History of Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA*

Journey back in time to Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA*

• 1630 - In September 1630, Governor John Winthrop and the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlers traveled to the peninsula, known as Shawmut by the Algonquins, and founded Dorchester, the first part of the city of Boston.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/ state-history-timeline/ massachusetts.html
  
  
• 1639 - May 20 - The first free American public school, the Mather school, was founded in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston
  
  
  
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  Blake House, 1912
  
  The James Blake House is the oldest surviving house in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The house was built in 1661. Dorchester Historical Society
  
  The house was built in a Western English style of post-medieval architecture by James Blake, an immigrant from England. The Blake family owned the house until 1825 when it was acquired by the Williams family. In 1891, the City of Boston acquired the house. wikipedia
  
  The house's original occupant was James Blake, a... Read MORE...
  
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• 1717 - March 7 - The Great Snow, a composite of four winter storms to hit the eastern U.S. in nine days, finally came to an end.
  Snow depths averaged 60 inches following the storm. Up to four feet of snow fell around Boston MA, and snow drifts 25 feet high were reported around Dorchester MA.
  The Weather Channel
  
  
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  Walter Baker Chocolate Mills (Webb Mill, and Baker Mill), Dorchester, Mass.
  
  "The Baker Chocolate Company is the oldest producer of chocolate in the United States. The company was initially established when a physician named Dr. James Baker met John Hannon on the banks of the Neponset River. Irishman John Hannon was penniless but was a skilled chocolatier, a craft which he had learned in England and which was, until now, exclusive to Europe. With the help of Baker, Hannon was able to set up a ... Read MORE...
  
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• 1839 - Dorchester
  Dorchester, Massachusetts
  Norfolk county. This ancient and respectable town lies on Dorchester bay, in Boston harbor, 5 miles S. from Boston and 7 N.E. from Dedham. Population, 1837, 4,564. It was first settled by a party of Puritans from England. These pilgrims landed from the ship Mary and John, ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1845 - DORCHESTER. [Pop. 4,875. Inc. 1630.]
  NORFOLK COUNTY
  
  Dorchester was named after Dorchester in England, from which some of the first settlers came. The Indian name was Matapan.
  
  Dorchester originally included what aie now the towns of Milton, Stoughton, Sharon, Foxborough, and Canton.
  
  The Burial Ground contains some of...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Dorchester High School, 1913
  
  Dorchester High School was founded in 1852 in what was then the independent town of Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1870, Dorchester was annexed by the City of Boston and Dorchester High came under the jurisdiction of Boston Public Schools. When a new school building on Peacevale Road opened in 1925, the student body was split. Dorchester High for Boys moved to the new facility, while Dorchester High School for Girls remained in the Codman Square building.[2] In a... Read MORE...
  
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• 1854 - Dorchester
  Dorchester, a post-village of Norfolk county, Massachusetts, on Dorchester bay, and on the Old Colony railroad, 5 miles S. of Boston. It has considerable shipping, chiefly employed in the whale and other fisheries, and contains several churches and two banks. Dorchester may properly be regarded as a...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1869 - Dorchester Annexed to Boston
  Dorchester the Indian name of which was Mattapan, was named in honor of the Rev. John White, of Dorchester, the capital of Dorset County, England. It was incorporated as a town September 7, 1630; annexed to Boston June 4,1869.
  
  A Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts, with Numerous Illustration...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1870 - January 3 - Dorchester is annexed to Boston
  
  Massachusetts City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates
  
  
•  1873 - For the Love of "Rob"
  A widow in Dorchester, Mass., has been three times married. Her first husband was Robb, the second Robbins and the third Robinson. The same door plate has served for the whole three, and the question now is, what extended name can be procured to fill out the remaining space on it.
  Harrisburg Telegraph
  Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
  March 1, 1873
  
