Ambling Through Arlington, Part II: The Heights

From Dave Brigham:

Arlington is a really great town, which I've known at a surface level for, oh, the past few decades of living in and around Boston. Recently, I walked along Massachusetts Avenue from the point where it enters the town from Cambridge, and on through Arlington Center, and gained a real appreciation for the history, the local businesses, the architecture and the public art (see November 20, 2021, "Ambling Through Arlington, Part I: The Center"). Today I present the second part of my journey along Mass. Ave., heading north out of the center and into Arlington Heights. I made two trips to this area to present as complete a picture as possible.

The Highland Hose House dates to 1928. It was renovated 10 years ago and looks amazing.

"The Highland Hose House is a brick structure built...in conscious imitation of several of Boston's 18th and early 19th century buildings," per MACRIS. "Its stepped gable ends and rounded windows are reminiscent of the Old State House, while its delicate cupola and gilded grasshopper weathervane imitate Faneuil Hall. Violet-paned windows copy those of Bulfinch townhouses along Boston Common.

"Interior woodwork by the Theodore Schwamb Company was that company's first commission after the firm converted its milling and cabinetry operation from the manufacture of piano cases to architectural woodworking," per MACRIS. We will learn about the Schwamb Company shortly.

But first: Jimmy's Steer House.

Around since the early 1970s (the building dates to 1965; not sure what was here prior), Jimmy's seems to be a solid old-school place that doesn't do anything fancy, but offers good food that keeps people coming back, based on what I've read online. I wanted there to be a giant steer out front or some other sexy signage or artwork. Maybe on the inside? Anyway...there is another Jimmy's in Saugus.

OK, now to the Schwamb complex.

The Theodore Schwamb Piano Manufacturing Company buildings date to, well, I'm not sure. There have been mills on this site - tucked behind Mirak Hyundai, at the point on Mass. Ave. where the road begins to curve to the northwest -- since the late 1700s.

"Gershom Cutter...probably erected a mill on this privilege for turning and grinding edge tools...previous to 1817," according to The Story of Arlington, as quoted in a MACRIS entry about the mill complex. "In 1848 Charles Schwamb came to this town and apprenticed himself to Paul F. Dodge. Later he went into business with Mr. Dodge." Eventually, four more Schwamb brothers joined the partnership; that business dissolved in 1862. In 1871, Theodore Schwamb purchased the mill and began manufacturing piano cases. The Theodore Schwamb Company was incorporated in 1897, and erected additional buildngs on the site. In the 1920s, the company switched from making piano cases, which had fallen out of favor, to manufacturing architectural woodwork, such as door frames and baseboards, according to The Story of Arlington.

I believe the buildings were abandoned for a time before the family that owns Mirak Hyundai and other auto dealerships took over ownership. Currently, the mill buildings are home to, among other companies, Falco & Associates, an estate planning operation; coworking outfit Workbar; and SunBug Solar. I will discuss another former Schwamb Mill, located not far away from this site, below.

(The stream running through the mill complex, and under some of the buildings, is called, not surprisingly, Mill Brook.)

At the intersection of Forest Street and Mass. Ave., we see the first of what will turn out to be many nice commercial buildings.

The Arlington assessor's office dates this building to 1922. I like the roofline details, and even the fact that the bricks are different colors. I want the Brite Whites Laundromat to have a better sign, but oh well. The other tenants are Amy's Salon and what appear to be siblings restaurants, Master Pies and Ginger Exchange.

Across Forest Street is what I believe is the former home of Swifty Printing. The company appears to be in business, but not at this address.

This place dates to around 1920. That double door tells me that perhaps this building was once a garage or carriage house. If anybody has a clue, please let me know.

Back on Mass. Ave., a short jog north, is Chapter 49 of the Disabled American Veterans.

The building dates to about 1920, per the assessor's office. The Internet indicates this outpost may have been permanently closed.

At the "Y" formed by the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Lowell Street is a small park that you might miss if you weren't, like I was, on foot with a camera in hand. The triangle of land memorializes events of April 19, 1775, the infamous day when the American Revolution effectively began.

