A Saturday Skulk Through Southie

From Dave Brigham:

I've covered South Boston quite a bit on this blog (see the bottom of this post for links) yet somehow I found more to check out this past April. The impetus for visiting this Boston neighborhood yet again was a ghost sign that I didn't know about the last time I was there.

I forget where I learned about this old sign for Bay State Brewery located on the side of The Distillery North apartments on East 2nd Street at the intersection with H Street. "The large brick factory building that sits between East 1st and 2nd Street in South Boston was first constructed in the 1860s as the Bay State Brewery and Malt House for the production of beer," according to the Distillery North web site. A man named Henry Souther started the brewing operation, having "purchased the land from the Sound Boston Association, seeing it as well located beside the water for the delivery of barley from Canada. At the time, the harbor came right up to the property edge...."

"It wasn’t long before the Bay State Brewery was sold to a railroad magnate and Congressman from New Hampshire named Frank Jones." I haven't learned when Jones took over the facility, but I'm assuming no later than the 1890s. That means the ghost sign is likely at least 125 years old, which is pretty cool.

Jones, who during his political career also served as mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, started his brewing business in that small seacoast city. "The Frank Jones Brewery was one of the largest producers of ale in the United States of America," according to Wikipedia. "In 1896, Jones' Portsmouth brewery produced about 250,000 barrels a year."

Jones died in 1902, and the brewery complex was sold to the Felton family of Newton, Massachusetts, per the Distillery North web site. "The Feltons had arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1640, already with a background in ale brewing. In Boston they took up rum distilling under the names of Crystal Spring Rum and Pilgrim Rum. After purchasing the Bay State Brewery, it took the Feltons a year to reconfigure the facility as a rum distillery, a process that involved the installation of two dozen 10,000-gallon fermenting vats."

The Felton distillery closed in 1982. "In 1984...Frederick Gordon...purchased the property with its skeletons of disused machinery, molasses streaked walls, and malodorous scents," the Distillery North site continues. "The rough neighborhood and the curious layout of the 100,000 square foot factory, with spaces ranging from shoebox to gymnasium-sized, was a curious real estate puzzle. It was artists who naturally gravitated toward the atypical labyrinth, and word got around."

Currently, the development features both work and living spaces for more than 100 artists and creative professionals. The on-site Distillery Gallery "features rotating exhibitions that highlight the diverse talents of both resident and guest artists," per the web site for the community.

Whew! That was a lot of information. I'm always happy when companies that redevelop old buildings provide the history of the site.

Since I've made photos a lot around Southie, I wandered quite a bit to find new subject matter. I ended up on Silver Street, which runs parallel to the main thoroughfare, West Broadway, between Dorchester and D streets. You know I love back alleys and narrow streets where I can see the true backside.

The first thing to catch my eye was the old rear entrance to the Gorin's department store.

When I made this photo, I felt sure I had made a complementary image of the old tile entryway to the store a few years back. But in reviewing my archives, I realized that the entryway was for Pober's, another old department store. Then I thought perhaps Gorin's had been located in the same building, before of after Pober's. But I checked out Google Street View and realized the stores were located in different buildings along West Broadway.

Anyway, Gorin's was a local chain that started in Woburn, Mass., in 1900. Early on, there were stores in Everett, South Boston, Watertown Square, Central Square in Cambridge and Somerville's Union Square, according to this Bouseblog post. By the 1950s, the chain had grown to employ more than 3,000 people in at least 20 stores. Gorin's "purchase of the Almy, Bigelow and Washburn department store chain added locations in Salem, Danvers and Beverly. Later acquisitions and mergers expanded the company to New Bedford, Mass, Manchester, N.H., Waterbury, Conn. and Rochester, N.Y.," per the blog.

"In 1984, the Gorin family sold their company, by this time 32-stores strong and re-branded as 'Almy’s,' to an investment group. The Gorin’s business had been struggling to make a profit since 1978. By 1985, the new owners had sold most of the Almy’s chain to the Stop & Shop Companies," Bouseblog indicates.

Continuing west-northwest on Silver Street, I crossed over E Street and found a little bit of country in the middle of the city.

Located next to a new apartment building and across the street from the rear of the old Bigelow School, this cute little farmhouse-style duplex was built in 1890, per the Boston assessor. I dig the civic pride demonstrated by the SOUTH BOSTON sign.

