May 28th - June 3rd

June 2, 1974
(Photo courtesy of Puppet Showplace Theater)

June 2, 1849 - Brookline abolitionists welcome Black children
June 2, 1915 - Anti-suffrage carnival at Moses Williams estate
June 2, 1974 - Puppet Showplace Theater opens
May 30, 2011 - Civil War tablets rededicated in Town Hall

June 2, 1849
Brookline abolitionists welcome Black children
William and Sarah Bowditch, whose still-standing Toxteth Street home was a stop on the Underground Railroad, threw a picnic for a group of Black children from Boston, most of them associated with the Abiel Smith School on Beacon Hill.

This house, now 9 Toxteth Street, was the home of William and Sarah Bowditch from 1843 to 1867, when they moved to a larger house on Tappan Street.

The children were carried to Brookline and then back to Boston on the recently completed Brookline Village line of the railroad. The picnic, as described in the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, was "an occasion of unalloyed satisfaction."

"The merry group employed their time to the best advantage, in swinging, dancing, nimbly pursuing each other, singing the songs of freedom, gathering flowers, and especially in disposing of the refreshments which were so bountifully provided for them."

The Abiel Smith School on Beacon Hill, now Boston's Museum of African American History 

Henry "Box" Brown, who had escaped from slavery a few months earlier by having himself mailed in a box, was there and spoke to the children. Other attendees included anti-slavery activists from Brookline and Boston, as well as the ministers of the local Unitarian and Baptist churches.

June 2, 1915
Anti-suffrage carnival at Williams estate

Brookline's upper class families -- men and women alike -- were split on the question of women's suffrage in the years leading up to the passage (1919) and ratification (1920) of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. One of the biggest events of the anti-suffrage forces was this carnival on the Moses and Martha Williams estate on Heath Street.

Boston Globe, June 3, 1915

The carnival, sponsored by the Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage Association, featured music, dancing, a vaudeville show, children's games, and booths selling many kinds of products. Automobiles ran back and forth from the Boylston Street streetcar line bringing visitors to the site. Large red balloons with the words "Vote No" on them were sold and many were released to be carried over the town by the wind.

The extravagant event attracted large crowds and raised money for the anti-suffrage cause but the political impact was unclear. "[Whether] any more votes against suffrage were made was not determined," reported the Boston Transcript," but one thing was certain--everybody had a good time."

June 2, 1974
Puppet Showplace Theater opens

Puppet Showplace Theater opened its doors on Station Street, bringing entertainment and education through puppetry to Brookline and the Boston area. The Theater was founded by Mary Churchill (1930-1997), shown at the top of this post at the celebration of its third anniversary in 1977.

Puppet Showplace Theater on Station Street (Photo courtesy of Puppet Showplace Theater)

"Puppetry goes back centuries," Churchill told the Boston Globe in 1992. "There is something about puppets that man has always found intriguing and interesting, something about an inanimate object given human qualities that has attracted and still attracts audiences today."

A one-time teacher, Churchill began using puppets as a teaching aid in reading and speech classes, reported the Brookline Chronicle prior to the opening of the theater in 1974. She was also known for adding a feminist twist to classic tales, reported the Chronicle, including having Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother get rid of the Big Bad Wolf without the help of the hunter and making one of the Three Little Pigs a girl who is planning to become a dentist.

May 30, 2011
Civil War tablets rededicated in Town Hall
Brookline’s 1884 memorial to its Civil War dead was restored, rededicated and installed in the lobby of Town Hall on Memorial Day. 

Civil War memorial after its installation and rededication in Town Hall in 2011

The memorial, consisting of seven slabs of marble with the names of 72 men, originally stood in the 1873 Town Hall until it was torn down and replaced by the current building in the 1960s. The marble slabs were put in storage and later placed behind glass in a concrete structure adjacent to Town Hall. The names were often obscured by moisture and mold that accumulated under the glass in the poorly designed structure.

The 1884 memorial as it appeared under glass outside Town Hall after the old Town Hall was torn down.

For more on the move of the memorial and some of the men memorialized, see this 2011 blog post: Remembering Brookline's Civil War Dead