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.

Records, Wrecks + Religion

From Dave Brigham:

I used to love going to record stores and flipping through albums, EPs, 7-inches, cassette tapes and, as time wore on, CDs, hunting for punk, post-punk, New Wave, blues, classic rock, etc.

I still hit such shops once in a while, mainly looking for used country records, and always keep my eyes peeled for the stores when I'm out and about with my camera. I've featured images of record stores in plenty of blog posts, including in Gardner, Mass., Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Beverly, Mass., Worcester, Mass., Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., Ball Square in Somerville, Mass., Boston's Allston neighborhood, Natick, Mass., Belmont, Mass., and others that I didn't take the time to look up.

I recently decided I wanted to make photos of as many Boston-area record stores as I can. With that in mind, I headed to Mattapan, specifically the north-central part of the Boston neighborhood, along its commercial spine, Blue Hill Avenue. There, I found one that will be hard to beat, aesthetic-wise.

Founded in 1981, Taurus Records specializes in reggae, soca and Calypso in their mission to bring "the rich sounds of the Caribbean to their new community," per the store's web site. "Our store remains a hub for music lovers, where culture is celebrated and the beats of Jamaica live on. For us, it's more than just a business; it's a celebration of heritage, a community gathering space, and a tribute to the unifying power of music," the shop's owners, Sonia Barnett and Leroy Webb, profess on their web site.

Taurus also sells jewelry, apparel, car accessories, flags and other merchandise.

I walked around a bit, making sure to get a shot of the Mattapan Auto Body shop, which also houses All Star Motor Group.

I'm guessing the building dates to the 1920s or 1930s, and that the business has been around for a few decades at least. I really dig the signage.

The last place I checked out on my quick trip was the Lily of the Valley Baptist Church, at Blue Hill Avenue and Hosmer Street.

The church was founded in 1984, I believe. The building looks like it may have originally been a store or a warehouse.

For the other post I've written about Mattapan, see August 16, 2018, "The Lowdown on the High-Speed Line", about the quaint branch of Boston's rail system located about 1.5 miles south of the Baptist church, just on the Milton line.

In the Valley of Belmont, Part II: Waverley Square

From Dave Brigham:

Belmont's Waverley Square is named for the Waverley Oaks, a well-known -- and long-gone -- famous stand of trees in what is now Beaver Brook Reservation, on the border with Waltham. The grove of trees -- somewhere between one and two dozen -- were "very large and ancient," according to the web site for The Waverley Trail.

The Oaks "inspired the creation of the world’s first regional land trust," according to the Trail's site. Said land trust, The Trustees of Reservations, was formed in 1891 by the Massachusetts Legislature "for the purposes of acquiring, holding, maintaining and opening to the public...beautiful and historic places...within the Commonwealth," per the Trustees' web site.

By the late 19th century, these trees were already older than the nation, according to various online accounts, with estimates of their ages ranging from 100 to 1,000 years old. Unfortunately, none of those mighty oaks are still standing, although the Waverley Trail site tells us that descendants of those mighty trees stand today.

But I'm not here to bum you out about dead timber - I'm here to celebrate yet another Belmont commercial destination (for my first Belmont post, see November 22, 2025, "In the Valley of Belmont, Part I: The Center").

Located in the south-centralish area of the town, Waverley Square is roughly bounded by Trapelo Road, Lexington Street, Pleasant Street and, oh let's say Bartlett Avenue. Amid the residential streets flanking Trapelo Road there are stores, restaurants, churches, historic signs and other points of interest.

I made a few visits to this area. From Beaver Brook Reservation, an area I wrote about once before (see November 25, 2012, "Crouching Barn, Hidden Mill"), head east along Trapelo Road to get to the square. Right where Trapelo meets Pleasant Street stands a small brick building that marks the southern tip of the expansive and well-known McLean Hospital facility and grounds.

Known as the Pleasant Street Lodge, the building once served as an entry gate to the grounds, I believe. These days, it serves as a meeting space for members of the residential community on the grounds. I haven't been able to track down information about its age, prior usage or architect.

At the corner of Church and Lexington streets is a fantastic architectural two-fer.

