the first in-depth publication from the Harvard collection of over 4,000 drawings, made by Richardson and his studio. Hope you can attend.

Anne Wooster Drury
With special thanks to Paul Berry for all his research.

Source:
Homolka, Larry J. “Henry Hobson Richardson and the ‘Ames Memorial Buildings’.” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1976.

Special Event: The Architectural Drawings of H. H. Richardson

2/20/2025

Mark your calendars for Sunday, April 6, 2-4 pm and head to Oakes Ames Hall for a special presentation coordinated by Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, the Easton Historical Society, and the Ames family.
Here in Easton, we are very proud of our Richardson buildings. The North Easton collection of five HHR buildings is the largest and most important ensemble of his work anywhere in the US and the world. The buildings are Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, Old Colony Railroad Station, Ames Gate Lodge, Ames Free Library, and the F.L. Ames Gardener’s Cottage.

The book contains 450 full-color reproductions of largely unpublished sketches and renderings by the architect and his design assistants, including Charles McKim and Stanford White. Martin Filler, writing in the New York Review of Books, called this “An instructive, handsomely produced volume. Aided by a wide range of beautifully reproduced renderings, from Richardson’s lightning-bolt conceptual sketches to seductive presentation drawings by his talented assistants, we are led, project by project and step by step, through the prolific master’s output.”

Along with the Richardson buildings in North Easton, the book encompasses more than 50 other projects, including such masterpieces as Boston’s Trinity Church; Sever and Austin Halls at Harvard; the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail in Pittsburgh; and the Marshall Field Store and Glessner House in Chicago. An essay by James F. O’Gorman, the leading scholar of Richardson, surveys his life and career; essays by the authors discuss the organization of Richardson’s studio, his development of a wide client network, and the history of the Harvard archive.

They are one of the many things that make Easton special. So, mark your calendars for Sunday, April 6, 2-4 pm and head to Oakes Ames Hall for a special presentation coordinated by Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, the Easton Historical Society, and the Ames family, introducing a new book that shows in never-before-seen detail how these buildings were designed. Henry Hobson Richardson: Drawings from the Collection of Houghton Library, Harvard University, by Jay Wickersham, Chris Milford, and Hope Mayo, is the first in-depth publication from the Harvard collection of over 4,000 drawings, made by Richardson and his studio.
Authors Jay Wickersham and Chris Milford have been involved in researching and preserving North Easton’s architecture for over fifteen years, including the successful efforts to save and redevelop the Ames Shovel Works. With co-author Hope Mayo, they will be making a presentation at the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall on Sunday, April 6, 2:00 to 4:00. A new glimpse into the architectural genius of H.H. Richardson

Anne Wooster Drury

Mr. Murphy’s store.

There are resilient people in every community and in every time. Hardship brings out the best in some people. James H. Murphy of North Easton was one of these people. James H. Murphy was born in Easton in 1858. He was the son of Irish parents. When he was 43 and she was 39, he married Margaret A. Carroll. In 1905 they adopted a six year old boy. James Murphy died in 1916 and is buried in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery on Canton Street. By trade he was a shopkeeper, running a small store on Mechanic Street.

His childhood was likely typical, but when he was about 7 years old, he went blind. According to an article in the Boston Daily Globe (Feb. 13, 1910) Mr. Murphy had a complete map of North Easton ingrained on his mind. So thorough was his memory that he could give detailed street directions to sighted people. He could describe architectural styles, the color of houses, names of streets etc. All remembered from before his blindness. He appeared to have an eidetic or ‘photographic’ memory and if he’d seen something or heard something he remembered it. This was equally true of music. James Murphy sang with the choir in the Immaculate Conception Church where he was a tenor soloist. Once he heard a song a couple of times, he remembered both the music and the words.

Headline from Globe article.

Two women in front of the store.

