September 24th - September 30th

September 24, 1854

September 24, 1854 - St. Mary’s on Andem Place dedicated
September 27, 1902 - Contagious Hospital buildings
September 26, 1906 - Planned Prohibition rally draws wrong crowd
September 25, 1936 - Brookline High School burns

September 24, 1854
St. Mary’s on Andem Place dedicated

Brookline's first Catholic church, St. Mary's of the Assumption, was dedicated in Brookline Village to serve the town's growing Irish population. The wooden church, shown at the top of this post, faced north with the entrance on Andem Place, now a back alley. The back faced the railroad station. (Station Street was not yet a street.)

"The good and zealous Catholics of Brookline have succeeded in erecting a beautiful Church in this thriving town," wrote a correspondent in the New-York Freeman's Journal and Catholic Register. "It is just completed in a style that does much honor to the Catholics of Brookline and their indefatigable Pastor, the Rev. Mr. O'Beirne...."

 

The original St. Mary's of the Assumption, circled in red, is shown on this 1874 map. Andem Place is the unmarked alley south of Harrison Place (now Kent Street). Washington Street, at the left, veers to the northwest just past Andem Place, with Harvard Street continuing north.

In 1888, five years after the current St. Mary's was built, the old church became the factory of the Holtzer Cabot Electric Company. The factory was expanded with a brick facade and brick addition around the old church structure. The wooden interior part that had been the church was destroyed in a 1911 fire, but the former factory building still stands.

September 27, 1902
Contagious Hospital buildings

Brookline residents were invited to inspect the town's newly-constructed Contagious Hospital on Newton Street prior to its opening for patients with diphtheria and scarlet fever. The four-building complex consisted of separate wings for each of the two diseases and administration buildings with nurses quarters and other facilities.

Postcard view of the Brookline Contagious Hospital

The patient facilities were designed to provide natural light and air. There were separate patient areas for men, women, and children. In total, the facilities could accommodate as many as 100 patients at a time.

The hospital, which added wards for tuberculosis patients in the 1930s, later focused primarily on that disease. It was closed in 1954 as new treatments for TB were developed, with patients transferred to the Norfolk County Tuberculosis Hospital. The hospital buildings were demolished. The site was later developed with condominiums on a new road, Fairgreen Place.

The portion of a 1913 atlas on the left shows the Contagious Hospital and other town buildings, including the almshouse, the high service pumping station, and the Putterham School in its original location. The modern aerial view shows condominiums on Fairgreen Place, named for its proximity to the golf course of The Country Club, partly visible at upper left and right. (Click image for larger view)

September 26, 1906
Planned Prohibition rally draws wrong crowd
A gas lantern attached to a tree in front of the Baptist Church in Brookline village attracted a crowd, but not the crowd the planners of a Prohibition rally intended. Instead, a reported 200+ children filled the space around the church, no doubt expecting something else.

Boston Globe headline, September 27, 1906

The rally, advertised in the windows of local stores, failed to attract a single adult, according to the Boston Globe. The speakers proceeded nonetheless, reported the paper, "with a discourse, touching on religion, politics and the trusts."

"The little folks waited patiently for a time, fully expecting that the pleasant faced gentleman would say something for them to laugh at, but this was not the speaker's intention," continued the Globe. "His youthful listeners waited some more, and then gave vent to their disappointment by becoming extremely noisy."

Police stepped in and "sent the youngster scampering home." Brookline, which had prohibited local sales of alcohol since 1887, remained -- despite the turnout -- firmly in the camp of those favoring national Prohibition, which would finally be instituted 14 years later. 

September 25, 1936
Brookline High School burns

A crowd watches as the main building of Brookline High School burns (Boston Globe photo)

The oldest section of the Brookline High School building, erected in 1895, was destroyed in a spectacular fire that began in an incinerator chimney. The fire and the efforts of firefighters to extinguish it were captured on newsreel footage.

An investigation determined that the fire had been smoldering in attics under the building's roof for 36 hours before it was discovered. It took two years for new structures to be completed on the site to replace the building that was destroyed. The new buildings were given special fire protection, including a sprinkler system, vacuum pumps in the basement, and alarm connections to the town's fire department.

The 1938 BHS yearbook, the Murivian, featured a class poem by senior John Sabini that portrayed the school, like the Phoenix, the bird of classical myth, rising from the ashes.

September 17th - September 23rd

September 18, 1863
(Click image for larger view)

September 18, 1863 - A Tree Falls in Brookline: The Aspinwall Elm
September 20, 1913 - Francis Ouimet wins U.S. Open
September 21, 1925 - Selectmen bar boarders, roomers
September 20, 1953 - Handwriting controversy in the schools

September 18, 1863
A Tree Falls in Brookline: The Aspinwall Elm
When 19th century Bostonians talked about great elm trees, there were three that usually came to mind: the Great Elm on Boston Common; the Washington Elm on Cambridge Common; and the Aspinwall Elm, towering over the Aspinwall family home in Brookline Village.