Occupied by Best Cleaners, on the left, and a Dunkin' franchise, on the right, these two nicely maintained buildings date to different decades of the 1800s. The Dunkin' building was likely built in the 1880s, per MACRIS. It "has most likely always been used for a commercial business on the ground floor and residential space above, as it is today," MACRIS continues. "It may have functioned as hotel space for immigrant workers who came to Boston in the 1890s to help construct the McLean Hospital complex."

Its similarly styled neighbor dates to the early 1850s and is known historically as Waverley Hall. One of the oldest buildings in this area of Belmont, it was originally located across from its current site, according to MACRIS. "[T]he structure was built to provide a meeting place and general store for the emerging population. The first floor was probably used commercially and the second floor served as a hall. The building may have also been used as the railroad depot for the Waverley stop [of the Fitchburg Railroad]. The hall was used as a location for public meetings and as the home of the First Congregational Church of Waverley, organized in 1861."

A few doors down, heading north on Church Street, is one of two storefronts for Wheelworks, a bike shop that was founded in 1977.

There's nothing particularly amazing architecturally about this place, but in doing some pre-search before heading out for second pass through Waverley Square, I learned that this Art Deco building served as a First National grocery store when it was built in 1931. First National Stores (later known as Finast) formed in 1925 from a merger of three grocery store operators, per Wikipedia. The company was eventually acquired and the stores were rebranded in various ways.

The main entrance to Wheelworks is located at 480 Trapelo Road, in what is known historically as the Leonardi-Maynard Block.

"This block was one of many such single-story 'taxpayer' commercial structures which sprung up along streetcar routes and commercial centers in the Boston area in the early 20th century," MACRIS indicates. "Charles E. Leonardi, a Boston attorney, was issued a building permit for the seven unit building in 1914. In 1915 the tenants included Charles E. Scott, insurance agent at #472; the Waverley Square Provision Co. at #476; Isaac Silver’s dry goods store at #482; Pannanchio & Albany’s fruit store at #486 and the Waverley Square Bowling Alley in the basement."

I wonder if remnants of the bowling alley exist. Over the years, I've learned about numerous buildings in Greater Boston that once had thriving bowling alleys in their basements. Sadly, many of those businesses ended up in the gutter.

On the north side of Trapelo Road, a short walk from the commuter train stop, where Waverley Street meets the main drag, stands a beautiful former municipal building that is now surely a great place to live.

This gorgeous place was built in 1873 as a school. In 1895 it was named the Rev. Daniel Butler Grammar School. "It is the oldest surviving schoolhouse in Belmont," according to MACRIS. "After a new Butler school opened in 1900, the second story of this lovely old pile was occupied by the Waverley Society of Odd Fellows. The first floor was vacant until 1906 when it became temporary quarters for the Fire Department and Electric Light Department.

"The Odd Fellows moved out in 1926 and the second story was remodeled to provide sleeping quarters for the firemen. In 1930 an addition was made and the building was converted to a two-door station, with the current Art Deco entry added. A third and final addition was made in 1933 when a branch library wing was constructed."

This building was converted to condos in 2007.

Walking east on Trapelo Road, I looked south down Maple Street and thought I spied something worth checking out in the middle distance. That turned out to be a backside mirage, but on my trek along Maple, I found something real...if a little odd.

Home to Friendship Lodge #20, the Oddfellows Hall is...uh, I got nothing. MACRIS has no details, neither does the Belmont assessor's database.

Back out on Trapelo is a place that I was hoping was still an active theater. But alas....

Now occupied by Beacon Community Church, the former Strand Theater opened in 1921 from a design by Funk and Wilcox. The firm was "primarily known for designing apartment houses and commercial dwellings," according to this Back Bay Houses article. "They designed the Boston Arena (1910) on St. Botolph [Street] and a number of theaters, including (in 1918) the Strand Theatre at Upham’s Corner" in Boston.

The architects also designed the Cabot Theater in Beverly, Mass., which I mentioned in my write-up about that North Shore town (see September 16, 2023, "Downtown Beverly, Part I: Cabot Street + Environs").

The Belmont theater operated under a few names over the decades, including the Studio. In 1976, the owners installed new seats, reducing the total number to just over 400. The moviehouse was renovated again in 1998. According to Cinema Treasures, the theater "was closed in January 2015, but reopened July 2015. On September 9, 2020 it was sold to a church."

On the side of the adjacent Lisa's Family Pizzeria is a great mural.