  
•  1891 - SIX LIVES LOST. A PLEASURE PARTY THROWN INTO THE WATER BY THE VESSEL OVERTURNING.
  Boston, Aug. 10. - A sad accident occurred on Dorchester Bay yesterday afternoon by which six persons lost their lives. The yacht Nay, owned and sailed by Captain J. M. BURKE, started on a cruise about the bay yesterday afternoon, having on board four men and five children. There was a light breeze ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Edward Everett Square
  
  Edward Everett Square, in Dorchester, Boston, is the intersection of Columbia Road, Massachusetts Avenue, East Cottage Street and Boston Street, that was named in 1894 after a former Governor of Massachusetts, Edward Everett, who was born near there. wikipedia
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• 1895 - Dorchester
  Dorchester, a former town of Suffolk co., Mass, situated on Massachusetts Bay, 4 miles S. of Boston, on the Old Colony Railroad and the New York & New England Rail road. It is now the 16th ward of Boston, to which it was annexed in 1869. It is bounded on the S.E. by the Neponset River, has a hilly s...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Walter Baker & Co.
  Dorchester, Mass.
  
  The Ladies' Home Journal
  January 1898
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  Washington Street, Dorchester, Mass.
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  First Parish Church and Lyceum Hall, Dorchester, Mass.
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  New W. E. Endicott School, Blue Hill Ave., 1908
  
  2 McLellan Street, Dorchester
  Built 1906
  James E. McLaughlin, Architect
  
  William Endicott (1842-1903) served for 40 years in the Boston Schools. He was Master of the Christopher Gibson School. Born in Canton, Mass., he served in the Civil War, then he started teaching in the Christopher Gibson School in Dorchester in 1866.
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  Municipal Building, 1906
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  "Meeting House" Hill Unitarian Church, 1906
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  Codman Square, Washington St. Second Cong. Church
  
  Baker’s Corner was re-named Codman Square for the Rev. John Codman, the first minister of the Second Church, who presided as minister of the church from 1808 until he died in 1847. Rev. Codman was a well known minister, famous for his “fire and brimstone” preaching. codman.org
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  Eaton Sq., 1910
  
  Coppen Square, a small green at the corner of Bowdoin and Quincy Streets, was originally named Eaton Square after Percival Eaton, whose family kept a tavern there from the time of the American Revolution to the Civil War. wikipedia
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  Grove Hall, 1910
  
  The first 200 years of settlement (1650-1850) was characterized by farms, summer estates, and orchards, including, in 1832, the estate of horticulturalist Marshall P. Wilder who used the land to experiment with many varieties of fruit trees, plants and flowers. The name “Grove Hall” is derived from the name of another estate and mansion owned by Thomas Kilby Jones, a Boston merchant who developed the property around 1800. That estate dominated the Grove Hall crossroads for a ... Read MORE...
  
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  Home of Edward Everett Hale, 1910
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  St. Margaret's Church
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  W. E. Russell School, 1911
  
  In 1903, the William E. Russell School in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, designed by James Mulcahy, was named in his honor. wikipedia
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  Harris School
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  Henry L. Pierce School
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  Parsonage & St. Peter's Church
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  Dorchester Temple
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• 1916
  Dorchester, a former town of Suffolk co., Mass., situated on Massachusetts Bay, 4 miles S. of Boston, to which it was annexed in 1869. It has extensive manufactures of various articles and many fine country-seats.
  Lippincotts New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns, Resorts, Islands, Rivers, Mountains, Seas, Lakes, Etc., in Every Portion of the Globe, Part 1 Angelo Heilprin Louis Heilprin - January 1, 1916 J.B. Lippincott - Publisher
  
  
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  Women's Club
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  Colonial Club
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  High School for Girls
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  Immanuel Church
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  Boston Public Library, Codman Square Branch
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  St. Marks Church
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  St. Hughes Church
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  The Carney Hospital
  
  Carney Hospital was established in 1863 in South Boston by Andrew Carney with a $75,000 donation and with Sister Ann Alexis Shorb, Carney's choice for its first administrator and a member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. It was located on the former Hall Jackson Howe estate on Old Harbor Street on Telegraph Hill. The hospital was designed by Boston City Architect Charles Bateman. wikipedia
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