A Ghost of Boston Past

From Dave Brigham:

Ghost signs are fairly prevalent in older cities, including Boston, where I spend a fair amount of time roaming around with my son, Owen. Ghost buildings are out there, too, but I don't see them all that often. The one above is on West Street in what is known as the Ladder District. This vacant lot sits between two restaurants: Fajitas & Ritas and Papagayo. A company called American Meter Company once occupied a building on this spot. For more about the history of this neighborhood, read this Boston Landmarks Commission Study Report about 13-15 West Street, the address where Papagayo is now. Built sometime between 1814 and 1820, 13-15 West Street was once home to a bookstore, library and school operated by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, a well-known educator and prominent figure in the Transcendental Movement. The study report contains a photo of American Meter (scroll down to page 10).

You Have Been Un-Matriculated

From Dave Brigham, B.A., Journalism, Keene State College, 1987:

I've stumbled across all sorts of things over the course of 8+ years of exploring the backside of America -- an old gas pump in front of a cemetery monument company (see November 30, 2017, "Stone Cold Monuments)," a jalopy in the woods and the story of a notorious Colonial-era highwayman (see April 30, 2016, "The Tavern of Death)," and old pump houses in the woods (see November 20, 2011, "History Flows On, Part II)".

I can now add an abandoned college campus to that list.

Atlantic Union College was founded in Lancaster, Mass., in 1882, and was the oldest campus in the Seventh-day Adventist worldwide educational system, according to the school's web site. "It served the Northern New England Conference, New York Conference, Southern New England Conference, Bermuda Conference, Greater New York Conference, and Northeastern Conference," according to the history of the school posted on the web site.

The school announced in February that it would close, due to the loss of its subsidy from the Southern New England Conference, according to this Telegram & Gazette article. "Atlantic Union has formed articulation agreements with Southwestern Adventist University and Andrews University for that purpose," school spokesman Emmanuel Ortiz told the newspaper. "The college claims students won’t lose their credits if they enroll at either school," the article continues. The school reopened in 2015 after being shuttered for four years due to financial difficulties.

The school's web site now offers information to former students about how to obtain transcripts.

I knew none of this before visiting Lancaster for the first time recently. I had some time to kill while my son was at school taking part in a driver's ed program (in the near future I will post photos and background information about other things I found on my trip). I was aware, from doing a little research, that the college existed. I didn't plan, however, on visiting the campus. I wanted to check out Founder's Hall, which I learned about through some quick online research.

Magnificent, isn't it? Built in 1883, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Somehow in my research I missed the fact that the hall is located on Atlantic Union's campus. So I drove up a short driveway and parked in a lot in front of the gorgeous building. After snapping a few pictures I looked around and realized that I was on campus....and that there wasn't a soul around. Sure, it was early June and I figured school was out for the summer. But college campuses always have some folks hanging around, either for summer classes or doing maintenance work or whatever.

So what will become of the campus? Since this is the second time it has closed in the last decade, I suspect it won't reopen as Atlantic Union. Perhaps, as happened in my adopted hometown of Newton, Mass., a larger college will swoop in, as UMass Amherst did with the struggling Mount Ida College.

Stay tuned....

The Lowdown on the High-Speed Line

From Dave Brigham:

Most folks in Greater Boston are likely at least somewhat familiar with the MBTA's four subway/trolley lines -- the Blue, Green, Orange and Red lines -- regardless of whether they ride them or not. How many people in the metropolitan area, however, know about the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, unless they ride it everyday or are train lovers?

Regular readers of this blog know that my son, Owen, and I often ride the subway in and around Boston. We've been doing this for more than 10 years, as what once used to be a special occasion has turned into something we do most weekends. We do many of the same things on our trips, from eating pizza at Regina Pizzeria at South Station to riding mainly on the Green line, but we seek out new areas of the city fairly frequently, so I can take pictures of things to write about here.

In the last decade we have taken a handful of rides on the Ashmont-Mattapan line, and it's always a pleasure (regular riders may beg to differ with me, as I know the line, like all MBTA branches, has its issues). A little background: the line is an extension of the Red line, which terminates at Ashmont Station in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. The loop at Ashmont looks like this:

"Those cars aren't red," you're saying to yourself. That's correct. These cars, known as PCC streetcars, date to around 1945, according to my in-house MBTA expert, and were at one time painted green, before being restored "to their original Boston Elevated Railway paint that they were originally delivered in," according to this article at the Boston Streetcars web site.

The Ashmont-Mattapan line exists along what was formerly the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. The other end of the line is in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood, but the middle section runs in part through the town of Milton, as well as Cedar Grove Cemetery. The line as we know it today opened in 1929.

In addition to the cool old train cars, the line also features an old station.

I'm not sure when Mattapan Station was built, but I believe it was the mid-1920's. Check out this photo and also this one, each of which date to 1924.

"So what's in the station now?" you ask. When I took this photo a few months ago a place called Kuizinn Lakay Plus, which offers pizza and also CD's and DVD's, per the sign. I believe "Kuizin Lakay" is Czech for "Food & Discs."

The cozy place next door is a Spanish restaurant, RestauranChito, that I believe is still in business. It was hard to tell. I'm guessing this place has been around for a long time as different hole-in-the-wall eateries, but not as long as the old station.

Backside, Out In the Open

From Dave Brigham:

I'm so used to the solo pursuit of shooting abandoned railroad tracks, historic buildings and cool neon signs that it just seems weird to take pictures of these things I enjoy so much, alongside members of the general public who normally don't pay them much mind.

But thanks to a summer-long display at Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway, seekers of the backside of America, and those who just happen to be strolling along this beautiful space near the city's waterfront, can enjoy eight vintage neon signs from the collection of Dave Waller, a local businessman.

I interviewed Waller several years ago for a publication put out by the Society for Commercial Archeology. I chatted with him in his home, a converted firehouse, and took pictures of many of the signs in his collection. I posted a few photos way back when on this blog: March 22, 2010, "Gettin' My Kicks."

I highly recommend checking out the signs this summer.

Marine Barracks to Be Saved

From Dave Brigham:

This photo of a former Marine officer barracks in Brighton, Mass., isn't great, but the building itself, along with one other on the site at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Warren Street, will serve a good purpose: to house low- and middle-income military veterans.

The Brighton Marine Health Center is now part of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, but I assume it was run by the military at some point. I believe the buildings on site date to World War II.

The health center established a partnership with WinnCompanies several years ago to build apartments for vets. After gaining approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the project hit a snag when Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin objected to the plan to tear down all four barracks, in his role as head of the state's historic commission. Long story, short: everybody involved arrived at a compromise of keeping two of the barracks, which once housed officers and doctors (since I took these photos, the other two barracks have been torn down). Nice to see these buildings which, while they aren't historically significant, are solid reminders of the Greatest Generation, will be saved.

For a peek at what the finished development will look like, go here.