History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1800–1899 facts for kids

The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, from 1800 to 1899 saw growth and change come to the town. In fact, the town changed as much during the first few decades of the 19th century as it did in all of its previous history.

Having been named Dedham shiretown of the newly formed Norfolk County in 1793, the town got an influx of new residents and visitors. This growth was aided by new turnpikes and railroads, with taverns popping up to serve travelers. In the 19th century many former farms became businesses and homes for those who commuted into Boston. The population of the town more than tripled in this period.

The Town government expanded dramatically with the institution of the public library, the police department, fire department, and others. St. Mary's Church was established, with William B. Gould doing the plaster work. The congregation at St. Paul's constructed a number of churches, and First Church suffered a schism. A number of schools were established, including Dedham High School. The Town was central to two major court cases, the Fairbanks Case and the Dedham Case.

The "scenery" of the town was described as "varied and picturesque" with "an appearance of being well kept." Several new towns broke away, including Dover, Westwood, and Norwood.

Local government

The Dedham Public Library was established in 1872 and first occupied rented space at the corner of Court Street and Norfolk Street. It built a permanent home in 1886 at the corner of Church and Norfolk Streets using funds left by Hannah Shuttleworth. The building, made of Dedham Granite and trimmed with red sandstone, opened in 1888. The Dedham Infirmary, also known as the Poor Farm, built a home on Elm Street in 1898. It closed in February 1954.

The Dedham Water Company was chartered in 1882. Gas streetlights were introduced in 1869 and were followed by electric lights in 1890.

The first police officers were appointed in 1876 and worked each day from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. The police department was originally housed on the first floor of Memorial Hall.

Fire Department

A fire truck made by Paul Revere was purchased by a group of citizens and donated to the Town in 1800 as "a public utility and a very great security against the calamities of fire." It was known as Hero No. 1. It was stationed at the Connecticut Corner firehouse. A second hand tub, the Good Intent No. 2, was purchased in 1802 and stationed in the central village. The third engine, the Enterprise, was purchased in 1826.

In 1831, Town Meeting purchased eight more engines, including the Niagara and Water Witch. These two, together with the Hero, Good Intent, and Enterprise, were all located in the First Parish. The first steam engine was purchased in 1872.

Each engine had its own company of men attached to it and keen was the rivalry existing between the organizations. The Norfolk House was often selected for the annual meetings and dinners of the different companies for the next 40 years.

A firehouse in East Dedham was constructed in 1846 on Milton Street near the Old Stone Mill. It was used until 1897, when the firehouse on Bussey Street was constructed. Hose Number 3 was purchased by the town for the Milton Street station in 1891 and then moved to the Bussey Street location. That building also housed a supply wagon.

The central fire house was built at the corner of Washington and Bryant Streets. It housed Steamer Number 1, Hose Number 1, and Hook and Ladder Number 1. Both Hose Number 1, which carried 1,000' of hose, and Hook and Ladder Number 1, were drawn by two horses.

Selectmen

The Dedham Board of Selectmen. Clockwise from top left: Benjamin Weatherbee, Augustus Bradford Endicott, J.Bradford Baker, Ezra W. Taft, and Samuel E. Pond.

Town Clerks

First townhouse

After the new courthouse was constructed in 1827, the old courthouse was sold to Harris Monroe and Erastus Worthington. The pair speculated that the Town may want to use it as a town hall, and so they dragged it south down Court Street to a new lot. The Town decided to build an entirely new structure, however, on Bullard Street in 1828. By 1858, however, a town committee was complaining that "the present town house is neither in location, size, or style, sufficient to meet the reasonable requirements of the town." It was too far away from the center village and too ugly they said, and though there were over 1,000 voters in the town the building could not accommodate more than 275. Town meetings were frequently crowded and confused in the townhouse, and it was difficult to hear speakers and determine votes.

Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall

A committee decided that the first town hall was inadequate, but it remained standing for an additional eight years. Eventually, in 1867, it was decided that a new building should be erected to both house the town offices and to memorialize those who died in the Civil War. The firm of Ware and Van Brunt was hired to design the building, and they produced a "supremely Victorian plan" that recalled the "provincial town halls of England in outline and design."

Though Town Meeting had appropriated virtually unlimited funds for the project, a town committee tried to save money by cutting out several elements. The changes left it with a slightly unfinished appearance from the outside and an interior "utterly barren of all decent conveniences." It was described as Dedham's "monument alike to her dead soldiers and to living stupidity."