I looped around some more side streets until I found myself in front of Boris Pest Control, at the corner of West Seventh and E streets (not where these guys got their name).

I love that whoever created the company's sign paid homage to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot by using a mouse with boxing gloves. Of course, Southie was once a MAJOR Irish-American stronghold. Boris Pest Control has been in business since 1967.

As I stood in front of the pest-fighting mouse, I looked diagonally across West Seventh and saw a subtly unusual home.

This Odd House, as I dubbed it, has just under 660 square feet of living area, with one bedroom and one bathroom. Built in 1900 (perhaps; you know I'm always dubious of that date), it has seemingly been altered a bit over the last 125+ years. Maybe it was once two stories?

I made my way to D Street, then headed south-southwest into a more industrial/commercial section of the neighborhood. Then I turned south on Dorchester Ave. (aka Dot Ave. I'd walked this area outside Andrew Square a few times over the years, so once again, I sought out the nooks I had passed over previously.

On Alger Street, I found my quarry.

The ghost sign at the top says INDUSTRIAL and perhaps CO. I haven't found out what business was/is here. I just love the combination of the weathered bricks with fading paint, the heavy (leaded?) glass windows, the vent, the two doors - so many squares and rectangles.

In a large empty lot across Alger Street, running along Dorchester Ave., stands (or perhaps by this point, stood) a decomissioned Red Line subway car.

Car No. 1643 will be used by the developers of the On the Dot mixed-use project to "enhance the activity space," according to something I read somewhere online. The car was previously located in a parking lot abutting Cannonball Cafe, just up the street.

The Red Line runs underneath this area of the city, with a stop at nearby Andrew Square. The 1600 series Red Line cars came into MBTA service in the late '60s and early '70s.

Some buildings for the On the Dot project are already completed, while others in the planned 21-acre development of life-science, retail, and residential buildings will rise in the future.

To the south of the old subway car/soon-to-be social hangout stands a bit of old-school Boston: Andrew Square Liquors.

The Internet says this business opened in the late '90s. I'm guessing it took the place of a similar operation. I have a thing for packies, as they often have old signs that make for decent photos. Google Street View shows me that Andrew Square Liquors up until four years ago had a cooler sign than the current Budweiser one hanging over the awning.

I doubled back along Dorchester Avenue, cut down Damrell Street, went north-northwest on Old Colony Avenue and then headed onto E Street. After winding my way around, I ended up in front of some stunningly beautiful row houses on F Street.

These gorgeous homes date to the late 19th century.

I trekked up to Dorchester Street (not Ave.) and walked around the lovely and historic St. Augustine's Chapel grounds.

Founded in 1818, the chapel is the Boston Archdiocese's oldest Catholic church. It is open to the public only on holy days. The cemetery is the oldest Catholic burial ground in New England. There is a nice shrine that backs up to Tudor Street; it's obviously also used as a shed. Poor Mary!

I headed northeast along Dorchester Street, popping down West Fourth Street to check out a former fire house.

Completed in 1869, the station housed Ladder 5 until 1917, when the company moved next door to the much larger Engine 1 headquarters, which also served as a municipal district court. The building was converted to condos in recent years.

I headed next to East Broadway, about ready to finish my trip. At the intersection with Emerson Street, I was quite taken by the building housing M&T Oil Company / Metro Energy, which has been in business since 1929.

Upon getting back to my car, I remembered one more spot I wanted to document.

The Galley Diner is located on P Street, just off of East 1st Street. Established in 1995, the diner serves up breakfast seven days a week, and lunch Monday through Friday. Notice the sign also mentions Rumpy's, which is evidently is a brand of roast beef served at the diner.

For more on South Boston, check out the links below:

October 5, 2024, "Goin' ta Southie, Kehd"

August 27, 2020, "Circling Andrew Square"

January 25, 2020, "The Walk of Fame"

June 25, 2019, "Wool-d You Like to Join Me For a Walk?"

January 12, 2019, "Power Move in South Boston"

November 17, 2018, "Southie to Lose An Institution"

April 22, 2018, "Fort Point Channel - It's Electric!"

