June 18th - June 24th

June 22, 1917

June 20, 1825 - Lafayette visits Brookline
June 22, 1917 - Marita Bonner graduates from BHS
June 23, 1938 - Cy Young at Old Timers Day
June 22, 1948 - Brookline creates Housing Authority

June 20, 1825
Lafayette visits Brookline
Three days after laying the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Marquis de Lafayette visited Brookline. The Revolutionary War hero was on his second visit to Massachusetts as part of a year-long triumphant return to America that brought him to all 24 U.S. states.

Lafayette laying the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument. (1880s illustration from Cassell's History of the United States

The then 67-year-old Lafayette rode out to Brookline to have lunch at the home of Thomas Handasyd Perkins. Passing the Ebenezer Heath house (still standing today) he saw Heath's daughters gathered with several of their friends at the side of the road to catch a glimpse of the marquis.

"The General, with that courtesy and urbanity that were so conspicuous in his character, stopped his carriage on his way from Col Perkins' [according to an account written later] and gratified each young lady with a warm shake of the hand. Several kissed his hand, a tribute he insisted on returning, while he affectionately lifted the little ones in the party in his arms and blessed them, repeating with emphasis 'You make me very happy.'"

June 22, 1917
Marita Bonner graduates from BHS
Marita Odette Bonner, who would go on to become a celebrated essayist and playwright associated with the Harlem Renaissance, graduated from Brookline High School. Bonner lived with her family in the apartment building at 221 Harvard Street, at the corner of Stearns Road.

The young woman, who went by the name Marietta at the time, wrote essays for the Sagamore, the student magazine that later became the school newspaper. She was also a talented musician who was selected in a competition to compose the music for the school song of her graduating class at BHS. (The photo at top is from an article in the Sagamore announcing the contest winner.)

Bonner attended Radcliffe College, although she had to commute from home because Black students could not live in campus housing. In 1922, after graduating from Radcliffe, she launched her literary career by winning first prize in an essay contest at the NAACP magazine The Crisis with an essay titled On Being Young--A Woman--and Colored.

Marita Bonner's 1922  essay in The Crisis

June 23, 1938
Cy Young at Old Timers Day
On Brookline Field (now Harry Downes Field) a 71-year old man  wearing a fake beard and mustache took off his hat and coat and threw a ceremonial first pitch to start an old timers baseball game. The wind-up and delivery were familiar to many in attendance, as the septuagenarian hurler was none other than Cy Young.

Cy Young shown at an old timers game in Sharon a few weeks before his appearance in Brookline

Young, the former star pitcher in Boston, Cleveland, and St. Louis, was a recent inductee in the new Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Taking the mound, reported the Brookline Chronicle, he

"went through the customary wind-up to the accompaniment of thundering applause and then let go the pitch to officially start the ball game. Before the diamond battle of the year got underway, however, 'Old Cy' mounted the rubber and gave a demonstration of how he used to "burn 'em over" for which he was roundly applauded." 

It's not clear why Cy Young wore a false beard and mustache on Old Timers' Night.  It would not have been to make his presence a surprise, as his participation had been announced in the paper a week before. Perhaps it was simply a nod to the throwback spirit of the event, mimicking the more hirsute fashion of an earlier era.

June 22, 1948
Brookline creates Housing Authority

Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved creation of a housing authority, overcoming the complaints of two members who called the proposal "collectivism and socialism." The vote followed the recommendation of a special committee convened to consider compliance with a new state law that would provide funding for new housing.

"[T]here is a shortage of safe and sanitary housing accommodations  available to families of low-income and particularly to families of veterans of low income at rentals such families can afford," reported the Board of Selectmen in recommending creation of the new authority.

In November, plans were introduced for the first two public housing developments: the High Street and Egmont Street projects, both still managed by the Housing Authority today.

High Street, left, and Egmont Street apartments today. (Photo credit: Brookline Housing Authority)