When Mr. Murphy and his wife were in their forties they adopted a six year old boy from Boston who had been placed for adoption after the death of his own mother. The boy and the Murphy's were Catholic. "As was the practice with Catholic adoptions, Daddy [Joe] was brought to various parishes on Sundays, stood in the back of the church with the nuns and was looked over by prospective adopters. He was not selected for several Sundays. Finally one hot summer Sunday in 1905, he was chosen by James and Margaret Murphy at the Immaculate Conception Church in North Easton.” (Joe Connolly, Joe Murphy's son, writing in Reminiscences.) Young Joe Murphy was smart, athletic, and a son the Murphy's could be proud of. He went on to marry Julia Lyons of Lincoln Street and established a family home on Sheridan Street. Upon his marriage Joe Murphy took back his birth father's last name, Connolly. His children were Mary, Claire, Rose, Joan, and Joe Connolly. All were bright, successful adults.

Thanks to James and Margaret, an abandoned boy was able to flourish. In fact a room at the Easton Town Offices is named in honor of Joe's daughter Mary P. Connolly, who served the town for decades. The Globe article describes Murphy as “gentle, sociable and entertaining.” He was also kind and giving. It seems Mr. Murphy was able to carve out a full life for himself even with a serious disability.

Anne Wooster Drury

Sources:
Globe article
Ancestry.com
Reminiscences, 2010

Bi-Weekly Newsletter February 1, 2025

2/1/2025

Talented Sisters- & Another Shout-out to Winthrop Ames

They were incredibly talented. They were beautiful. They would go on to star on Broadway and become members of the American Opera Company. But these two Easton residents were told to “go home to New England, and get married, and sing for their husbands” by Broadway composer and critic Deems Taylor. Luckily for the girls Winthrop Ames, director, producer and playwright, of North Easton was willing to promote them.

The sisters

Bettina (b. c.1900) and Natalie Hall (b.1904) lived on Union Street in Easton and began singing as young girls. Their mother, Mrs. Fred Hall, was a professional vocalist herself and from an early age provided her daughters with voice lessons, and as they grew older, sent them to train with Mrs. Hall McAllister in Boston. There were four blond Hall girls who often sang together locally at church socials and community events. As the two older sisters married and went in other directions, the two youngest, Bettina and Natalie, would go on to have successful singing careers. It was at Unity Church that Mrs. Louis Frothingham heard the girls sing and was very impressed with their beautiful voices. Hoping to get advice and feedback for the girls, she had them perform for her cousin Winthrop. Their careers took off. Bettina was immediately offered a role in the chorus for his Gilbert and Sullivan productions. A month after Bettina went to New York, another position in the chorus opened up and Natalie joined her sister. Their mother was initially hesitant to allow her girls to venture as far away as New York; it was Winthrop's character that convinced her it would be all right. They worked hard in the chorus and went on to bigger roles. Their mother made it a habit to always attend the first night of a new performance.

Bettina Hall

Natalie Hall

"I can't remember a time when I didn't sing," she [Bettina] said. "When I was three years old it was the custom for me and my older sisters to sing together." Bettina believed her mother had secretly wished to sing on the stage herself, but settled for church choirs. "And Natalie and I knew from the very first that someday we would sing. We didn't know how or in what, but it was taken for granted." (Daily Boston Globe, Oct. 9, 1932)
There are too many performances to mention, but Bettina (and Natalie) were in “Three Little Girls”. Bettina went on to perform in “Meet My Sister” and “The Cat and the Fiddle”; in addition she was a good business woman, opening a dress shop in New York and an electrical equipment shop on Staten Island. She toured with the U.S.O.

Bettina, 1932

Natalie played Marguerite in “Faust” and the leads in “Carmen” and “Yolanda in Cyprus”. She toured New York, Boston, Colorado, and London.
Not surprisingly, both girls were able to have successful careers AND marry. Bettina married Raymond Rubicam of New York, chairman of the board of Young Rubicam, Inc. Natalie’s husband was a lawyer at Colgate University. They had one daughter. Both sisters were blond and beautiful as the photos included illustrate.

