From Dave Brigham:
Named for the wealthy sea merchant and opium smuggler whose vast estate gave the town its name, Cushing Square is situated in Belmont's southern climes, bordering Watertown. For the purposes of this blog, I will stretch the boundaries of the retail district a bit to the north and east.
John Perkins Cushing was born in Boston in 1787. "When his mother died of smallpox, Cushing was raised by his uncle, slave and opium trader Thomas Handasyd Perkins," according to Wikipedia. "In 1803, at age 16, Cushing sailed for China to become clerk in his uncle's counting house," Wikipedia continues. "The head of the firm in China soon fell ill and died at sea. Thus, when Cushing arrived in China, he found himself Perkins & Company's sole agent, remaining there for nearly 30 years."
The firm imported and traded rice in China, and also engaged in money lending, Wikipedia continues. Perkins & Co. was also involved in fur trading, but when that business began to flag, the operation settled on the opium trade. In 1830, Cushing returned to Boston, where he married, raised a family and established Bellmont, a 200-acre estate.
He died in Belmont in 1862, three years after the town was established. His estate was located in the area where Payson Park is located.
OK, now that we've gotten the seedier business out of the way, let's learn more about the Greater Cushing Square area. This is the last of three posts about the commercial areas of Belmont (see December 6, 2025, "In the Valley of Belmont, Part II: Waverley Square," and November 22, 2025, "In the Valley of Belmont, Part I: The Center"). Links to other posts about the town are located at the bottom of this post.
This tour starts at the Payson Park Reservoir, which is located in the neighborhood just north and east of Cushing Square. "After Cushing’s death...Bellmont was sold to Samuel Payson, a textile manufacturer," according to this Town of Belmont document. In 1886 Payson sold the property to the Payson Park Land Company, which developed the residential streets.
I have a thing for gatehouses (see February 18, 2023, "The Loveliest Gatehouse,"; April 10, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part X: Newton Centre (Section 3)," and scroll down for two examples; December 5, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part VI: Chestnut Hill" and scroll most of the way down), so when I saw on Google Maps that there are a few at the large cistern owned by the City of Cambridge (WHAT?!), I had to check them out.
Bounded by Common Street to the west, Belmont Street to the south, Washington Street to the north and School Street to the east, the Payson Park neighborhood "underwent several stages of residential development between 1886 and 1930," according to MACRIS. It's a very pleasant area; its "historical significance rests in its current existence as an essentially intact example of early 20th century suburban development," MACRIS continues. "It reflects the impact on a large 19th century country estate of streetcar and automobile generated (sic) urban accessibility."
The reservoir was built between 1894 and 1898, after the City of Cambridge took the site by eminent domain, MACRIS indicates. "[I]t stands on the site of suspected Contact Period Indian activity," MACRIS explains. "In the 20th century the reservoir [was] the subject of several construction, water rights, and security controversies."
Cambridge still owns the 163-acre parcel. The reservoir holds 43 million gallons of drinkable water, and is located less than a mile from Cambridge's Fresh Pond Reservoir, as the crow flies. The two have a symbiotic relationship.
"Every day, between 12 and 16 million gallons of water is withdrawn from Fresh Pond, run through the plant and then pumped a half-mile uphill to an elevation of 176 feet at Payson Park, from which it flows by gravity to a central distribution point at the [Cambridge] Common, providing the water pressure needed for it to wind up ultimately in homes, schools and offices," according to this undated article from the Cambridge Water Department.
This isn't the only water reserve that Cambridge maintains outside its city boundary. The Cambridge Reservoir, also known as the Hobbs Brook Reservoir, is located just west of Route 128, straddling the towns of Lexington and Lincoln, and the city of Waltham. Cambridge also gets water from the Stony Brook Reservoir in Weston.
Anyway! Let's talk about those beautiful Romanesque gatehouses, which date to 1896.
Located at the top of a steep set of steps along Payson Road, these circular structures are really quite something. The details are magnificent, the design beautiful and the restoration applause-worthy. As you can imagine, they had fallen into disrepair over the generations, with MACRIS indicating in a 1982 report that they were "threatened by neglect," and that the main house had lost its pointed roof in 1967 and a "significant portion of its outer yellow brick wall facing."
Nowadays, when a utilitarian building of this sort is designed and built, it tends to be quite plain and boring. I understand that putting significant finances behind a structure that mainly exists to cover up infrastrcture isn't something that many public or private entities think makes sense. But I appreciate the efforts from the turn of last century.
Interested to learn more about the gatehouses, while also reading about someone's lunch of snow peapod noodles and her neighbor's concern about Dutch Elm disease? Then check out this blog post.
Below are two more images of the reservoir.
The Payson Park Land Company developed Bellmont and 15 acres of land for the Belmont School for Boys, a boarding school, according to Town of Belmont document. I'm unclear whether that school is the same as Belmont Hill School, which was founded in 1923. The school constructed a chapel in 1892. In 1930, the chapel was given to the town. It has served as the Benton Branch Library since then.