"This park is dedicated by the people of Arlington to the memory of Colonial Minutemen and British soldiers who met here in the first great battle of the Revolutionary War," the plaque reads. The memorial is headlined, "THE FOOT OF THE ROCKS," which is apparently what this area was called back in the day. The battle took place as the British were retreating from the more well-known Lexington and Concord skirmishes of earlier in the day. "[E]leven men were killed in the house and yard during the skirmish, and bullet holes still show in the cellar way, parlor, and best room" of the home of Jason Russell, per this account from the Arlington Historical Society. "Two Redcoats were also killed here, making it the bloodiest fighting on the first day of the American Revolution, April 19, 1775."

There is a second memorial in this park.

This one honors Henry Wellington, "a commissioned officer of the War of 1812-14," and his wife, Eliza Teele, who made their home in the Foot of the Rocks neighborhood in 1819. The monument was erected by the Town of Arlington in 1907, paid for by Henry and Eliza's son, William Edward Wellington.

Continuing north on Mass. Ave., we find a simple commercial building.

Built around 1910, this quaint place is home to Custom Contracting. I imagine there have been loads of great businesses on this spot over the past 100+ years. Butcher shop? Grocer? Candy shop?

The next building is nothing great in and of itself. It dates to around 1953. But the history inside, and the story of a merger of friendly rivals, is worth saying a little about.

Back in September, R. W. Shattuck ACE Hardware, which was founded in 1857, announced it would purchase Wanamaker Hardware in Arlington Heights. The latter company was founded in 1923 by Chester and Marion Wanamaker. Their grandsons operated the business up until the sale.

As for the Shattuck store, "R. W. Shattuck founded the store and his grandson went into partnership with [current owner John] Wheatley's grandfather, John Wheatley Sr, who began working there in 1920," per the article linked above. “My dad [John Wheatley Jr.] started working with my grandfather in the '50s,” said Wheatley.

"The two stores have a friendly rivalry and are both known for staff who can answer questions from harried homeowners trying to fix a leaky faucet while offering tradespeople exactly what they want," the article continues. I love that continuity and commitment to the community.

I'm not going to lie to you: I thought the building below might be older than it looks, so I took a photo. Turns out, though, that this place - home to a Penzeys Spices store - was built in 1977.

Hey, at least I learned about Penzeys, a chain I'd never heard of before. Headquartered in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, the company was founded in 1957. Bill Penzey, Jr., son of the founding couple, is not a Donald Trump fan, which makes me feel good about this company. "After the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election...Penzey...criticized Donald Trump and his supporters in an email to his customers. The store reported an increase in sales after the letter went out. In October 2019, the company spent over $100,000 in social media advertising calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Penzey's activism resulted in a Facebook boycott called 'Goodbye, Penzeys' with over 1,000 members."

Unfortunately, the company has shrunk in size in recent years, going from 67 retail locations in 2012 to 53 as of earlier this year.

Across the street, on the corner of Mass. Ave. and Davis Road, is a branch of Cambridge Savings Bank. The photo below isn't great; I was trying to showcase the cool roofline detail.

The building dates to 1930, and was originally home to the Arlington Five Cents Savings Bank.

One door down along the south side of Mass. Ave. is a mural in the window of the former Embassy Cleaners & Tailors.

I love the trend where cities and towns beautify empty storefronts or, in some cases, fill them with temporary pop-up shops. This artwork is courtesy of Arts Arlington.

The next two buildings represent the frustrations of Internet searching.

The one-story building in the top photo -- home to a Christian Science Reading Room, Bouvier Jewelers and Home Taste restaurant -- and the two-story abutting building in the bottom photo are listed by the Arlington assessor's office as being built in 1970. I'm no architecture expert, but even I can tell by looking at these buildings that they are much older than that. Hell, the Balich 5 & 10 store that was located in the two-story building until three years ago was founded in at least 1954, although I'm not sure it was originally in this location. The Balich family took over in 1972. That space is now occupied by The Heights Pub, which features an old Balich 5 & 10 sign inside (nice touch!).

The building's other tenants include a nail salon, hair salon, fitness studio and an eye doctor's office. If anyone knows more details about these buildings, I'd love to hear them.

Across Mass. Ave. from the old Balich building, on the corner of Park Avenue, is another mystery building, at least as far as the assessor's department is concerned.

There appear to be at least three distinct buildings along here, but the assessor's office lists them under "1309-1323 Mass. Ave." and indicates they were built "around 1900." On the ground floor of what appears to be a former house, is Yiassou Pizza & Gyro restaurant. Other tenants include a barber shop and a roofing company, with apartments above.