Across from the pizza joint is Art's Specialties, part of a small local chain of specialty gourmet shops selling cheese, wine, beer, chocolate, dried meat, teas and much more. I dug the poster in the window, as well as the beer selection.

The image is a famous one. From the Library of Congress: "Marching under banners emblazoned 'We Want Beer,' and to the tune of 36 bands, more than 1500 union men paraded through Broad Street, Newark, N. J., on October 30th. [1931], in spectacular anti-prohibition demonstration. Over 20 labor unions and 800 musicians took part in the huge demonstration which is said to be one of the largest and most impressive of any staged in the country."

Side note about Trapelo Road: for a few years after I moved to Greater Boston in 1990 I thought the road was pronounced "TRAP-e-lo," rhyming with Tupelo, the Mississippi birthplace of Elvis Presley. I called information [look it up, kids] one day in the early '90s while I was at work, trying to find some company's phone number, and was corrected by the operator: "It's pronouned "Tra-PELL-o."

I crossed the street, and on the south side of Trapelo, as I was heading west, I spied L.C.'s Variety, about which I know two things: it has a pleasant sign, and it is located in a building that dates to 1927.

Continuing west, I had to make a photo of the automaton cobbler in the window of Peter's Shoe Repair.

This place looks like it's been in business for quite a few decades. As for the somewhat creepy dude who looks like a ventriloquist's dummy, he's part of a culture that I'm hoping to learn more about. In my travels over the years in service of this blog, I've come across a few such automatons, including one at The Cobbler Shop in Newton Corner; one at Eagle Shoe Repair in Norwood; and let's not forget this variation from David's Instant Shoe Repair in Boston, which is now out of business:

I wrapped up my Waverley Square-ish tour at the Pleasant Street Garage, which is north of the Star Market and the Belmont Car Wash. According to MACRIS, the complex "was constructed as an automobile sales and service facility in multiple stages between 1912 and 1949. The complex includes an automotive showroom at its west end and a long narrow section extending to the northeast formerly used for service and storage."

That western end is now occupied by Artefact, a home and garden store.

"The Pleasant Street Garage was initially operated by Cheney J. Holton and George Williams about 1912," MACRIS continues. "The garage consisted of a small building and offered supplies, accessories and storage with all makes of cars bought, sold and exchanged. Holton sold his share of the business to Williams and in 1928 George Williams sold to Amedio (Joseph) DeMelia.

"Amedio Joseph DeMelia was born in Verona, Italy, and upon arriving in the U.S. settled initially in New York City before arriving in Belmont. Under his ownership, the Pleasant Street Garage was continually expanded over the next fifty years and became one of the largest Dodge dealerships in New England.

"The complex was sold by Joseph DeMelia’s daughters, Claire and Lorraine DeMelia, in 2010 to Paul Tocci."

I really like the look of these buildings, and love that they have been repurposed for a variety of uses, including several related to automobiles, including Boston Motor Werks and Coachworks

I love that the owner of this property left an old sign intact.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of Waverley Square. Make sure to check back for the final installment in this series, in which I will cover Cushing Square. In the meantime, check out the links below for older posts about Belmont.

November 21, 2017, "Punk Farm?"

July 2, 2013, "Ped Xing"

May 28, 2013, "Small, But Useful"

Beyond the Standpipe: I Find Black Jesus and Other Cool Stuff in Fort Hill

From Dave Brigham:

I've seen lots of photos of the very photogenic Cochituate Standpipe on Instagram and elsewhere, and it just looked so cool and I had high hopes to make the most incredible images of the Boston icon when I finally visited. As you'll see, however, my photos are just mid, as the kids say. But I'll tell you what, I'll put my photos of Black Jesus and O'Aces Barber Shop up against anybody else's. That's just one of the beautiful things about this blog: I get average shots of the places that everybody shoots, and cool shots of places that most people ignore.

The standpipe was the main draw for me to the Fort Hill area of Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, a small district located east of Mission Hill. Before and after seeing the landmark, I found so many great things, from a gorgeous mural to a touching tribute to murder victims, beautiful historic homes to a Cadillac junkyard, a storefront church and the former home of a Boston music industry legend. And that's not all. Let's check it out.

I had barely begun my journey when, at the intersection of Centre and Highland streets, I spied a jaw-dropping work of art.

