Circling Boston's Geographical Center

From Dave Brigham:

The title of this post is fairly accurate. It was the best way for me to describe the parts of Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill and Roxbury that I explored recently while checking out a bunch of former brewery sites (look for that post in the near future). According to the Internet, the true geographical center of Boston is located at the corner of Walnut and Westminster avenues in Roxbury, within a half-mile of many of the sites I checked out.

My forays into this area of the Hub are part of my recent commitment to checking out as much of Boston as I can. In years past, I focused on those parts of the city that I could reach on the subway while out with my son. Unfortunately, that left out huges swaths of the city. Of late I have ventured into Jamaica Plain, not once but twice (the second trip was the one that inspired my trek through the parts of the city I am profiling in this post). I also explored Allston (Parts Uno, Dos, Tres and Quatro) and Newmarket Square.

OK, let's get to it.

At the end of my second Jamaica Plain jaunt, I did a little reconnaissance for the brewery post and then found myself looking at the building in the photo above. "That's it," I said, "I need to get back here and check out more of this neighborhood." So what is that building?

The Coleman-Webb Building at 1542-44 Columbus Avenue rose in 1906 as a stable and warehouse for John C. Coleman & Sons, a contracting business, according to MACRIS. After Coleman's death in 1923, the property changed hands a few times until Boston Brass Co. purchased the building in 1925. The company leased the property to F.W. Webb "as a branch store and warehouse for the conduct of its business as wholesale and manufacturing plumber," per MACRIS.

F.W. Webb, a name familiar to those who see and hear their ads during Red Sox games, traces its roots to the 1866 founding of a company by John Van Ness Stults, according to the company's web site. Stults partnered with Henry Mansur in 1873 to form the Stults & Mansur Company. "Henry McShane, founder of Henry McShane Manufacturing in Baltimore, Maryland, whose metal casting company was then - and still is today - famous for its church bells, purchased Stults & Mansur in 1888," according to the web site. "Henry hired his brother-in-law, Frank W. Webb, to run the new Boston branch. Frank had previously worked for his father's plumbing business, H.W. Webb & Sons, in Baltimore....In 1899, Frank Webb purchased the Boston branch from the McShane brothers and the following year renamed it, F.W. Webb Manufacturing Company. It was the largest plumbing supply house north of New York, which over time evolved from a manufacturer to a pure distributor."

F.W. Webb occupied the building until at least 1972, per MACRIS. In 2002, community development firm Urban Edge assumed ownership, and continues to occupy the property, which it renovated. In addition, Urban Edge developed a new, mixed-use building adjacent to the historic structure. "The project...demonstrat[es] the value of historic preservation in new community development and neighborhood revitalization," according to this Historic Boston article.

Heading south on Columbus Avenue, I cut down Amory Street on the western side of the thoroughfare. I'd done some online scouting of this street, and while the former Rockland Brewery complex was my main interest on this side street (to be featured in a future post), I found a few other places and things of note.

This is a first for me: in all my travels in and around Boston, I've never seen a classic, British double-decker bus that's like something out of a Harry Potter movie or a goofy British TV show starring seven adorable, fun-loving scamps.

This 1960 Bristol Lodekka Model FLF bus was once quite prominent in Worcester, Mass. It was parked outside the oddly named Maxwell Silverman's Toolhouse Restaurant for many years, according to this Mass Live article. "In its heyday, Maxwell Silverman's Toolhouse Restaurant's red London-style double-decker bus was a beloved fixture in the city, transporting diners in quirky style to the theater and other nightspots around town," according to this Worcester Telegram & Gazette article.

In early 2019, the bus went up for sale on Craiglist. It now sits in a parking lot owned by Mordechai Levin, a notorious and prominent local developer. The property is a former junkyard that Levin turned into a parking lot more than a decade ago. Nobody is using it right now, but with relatively new development immediately to the south, and a new project rising just to the north, it probably won't be long before either a) the lot gets more use or b) gets redeveloped into apartments or office/lab space.

