I Knew Nothing About Stoughton, So I Went There

From Dave Brigham:

Stoughton, Mass., located about 20 miles south of Boston, has a mid-sized downtown with some great old buildings. So one recent day, I went there.

The first thing that caught my eye was the sign for a Portuguese social club.

Clube Luis de Camoes is named for Portugal's greatest poet, per Wikipedia. "His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Milton, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante," Wikipedia indicates. "He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work "Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads)."

Gotta love an organization dedicated to a poet.

Along Washington Street there are several single-story retail buildings. One that I liked is the Classical Revival Lehan Block, which was built in 1920.

(Zoom in to see the name carved in stone.)

Across the street, on the corner of Washington and Freeman streets, is one place that I found in my pre-visit research.

Currently home to a salon and other small businesses, this Queen Anne-style building dates to 1892 and was built for the local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), per MACRIS. The town's IOOF was organized in 1845; this building was its fifth meeting place. In 2005, the Stoughton lodge merged with the Braintree one.

Incorporated in 1726, Stoughton was for many decades a farming town. In the 19th century, the shoe-making industry began to take hold, leading to the development of many of the great old builings I saw on my trek. Anchoring the southern end of the main downtown area is the Stoughton Trust Company building at 810 Washington Street.

"Incorporated by 18 business and professional men the Stoughton Trust Company opened for business on July 15, 1911," according to MACRIS. "The bank grew and prospered and in 1916 larger accomodations were necessary. The board voted to build and the new structure opened on February 10, 1917 with deposits of more than $1,000,000. In 1934 the bank merged with 5 other banks to form the Norfolk County Trust Co. In 1935 deposits were in excess of $14,000,000. The bank was of sufficient size to serve the largest industries while also assisting the small businessman and individual."

The building is currently home to some non-banking businesses.

A little further south along Washington Street is a former VFW hall.

Built in the early 1960s, this function hall seems to have closed fairly recently. As you can see, the sign indicates that it will become home to Sully Adult Day Health and Lo's Lounge. Or perhaps those businesses are already in place by now.

Directly across the street is Banh Mi Boba & Me, a Vietnamese restaurant located in an adorable little building.

Prior establishments located here include Comfort Grill and Ronnie's Fine Food & Drink. The building dates to 1930. I'd love to know its original purpose. I'm guessing it was a store of some sort.

Besides the old Odd Fellows hall, I was aware of the State Theatre (sometimes listed as "Theater") before I visited Stoughton.

Opened in December 1927, the theater was designed by the firm of Funk and Wilcox, which was also behind theaters in Beverly, Leominster and the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, among others. For many years the State hosted vaudeville acts and silent movies. "By 1940, the theater was renamed the Interstate State Theatre, and had been converted into a talking motion picture house," according to the After the Final Curtain blog. "The nearby Stoughton High School held class plays and graduations at the State. The theater was modernized in 1970 — the box seats and some of the atmospheric ornamentation in the auditorium were removed and covered with red drapes, and modern seats were installed on the orchestra level. The theater then became the Stoughton Cinema."

In subsequent years the theater was known as the Stoughton Cinema Pub and the South Shore Performing Arts Center, featuring second-run movies and local theater productions. It closed in early December 2007, just a few weeks shy of its 80th birthday.

Shortly thereafter, local citizens founded the Friends of the State Theatre, a non-profit organization dedicated to bring the "majestic" theater back to life. The group intends "to restore and reopen the theater as a performing arts center," per the After the Final Curtain article. "To that end, they have signed a 20-year lease and were awarded non-profit status in February 2013. They have received grants from the town of Stoughton and the state of Massachusetts, and around $700,000 in donations from private donors and businesses. The Friends aim to raise between $2.5 and $3 million to restore the theater."

As of early 2024, the group indicated on its Facebook page that "we are in need of someone that can help us with raising the funds needed to make the purchase and then rehab. We are in discussion with such a person, but if we can find others would make the lift a little easier."

Here's hoping that the Friends raise the money soon and put this theater back to good use.

(The theater's rear exit.)

(Avocados Mexican Restaurant is located in the space next to the theater's former box office.)

The final building that I knew about before exploring is the stunning Stoughton Railroad Station.

Opened in 1888 on Wyman Street, this Romanesque Revival beauty was designed by, ahem, Charles Brigham, who is probably, like, my 17th cousin 58 times removed. For more on this architect, see February 20, 2021, "Making Things Right in Watertown Square, Part II," in which I feature a church and a bank that he designed.