February 1, 2017, "Bon Voyage, Lady"

November 17, 2014, "Whitey Wuz Here"

Meandering in Milford

From Dave Brigham:

In April, I ventured to the Grafton Flea Market, searching for vintage wooden boxes I could use to showcase prints of my photos at arts and crafts events. I had no luck, but did procure three very cool crates not long after at Blue Collar Vintage Salvage, a great place in Leicester, Mass.***

Naturally, prior to my trek to Grafton, I scoped out a place to go backsidin'. That place turned out to be Milford, an old mill town with a population of just over 30,000 located in southeastern Worcester County, about 10 miles north of the Rhode Island border.

After parking in the center of town, along Main Street, I headed east and the first thing that caught my eye was the Milford Opera House.

Opened in 1881, this Victorian Gothic treasure has served many purposes down through the decades: a music hall, a theater, a racquetball club (!) and offices and shops, including a camera store that I will feature below that unfortunately is no longer in business.

I haven't found any information about the use of this place as a racquetball club, save for a few words from MACRIS, written in 1981: "[T]his lovely building is a racquetball club, where many Milfordians spend many happy hours. They can still enjoy the foyer that once part of the music hall, and many people enjoyed it in years gone by."

I passed several old buildings featuring small retailers, barber shops and churches, many catering to the growing Hispanic population (nearly 20% as of 2024). Then I spied a massive municipal building that was built in the middle of one of Milford's population explosions, as new industries took hold.

"The building is located in the center of the business district and is by far the most prominent building in the main street area," MACRIS reports. "The construction of the town hall out of wood and not granite makes it unique to the other town buildings. Milford's pink granite has played an important role nationally as a source of beautiful yet durable building medium. All of the other main public buildings are constructed out of Milford's granite, except for the town Hall (sic). This exception is important, for the building is a fine example of a wooden Italian Renaissance style."

The building rose in 1855. Five years later, "Milford pink granite was discovered, starting a long and successful quarrying industry in town," according to the town's 2025 Comprehensive Plan. "Milford saw the greatest growth in industry and population between 1830 and 1870," the plan indicates. "Between those four decades, the population increased from 1,360 to 9,000 people. Part of this population growth was fueled by the arrival of migrants from Ireland, who found work in the expanding boot and shoe industry as well as the emerging granite quarrying industry."

By the 1920s, the town had 16 quarries operating, with more immigrants arriving, many from Italy. "As the population increased and the town became wealthier, Milford saw a building boom. By the 1870s, the central village had become a distinct commercial district with multistory commercial brick building blocks and diverse establishments such as breweries, bakeries, and banks," the plan continues.

"The Great Depression led to the closure of several industrial businesses in Milford, including the Milford Iron Foundry, various shoe factories, and the quarries," according to the plan. "The population continued to grow, albeit slowly, between 1915 and 1940." During the 1980s, the town's Brazilian population grew.

Now that I've provided a history of the town's industrial and immigration growth, let's back to the buildings.

I doubled back on the opposite side of Main Street after seeing the town hall. I'd spied the old Rosenfeld Garage building as I walked east on Main Street, so I went back for a closer look.

This building on Spruce Street was home to the same business for at least 60 years, based on the "year constructed" date that MACRIS provides (1925), and the web site's 1986 write-up indicating that the garage was being run by the third generation of the family. Under renovation on the day I happened by, the building in more recent years was occupied by Gasco Auto Service, NAPA Auto Parts and Goodyear Tire Center. I'm not sure who the current tenant is.

Walking just a short distance west on Spruce Street, I looked up the hill and saw the magnificent Memorial Hall standing tall and proud along School Street.

Completed in 1884, this Richardsonian Romanesque beauty is currently home to the Milford Historical Museum, which has one of the finest displays of Civil War artifacts in the country, per the town's historical commission. "The large turret on the left of the building houses our large circular staircase made of our own Milford granite and each step is engraved with the name of a major battle of the Civil War and the name of its donner (sic)," according to MACRIS. "There are 23 steps. The large vestibule is made of oak and each side contains a marble plaque inscribed with the names of those who servered (sic)."

"The building was constructed in 1884 to serve multiple purposes: a free public library, meeting hall for the local Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) lodge, and most importantly, a memorial to honor the Civil War soldiers and sailors of Milford and nearby Hopedale," according to this Buildings of New England post.

