Around Town

Our History: The War Horses of Watertown

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Union Market Stockyards on Arsenal Street with the Perkins tower in background (Courtesy of the Watertown Free Public Library)

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Historical Society of Watertown board member Mary Spiers. Mary served as our Recording and Corresponding Secretary for several years. (Mary retired from the Board in January 2923 but is still a volunteer. She wrote this article for our January 2013 newsletter, “The Town Crier.”) Information concerning what appears to have been a significant political clash over using the stockyards for the export of war horses was gathered from the archives of the 1915-1916 Boston Globe and the Watertown Tribune-Enterprise.

Around Town

Our History: Mercy Otis Warren, “The Muse of the Revolution”

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Copy of John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Mercy Otis Warren that hangs in the Edmund Fowle House (Courtesy of Joyce Kelly)

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Historical Society board member Mary Spiers who served as the Recording and Corresponding Secretary, and retired from the board last month but is still a volunteer. She wrote this article for our April 2014 newsletter, “The Town Crier”.)

I have to credit the blizzard of February, 2013 for the inspiration to pick up a copy of Snow-Bound by John Greenleaf Whittier and thereby find this nugget of historical gold on Mercy Otis Warren. I also utilized the library at the Massachusetts Historical Society to research Mercy’s poems.

Mercy Otis Warren born in 1728, who we think of today as “the Conscience of the American Revolution” and a “Founding Mother,” is the graceful lady in the blue dress in the John Singleton Copley iconic portrait of her that hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. A copy hangs on the walls of the Edmund Fowle House, now home to the Historical Society of Watertown.

Around Town

Our History: Stephen P. Mugar, Created Modern Grocery Shopping at Star Market

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Star Market on Mt. Auburn Street circa 1920 (Courtesy of the Watertown Free Public Library)

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. The article first appeared in the Historical Society’s July 2014 newsletter “The Town Crier.” The following information was presented by the late Pam Pinsky, former Vice President of the Historical Society of Watertown

In October of 2005 the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Historical Society of Watertown joined together to give a guided tour of the gravesites of several notable people who once resided in Watertown. The lives of our Watertown notables were recalled by members of the Historical Society Council and Historical Society volunteers. When you go to the supermarket, you buy meat that is pre-packaged in shrink wrap; your onions come in mesh string bags; items are unit-priced (e.g., a 13 ounce can of coffee is unit-priced per pound so that you can compare the value against other coffees packed in 12 ounce cans); when you check out, you can have your purchases packed in paper bags; and often times, your bags are put in boxes and sent out on conveyor belt. All of these innovations that we take for granted were developed by Stephen P. Mugar at 28 Mt.

Around Town

Our History: The Origins of the Name Watertown’s Elementary Schools

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Dr. Alfred Hosmer (1832-1891) and Dr. Hiram Hosmer (1798-1862) Photographs courtesy of the Watertown Free Public Library

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Historical Society of Watertown board member Bob Bloomberg. Bob is also on the board of the Watertown Historic District Commission. He is a genealogist (his contact information is on our website) and has written several book reviews and newspaper articles. He wrote this article for our July 2020 newsletter “The Town Crier.”

Pop quiz: What do Hiram and Alfred Hosmer, P. Sarsfield Cunniff, and James Russell Lowell have in common?

Around Town

Our History: Artist Henry Webster Rice, Whose Works Hang in Museums Across the Nation

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Henry Rice 1919 painting of houses on Pleasant St. (Photo courtesy of Joyce Kelly)

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Historical Society of Watertown board member Bob Bloomberg. Bob is also on the board of the Watertown Historic District Commission. He is a genealogist (his contact information is on our website) and has written several book reviews and newspaper articles.

Around Town

Our History: The Falls and Dam at Watertown

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The dam in Watertown Square (Photo courtesy of Marilynne Roach)

The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Historical Society President Marilynne Roach for the January 2018 Historical Society newsletter, “The Town Crier.” Marilynne is also on the board of the Watertown Historical Commission. After Watertown’s early settlers dammed the Charles River to power a grist mill in 1634, more mills followed over the centuries and another dam replaced the first in 1814. This one, according to the Charles River Watershed Association (i.e. CRWA), included a fishway to help the migrating shad and alewives reach their upstream spawning grounds. The present dam dates from 1955 (after Hurricane Diane damaged the older structure) and the present fish ladder from 1972.

Around Town

Our History: The Sand Banks Cemetery Project

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An aerial view of Sand Banks Cemetery – Cottage Street comes in at the upper left corner and Mount Auburn Cemetery surrounds it on the other 3 sides. (Photo courtesy of Bill McEvoy)

This article is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Joyce Kelly, Board member of the Historical Society of Watertown. Joyce writes articles for the newsletter and is the newsletter editor. This was published in our January 2016 newsletter, “The Town Crier.”

Almost single-handedly, Bill McEvoy has become a one-man “Friends of Sand Banks Cemetery.” Already a volunteer at Mount Auburn Cemetery researching historical data utilized by their docents for tours and talks, Bill became interested in the adjacent Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery (also known as Sand Banks Cemetery and Cottage Street Cemetery) while researching local Civil War soldiers for programs at Mount Auburn commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War (1861-1865).

Around Town

Our History: A Glimpse Into Life in Watertown in the 1890s

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The following story is part of a series on local history provided by the Historical Society of Watertown. It was written by Historical Society of Watertown board member Mary Spiers. Mary served as our Recording and Corresponding Secretary for many years. Mary retired from the Board in January 2023 but is still a volunteer. She wrote this article for our April 2019 newsletter, “The Town Crier.”