Across Park Avenue from that place is 1339 Mass. Ave., below.

Erected in 1901, this Colonial Revival style building has a complimentary partner across the street at 1334 Mass. Ave.

"These buildings display well-preserved Colonial Revival-style decorative detailing on their upper stories, although the storefronts have been modernized. Details include swags, garlands, corner pilasters, and a richly dentilated cornice," per MACRIS.

At the rear of 1334 is an Abbott's Frozen Custard store. That brand dates to 1902.

Heading further up Park Avenue, I spied some nice old brick buildings.

The Vittoria Dallin Public Library was built in 1938 as the first branch in town. It is now home to Arlington Community Media, Inc. (ACMI), which produces local programming.

Across the street are the Locke School Condos.

Built in 1899, the Locke School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was converted to condominiums in 1984.

Next, I walked back down Park Avenue and across Mass. Ave. and spied this place.

Currently home to Crossfit Accolade, the building at 40 Park Ave. was formerly home to Sunshine Cleaners. The building dates to 1930.

I'd love to know what other businesses were here over the past 90 years.

Behind the Crossfit building is a large warehouse building with another fitness business, True Fitness, and other businesses.

This place dates to 1967, according to the assessor's office. Further down this post I will feature buildings at the other end of this industrial property, including one that holds the office/warehouse of a distribution company that's well known in the indie music world.

Across the street from the Crossfit outfit is the Arlington Coal & Lumber complex.

This building dates to 1875, and filled many roles prior to the coal company's founding in 1914. "At one time, it was an important civic center for the town. The second floor auditorium, Union Hall, was one of several such meeting facilities around town, and served many purposes," according to the company's web site. "It was the site of religious services while various Protestant denominations waited for their churches to be built; dancing classes and dramatic productions were held there; the Arlington Zouaves, a quasi-military marching society, met in the hall; and in 1885 it was even used for roller skating. The first floor, then and now, was used for commercial purposes, and the building once housed the Arlington Heights branch of the public library."

The Minuteman bike path, which runs through Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington and Bedford, skirts along the northern edge of the company's site.

A short jog away from the coal company complex is, well, I'm not exactly sure.

My first thought was that it's a former train station from which passengers boarded trains that ran on tracks located where the bike path is now. But after some research online, I found a photo of just such an old station, and it's situated much closer to the train tracks than the building in my photo above. I dug further and couldn't find much information. It's possible that this is a greatly changed former street car station. Either way, it's now owned by the MBTA and is used as a local bus terminal.

The final building on my first trek through Arlington Heights is home to an Oreck retail vacuum store.

Founded in 1963, Oreck "produces and sells vacuums, steam mops, floor machines, air purifiers and cleaning products for use in both hotels and homes throughout the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe," per its web site. As for the building, it dates to around 1900, and is owned by the Arlington Coal & Lumber Company.

Usually, if I visit a place more than once, I weave the narratives together. This time, for some reason, I decided to separate them. After my initial visit, while researching the Theodore Schwamb Co. buildings profiled above, I realized that they were distinct from the Old Schwamb Mill, which I'd learned about in my early research. Of course, before heading back to check out the Old Schwamb place, I had to look for other targets, and I found a few.

The Old Schwamb Mill is located on, of course, Mill Lane, just off Lowell Street, steps from the Foot of the Rocks monuments mentioned above.

Beautiful, right?! This historic site, which is owned and operated by the Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust Inc., maintains that it is the oldest continuously operating mill site in the United States. The mill has "a documented history of operation dating back to about 1684," per Wikipedia. "The current mill building, erected in 1861, is now a living history museum. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971."

(Mill Brook, which runs along the old place.)

After more than 100 years of operating the mill, the Schwamb family was ready to get out of the business. "The deaths of Clinton and Louis Schwamb, and the approaching retirement of Clinton’s son Elmer (the fourth generation to run the mill), prompted Elmer Schwamb and Louis’s widow to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with neighboring lumber terminal truckers to honor Clinton’s promise to the truckers to provide additional truck access to their property," according to the mill's history on the web site. "The plan of the truckers called for demolition of the three Mill buildings."

Enter Patricia Fitzmaurice.