Called "Pa*Lante" ("pa’lante" is a rallying cry of "onward" in Spanish slang), the mural was painted by Rixy, a Latinx artist who grew up nearby. The work "depicts a Latinx woman and her canine sidekick working their way toward the fictional land of Cúcala," according to this Bay State Banner article. "Cúcala is a fictional promised land that represents emotional healing. Rixy’s heroine must combat Latin machismo, generational trauma and other challenges to get to the end goal: a sense of peace, stability and healing. This is the journey that Rixy herself and many other women of color navigate on a daily basis."

It really is quite stunning.

I headed north on Centre Street and was stopped in my tracks at an obviously abandoned home that looked like it had been quite grand in its day.

Built circa 1825, the David Dudley House provides a link back to the earliest days of Colonial Massachusetts. The Dudley family vas one of the first to settle in Roxbury. David's ancestor, Thomas Dudley, served several non-consecutive terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1634 and 1651, per Wikipedia. In addition, he was one of the founders of Newtowne (now Cambridge), provided funds and land for the Roxbury Latin School and is the namesake of the Roxbury neighborhood formerly known as Dudley Square (now Nubian Square).

As for David, he served as president of Trader's National Bank of Boston for 10 years, according to this Historic Boston, Inc. (HBI), article. His father, Lieutenant Thomas Dudley, served in the Revolutionary War. His mother was Abigail Weld Dudley. David's wife, Hannah Davis Dudley, was also a Roxbury native. The couple had 10 children before David died in 1841 at age 54. Hannah died in 1886 at age 94.

"After Hannah’s death in 1886, the Dudley family continued to occupy the house until the house was sold to Bishop John J. Williams, 4th Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Boston, in 1897 as the rectory for All Saints Church, which stood next to the house," per the HBI article linked above. "The parish added a third story and a two story columned portico. The house was a rectory until the church closed in 1973 and the historic house taken by the State in 1968 for the Inner Belt Highway."

Ah, the Inner Belt Highway. As I wrote in this April 2023 post about Somerville, the proposed highway involved connecting the Massachusetts Turnpike and the Southeast Expressway "by way of a six-lane, circumferential route running from what is now the Mass. Avenue connector in the South End, through parts of Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville to Inner Belt Road in Somerville....First proposed in the late 1940s, the auxiliary highway...was finally scotched in the early 1970s, after vociferous opposition by everyone from a handful of city planners with the Boston Redevelopment Agency (now the Boston Planning & Development Agency) and the Cambridge City Council, to the Black United Front and countless residents in each of the affected cities."

In more recent years, the Dudley House was used as a substance-abuse residential rehabilitation center. In February 2020, HBI submitted a proposal to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management to rehab the house for seven condos. I haven't found out the status of that proposal, or any other project that may save this historic home.

Partway up Centre Street, I hooked a right onto Marcela Street to start heading up toward the standpipe in Highland Park. On the side of a nice brick apartment building, I spied a different type of mural with a message that I initially took to be 100% uplifting.

"Perhaps it's true that things can change in a day."

But after looking at the Spanish-language version, and seeing "En memoria a," which translates to "in memory of," I considered that perhaps the message could be read in a different way. This work was completed by artists who go by Line One and TECK24Horas.

Before heading to Fort Hill, I'd checked out Google Maps, as I often do. When I saw a pin for "Black Jesus Statue" along Highland Street, I knew I had to seek it out.

The statue is located near the entrance to a small park that includes community gardens. This type of space is at a premium in Boston, so I was glad to see it. The park is surrounded by tightly packed houses and is basically the backyard of the Hawthorne Youth & Community Center. It's a great community resource that was made possible when several buildings were torn down. There's quite a history here, so let's unpack some of it.

The buildings were once owned by Holy Trinity Catholic Church, a parish in Boston's South End that was comprised in its early years in the first half of the 19th century largely of German immigrants. The Highland Park/Fort Hill neighborhood had a significant German population in the first half of last century, according to this Fort Hill History blog post. The church operated a "home" where nuns, the clergy and parishioners tended to those down on their luck. "The 'Home' was located in Roxbury in a large building on Highland, Fulda and Ellis Streets," per the above-linked blog post. "Elderly widows and orphans lived here as well. There was also an elementary school attended by about 200 children from the neighborhood. On Sundays, the neighborhood Catholics attended Mass at St Elizabeth’s Chapel at the 'Home'."