The Aspinwall Elm before 1863

Half the tree fell in 1844.  Nineteen years later, the rest of the tree came down in a gale, crashing on top of the 200-year old family house and punching a hole in the roof.  Three generations of the family posed in front of the house with the toppled tree, as shown at the top of this post.

The loss of the Aspinwall Elm was big news, and not just locally. Word of its demise was mentioned in newspapers as far away as Wisconsin. The Aspinwall House was itself torn down in 1891.  The land was acquired by the town in 1914 for a park.  Expanded in 1972, it is now the Billy Ward Playground.

September 20, 1913
Francis Ouimet wins U.S. Open
Francis Ouimet, the 20-year old Brookline native, shocked the golfing world when he upset British veterans Harry Vardon and Ted Ray to win the U.S. open at the Country Club in Ouimet's home town.

Brookline Townsman, September 27, 1913

Ouimet, working with 10-year-old caddy Eddie Lowery, tied Vardon and Ray in the final round on September 19th, then won a playoff on the 20th. The upset received national and international attention and spurred local pride as seen in the Brookline Townsman headline above and the following quote from the Brookline Chronicle.

"While we admire his skill in the game, we think the town is particularly to be proud of the sand and nerve he showed in his contest with the two great English players. Not merely as a golfer, but as a man, Ouimet has qualities that promise to be the making of an unusual career."

September 21, 1925
Selectmen bar boarders, roomers

The Board of Selectman issued an interpretation of the town's zoning laws that would prohibit owners or residents of single-family homes from taking in roomers or boarders. The ruling came in response to a complaint that the resident of a house on Corey Hill had advertised rooms for convalescent or elderly people.

Boston Globe, September 22, 1925

The action was taken in to response a petition signed by 45 neighbors of the house at 44 York Terrace, members of the Corey Hill Improvement Association. It blocked the proposed use on that particular house only, though similar action was possible against other residences, reported the Boston Globe.

The Brookline Chronicle decried the ruling. "Imagine an elderly woman, to whom the acceptance of a lodger or roomer might be the sole available means of eking out a small income and so of maintaining her old family home, being advised by the police that such an undertaking was against the law! The idea is preposterous and highly unacceptable."

September 20, 1953
Handwriting controversy in the schools
An ongoing controversy over how handwriting was taught in the Brookline schools reached new levels with a petition from parents calling for more emphasis on cursive writing. Brookline had been focusing on the manuscript, or print, style of handwriting in the lower grades for about 10 years.

A group called the Parents Research Committee said it had collected signatures from about one-third of the parents in the school system calling for the change, claiming children could neither read nor write cursive, which the committee called "the one universal common denominator of social communication."

The School Committee argued that the manuscript, or print, form of writing was easier to learn and an important part of learning to read printed text. The controversy was the subject of letters to the editor of the local and Boston papers, many of them supporting the School Committee. In the end, the Committee decided to continue with the existing program, while adding an optional course in cursive beginning in the seventh grade.

These three sisters, daughter of a Brookline firefighter and his wife, were shown in the Boston Globe with examples of their manuscript handwriting.

September 10th - September 16th

September 15, 1841

September 15, 1841 - Lyceum of the Town of Brookline

September 14, 1862 - Dr. Edward Wild wounded in Civil War

September 13, 2009 - Marking the graves of enslaved African-Americans

September 15, 2013 - Teen Center official opening

September 15, 1841
Lyceum of the Town of Brookline

A new corporation called the Lyceum of the Town of Brookline formally took over ownership of the recently constructed Lyceum Hall in Brookline Village. The hall, which stood for nearly a century, hosted lectures, concerts, meetings, and other public events.

The building, shown above, stood where the Dana Farber Cancer Institute administrative offices (10 Brookline Place) are today. It had businesses on the first floor with the hall above. 

A 1912 fire left Lyceum Hall in ruins. Initial reports said the then 71-year old building would be torn down, but it was restored and continued to house businesses and a lecture hall. (Click image for a larger view)

Lyceum Hall was torn down 25 years later, in 1937, to make way for the town's second movie theater.

September 14, 1862
Dr. Edward Wild wounded in Civil War

Dr. Edward Wild of Brookline was badly wounded at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland. Two days later his left arm was amputated, ending his medical career but not his role in the Civil War.

Civil War photograph of Edward Wild. The empty left sleeve indicates this was taken after the loss of his arm.

Wild, who grew up in a house, still standing, on what is now Weybridge Road, went on to recruit and lead troops of formerly enslaved African Americans in a unit informally called Wild's African Brigade. He was hated in the South for his harsh treatment of Confederate prisoners in retaliation for the ways captured Black troops under his command had been treated.

After the war, Wild was involved in mining in the West and in South America. He died in Medellin, Columbia, in 1891 and was buried there.