Anne Wooster Drury

[email protected]

Sources:
ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Boston Globe (1872-1981)
New York Times (3/11/1994) Natalie Hall, 89, Dies, A Star of 20's Musicals

Bi-Weekly Newsletter January 18, 2025

1/18/2025

Auction Sale
North Easton was truly a company town. Many homes were built by the Ames family to house workers in the shovel shops. By 1930 this concept was becoming obsolete. To live in one place and work in another had become a more common practice and worker housing was no longer of the same importance. More people were eager to own their own homes. It was expedient that the company offload some of its properties. So, on Thursday June 19, 1930, at 11:00 am in North Easton, an auction was held on order of The Ames Shovel and Tool Company. For auction were 34 dwellings one- and two-family dwellings, and according to the pamphlet, all set in “one of the most attractive villages in Eastern Massachusetts”. In total 18 cottages, 16 double dwellings, 3 four-family dwellings, 2 store properties and 2 building lots were for auction. Terms were the property went to the highest bidder.

The homes were all in North Easton Village, on Lincoln Street, Day Street, Pond Street, Mechanic Street, Canton Street, Picker Lane, Andrews Street, Barrows Street, and North Main.

Above, a map of homes for auction on Mechanic Street.

These two duplexes, still standing on Day Street today, were included in the auction.

Looking into the area known as Ramcat from Main Street, to the right of Shovel Shop buildings. No one seems to know where the name Ramcat came from.
Ramcat was an area across the street from the Old Colony Railroad Station, the current home of the Easton Historical Society & Museum. Today it is a grassy area great for dog walking but at one time it was home to Ames employee boarding houses. The last of these were torn down on the order of Mary Ames Frothingham in 1930. Left at that time were four wooden structures (some built to house 2 or more families) and two small stone buildings. I believe these were listed in the auction circular, but perhaps didn't sell? I’m not sure.

This early photo of the Ramcat area showing a number of the employee boarding houses, was taken sometime prior to the Railroad Station being built in 1882.
The Ames family holdings were extensive, and the family certainly put its stamp on North Easton, not just in terms of the beautiful Richardson buildings and mansions but also in terms of family homes. Busy families still inhabit these homes today.

Anne Wooster Drury

[email protected]

Bi-Weekly Newsletter January 4, 2025

1/4/2025

Winthrop Ames

Winthrop Ames (1870-1937)

After graduating from Harvard in 1895, Winthrop Ames went into the publishing business, as a career in the theater was strongly objected to by his family. His brother Hobart, who was five years older, would become president of the Shovel Works in Easton and was an outdoorsman who lived part time at his plantation in Grand Junction,Tennessee. Winthrop was considerably different, and his interests lay in the arts to which he was naturally drawn. By 1904 he was following his passion, leasing the Castle Square Theater in Boston where he focused on producing Shakespeare’s plays.
After turning his attention to NYC, Ames worked as managing director of the New Theater in NYC and later, in 1912, opened the Little Theater. In 1913, he opened the Booth Theatre on West 45th St. with the Shuberts and worked as manager of both the Little Theater and the Booth Theater into the 1930's. During WWI he organized the Over There Theater League which sent actors overseas to entertain the troops. According to David Ames, Winthrop was a perfectionist and took a great interest in mentoring young people in the theater world. While he subsidized many, he expected nothing in return. “His satisfaction stemmed from them making good.” (David Ames)
Productions in the two theatres included The Philanderer (1913), by George Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy’s Old English (1924), George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly’s Beggar on Horseback (1924), an extremely successful series of Gilbert and Sullivan revivals at the Booth (1926–29), and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1913). This last was written by Ames under a pseudonym and was the first play specifically for children.
Over the years Winthrop brought many famous guests to his home at Queset House in North Easton. These included George Arliss, Peggy Wood, Guthrie McClintic and author John Marquand.