In the 1960s, the church phased out these operations, as well as others in the city, according to this history of the church, which includes some photos of this site and others. "At some point...the complex was closed and the buildings were all destroyed, possibly by one of the many fires our neighborhood suffered in the late '70s and early '80s," per the Fort Hill History blog post.

I'm happy that a site like this is thriving. In 2008, Holy Trinity Church was shuttered and eventually was converted to condos. I wrote about that transformation back in late 2019 (see December 31, 2019, "From Holy to Housing").

OK, finally we get to the Cochituate Standpipe, aka the Fort Hill Tower.

Those are the best shots I made. They aren't terrible, but I was hoping they'd be better. Anyway, let's discuss the history.

Located in Highland Park, the standpipe stands on ground once occupied by the Roxbury High Fort, which was built during the Revolutionary War. "The High Fort, or Upper Fort, sat on the highest point in Roxbury, providing the colonists with an optimal vantage of the British army," according to the National Park Service. "According to [Francis S.] Drake, it is believed to have been 'regarded by [George] Washington as the best and most eligibly situated of all the works.'"

The fort was an earthwork fortification, made from dirt and probably other materials, created during the British Siege of Boston.

The standpipe -- which is truly quite majestic and fairy tale-like in appearance -- rose in 1869. Built by the Cochituate Water Company, it was designed by architect Nathaniel Bradlee, who served as the president of the Boston Water Board and designed more than 500 buildings in and around Boston, according to this article.

The Gothic Revival-style standpipe stored water from Lake Cochituate in Natick for use by local residents, according to this Boston Preservation Alliance article. The standpipe was "soon obsolete" and was disconnected from the water system. "Between 1895 and 1916 the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot made improvements to the property, including the addition of an exterior viewing balcony and the reconstruction of the quadrangular shape of the original fort," according to the BPA article.

The tower was neglected and fell into disrepair. In the early 1980s, the City of Boston restored the tower. In 2013, "an extensive restoration effort was undertaken by the City of Boston," according to the BPA. "Russo Barr Associates, architects, and Building Conservation Associates paid special attention to historically appropriate methods and materials. This included the removal of paint and the restoration of period-appropriate mineral coatings, replacement of window glazing, and repairs to the cast iron staircase, metal roof, and arched wood windows."

The end result is magnificent.

I headed east down Fort Avenue and on Highland Street saw some cool old houses. At 143 Highland stands a lovely old brownstone with some great details...and a creepy guardian.

The house dates to 1910.

Across the street is a true stunner, with seven bedrooms and four bathrooms. This beauty dates to 1826!

This place is known as the Benjamin F. Copeland House, which is one of the earliest examples of the Greek Revival style in this area, per MACRIS.

Heading north on Highland Street, I reached a quaint little park, turned around looking west and saw what I first thought was a former bank, which looked quite odd in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

This handsome Greek Revival building is known as the Alvah Kittredge House, named for the developer who built it in 1836. Kittredge and his family lived in the house, which originally was located on the nearby site of the Roxbury Lower Fort, another Revolutionary War-era structure, and moved to its location on Linwood Street in 1896, per MACRIS.

The house is one of a handful of high style Greek Revival period wood frame houses remaining in Boston, according to Historic Boston, Inc.

The house was occupied in later years by the aforementioned architect Nathaniel Bradlee. "The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2016," per Wikipedia.

"In the 1970s and 80s, [the house] was home to the African American advancement organization Roxbury Action Program (RAP)," per HBI. "The house was vacant from 1991-2011. HBI purchased the property in 2011 and completed a $3.8 million rehabilitation in 2014. The renewed mansion now holds five two-bedroom residential units including two permanently designated affordable units."

The quaint little patch of green I mentioned above is Alvah Kittredge Park. Parks like these often feature benches named in honor of a deceased loved one, or plaques honoring those who worked diligently to create the oasis, which are the types of things I love to stumble across. Kittredge Park, alas, features something I've never seen before: a memorial to two local kids who were murdered.