September 13, 2009
Marking the graves of enslaved African Americans
A stone honoring the memories of enslaved men and women buried in Brookline's Old Burying Ground was officially dedicated in ceremonies at the Walnut Street graveyard.

The effort to place the marker was led by the Hidden Brookline Committee, formed in 2006 to bring to light the history of enslaved people of African descent who lived and worked in Brookline, and to educate the public as to the involvement that Brookline residents had with regard to slavery and the abolitionist movement. 

State representative Byron Rushing was the main speaker at the event. A video recording of his speech is available on the Hidden Brookline website.

September 15, 2013
Teen Center official opening
The Brookline Teen Center was officially opened in an old auto garage at 40 Aspinwall Avenue. When opened, it included a recording studio, a bowling alley, a gym, a tutoring space, a computer room, an eating area, a small stage, and a court that could be used for basketball or volleyball or as an auditorium.

Brookline Teen Center

The multi-year effort to create the Teen Center was initiated by Brookline High School social worker Paul Epstein and his wife, Saskia. The Epstein's, reported the Brookline TAB, "noticed there was a real need for a place where teens could hang out, interact with their peers and be themselves."

"This place is a Youth Center, but it's a Youth Center with a heart," Epstein told a local news program when the center marked its 10th anniversary this past February. "It's a Youth Center with a mission to help every kid. Whether it's a kid that comes from the richest family or the poorest -- and anywhere in between. We are here and there's something here for them to enrich their lives."

September 3rd - September 9th

September 9, 1918

September 9, 1918 - Camp Brooks opens for flu victims
September 3, 1946 - Ground broken for Hancock Village
September 8, 1966 - Brookline one of first seven communities in METCO
September 8, 1975 - JFK birthplace damaged in anti-busing attack

September 9, 1918
Camp Brooks open for flu victims
The Brookline company of the Massachusetts Guard erected an open-air tent camp on the east side of Corey Hill to treat virulent cases of influenza that had struck merchant marine trainees in Boston Harbor. The camp was called Camp Brooks after noted surgeon William A. Brooks, surgeon-general of the State Guard, whose hospital (now condominiums) was on Summit Avenue.

The camp, shown at the top of this post and below in photos from the National Archives, treated patients outdoors under the theory that fresh air and sunshine would aid in their recovery. Thirty-five of the 351 patients treated at the hospital died, a much lower rate, according to Brooks, than in indoor hospitals despite the fact that the open air hospital took in some of the worst cases.

A nurse getting water at Camp Brooks (Photo via National Archives)

The camp operated for a little more than a month. Read more about Camp Brooks and 1918 flu pandemic in Brookline in these Muddy River Musings blog posts: Part 1 | Part 2. 

September 3, 1946
Ground broken for Hancock Village 
Governor Maurice Tobin joined other state, Federal, and local officials to break ground for 250 homes for returning veterans and their families in South Brookline and West Roxbury. The Hancock Village project was financed by the John Hancock Life Insurance Company and announced in an ad in the Brookline Chronicle.

"Hancock Village [announced the company in the nearly full-page ad] is the first of this company's answers to the nation's housing crisis. It will build upon the soundest principles of healthful living with safety of homes and roads particularly stressed...With the present acute need for housing, especially for veterans, the importance of this activity is obvious."

This sketch of the future Hancock Village development appeared in the Brookline Chronicle and in Boston newspapers

James Love, a World War II veteran and an amputee from Brookline, joined a National Housing Agency administrator in turning the first spadeful of earth, using "a regulation G.I. foxhole shovel," reported the Chronicle.

September 8, 1966
Brookline one of first communities in METCO

75 children from the Roxbury, Dorchester, and the South End neighborhoods began school in Brookline as part of the METCO program. The students included 25 children enrolled in Brookline High School and 50 in the various K-8 schools.

Brookline was one of seven Massachusetts communities participating in the METCO program at its launch. Dr. Leon Trilling, an MIT professor and the president of the Brookline School Committee, was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the METCO program.

The broad purpose of the METCO program, according to a 1966 report of the School committee

"is to promote quality integrated education and to develop modes of cooperation between urban and suburban school systems in the Greater Boston area. It aims to provide a more meaningful educational experience for both city and suburban children." 

September 8, 1975
JFK birthplace damaged in anti-busing attack

An unidentified man threw a Molotov cocktail into the kitchen at the rear of the John F. Kennedy birthplace in protest of Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy’s support of Boston school integration through busing.  The attack caused an estimated $30,000 in damage to the Beals Street home.

Two men were seen driving away from the site after the attack. They left a message -- "Bus Teddy" -- scrawled on the sidewalk in front of the home. The fire and smoke damaged the kitchen and an upstairs bedroom at the house.

The message "Bus Teddy" can be seen on the sidewalk in front of the JFK birthplace in this AP photo

The site, run by the National Park Service, was closed for more than a year while repairs were made.