The station was built from granite quarried in Stoughton, according to MACRIS. The depot is believed to be the only stone station with a tower still standing in the state. "Train and particularly freight service made transportation available to the expanding boot industry opening a national and international market that flourished until the Civil War," according to MACRIS. "Other industries using the railroad included the rubber factories, shoe manufacturers and cotton and elastic webbing businesses."

Before I get to a former rubber factory, I want to feature a sign hung outside Dykeman Electrical.

This sign for Westinghouse Electrical Apparatus, is something I've never seen before. I love how the company's logo looks like electrical circuits and is so simple and yet immediately identifiable. Westinghouse was founded in 1886 in Pittsburgh and manufactured consumer electronics, home appliances, generators, steam turbines and other products well into the 1970s. Since the company turned to the financial services and media businesses in the 1980s and 1990s, I assume this sign goes back to the '70s if not earlier.

Looking east down Summer Street, I saw the only industrial property that I checked out that day.

As I mentioned above, Stoughton was once a shoe-making town. "The shoe industry reached its peak about 1865 in Stoughton and rapidly declined after the end of the Civil War," according to MACRIS. One of the industries that grew during the latter half of the 19th century was rubber-making. "[A]t the corner of Summer and Canton streets, the Mystic Rubber Company was established in 1877 for the production of rubberized cloth and merged with the Hall Rubber Company of Boston in 1889 to form the Stoughton Rubber Company," MACRIS continues.

"The Mystic and Stoughton rubber companies were two of several industries that made an important contribution to Stoughton’s manufacturing economy between ca. 1880 and World War II," MACRIS elaborates. "Another substantial company in the Downtown Stoughton area is the Meade Rubber Company at 25 Brock Street, which was established by Stoughton native James Meade in 1916 for the manufacturing of rubber products. The Meade Rubber Company was closed by 1949." I did not check out the Meade complex.

The former Mystic Rubber property is now known as Trackside Plaza, and houses several small businesses, as well as Sha'ar Hashamayim Messianic Congregation.

Next I headed west along Canton Street for a few minutes. At the intersection with School Street, there stands a lovely little brick building that is currently home to a restaurant, Prato Fino do Brazil.

I believe the building dates to around 1930. Several years ago it was home to Best Pals Diner.

I doubled back on Canton Street, headed east on Porter Street until I saw a nice old building and sign on Pearl Street.

Fernandes Insurance has been in business since 1992. As for the building, it dates to around 1920.

The final shot of the day is of 753-759 Washington Street, which abuts the previously mentioned Lehan Block.

Known as Monks Block, this Romanesque Revival commercial block was built in 1886 and served as a temporary town hall in the 1980s when the actual town hall underwent renovations. Stoughton's town hall is located across Pearl Street from Monks Block.

Walking in Witch City

From Dave Brigham:

In most towns, if you walk around looking for signs of Halloween nearly seven weeks ahead of time, you may find a half-aisle of candy at the super Stop & Shop or an inflatable Frankenstein on the weird lady's lawn. Take an excursion through Salem, Mass., in mid-September, however, and you bump into scores of costume-clad folks happily filling the streets on their way to the Salem Witch Museum, the Witch History Museum, the Witch Dungeon Museum or the Witch House. That is, if you can successfully weave around the countless adults happily shopping for magic wands, black fishnet stockings and Jason Voorhees masks and taking selfies with street characters like the Predator, Michael Myers and Morticia Addams.

If you're me, you get a few chuckles at all the spooky hubbub and then move out of the stream of gore-loving humanity and into the gritty, lesser-known corners.

At 10 Boston Street in the Gallows Hill neighborhood (aka Blubber Hollow, which is an awesome nickname) is a rather unassuming brick building currently housing a dentist's office and other small businesses. Below is a crappy shot of the building, which was the best I could do given that big tree in front.

In one of the rare instances where MACRIS let me down, all the database has to say about this Colonial Revival building is that it was built circa-1920 and that the "facade features cast-stone details, including a second-story sillcourse, keystones and corner blocks." But what then, oh superhumans of MACRIS, am I to make of this detail?

For starters, this pinpoints the date of construction at 1916, something the MACRIS author should have seen. Secondarily, the cross on that chunk of concrete raises the question of whether this was originally a church or rectory or some other house of worship-adjacent structure, as opposed to "one of several commercial buildings of the early 20th century constructed at the intersection of Boston and Essex Street," as MACRIS tells us in incorrect grammar just before we nod off.