"This is a reproduction of the original mural painted in memory of the loss of Charles Copney and Korey Grant, two local boys who were fatally shot while socializing on their front porch," the plaque reads in part. The boys, 11 and 16, respectively, were gunned down in 1991. I remember their murders; I'd moved to Boston in the fall of 1990 and this was a huge story in the local media. Charles and Korey were caught in the middle of a gang battle.

Their murderer, who was only 15 at the time, served five years in the juvenile system. In the wake of their killings, the Massachusetts legislature passed laws that allowed juveniles convicted of first-degree murder to be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.

Steps away from this loving memorial is Timothy Baptist Church.

The church building dates to 1932 and was originally known as the Trinity Lettish Evangelical Lutheran Church. This was a church formed for the Roxbury community of Latvian immigrants, who began coming to the Boston area around 1890, according to Wikipedia.

The Timothy Baptist congregation was started in 1967. The building has undergone some renovations in recent years. In 2014, a "team of 46 volunteers...traveled from First Baptist Church in Southern Pines, North Carolina to Timothy Baptist Church in Roxbury to assist with renovations to the historic church building," according to this Bay State Banner article.

From there I headed east on Millmont Street. At the end of that street, I found myself exclaiming, "Oh, wow! Look at THAT place!"

Finding buildings like this is why I love to only do minimal research before visiting an area. I get so excited to discover relics like this, born during a much different architectual age, for an entirely different purpose than its current use.

Designed by the aforementioned Nathaniel Bradlee, the Fellowes Athenaeum opened on July 9, 1873, as a library. The athenaeum is named for Caleb Fellowes (not to be confused with the host of "Brian Fellow's Safari Planet"), who, although born in Gloucester, Mass., in 1771, had many ties to Roxbury, according -- once again -- to the Fort Hill History blog. After spending more than two decades abroad, including in India and China, he returned stateside and married Sarah Carver in Philadelphia in 1814. They settled in Roxbury in 1816.

The couple lived in Roxbury until 1836, when, at the age of 65, Fellowes "got the urge to go back to India, and so...he sold his house, packed his bags, and sailed halfway around the world with his wife. Apparently you can’t go home again, because the next year he gave up on India and moved back to the US, but this time to his wife’s hometown of Philadelphia, where he lived until he died at the age of 82."

OK, Dave, that's great history. But what's the story with the library?

Sorry about that. While living in Roxbury, Fellowes had befriended a man named Supply Clapp Thwing (that's a great name for an indie rock band or a replacement game for Rock Paper Scissors), according to the Fort Hill History piece. Fellowes intended to leave a sum of $40,000 (equal to, well, quite a bit more than that in that day) to Thwing, but the latter "talked him out of it and asked him to use it to found the athenaeum instead."

Long story, short: Thwing and a group of Roxbury muckety-mucks invested the funds and made a plan to build the athenaeum. Then, in 1868, the City of Boston annexed Roxbury and Thwing and his compatriots reached an agreement with their new municipal overseers whereby the former would supply funds (including additional money left by Sarah Carver Fellowes to the trust when she died) to buy the land and the building, and the city would would rent the library and pay the trustees insurance and other expenses.

The library was in use until 1978, when Boston opened other branches and shuttered this one. As you can see in the photo of the full building above, the hulking brick building is currently home to the Refuge Church of Christ and is a little rough around the edges.

I wound my way north along Lambert Avenue, admiring a series of new apartment buildings in the near distance. I headed east on Bartlett Street and as I neared the intersection with Washington Street I peeked through a fence to my left and lo and behold....a junkyard!

Junkyards are a dying breed, although I have come across a few in my travels on behalf of this blog, including the only one I documented: Nissenbaum's in Somerville (see April 1, 2023, "Somerville Junkyard Will Be Scrapped").

The junkyard in Roxbury is filled with a very specific pile of old cars: Cadillacs.

Gately Cadillac Restoration has been in business since 1960, selling antique cars and "[r]ust-free Cadillac parts from California, to Arizona to Florida and back to Massachusetts....Over 50,000 Cadillac parts, most of our parts are stored in our warehouse. Gately Cadillac Restoration also sits on a Cadillac junkyard in which we have stripped over 300 Cadillacs over the years."

Here's wishing the folks at Gately another 64 years of success!

Heading south a little ways down Washington Street, I spied a storefront house of worship: the Ethiopian Evangelical Church in Boston.