Heading south-southwest on School Street, I found myself back at the old opera house. I was excited to see a sign on the Pine Street side of the building for a camera shop.

I was sad, however, to learn that about a month after I made this photo, Morin's Studio & Camera Shop closed up after more than 100 years in business.

Across Main Street from the opera house is one of several one-story commercial buildings located downtown.

When I found out on MACRIS that this building -- evidently two buildings stitched into one -- is known as the Blunt Block, I laughed to myself and thought of rap videos I've seen where crews are smoking blunts, aka a cigar that has been hollowed out and packed with weed.

(WARNING: This video is not safe for small pets or young children, nor for work, school or church.)

Then MACRIS tossed me this curious and, evidently, coincidental tidbit: "The earliest records that we have of this building show it being Milford's largest cigar manufactuer (sic)." The company was called Hale's Cigar Factory. The original owner was AJ Blunt, according to MACRIS. How's that for serendipity?

Current tenants include a convenience store, a karate studio and a church.

Further south, on the east side of Main Street, is one of several storefront churches I saw.

Milford Assembly of God is located in what appears to be a former bank, although I've been unable to confirm that. The house of worship, which I believe ministers to a Brazilian immigrant congregation, has been here since at least 2008, per my review of Google Street View.

I continued south on Main Street, then cut up Park Street, past Draper Memorial Park, which is located on land donated in the early years of last century by Susan Preston Draper. The small park features a statue -- fashioned by Lincoln Memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French -- of Gen. William Draper, Susan's husband. I did not make a photo of any of that.

I continued along Main Street, where the rear of an old fire station caught my eye.

I made an image of the front, located along South Main Street, a few minutes later.

"This firehouse was built in 1852 to house the new hook and ladder," according to MACRIS. "This company was call (sic) 'the Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company.'" As often happens when I'm researching my blog posts, I ran into conflicting information about the build date for the South Main Street Fire House. In this Patch article from December 2010, Deputy Fire Chief William Touhey said the station was built in the early 1900s.

""It was put in 'mothballs' around the year 2000," Touhey told Patch. "Then, when we rebuilt the Spruce Street station, it was reactivated until the construction was completed. When that was done, in 2003, the South Main Street station went into 'mothballs' again."

Regardless of when the fire house was erected, the property has sat largely unchanged since the town sold it in 2010. "Until the sale to [Jose] Ferreira, the building served as a storage center for the police and fire departments," the Patch article continues. " The sale was predicated on Ferreira's agreeing to convert the station to a multi-use building, with the bottom floor given over to commercial use, while the upper level would be turned into a housing unit. That plan was abandoned, however, as a result of neighborhood concerns. The major hurdle was the lack of available parking space for a commercial business."

The Patch article indicates that the property eventually was found to be deed-restricted to be only a single-family home. More than a decade and a half later, I'm not clear on whether there are any residents living here.

Across Main Street from the rear of the old fire station is an auto body shop with an eye-catching back entrance.

I'm unsure of the name of this joint; the town's assessor's database says the building dates to around 1900. Most of the cars in the shop's lot were modern; the two below, however, are gorgeous classic American cars.

(Mercury Comet, from the early- to mid-'60s.)

(Ford Ranchero from the early- to mid-'60s.)

At the corner of Main and Taylor streets sits this little building with sad red eyes.

For many years there was a business here called Cats II, which sold "specialty & promotional items," according to a sign that hung there that I saw on Google Street View. The sign below is from the side of the building.

K&S Painting was located here more recently, but I believe the business is no longer located here.

At this point, I turned back north on Main Street. One of the reasons I enjoy exploring old mill towns such as Milford is to see how these former centers of industrial strength are finding ways to grow and thrive after what may have been some lean times. A lot of the new energy in these towns comes from small businesses, many of them started by relatively new immigrants.

One type of business I've noticed in the towns and cities that I explore is tap rooms and affiliated operations. The Rail Trail Flatbread Company, sister to an outfit located in the town of Hudson, offers pizza, burgers and tacos, among other food, and also features 20 beer taps and additional options in cans and bottles. "[O]ur friends brew some really creative craft beers," the owners indicate on the web site.