"[Fitzmaurice] was particularly interested in the mill, for the Arlington Conservation Commission, of which she was an associate member, had discussed the mill and hoped to preserve it," the mill's web site continues. "Before the commission could move, however, the purchase and sale agreement had been signed. The mill, it seemed, was gone. Undaunted...Mrs. Fitzmaurice turned to Dr. Richard W. Hale, Jr., acting chairman of the Mass. Historical Commission...and to four of her colleagues in conservation for help.

"In an effort to save the Mill, the Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust Inc., a nonprofit charitable educational trust, was formed....The purpose of the Trust was, and is, to raise funds to preserve the Mill buildings, to maintain the production of oval frames, and to exhibit the Mill’s collections and traditions. This was apparently the first case of grassroots historic industrial preservation in America. On January 16, 1970, the Old Schwamb Mill was acquired by the Schwamb Mill Preservation Trust Inc. with contributed funds from two Boston foundations, a Cambridge bank, and several individual donors. The Trust appointed Patricia C. Fitzmaurice as Managing Trustee, a position which she held until her death in 2001."

The lumber terminal is long gone, replaced by an apartment complex.

Frame makers still use the mill for production. A small, nicely shaded park in front of the mill is named in memory of Patricia Fitzmaurice.

History of a much different, and less obvious sort, is located just north of the old mill, at 60 Lowell Street.

The building on the right is home to Forced Exposure, a music distributor with a catalog representing thousands of independent record labels and artists. Founded as a magazine focused on indie and punk music, as well as various counterculture movements, Forced Exposure was in print until 1993. Founders and editors included Byron Coley, Jimmie Johnson and Katy Goldman. "The list of contributors and interviewees," says Wikipedia, "reads like a who's who of underground music from the time: Steve Albini, Mission of Burma, Sonic Youth, Lydia Lunch, Chris D., Tesco Vee, et cetera."

(The entrance to Forced Exposure isn't marked, but I believe this is it.)

At the intersection of Lowell and Bow streets and Park Ave., is Peter Pan Superette.

I have no idea how long this place has been spreading the pixie dust.

Heading south along Mass. Ave., I had a few more destinations to check out. The first was an MWRA pumping station on Brattle Court.

Located behind an apartment complex and a self-storage facility, hard by the bikeway, is this circa-1907 Renaissance Revival-style building. The Town of Arlington abandoned its municipal water system in 1898 and joined the Metropolitan Water System. This nicely preserved place is still a functioning pump house.

On the way to check out the pumping station, I drove past a very nice house, one that looks like so many others in Arlington. But this one has a different history than most 18th and 19th century abodes in town.

Lovely, isn't it? Erected in 1790, 3-5 Brattle Street was built as the first Baptish Church in Arlington, per MACRIS. I don't know about you, but I never would have guessed that back story! I just happened to stumble across mention of this place online, otherwise I never would have sussed this out from a drive-by. "Of the four meetinghouses that were standing along Battle Road at the end of the 18th century, only this one survives," MACRIS continues. "Sold by the Baptists in 1828 upon the completion of their church at the site of the present First Baptist Church, the meetinghouse was converted into a private residence before 1880 and in 1913 was moved to the back of its original lot, 'five rods square,' and turned to face Brattle Street."

Last, but certainly not least, is the former Arlington Gas Light Company building on Grove Street, which is now used by the Town of Arlington's Public Works Department.

Built in 1914 for the eponymous business, this type of old municipal building is rare in suburbs around Boston. Although it's boarded up, the building seems to be in pretty good shape. There were formerly other buildings here, and I wish at least one of them was still on site. "It was built on the site of the Welch and Griffith saw factory (ca.1830), the first saw manufactory in the United States, after a 1913 fire," says MACRIS. "The gas light company used this complex of buildings to manufacture gas for light and fuel — it was Arlington's first such company and fulfilled an urgent need for the expanding community. The property at one time also held a large gas storage tank, built in 1923. On top of the tank was painted the legend 'ARLINGTON,' in yellow letters 20 feet high and 12 feet wide, and bisected by an arrow pointing north. This was New England's first marker for aerial navigation. In 1975, the tower, no longer in use, was torn down."

Dammit!!

OK, that wraps up Arlington, for now at least. Hope you enjoyed learning about this great town as much as I did!