I continued northeast on Washington Street until I hit Nubian Square. I knew I didn't have enough time to properly tour that area, so I made a few quick photos and headed west toward the northeast corner of the Fort Hill neighborhood. There I saw a former Boys Club of Boston building.

Formally dedicated in June 1915, what was known at the time as the Roxbury Boys' Club and Institute of Industry was considered to be "the best equipped of its kind in the country," according to a Boston Journal article cited by MACRIS. The building is currently occupied by the Social Security Administration.

Heading west on Dudley Street, my eyes popped out of my head when I saw the building housing O'Aces Barber Shop.

Built in 1899, this unique building features "[r]usticated brickwork and a metal cornice and bays," per MACRIS. I just love it.

Right up the street is a Masonic Temple.

This building, which dates to 1895 and looks much different than it did when it was built, has a long history as a social gathering place. It was built in 1895 as the Dudley Association, according to MACRIS, and featured a clubhouse, recreation center, library and dance hall. Subsequently, the building was occupied by the Lettish Workingmen's Society, again underscoring that this area was once home to a significant Latvian population. There was a third floor that was destroyed in a fire in the 1980s, according to MACRIS.

I'm not sure when the Masons took over, nor whether the lodge is still active.

Just a hop, skip and a jump away along Dudley Street is a small brick apartment building where once lived a local music star. Well, make that Starr.

As I walked by, I could see a plaque by the front door, so I checked it out to see what famous Bostonian lived here, or what event happened nearby. I'm used to seeing historic shout-outs to fusty old Colonial dudes, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the name Maurice Starr on this sign.

For those who didn't grow up on pop music of the 1980s and have no idea who he is, Starr was the svengali behind both New Edition and New Kids On the Block. Born Larry Curtis Johnson in Deland, Florida, in 1953, Starr moved to Boston in the early 1970s, according to Wikipedia. There, he was a member of groups including the Johnson Brothers and the Jonzun Crew. After changing his name to Maurice Starr in 1980, he released two solo albums, which sold poorly.

He discovered New Edition at a talent show in 1982. The Roxbury boy band was a massive success through the 1980s, with hits such as "Candy Girl" and "Popcorn Love," both written with Starr. Long story short, Starr stiffed the band big-time and they fired him and later sued him.

In 1986, Starr created another boy band, New Kids On the Block. Whereas New Edition comprised five young black guys, NKOTB, as the new band became known, consited of a quintet of white guys from Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. This band was also incredibly popular, with songs such as "Please Don't Go Girl" and "You Got It (The Right Stuff)."

Starr has worked with other bands in more recent years, none that ever reached the stratosphere that New Edition and NKOTB did.

Across Dudley Street from Starr's former home is the First Church in Roxbury, a beautiful Federal-style meetinghouse at the head of John Eliot Square.

Dedicated in 1804, the building is the fifth house of worship to stand on this site, according to the web site for the UU Urban Ministry, which has called the church home since 1976. "UUUM works as a non-profit social justice organization to dismantle racism and white supremacy culture and push forward racial, social, and economic justice," according to the web site. I highly recommend reading through the history page on the web site, as it discusses important issues around slavery by Colonial-era white parishioners at this church, and efforts to bring that information to light.

The last two buildings on this tour sit on the south side of Dudley Street, across from the church. The first is the Cox Building, which was built in 1870 as housing and commercial space.

"[A]n unusual, curved block combining commercial space and elegant town houses," the building is one of "the most elaborate developments in the district," according to MACRIS.

Across Bartlett Street from the Cox Building is Norfolk House, which was also built in 1870.

"The Norfolk House was opened as a public house in 1827 with a large brick addition for public assemblies (Highland Hall)," according to this Right Here in Roxbury blog post. "It was the first tavern on the road out of Boston for travelers heading south and west. The original frame building was demolished in 1853 and was replaced with a more substantial brick structure with many amenities including a bowling alley. The Norfolk House Company also ran public coaches; the business increased so rapidly that at one time 252 trips were made daily from Roxbury to Boston, equal to 1500 miles a day or 450,000 miles a year. The coaches ran from Old South Church to Norfolk House."

The building is currently home to missionSAFE, an organization that works with at-risk youth and their families; and an outlet of Rosie's Place, a shelter for women and children located in the South End.