George Arliss,
British actor

Peggy Wood,
American actress

Guthrie McClintock, director, producer, performer and writer

In 1981 Ames was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. He was married to Lucy Fuller Cabot. They had two children.

Anne Wooster Drury

[email protected]

Sources:
History of Easton, Vol. II
The New York Public Library archives, Winthrop Ames papers
Encyclopædia Britannica - American theatrical movement

Bi-Weekly Newsletter December 21, 2024

12/21/2024

CAPTAIN FISHER
“He was a man of considerable intelligence and would rather starve than beg. He made the most of everything.”
Hermit, a recluse, a person living in seclusion. Captain Edward Fisher of Easton lived the last part of his life as a hermit according to an article published in the Boston Daily Globe June 29, 1886.
I picture him, as described in the Globe article, huddled in the cold on his bed of old rags and coats infested with mice, reading the magazines and papers he subscribed to, or writing one of the several poetry manuscripts he left behind. While his visible space was filled with ashes, garbage, and small animals such as squirrels simmering in a pot over the fire, his inner life appeared to be rich. Fisher kept to his Jewish faith and “was respected by all who knew him, and always did his duty in his way of life with a willing hand, a quiet tongue and a gentle heart.”

Headlines, Globe article.

Central Cemetery on a wet December day.

Captain Fisher's Headstone

Captain Fisher was not always isolated. He lived the first 50 years of his life in Mattapan where he commanded a military company and worked in the paper mills. Tragically, all the fingers and part of the thumb on his right hand were cut off in an accident there, crippling him. Married twice, his second wife died in Easton about 1878 leaving him a solitary figure. He chose to remain alone though he had several children, along with friends and relatives who would have taken him in. He lived poorly, keeping a few hens, on one occasion selling grease he fried from a dead hog to the soap man. In his old age he was not bothered by the norms of housekeeping and lived in squalor with hatchets, guns, skins of woodchucks and skunks, papers, root vegetables, dirty dishes, and broken plates scattered about. It's interesting, the lives people live by conscious choice or by default. After his second wife died, Fisher lived as an “eccentric old hermit” until he passed at the age of 82. Fisher lived in his dilapidated house on Center Street near the graveyard. In the end he was found in his home, very ill, by a neighbor and was taken to live with a nephew in Haverhill where he survived another ten days. He was buried in the Central Cemetery near his old home. I hope he found some comfort in his memories and reading in those years, which though his choice, must have been lonely and uncomfortable, as "he made the most of" even this.

Link to Boston Globe Article - June 29, 1886

Anne Wooster Drury

[email protected]

Biweekly Newsletter December 7, 2024

12/7/2024

Law and Order in Easton

A little bit about early law & order in Easton. Before Easton had a jail, it had stocks. According to Chaffin the town stocks were several times repaired and/or replaced, leading one to surmise they were well-used. Other early punishments included fines and corporal punishment, “10 [or 20] stripes upon the naked back, well laid on.” Imprisonment for debt was also widely implemented in the 18th century. Vagabondism was considered a crime. Vagabonds’ names were made public, and they were unable to purchase goods or liquor. Such was the first law & order in Easton. Organized policing took some time to develop, and shaming was a popular tool.

Example of Colonial era stock

By 1854 the selectmen of Easton had appointed Ward L. Foster to be a police officer, with some limitations in his duties. After the Civil War, in 1867, the town voted to build a police lockup on Pond Street (probably the first) in North Easton, though no person was named as “keeper” until 1875. It’s thought the building was primarily used to contain people who were drunk and disruptive. Noise coming from the lockup on a Sunday morning was reported by members attending mass at the first Catholic Chapel- right next door on Pond Street!
After 1885 two constables were hired and paid, however they were officially engaged to patrol the North Easton Village district only. If needed in other parts of town, they would try to help. No wonder thieves like George White and his gang (earlier, about 1800) operated in the Poquanticut neighborhood- so remote and with no help in sight. A second lockup was built in 1886 and located in South Easton, on Almshouse property. It was not unusual for vagrants and tramps to stop at the Almshouse, which was located on Center School property. It must have been an area in need of policing. That building still stands today. It is located on private property on School Street.