It doesn't look like a church, so I'm going with parsonage or church office building. I've looked online for maps that might be helpful, but haven't found anything more about this building. If anybody knows, let me know.

I passed through Salem on my way to a barbecue in neighboring Beverly, so I did a bit of research before my trip. I singled out a diner two doors down from the mystery building above as a must-see destination.

Built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company as #725, this diner was installed at the end of 1936 and known as the Pilgrim Diner, according to MACRIS. "The diner was built for Louis Proulx and George G. Craigie," and replaced a similar business established on the site in 1929. Proulx operated the diner into the mid-1950s. In the ensuing decades, different folks ran the joint under a variety of names, including George's Diner, Boyle's Diner (aka Boyle's Elm Tree Diner) and Deb's Diner."

"The Pilgrim Diner is one of the better preserved examples in Massachusetts of the 1930s, barrel-roof lunch car built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company," MACRIS continues. "The...car rests on a foundation of rusticated concrete blocks. The exterior is sheathed in flat porcelain enamel panels with the name of the diner baked in."

Sigh...the porcelain enamel panels.

Before being partially obscured by the current Black Cat Diner banner sign, those original panels were sort of covered by one for Deb's Diner for more than 10 years. I understand that each new owner wants to put his or her own stamp on the business, and that, as one of my Instagram followers pointed out, perhaps owners want to distance themselves from the baggage behind the concept of "Pilgrim," but these temporary signs just cheapen the image. Maybe new signs could go on the roof, or painted into the sidewalk?

Steps away, on the east side of Essex Street, is a business that has had the same name for decades.

ASAP Drains, which covers the entire North Shore, has been unclogging things since 1979.

I started heading towards downtown, north-northeast along Essex Street. There are many beautiful old homes along here, the sort that one thinks of when imagining an old Colonial town, which Salem is, having been settled by Europeans in 1626. The one that caught my eye, because of the plaque on the front, was the Lindall-Barnard-Andrews House.

"HERE LIVED REV. THOMAS BARNARD," the sign says. "First Pastor of North Church Peace Maker at North Bridge Affair Feb. 25, 1775."

My initial assumption was that the North Bridge in question was the well-known one in Concord, Mass. That bridge was the site of "the shot heard 'round the world" that started the American Revolution. But alas, my Greater Boston bias is showing, because this is not the bridge in question. I mean, why would someone travel 28 miles by horse to be a peace maker?

Rather, Rev. Barnard was involved in an incident at a bridge about a half-mile walk from his home. On February 26, 1775 (a day later than the marker on the home indicates), Barnard and others intervened in an incident in which the British military sought to capture cannons on the north side of the North River from some Salem Minutemen.

Military Governor Thomas Gage dispatched "Lieut. Col. Alexander Leslie with the 64th regiment by ship to Marblehead with instructions to march to Salem with 240 troops and seize the cannons and munitions of war," according to this Historic Ipswich article. The Minutemen and residents of Salem were waiting for them, and had raised the drawbridge, preventing Leslie and his men from crossing the river.

There was a brief scuffle between the British and the Colonists, which may have "brought about what may have been the first bloodshed in a war that was yet to begin," per the article. "Capt. [John] Felt, Rev. Barnard, and Col. [David] Mason negotiated with Col. Leslie, who was at length persuaded to offer a compromise, pledging his word and honor that if the inhabitants would allow him to cross, he and his troops would in a peaceable manner proceed no more than fifty rods beyond the bridge and then return without molesting any person or property."

So the British proceeded, simply so Leslie could report to Gage that he crossed the bridge and couldn't find the weapons, which the Minutemen had told him they'd hidden. They weren't about to let him look for them.

Pretty funny.

As for the other two names on the historic record for this home, Judge James Lindall had the place built in 1740. "The house was purchased in 1816 by John H . Andrews, and remained in the Andrews family throughout the nineteenth century," according to MACRIS.

At the intersection of Essex and North streets, I looked to my left and saw lots of folks milling about outside the Witch House, "the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin...and...one of the few structures you can visit in Salem with direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692," per the web site. I was more intrigued by what I saw across the street.

Man, what a mish-mash of holiday decorations! Happy Hallow-Easter-Mas!

Witch City Consignment closed in mid-December after nearly two decades in business. The store, which on the day of my visit had a line out the door, looks like it was pretty great. As for the building, it dates to 1897 and is known historically as the David Pingree Building, per MACRIS.