Down Amory Avenue, which connects Amory Street to the commuter train/Orange Line tracks, I spied the lovely painting below.

I don't know who painted it, but I'm glad they did.

At the Boston Housing Authority's Amory Street Apartments, I spied another fantastic mural.

I haven't figured out who painted this one, either.

Just steps away, on the corner of Amory and Bragdon streets is Word of Life Tabernacle.

The building dates to 1930, according to the Boston assessor's department. I love the way the congregation transformed a relatively unappealing building into a wonderful house of worship.

A little further southwest on Amory Street, I found a couple of great, handmade signs.

Located in front of a small complex where the tenants include Vinndio Salon, Agricultural Hall and the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, the signs featuring a ship and an airplane may have been crafted by folks at The Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, which is also located here.

This is one of my favorite parts of wandering and taking photos: learning about places like this by total happenstance, because I admire their handiwork. "The Eliot School is one of a small group of early colonial-era schools that survive today," according to its web site. "In 1676, a group of local residents donated corn and land to support a school in Jamaica Plain. That year marked the end of King Philip’s War. In 1689, Rev. John Eliot, known as Minister to the Indians, endowed the school with an additional 75 acres, with the provision that it educate Native Americans and Africans as well as colonial children. For the next two centuries, it was a grammar school, adapting to the times."

I've written about Rev. Eliot, who formed more than a dozen groups of so-called Praying Indians in eastern Massachusetts. You can read more about him, and a monument to his work, in this December 2021 post.

Back to the school's web site: "Beginning in the late 19th century, the Eliot School turned increasingly to the arts. In 1874, it left the public school system and by the late 1880s had added sewing and carpentry classes. Wood carving flourished. Plumbing, basketry and millinery also had their day. The school offered manual training for schoolteachers, instruction for adults, and classes for children both after school and during school time."

Today, the school continues to offer classes for children and adults.

Back on Columbus Avenue, I found myself wishing that the sign in the photo below was in better shape.

I'm guessing that this sign used to feature the White Rock Beverages "White Rock Girl" at the top. I'm not sure whether this facility, which I assume was a bottling plant, is still active.

Adjacent to the White Rock building, Kaplan Construction is building a 40,000-square foot early childhood center and headquarters for Horizons for Homeless Children, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of homeless children. I don't know whether the White Rock building is part of the project.

Next to the White Rock plant on the northern side is the low-slung green building below, which is probably connected.

Something about this building appeals to me. Is it the fancy details above the door? The narrow, barred windows next to the door? The puke-green color? No - it's all of that!

Anyway....

I checked out Terrace Street, which runs south from Tremont Street at the Roxbury Crossing T stop, to New Heath Street. I will write about former brewery properties on this street in a future post, but here I want to mention a great sign that I almost didn't see.

Tucked behind D&M Auto Body and one of the buildings used by Diablo Glass School, this vivid work does a nice job of brightening the neighborhood.

Southwest of Robin Auto Body, at the small rotary where Heath, Parker and Wensley streets meet, I spied another nice work.

Unfortunately, Ugi's Pizza is permanently closed.

The final spot on this tour has a nice bit of history to it, although it looks a little rough.

This is the headquarters of Lenox-Martell, a "one-stop shop for your craft soda, custom beer system, beer line cleaning, gas, bar and restaurant equipment needs," per its web site. "Lenox-Martell was founded in 1950 as Royal Syrup Company. At that time, we were manufacturers of syrup in gallons for institutional use and in smaller packages for home uses; i.e., Coffeetime Syrup (of which we were the original producers). Since that time we have grown in many directions through diversification and several acquisitions."

(Ghost sign for Lenox Syrup Co.)

I like that while out searching for remnants of Boston's once-thriving beer brewing world, I stumbled across two places -- White Rock and Lenox-Martell -- that make (or perhaps made, in White Rock's case) carbonated beverages of a sweeter sort.