Lockup on School Street.

By 1898 a new lockup on Mechanic Street replaced the Pond Street lockup. It was brick with a basement and originally had only one cell, although more cells were added later. Initially there were no toilet facilities. Not until as late as 1928 did the Town of Easton officially employ a policeman and not until 1930 was a police car purchased. The Mechanic Street Station was repaired and continued to function until the current station was dedicated in 1968. It still stands- as a private home. I remember going inside once as a child for some kind of license- Fishing? Bicycle? I'm not sure.

6 Mechanic Street, North Easton. Lockup, 1898-1968

It’s interesting how much the world has changed. The first generations in Easton basically did their own policing with customs brought over from Europe and there was little official organization, although the church of course was a civilizing force and had a great deal to say about members’ lives. Settlers in the New World had to be self-sufficient and willing to take many risks in order to take advantage of the resources and opportunities available here. I think I might have stayed in the Old World!

Early Police Force

Dedication of Lothrop Street Station, 1968.

Lothrop Street Station Today.

Anne Wooster Drury
[email protected]

Bi-Weekly Newsletter November 23, 2024

11/23/2024

THE BOATHOUSE

When I was young children had more freedom. I mean physically, in terms of where we could be, unsupervised. We rode our bicycles to lots of places and sometimes parents didn’t know exactly where we were. They were very good parents- times were just different. I remember one time being on the edge of Langwater Pond and exploring the boathouse which even then was not in the finest shape. It was dark and damp and creepy as I recall it. Today the Langwater boathouse is completely gone.
I found an article in a “Homebuilder’s Supplement” from 1910. The magazine was called COUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA and the author was George E. Walsh. The motorboat was increasing in popularity at the time so there was a need for boathouses to protect the engines from rain. The wealthier classes, especially, wanted a structure that was also attractive and fit in with the surroundings. The piece included a caption and a photo, “An attractive boathouse that fits unobtrusively into its environment. The property of Mr. F. L. Ames, North Easton, Mass.”

Boathouse. Property of F. L. Ames

Something I don’t personally remember about Langwater is what was called the Ramble Walk. It followed the eastern shore of the pond past the house and continued along the pond’s edge toward Elm Street. Beautiful flowers, including narcissus, bloomed in profusion there and the “Ramble” was open for all to enjoy. I’m not sure when it disappeared. I know in the late seventies beautiful azaleas continued to bloom along the pond edge not far from the old boathouse.

Langwater boathouse

I have kayaked and skated on Langwater- we called it Fred’s Pond, and the pond, along with our personal memories of it, are to be treasured.

POST CARDS OF BOATHOUSE

Anne Wooster Drury

[email protected]

<<Previous

SPRING

Crocus at Governor Ames

Queset in Spring

What Richardson Never Built

In the left rear, behind the rail cars is the top of what is believed to be the freight house (off Oliver St). The roofline looks like the one in a photo of first freight house, making it likely it was moved to the Oliver Street location.

Special Event: The Architectural Drawings of H. H. Richardson

James H. Murphy

Mr. Murphy’s store.

Headline from Globe article.

Two women in front of the store.

Bi-Weekly Newsletter February 1, 2025

Bi-Weekly Newsletter January 18, 2025

Bi-Weekly Newsletter January 4, 2025

Bi-Weekly Newsletter December 21, 2024

Biweekly Newsletter December 7, 2024

Bi-Weekly Newsletter November 23, 2024

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Crocus at Governor Ames

Queset in Spring

In the left rear, behind the rail cars is the top of what is believed to be the freight house (off Oliver St). The roofline looks like the one in a photo of first freight house, making it likely it was moved to the Oliver Street location.

Mr. Murphy’s store.

Headline from Globe article.

​Two women in front of the store.

​

Author

Archives

Categories

Two women in front of the store.