Pingree was one of Salem's wealthiest people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, per MACRIS. In the early years, this storefront was occupied by a bakery and a grocery store. After that, tenants included New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, Kingley Insurance Agency and Jerry’s men’s furnishings company. The store to this day still has signs indicating Jerry's Department Store and Jerry's Army & Navy Store. I'm not sure whether the consignment store was owned by the same folks who ran Jerry's.

I continued east along Essex Street, weaving in and out of the Halloween revelers, before heading south on Crombie Street. I saw some cool seasonal decorations and a sweet old muscle car before stumbling across the next site of interest on the corner of Margin and Gedney streets.

Steve's Quality Market has been in business for more than 80 years. Look at that sign!

A little further south, along Canal Street I spied another nice sign atop Sammy's Roast Beef.

The sandwich place has been in business for more than 20 years.

From there I wandered around until I ended up on Lafayette Street. As I walked south, I looked down Peabody Street and did my usual, "Whoa! Look at that!"

Beemans Gum was introduced to market in the late 19th century. "The product became a part of the American Chicle Company in 1898, and continued on after the purchase of American Chicle by Warner-Lambert in 1962," according to Wikipedia. "Production ceased in 1978 due to lagging sales. In 1985 the brand was revived in a nostalgia campaign, as an ordinary chewing gum without the medical claims, marketed along with Clove and Black Jack chewing gums."

Simultaneous to my noticing the ghost sign, I spied the Salvador Dali mural painted on a building just below it.

(I love how a door opens at the bottom of this painting - perhaps into the artist's soul? It was painted by an artist named Sipros.)

I continued east on Peabody Street for a short while, making photos of other murals.

(Painted by Don Rimx.)

(Painted by Ruben Ubiera.)

I was amazed at the size and quality of these works of art. Having done no research ahead of my visit beyond the Black Cat Diner, I had no idea that as I walked along Peabody Street I was seeing just the tip of the iceberg that is the Punto Urban Art Museum. There are dozens more -- 75 in all -- located in a three-block radius in this neighborhood!

The open-air museum has two primary goals, according to its web site: "To create a beautiful, uplifting environment for Point residents, particularly for children to grow up in" and "To break down the invisible divide between the Point Neighborhood and the rest of Salem by inviting visitors into the Point to experience world-class art first-hand."

The social justice art program was created by North Shore CDC, which invests in neighborhoods to create thriving communities, per its web site. As for the murals and artists, check the art museum's web site for artists and locations of their works. I wish I'd known enough to keep exploring this neighborhood. Oh well, gives me something to look foward to on my next visit.

Heading northwest along Washington Street I stopped to admire a quaint little house tucked between and across the street from several four-story apartment buildings. I make photos of funky places like this in hopes that MACRIS will come through for me.

"Although 259 Washington Street was not listed in a street directory until 1933, stylistically it would appear to have been built with the Audet Apartments next door [which date to 1916]....In 1933 it was listed as the office of Alfred Audet, (possibly associated with the apartment building) with Barry Printing, Peerless Paper Co., and Joseph Perron, millwright, in the rear. There is no front listing for 259 Washington Street in the 1935 street directory. In 1936 Henry Goudreau, a contractor, was listed as having offices here."

Thanks, MACRIS!

It is presently a one-family home.

I peeked down the driveway to a much newer building and saw something I needed to document.

This roached-out sign (tip of the hat to Mike Wolfe from "American Pickers") is for Paul N. Oulette & Sons Pianos, which is (or was) located in this building, which is located on Dodge Street. Currently occupied by The Salem Flea, the building dates to 1945, per MACRIS. As for Paul N. Oulette & Sons, the company was started in 1946 as a piano wholesaler, according to this web site. The company also restored, tuned and moved pianos.

From there I headed north along Washington Street, back toward the Halloween-loving masses. Outside Ledger Restaurant & Bar, I fawned over the clock.

The restaurant is located in the old Salem Savings Bank, which was completedin 1855.

I headed east on Essex Street and spied another ghost sign.

Located on the side of 209 Essex Street, which is occupied by the Hotel Salem, the sign advertised fine apparel, clothes and accessories for Newmark's Store, which moved to this location in 1965. I think I see another layer or perhaps two underneath the sign.

The building opened in 1895 as the home to Naumkeag Clothing Company, and was home to other clothing retailers businesss over the years.

At the eastern end of the Essex Street pedestrian mall is the Peabody Essex Museum. The institution is well known in Massachusetts, and traces it origins back more than 200 years.