Rail Trail is located in the Thayer Block, in a space previously occupied by Home National Bank of Milford and a branch of Rockland Trust Bank. This attractive building combines white brick with green marble from Vermont, according to MACRIS. The clock you can see at the right of the photo is "one of the remaining clocks made by the McClintock-Loomis Clock Company or successive company, O.B. McClintock Co., which specialized in sidewalk clocks for banking and financial institutions," according to this Buildings of New England post.

Next, I pointed myself east along Central Street, as I'd spied some old mill buildings.

The front (top) and rear (bottom) of what was originally known as Claflin and Thayer Shoe Factory. Built in 1871, this brick and fake stone (according to MACRIS) building in succeeding years was occupied by the Wilkinson Straw Hat Shop, the Rockingham Hotel and Stone's Furniture Store. In more recent years, as you can see in the second image, it was home to a Taylor Rental franchise.

I have a hard time imagining a former shoe factory being converted to a hotel, what with all the heavy machinery to be removed. MACRIS indicates at that time, the building had what is believed to be Milford's first elevator.

A short distance away is a related building, which, like the one above, dates to 1871.

MACRIS calls this one the Aaron Claflin Shoe Factory Building. Buildings of New England says Claflin and Thayer was "a leading boot and shoe manufacturer" in Milford, while MACRIS indicates this building is the only one on Central Street made from Milford granite, and one of the oldest along this old industrial strip.

The name Claflin and Thayer lives on in a clothing company started by the great-great-great granddaughter of the former boot company's founder. "My dad's great-great-grandfather started the original Claflin, Thayer & Co. in 1830 as a boot and shoe manufacturer in what is now Tribeca [in Manhattan, New York]," Liz Thayer tells a publication called Local Electric in this 2017 article.

While other sources online indicate the company was founded in the 1850s in Milford, I assume this is the same operation. Thayer continues: "The business was a family affair for over a hundred years until it closed down under my great-grandfather's management during the Great Depression. I think it's neat that I have fallen into the same work, so resurrecting the family name seemed like a given to me."

Claflin, Thayer & Co. sells outerwear and leather goods.

I mosied along, stopping to make a photo of the pleasant front of Nelly's Sandwich Shop.

The family-owned business has been making sandwiches and soups since 1997.

In the near distance, I could see what I thought was an old train station. It is indeed exactly that.

Now occupied by Countryside Discount Liquors, the old Milford Railroad Depot is located in a largely industrial area where the old railway right-of-way has been torn up. It was built in 1909 out of local granite, according to this Flickr post, which contradicts the above statement by MACRIS that the old shoe factory is the sole local granite survivor on this street.

The station was originally part of the Milford Branch of the Boston & Albany Railroad, according to this Waymarking post, which also pegs the built date to around 1890. Flip a coin.

"Passenger service remained on this line until 1959," the Waymarking article continues. "Penn Central, which eventually took control of the line, abandoned it in 1972."

My final stop in Milford was directly across my parking spot on Main Street.

The Gillon Block (aka the Ring and Welch Building) was built in 1888. The gorgeous Queen Anne building was erected by Patrick Gillon, who was a significant bottle manufacturer, according to MACRIS. Buildings of New England indicates that Gillon inherited his late-father’s distillery and bottling business.

Current tenants include a realtor and a mobile-phone store, but unfortunately not Manhattann's, which was a bar and restaurant whose sign is still on the building.

That's a wrap on Milford....

***I used those crates on May 31st at the Harvard Square MayFair, which marked the debut of Dave Brigham Photography in the public square. I was very happy to make a few sales and chat with many fairgoers. I will display my prints at other shows in the future, including at the Brighton Bazaar's New Digs: A Market for the Recently Moved at the Charles River Speedway in Brighton on September 5.

Checking Out Dudley Street in Roxbury...and a Historic, Pre-Civil War House

From Dave Brigham:

As part of a series of quick-hit jaunts through Boston this spring, I checked out the outer reaches of Nubian Square, mostly along Dudley Street. Earlier that day, I was in Egleston Square (see July 18, 2026, "Scrambling Through Boston's Egleston Square"), and subsequently I walked through Newmarket Square. I don't plan to publish anything about the latter neighborhood, having covered it pretty well a few years back (see May 15, 2022, "Busting Ghosts in Boston's Newmarket Square").

