Two Watertown Historical Paintings Donated to Apartments at Coolidge School

The paintings moved from Watertown Savings Bank, and can be seen in the lobby of the apartments on Arlington Street.

  Two paintings of historic scenes of Watertown recently got a new home. They moved out of Watertown Savings Bank's main branch in Watertown Square, but can still be seen by the public at the Apartments at Coolidge School in East End. Joyce Kelly of the Historical Society of Watertown wrote up the following information about the paintings:  In the 1970s, Watertown Savings Bank commissioned muralist Samuel Emrys Evans to create a series of paintings for the walls of the bank at 60 Main St. in Watertown Square representing Watertown’s history. Mr. Evans used the historic photograph archive of the Watertown Free Public Library and chose nine subjects to paint. Watertown Savings Bank recently renovated the bank lobby, displacing the 4’ x 8’ …

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Beacon School Officials May Take Legal Action to Block Creation of Historic District

School officials say the restrictions of a historic district on the Orchard House would harm their students education and threaten their safety.

  The Watertown Historic District Commission moved a step closer to creating a historic district for the Orchard House Wednesday night, but the owner of the property – Beacon High School – say creating a district would threaten their students' education and safety. The Orchard House dates back to 1832 and the Historic District Commission (HDC) started the process to protect it by making the property into a historic district after school officials applied to take down the Greek Revival farmhouse. The Walker School runs a program for teens with mental illness and severe emotional challenges at Beacon High School, and Steve Tannenbaum, vice president of the schools Board of Directors, said the program would be threatened by the requirements …

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Watertown Commission Close to Filing for Historic District Status for Orchard House

The 1830s farm house that is owned by the Beacon School was also recently added to the Massachusetts Most Endangered Resource List.

The Historic District Commission is expected to take the next step in the efforts to protect a Watertown farm house dating back to the 1830 this week. On Wednesday, Historic District Commission members will meet to review their application to create the historic district for the Orchard House – which would include just the property at 917 Belmont St. in Watertown – and are expected to take a vote on whether to approve the application and send it to state officials. The building currently sits on property owned by the Walker School, which uses it as part of the Beacon High School campus. The Historic District Commission started the process to protect the building in August after Walker School officials applied to tear down the buildling to …

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Owners of the Orchard House Holding Community Meeting to Discuss Future of the Buildling

The school that owns the historic home will meet with residents Tuesday in Town Hall.

The Beacon High School will hold a community meeting about the historic Orchard House on Tuesday, Sept. 18 in Town Hall at 7 p.m. Beacon School, which is run by the Walker School, owns the farmhouse at 917 Belmont Street which dates back to the early 1830s.  The school applied to tear down the house, but in July the Historical Commission put a six-month demolition delay on the building. Since then, the Historic District Commission has started efforts to make the property a historic district, which would prevent the house from being torn down. School officials told the Historical Commission that they want to find a way to save the building while still meeting the needs of their students. At the meeting, school officials will go into more …

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New Plaque Installed in Watertown Square, Replacing a Stolen One

Historical groups and town officials have been working to replace the bronze plaques stolen around town a couple years ago.

Watertown Square has a new historical plaque, though it may seem a bit familiar to those who know the plaques around town. The plaque, which sits on the curve as Galen Street turns right into Charles River Road, was installed on April 20, and it replaces an old one stolen in April 2010 said Joyce Kelly of the Historical Society of Watertown. Several were taken from around town at that time. Since then, a subcommittee including members of the Historical Commission, the Historical Society and town officials have been looking to replace the missing plaques, Kelly said. They used photos of the missing ones to provide the wording on the plaques. "This particular plaque, for Benjamin Robbins Curtis, was replaced by the Historical Society of …

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Living in Watertown

Shopping Down Memory Lane

Most of the local businesses that advertised in my high school newspaper are long gone and also forgotten (by me). I hope you can help me remember some of these old stores.

  When I was reading my old school newspapers from the Seventies that I wrote about in my previous two columns, I noticed a number of ads from local businesses, most of which were retail establishments. Some I remembered well, others sounded vaguely familiar, and still others were a mystery to me. I invite you to join me as I go shopping down memory lane. I'd like this to be an interactive column: I'm hoping that if you remember some of these stores, you'll comment on them below my article. Perhaps you can help me to remember some of these businesses that once populated Watertown. One store I did remember well was Watertown Radio Co., a small record store that was located one or two doors down from Woolworth's. (CVS is now located where …

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Living in Watertown

I Remember When…

Some random memories of Watertown when I was growing up

In some locations in Watertown (as well as other places in the Greater Boston area), I would see a plaque or stone reading “George Washington slept here.” Watertown Square was the only place where I would hear a bell ring when it was safe to cross the street. Because the Perkins School was right down the street, there were a number of blind people in the area who needed this sound to know when it was safe to cross. In later years, other towns also added bells, or sometimes chirping sounds, to signal the right time to cross. Speaking of crossing the street, there were no walk/don't walk signs back then. Red and yellow lights were the signal for drivers to stop and pedestrians to cross the street. There was a huge rotary in Watertown Square…

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Marian Ferro

12:49 am on Sunday, September 18, 2011

Kathy, Thank you for your comment. You're right: it does describe an era. I'm not at all surprised that you can relate to much that I've described.   more ›

Patch Passport

Travel Back in Time: Mount Auburn Cemetery is Filled with History and Natural Beauty

The cemetery located in Watertown is a National Historical Landmark and is the final resting place for some of Boston's most famous residents.

A visit to the Mount Auburn Cemetery takes visitors away from the hustle and bustle of the 21st Century and into a hilly-green enclave, filled with some of the area’s most historic figures. Founded in 1831, the cemetery ­– which lies in both Watertown and Cambridge – was named a National Historic Landmark in 2003. Boston residents built the cemetery when burial space became scarce in the city, and to provide a final resting place for their loved ones in a natural setting. To see more, click on the photos and video at right. Not only does Mount Auburn provide the final resting place for poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, artist Winslow Homer, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and many more figures, it is also the first large-scale garden cemetery. …

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Viewfinder

Viewfinder: Carved in History – Part I

This week and the next we look at the history of Watertown in stone and bronze.

Watertown has had its share of historic events and people – from the founding of the country to its wars, treaties, and celebrations. Here are some of the memorials, monuments, and plaques "hidden" throughout the town that commemorate and celebrate these events.

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