Blog Archives

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The book contains 450 full-color reproductions of largely unpublished sketches and renderings by the architect and his design assistants, including Charles McKim and Stanford White.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

James H. Murphy

2/13/2025

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

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

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Two women in front of the store.