I'll admit that when I steered myself toward Dudley Street, I didn't realize that I wasn't far from Nubian Square (formerly Dudley Square), which I wrote about last year (see March 4, 2025, "Nubian Square: New Name, Old Buildings"). My first stop, Montesino & Sons Tire Shop, is located just a half mile from Hibernian Hall, the historic events venue in Nubian Square that I wrote about in the post linked above.

Situated at the northern end of Blue Hill Avenue, where it intersects with Dudley Street, the tire shop has been in business for at least 30 years. I like Montesino's sign, with a tire forming the "O" in "Sons." Adjacent to the store is a large parking lot and work area. I can't say I've ever seen a storefront tire repair joint before. Usually they're located in service stations.

The building rose in 1890, per MACRIS.

I headed southeast on Dudley Street, passing a park (Dudley Town Common), the old St. Joseph Home for the Aged, numerous three-decker homes and brick apartment buildings, until I spied Davey's Super Market (formerly F and T Supermarket).

I'm guessing that there has been a market here for several decades. "We're like a staple in the community," Jacqueline Teixeira, owner of Davey's, told the local CBS news station, WBZ, in this article. "We're not only like a grocery store; we're like a community center."

At the left of the photo, you can see part of the mural that runs the entire length of the store along Clarence Street. The art work depicts "heroes from our community," according to the web site for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. The mural was the first that DSNI produced.

Continuing along, I stepped into an alley next to Nos Casa Cafe (Spanish and Portuguese fare) to check out a ghost sign for a much older business.

I don't know how old this sign for Smith Grocery is, when the business was started, nor when it went out of business. I always love seeing relics like this, fossils from earlier times.

Located at 475 Dudley Street, this building is known as the Adolph Miller Building, which dates to 1897, according to MACRIS.

Further south on Dudley Street, at the corner of Albion Street, I made an image of the side of Market Borinqueña.

This is one of those photos that I just walk into. The bold lettering on the sign telling potential customers important information, the contrast of the tan and blue section of painted wall, the stacks of plastic crates, the bike, the pallet. I really like this image. The next one is no slouch either.

I walked past Market Borinqueña, then turned around and headed back toward my starting point. I was thrilled by the sign painted on the side of Ideal Sub Shop. Again, the sign tells you everything you need to know, in a bold but simple fashion.

A little further north, I looked east down Rockford Street, a narrow way running down the side of a two-and-a-half story building that, I found out later via MACRIS, is a former Metropolitan Street Railway car house (so sorry, no photo). I spied a carriage house and thought, "Oh, that's cool. And in really good condition."

Then I walked up a series of short stone stairways up a small hill in front of me and saw the main house. "This place is beautiful," I said.

I'd heard of the Shirley-Eustis House, and knew it was in Roxbury, but I had no idea I was close by. I'm thankful that my backside nose led me to it.

"The Shirley-Eustis House was built in bucolic Roxbury in 1747 by William Shirley as his country estate," according to the web site for the non-profit organization that operates the home as a museum and event and education space. "Shirley was Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1741-1749 and 1753-1756. In 1756 he was also appointed by King George II Commander-in-Chief of all British and Colonial Forces in North America. In this grand example of English Palladian design, Governor Shirley and his family lived very public lives as representatives of the British Empire. Their persons, their house, and the grounds were cared for by a staff of enslaved Africans, indentured servants, and sometimes idle soldiers."

In 1759 Shirley was reappointed as the Governor of the Bahamas and he deeded the property to his son-in-law, Eliakim Hutchinson, according to MACRIS. Hutchinson, who served as a member of the governor's council and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, lived in the property until his death in 1775.

The estate served as a vital property for the colonists during the Revolutionary War. "Despite Hutchinson's demise, the Americans seized his property officially in 1782, but practically in 1775 because of its former owner's Loyalist sentiments. Beginning in 1775 the house was used as barracks and hospital for men stationed in Dorchester during the [British] siege [of Boston]," MACRIS continues.

Per the Shirley-Eustis House Association, the home was owned by a succession of wealthy Bostonians in the following decades, including Capt. James Magee, a merchant; and former diplomat William Eustis and his wife, Caroline. In 1865, Hannah Osgood purchased the property and ran it as a boarding house.