"The roots of the Peabody Essex Museum date to the 1799 founding of the East India Marine Society, an organization of Salem ship captains and supercargoes who had sailed near or beyond either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn," per the PEM web site. "The society’s bylaws included a provision for the establishment of a cabinet of 'natural and artificial curiosities,' which we would now call a museum. Society members came back to Salem with a diverse collection of objects from the Pacific Northwest, Asia, Africa, Oceania, India and elsewhere. By 1825, the society had moved into its own building, East India Marine Hall."

The museum grounds include the hall and other buildings. You can continue reading about the museum's evolution here. Let's talk about East India Marine Hall. "As originally conceived, East India Marine Hall was intended to have third floor pavilions at both ends, and a main entrance on its west side," according to MACRIS. "Ultimately these were eliminated, and a two-story, pitched-roof, granite-facade-and-brick structure constructed, with business rental space at ground level and a commodious exhibition and meeting hall above."

The PEM is the oldest coninually operated museum in the country.

My final stop in Salem was a Quaker burial ground known as Friends' Cemetery.

I was tired and in a bit of a rush, so I just snapped a photo from the sidewalk in front of the graveyard. Established in 1718, the cemetery is Salem's third-oldest and smallest, according to the Historical Marker Database. "For the visitor, the only view into Friends Cemetery is through the Essex Street fence. There one sees a flat, compact, neatly laid out, peaceful cemetery landscape, which reflects its Quaker heritage, with its emphasis on simplicity," according to MACRIS. "Once inside, glimpses of the surrounding clapboarded houses, most of which are recognized historic structures, lend an air of inclusiveness and neighborhood."

I'll have to check it out more thoroughly on my next visit.

Oak Square is OK

From Dave Brigham:

I have driven through Boston's Oak Square approximately countless times in my life, and have wondered about one specific property on just about each of those infinity occasions. I'll get to that shortly, after I discuss a family-owned laundry and dry cleaning outfit that closed up shop about five years ago in the Brighton neighborhood.

(I hope somebody saves that sign.)

Swan Cleaners was in business for more than 70 years. I don't know if the business took a dive because fewer people need office outfits dry-cleaned, or if there was another reason it shut down.

(The swan on the side exterior wall is a nice touch.)

In November 2022, the Boston Zoning Board of Appeal approved a pot shop to take over the Swan space. I saw no sign that Pure Oasis, which has stores on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester and Devonshire Street in downtown Boston, is preparing to open in Oak Square.

Across the way, elevated above the hustle and bustle of Washington Street, is the specific property I've pondered over for years. Vacant for a long time, this place at one point had what appeared to be contractor trucks parked around it, as if perhaps it was a builder's office. And a search of the address brings up Daley Construction Company as a prior tenant or owner. Turns out, this place has "a long association with members of Brighton's building trades," according to MACRIS.

"This unusual, towered Mansard/Queen Anne house...[s]ituated on a triangular lot formed by the intersection of Washington Street and Langley Road...was built c. 1870-1875 by and for John H. McCausland, carpenter," MACRIS continues. "By 1885, Granville A. Fuller owned this property. Granville A. Fuller resided at 15 Sparhawk Street, Brighton. His father, Granville Fuller was a talented architect/builder responsible for the design and construction of the Greek Revival Brighton Town Hall in 1841. Granville A. Fuller was a partner in his father's lumber company and was also a civil engineer. From the 1890s until at least the 1930s, this house was owned by Walter L. Maguire, roofer with an office at 46 Cornhill Street, Boston."

In late 2018, a developer filed plans with the city for a five-story, 37-unit condo building with ground-floor retail space. I'm not sure of the status of that proposal.

I just have two more sites I want to discuss. The first is the Faneuil Branch of the Boston Public Library, named after the street where it is located. The street is named after Benjamin Faneuil, brother of Peter, who is the namesake of the well-known hall in downtown Boston.

"The Faneuil branch...was built in 1931 and is a relatively rare example of the Art Deco style in Brighton," according to MACRIS. "It was designed by the architectural firm of Kilham, Hopkins and Greeley of Boston, who also designed Waltham City Hall, Dedham High School, and Barnard Hall at Radcliffe."

Last, but certainly not least, is my favorite building in the square.

Located adjacent to the library branch, the circa-1912 Oak Square Fire Station is an English Revival gem. It was designed by the firm of Timothy Francis Walsh and Charles Maginnis, known for designing Roman Catholic churches and institutional buildings around the country, including Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and Trinity College Chapel in the capital city, per MACRIS.

Here's your headline explainer.