Busting Ghosts in Boston's Newmarket Square

From That Same Old Guy:

For many years, the only parts of Boston I explored were the ones I could reach on the subway when my son and I explored the city. The pandemic shutdown put a stop to those trips for the most part. Now he's old enough to venture through Boston on his own, so I've taken to driving to various Boston neighborhoods -- Allston, Brighton, Jamaica Plain -- to explore.

When trying to find someplace new recently, I recalled a Facebook post by a friend about a gig his band was playing. I didn't go to the show, but I'd looked the location up on Google Street View and saw that there were ghost signs in the area. That's what led me to the parking lot of Flying Embers Social Club & Brewery on Hampden Street in the Newmarket Square neighborhood.

Bounded approximately by commuter train tracks to the east, Melnea Cass Boulevard to the north, Langdon Street to the south and Forest Street to the west, Newmarket Square is home to many of the city's food processing and meatpacking companies, as well as storage warehouses, small industrial sites, a recycling plant and, as everywhere else in the city, new residential and commercial developments. You may also have heard of the square's most newsworthy intersection, Mass and Cass, where the city's homeless and drug addiction crises coalesced in recent years. I saw a few folks I gave a wide berth to while traversing this area, one who was nodding off while leaning against a brick wall, and another who appeared to be living out of her car. So incredibly sad.

For the purpose of this post, I wanted to find as many ghost signs as I could. While these faded advertisements on the sides of buildings have long been among the many things I keep my eyes peeled for, of late I have become a little obsessed. Newmarket Square was just the place to feed that passion.

I want to start with one that got away.

Ahead of my visit, I'd poked around on Google Maps and saw this building. As you can see, the building was in rough shape, obviously abandoned for quite a few years. But I spied that sign at the top corner and got excited. There was an old sign on the front that looked like it was painted on sheet metal. Perfect for my mission!

But as I pulled onto Hampden Street from Melnea Cass Boulevard, my heart sank. This building and a few low-slung ones just south of it had been torn down. This has happened to me before, which is why I place such a high value on shooting ghost signs and old buildings. Especially in Boston, you never know when something's gonna be torn down.

I believe at least one of the buildings on this site was home to Bay State Auto Spring Manufacturing, from 1918 until 2008. Here's a cool old neon sign from that company that was saved by the good folks at Neon Williams.

As for the building I'd hoped to shoot, it may have been part of a larger complex that at one point was home to the Columbia Ice Cream Horn Company. I found some documents online listing that company's address as 65-67 Hampden Street, which puts it right here. An ice cream horn is the same thing as a cone. I haven't found anything about when the Columbia company was founded or when it moved, merged or went out of business.

As for what will rise on this former industrial site: Junction58, a project that is still on the drawing board, but which will likely comprise lab, office, academic and other medical-related uses. The site is within walking distance of Boston Medical Center.

Steps away from the One That Got Away, on Farnham Street, I spied an ice cream-related ghost sign.

I can make out "MANUFACTURER ICE CREAM CONES." I don't know if this building was part of the Columbia business. Currently home to a residential drug treatment facility operated by Hope House, this building appears to have been used to manufacture ice cream cones from 1914 to 1921, according to MACRIS. "By 1921, the building was occupied by the Blue Bird Bottling Company, founded by brothers Max, David, and Louis Garber for the production of soft drinks," MACRIS indicates. Other businesses were located here over the ensuing decades.

Farnham Street used to continue southeast across Kemble Street to Gerard Street and on to Magazine Street. The acreage between Kemble and Gerard is now taken up by a trash-to-energy facility operated by ReEnergy Roxbury. At the corner of Gerard and the former Farnham streets is a building with an interesting past.

Built in 1903, 82 Gerard Street is currently home to a facility for The Portland Group, a plumbing/heating/HVAC company founded in 1930. According to MACRIS, the building's common name is the Minot Folding Box Company, while it is known historically as the Charles Duncan and Son Building, as well as the National Pickling Works.

Charles Duncan and Son was the original tenant, and was in business perhaps through the 1920s, so that means that the ghost sign on the building is likely more than 100 years old. So cool!

"By 1934, the property was owned by Abraham Wishnick, President of National Pickling Works, and the company operated out of the building until at least the early 1950s...." according to MACRIS. "The National Pickling Works occupied the first story of the building and yard, with a paper box factory on the two upper stories of the building....The National Pickling Works was established in 1926 by Wishnick and remained in business until at least the 1950s....In the 1950s the Minot Folding Box Company occupied the second and third stories of the building. By the mid-1960s, the building was owned by BarJam Realty Trust and used by The Portland Pipe & Supply (now known to as Portland Group) as a storage and warehouse facility for plumbing supplies."