"By 1900...the aging structure was a tenement falling quickly into disrepair," per the web site. "In 1913 it was condemned and slated for demolition."

Preservationists stepped in to save the home. "Led by Lillie B. Titus and William Sumner Appleton, the Shirley-Eustis House Association managed to rescue the house and worked diligently over several decades to restore it to its former grandeur. With the exception of the lost piazzas and verandas, the house now looks very much as it did in 1820."

The carriage house dates to 1806.

Scrambling Through Boston's Egleston Square

From Dave Brigham:

I've danced around Boston's Egleston Square quite a bit over the years I've been publishing this blog. I've roamed Jackson Square, the Fort Hill Tower area, Franklin Park and parts of the nearby Jamaica Plain neighborhood (see the bottom of this post for links to those articles). Recently, I finally checked out the Egleston area, using as motivation my hope that there was an old sign still hanging outside the final Skippy White's Records store to close.

My jaunt through the square was part of a one-day whirlwind tour including Jamaica Plain (to make photos, once again, of Boston's old breweries), the outskirts of Nubian Square and the gritty streets of Newmarket Square (where I've also been before).

I recently decided that I want to make photos of as many Boston-area record stores as I can. I included Skippy White's on the list, even though the store in Egleston Square had closed in January 2020. I noticed on Google Street View that as of October 2022, there were signs promoting "CD's - Videos - DVDs" above the windows at 1971 Columbus Avenue. Alas, when I arrived in early spring of this year, those signs were gone. The good news is that another small business now fills the space -- I forget what sort of outfit it is, and a Google search did not provide an answer.

I never had the pleasure of going to any Skippy White's store. Founded in 1960 in Boston's South End as Mass Records, the chain grew to include shops in other Boston neighborhoods, as well as Cambridge, Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, as well as New Orleans (!), according to this Bay State Banner article.

"For more than six decades, White sold gospel, R&B and soul music to Boston’s African American community and other lovers of Black music," the article indicates. I encourage you to read that Bay State Banner article.

The Skippy White signs were gone, but there were other things that caught my eye in Egleston Square, which straddles Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

Right across Columbus Avenue from the old record store is the circular residential tower known as the Doris Bunte Apartments. Completed in 1970 for the Boston Housing Authority, the cylindrical building was originally known as Walnut Park. The architecture firm of Richmond & Goldberg designed the project. The firm, which was in business from 1946 to 1973, also designed the Egleston Square branch of the Boston Public Library; a number of temples in Brookline; and many other municipal and religious structures.

The building reminds me of Chicago's Marina City, a mixed-use residential and commercial complex along the Chicago River. I mentioned those towers in a post about the Windy City several years ago (see May 18, 2018, "Rollin' On the River").

The Bunte building is slated for renovation.

The tower was renamed for Doris Bunte, who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1984, and administrator of the Boston Housing Authority from 1984 to 1992. She was the first African-American woman to hold either position, according to Wikipedia.

I've taken a liking to storefronts of late, be they old or new.

On the corner of Weld and Columbus avenues stands Violeta Appliance, a store that I believe is relatively new. I really love the bold colors in the lettering and background.

Around the corner on Washington Street is Egleston Liquors. I like that the sign tells potential customers in both English and Spanish what type of store it is.

On the corner of School and Washington streets, I found a beautiful doorway.

Erected in 1905, the Queen Anne / Richardsonian Romanesque commercial/apartment block was built for D.F. and W.S. Littlefield, brothers who owned a fruit market. Currently the ground-floor retail space is occupied by a market and a barber shop.

At the corner of Washington Street and Chilcott Place stands Pika Pollo, a Dominican fried chicken joint. On the side there is a fantastic mural.

Painted by Philadelphia-based artist Betsy Casañas, the work is a vibrant addition to the neighborhood.

The furthest west I went on this jaunt was the former Franklin Brewery building, which towers over Washington Street. If you enlarge the image below, you can see the beer brewer's name chiseled into the stone rectangle in the middle of the entryway.