The quaint English Revival building "is of unique architectural style in the Benton neighborhood, particularly notable as being the only pre-1900 building in this portion of Belmont that has not been moved or inappropriately altered," MACRIS indicates.
OK, now that I've spent WAY more time on Payson Park than I'd originally intended, let's get to Cushing Square.
Perhaps the most notable building in the square is the Winters Block, a stately English Revival building located just to the southeast of the intersection of Common Street and Trapelo Road.
"Cushing Square developed in the early 20th century as a commercial center for the adjacent Payson Park residential neighborhood," according to this Town of Belmont document. "Both Trapelo Road and Common Street were important historically – Trapelo Road (originally North Street) was the road to Waverley and Common Street was the principal way from Watertown to Belmont Center. However it was the arrival of the West End Street Railway in 1891, offering streetcar service from Waverley to Boston via Cambridge, that made the area what it is today. At that time each road was widened to 75 feet to accommodate center tracks."
"In 1925 P.R. Winters opened Winters Hardware on the ground floor of a building he had built at 80-86 Trapelo Road," the document continues. "Four years later, a large addition was constructed to the east of the original building at 72-78 Trapelo Road. Like many residences being built in Belmont during the period, the Winters Block was designed in a Tudor Revival style with an exterior decorated by stucco, half-timbering and steeply-pitched gables projecting from the slate roof."
I love a nice clock. I also dig the fact that the original business is still here!
On the north side of Trapelo Road, a little to the east, is the Attacca School of Music, which is located in a former bank.
Named for a musical instruction used to indicate that the next section should follow without a pause (thanks Dictionary.com!), the school offers private programs in piano, violin, viola, guitar and cello.
As for the building, it was constructed as a branch office for the Harvard Trust Company in 1935. In ensuing years, Harvard Trust was swalloed up by Bay Bank, and this building served as a bank until 1993. It was then occupied by an insurance company, and perhaps other outfits, before the music school took over.
I continued east, to the intersection of Trapelo Road and Belmont Street. I wanted to take a look at the building where one of the last Brigham's Ice Cream shops in the world once stood. That location shut down in January 2012 after nearly 80 years in business. From there, I crossed the street and headed back toward the heart of Cushing Square, but as you'll see a bit further down this post, I ventured east by car later in my adventure.
Catercorner (one of my favorite words) from Winters Hardware is the Thomas A. Dewire building, which houses several small retail operations. I like the contrast of the building's name carved along the roofline with the much less permanent sign for #1 Food Mart.
Around the corner on Cushing Avenue is House of Lavash, which specializes in traditional Armenian flatbread.
I really like that sign.
There are numerous one-story retail buildings in the square. Along Common Street is a Colonial Revival strip that dates to 1931.
At 105-115 Trapelo Road is the Zebedee Cliff Block, which was built in the mid-1920s. It is one of many of what MACRIS calls "taxpayer blocks, which "provide shops and services for the area’s rapidly growing population."
Next, I stopped in to see my buddy who runs Want List Records out of the building at 113 Trapelo Road. It's a great shop!
At this point I got in my car and headed a mile east along Belmont Street to check out Belmont's southeast corner.
I've long been intrigued by buildings like this, which are tacked onto the front of houses and function as a small business. This one seems a bit more of a stand-alone than most, but it's still tucked right into the building on the left. Until 2013, this space was a hair salon. I believe it is now the location of Kataram Studios, a family-run photo and video service.
Steps away heading east is Lord's Dry Cleaners, which has a bright and awesome sign.
I followed Belmont Street until I hit the Cambridge line, and then turned back. I couldn't resist making a photo of the sign on the side of the Tennis & Squash Shop building.
This family business has been selling, repairing and restringing racquets for more than a century!
Just a bit west is Eastern Lamejun Bakers.
Established in 1942 by the Koundakjian family, and acquired by the Dervartanian family in 1984, the bakery calls itself "the premier Middle Eastern and Armenian bakery in the Greater Boston area." Belmont and Watertown have long had significant Armenian populations.
I don't believe Empire Alarm is still in business, but the company's sign is still working hard.
Just off the intersection with Belmont Street stands 11 Grove Street, home to the town's Knight of Columbus council, and Catholic Charitable Trust.
I assume this building has been altered greatly from a former residence. It is located in a triangular development that is hemmed in by Grove and Belmont streets, as well as Marion Road. "Marion Rd. is typical of the development in the Harvard Lawn section of Belmont," according to MACRIS, using a term for the neighborhood I hadn't heard before. I'm not sure of the origin, but I assume it relates to Harvard University somehow.
I wrapped up my tour of greater Cushing Square at a place that friends tell me is fantastic: Linda's Donuts.
This place has been around since the 1960s, I believe. When I posted a different photo on Facebook, one friend said, "That place is a classic," while another indicated that "These donuts are the best."
For an inside look into the business, check out this video.
Below are links to other posts about Belmont:
November 21, 2017, "Punk Farm?"
July 2, 2013, "Ped Xing"
May 28, 2013, "Small, But Useful"
November 25, 2012, "Crouching Barn, Hidden Mill"
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