On Langdon Street, between Clifford Playground (where in 2005 I tried out for an over-40 baseball league) and Bully Boy Distillers (whiskey, rum, gin, vodka), I spied a great named-building ghost sign.

OK, so I knew from Google Street View research that this place was here. Sue me. Anyway, the South Side Dye House was erected in 1927 as a dry-cleaning operation. "The building consisted of a brick tailor shop, a naptha house, and a garage and laundry room," per MACRIS. "Naptha is a petroleum-based dry-cleaning solvent. The building along Norfolk Avenue was the office building, and sorting, marking, and ironing building. The naptha house was to the southwest, and a one-story dyeing house was attached to the southwest elevation of the naptha house....The South Side Dye House remained in business until 1982....In the 1960s, Libero Gaviani...started the Lani-Sheen Uniform Service, which was at 173B Norfolk Avenue....In 1985, the South Side Dye House building was converted for use as contractor’s offices, a mill workshop, and storage."

The area where I walked is dominated by gigantic brick warehouses. The final photos are from two of these buildings, which feature multiple ghost signs, because I guess when you have a huge building, you feel obligated to paint huge advertisements for your business on the sides.

As I mentioned, the reason I ended up exploring this area is because a friend's band played at Flying Embers on the corner of George and Hampden streets. I parked right across from the social club and was instantly thrilled.

I make out the word "ALLIED" and perhaps the numeral "1," but nothing more. Given this building's history as a warehouse and storage facility, it's possible this is a former home of Allied Van Lines. Located adjacent to the Flying Embers parking lot, on the south side, this building has a cool history, as well. You're not surprised at all, are you?

I figured this brick behemoth started life as the home of New England Storage Warehouse Company, but I was wrong. Offering fire-proof storage, that company moved in here in 1906, per MACRIS. Prior to that, however, this building and others in the area were home to the New England Piano Company. Founded in 1871 as the New England Organ Company, this manufacturer was one of many such businesses in Boston's South End and nearby neighborhoods during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the middle of the 19th century, Chickering & Company, whose massive factory was located at 791 Tremont Street, was the largest piano manufacturer in the world.

New England Storage Warehouse was in business here until 1990. The complex is now occupied by data and records storage giant Iron Mountain.

I like that the old iron sign frame is still hanging off the building. I assume it used to hold a "New England Storage Warehouse" sign.

As for Flying Embers, it occupies part of a building that is known historically as the Stimler Machine Shop and Hall Treadle Works, and commonly as the Boston Piano Company and Howard Storage Warehouse Company. Built in 1860, this Romanesque Revival/Greek Revival building is one of the oldest remaining factories in the Lower Roxbury area, according to MACRIS. Otis Stimler used the building to manufacture machinery and power looms until 1871. At that time, William Smith Hall began making sewing machine treadle works in the building, per MACRIS.

In 1885, the Boston Piano Company acquired the building, but only lasted there for three years. In 1897, Henry A. Turner & Co. occupied the building and used it to manufacture cabinets and other woodworks. In 1908, it was converted to a furniture warehouse for Howard Storage Warehouse Company and Berry & Tibbetts Company, according to MACRIS. The building had other uses in the ensuing decades. The other tenant these days is Feldman Geospatial, which conducts what it calls smart surveying. I like that Feldman has painted a future ghost sign on the building.

(Looking from the Feldman/Flying Embers parking lot at a nice mural, as well as our next building.)

Lastly, let's discuss the Howard Furniture Storage Warehouse Company Building, which sits between Hampden and Howard streets, and Norfolk Avenue, and which boasts numerous ghost signs.

Built in 1924, the storage warehouse rose on the site of the former Salvation Army Industrial Home, per MACRIS. The aforementioned Berry & Tibbetts (affiliated with Howard Storage) owned the building until the middle of the 20th century. The property changed hands many times subsequent to Iron Mountain taking it over in 1990.

At some point during the last 100 years, E.A. Spry & Company occupied this site. That company, now known as Spry Moving & Storage, is still in business in Woburn, a town north of Boston.

The final shot is perhaps my favorite from this outing.

I was walking on the other side of Howard Street, but saw a small car ahead of me and a few people getting out of it. As my teenage daughter would say, "They looked sus," so I crossed to the other side, turned around and snapped this sign.

If you like these photos, and ghost signs in general, check out my SmugMug gallery featuring a few dozen of my favorite shots of these outdoor advertising fossils. All of the photos, as well as those in other galleries, are available to purchase in a variety of sizes and in various media (wall art, greeting cards, magnets, etc.).