I wrote about (and shared images of) this place in the blog post linked above about Boston's old breweries. In part, I wrote: "Built in 1894, this Queen Anne fortress was a brewery until...1918," shortly before Prohibition kicked in. "In 1900, 'the Franklin Brewery became a branch of the Massachusetts Brewery Co., a consortium which included the American Brewery at 249 Heath Street, the Alley Brewery at 123 Heath Street, H. and J. Pfaff Co. at 1276 Columbus, and the Robinson Brewery at 55-71 Amory,' per MACRIS."

"'The brewery was named for nearby Franklin Park....Around 1918, the Franklin Brewery building was vacant and a year later was owned by the Union Wool Co. and used for storage. By the 1920's, 3179 Washington had become the home of the D.W.. Dunn Storage Company,'" MACRIS continued.

Today, this beauty is home to Extra Space Storage.

At this point, I headed north-northeast to Columbus Avenue. Standing at the corner of Washington and Atherton streets, I had to rub my eyes as I looked across Columbus. "Is that part of the old elevated railway?" I said out loud, to nobody but myself.

No, the 14,000-square foot Egleston Center isn't a relic from Boston's transit days gone by. But is an homage. Located on the site of the former Egleston Station stop on the Washington Street elevated rail line, the commercial development was built in the mid-1990s by Urban Edge, a community developer founded in 1974.

Pretty cool!

Check out this image of the old elevated station, from Digital Commonwealth.

Heading north on Columbus Avenue, I passed #1945, a large triangular property that was once a used car lot.

(The former sales office for Columbus Auto Sales and, more recently, Roxbury Motors.)

Looking at Google Street View, I saw that the last business to occupy this lot was Roxbury Motors. For years prior, it was home to Columbus Auto Sales. Sometime between August 2019 and October 2022, Roxbury Motors vacated the lot. The site has been owned by Larosa Development Corporation of Norwood, Mass., since early 2019. I haven't been able to determine what, if any, plans there are for the property.

At the corner of West Walnut Park and Columbus Avenue sits my favorite site of that day.

I love the layers of history here. In reverse order: El Cruce Market, which replaced Salcedo Market within the last three years; Columbus Market, which, judging from the plastic sign, dated back at least a few decades; and the name carved into the building, C.J. Spenceley Block, and the date "1888."

Of late, I've focused my lens on storefronts such as this one. I love the bold colors, the variety of food and other products catering to local ethnic groups, the sense of community they engender. As painter Debbie Shirley writes to describe an exhibit of hers showcasing immigrant-owned convenience stores, "Each piece celebrates the cultures, communities, and everyday encounters that give these storefronts their stories."

So, who was C.J. Spenceley?

"Christopher Jackson Spenceley was born in Wicasset, Maine on August 16, 1840," according to this Jamaica Plain Historical Society article. "He...came to Boston at the age of 17 [where] he learned to be a carpenter and by 1863 had started his own business. He became engaged in the building and selling of structures in the South End and Roxbury."

Spenceley served three consecutive terms on the Boston Common Council, a precursor to the Boston City Council. He also served a Trustee for the Boston City Hospital (now known as Boston Medical Center) for several years. He married Rebecca Staples (from Truro, Nova Scotia) on August 16, 1863 and they had three children: Joseph Winfred, Fred and Mineola, the article continues.

The family lived at 367 Walnut Ave, just a few blocks from the C.J. Spenceley Block. He died on August 12, 1903 and is buried at Fox Hill Cemetery in Billerica.

My final Egleston Square image is of a simple yet effective and eye-catching sign, in front of IAO Auto Repair, at Columbus Avenue and Bancroft Street.

The sign seems to date from when E & J Auto Tech was on the site, in early 2016, according to Google Street View.

Check back soon for my write-up about a stretch along Dudley Street on the outskirts of Boston's Nubian Square.

Below are links to posts referenced above:

March 4, 2025, "Nubian Square: New Name, Old Buildings"

October 19, 2024, "Beyond the Standpipe: I Find Black Jesus and Other Cool Stuff in Fort Hill"

September 21, 2024, "Franklin Park is Ruin-ed"

May 18, 2024, "Stadium Tour in Franklin Park"

February 26, 2022, "Jamaica Plain, Part II: The Return"

December 18, 2019, "Having a Bear of a Time at the Zoo"

January 26, 2018, "Jamaica Plain Has Plenty of Flair"

December 9, 2017, "Artist Thinks: I HAF to Fix That Smokestack"