Brookdale Cemetery

For nearly 250 years after it was established, Old Village Cemetery was the only cemetery in Dedham. Seeing a need for greater space, the Annual Town Meeting of 1876 established a committee to look into establishing a new cemetery. Town Meeting accepted the committee's recommendation on October 20, 1877, and appropriated $8,150 to purchase more than 39 acres of land to establish Brookdale Cemetery.

County, state, and federal government

In the 1812 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, Dedham voters cast 299 votes for Democratic-Republican Party Elbridge Gerry and 172 for Federalist candidate Caleb Strong. The Democratic-Republican Party gained 46 votes over the previous election but the Federalists gained 56. During the campaign, Dedham's Democrats held rallies to get out the vote on April 1, 1812, at Marsh's Tavern and April 2, 1812, at Lem Ellis' Tavern. All parts of town represented at the rallies except the South Parish.

By 1836, Dedham "had long been a focus for the vigorous political activity popularly associated with the Jacksonian era."

New courthouse

When it became apparent that the old County Courthouse was out of date, the Norfolk County Commissioners ordered a new one to be built. The old courthouse eventually became Temperance Hall.

The Commissioners originally were seeking a utilitarian building that would be fireproof and safe to store important documents. Local boosters, however, wanted a building that aligned with the town's rapidly improving self-image. The commissioners were persuaded that

something more was required... than what was barely necessary; that... the state of this County, rapidly advancing in wealth and prosperity, required a liberal and judiciously expenditure for public accommodation, and that acquiring a taste for the fine arts was intimately connected with a refinement of manners and even with moral sentiment; that a magnificent temple of Justice would inspire an elevation of mind and contribute to cherish those feelings of reverence for the administration of the laws which it is so desirable to cultivate in a free community; the as the situation was in the most handsome and conspicuous place in the town, the building should be made in accordance with the architectural spirit of the times and comporting with the dignity and taste of the citizens of the County.

The land for the courthouse, across the street from the existing one, was purchased from Frances Ames for $1,200. Masonic ceremonies, bell ringing and cannon fire accompanied the laying of the cornerstone on July 4, 1825. It was designed by Solomon Willard and built in the Greek style with pillared porticoes. Construction was completed in February 1827.

From the outside, it was an attractive building, but it was not a comfortable place to work. The only water was provided by a well on Court Street, and it did not have an adequate heating system. One employee complained that it was "barren and destitute of every convenience, demanded for health, comfort and decency."

Renovations in 1854 added gas lights to the building and running water from an on-site well. Six years later, in 1860, the building was fireproofed to protect county records. A group of citizens petitioned the commissioners, asking them not to make any structural changes for fear of ruining the exterior aesthetics of the building. Despite this, the Commission decided to extend the north front of the building, to add wings on either side, and add a large dome to the roof. Following plans developed by Gridley J. F. Bryant, the building was enlarged again between 1892 and 1895 to its present H-shaped configuration, adding wings to the southern facade that matched those added in 1863 to the north.

Representation in the General Court

Military and wars

Bursting of the Town cannon

In the mid-1800s, the town's 17th century cannon was ordered to be destroyed. The cannon was prepared for use during King Philip's War but was never used, and was ordered to be swung during the Revolution. Thomas Cobbett, who was a member of an artillery company when he was younger, dragged the cannon to a meadow far from the village, filled it with gunpowder and gravel, and then lit a long fuse. Pieces of the cannon were then distributed to residents. One, which went to Horatio Clarke, was subsequently used to hold open the door of the grocery store at the corner of School and Washington Streets.

War of 1812

While Massachusetts as a whole opposed the War of 1812, the people of Dedham largely supported it. Many in the Federalist press called it "unjustifiable," " needless," "bloody," "destructive," objectless," "and "Godless." Both houses of the Great and General Court passed resolutions opposing the war, and every county in Massachusetts except Norfolk held anti-war conventions. There were calls for a state convention to discuss ways to resist the war, but others said it would be unconstitutional and illegal. Governor Caleb Strong refused to call up the militia to protect the seacoast.

Dedham fully supported the war, and adopted resolutions at town meeting on July 20 calling it a "just and necessary war waged for the protection of our violated rights and liberties." Town Meeting "Resolved, that since Congress has thought it necessary to declare war for the protection of commerce, for the liberties of our citizen, for our national sovereignty and independence, for a republican form of government itself, we hesitate not to declare our firm resolution to prosecute it with all our energy."

On August 17, 1812, a convention was held at Marsh's Tavern to join the Suffolk and Middlesex conventions in their addresses to the president relating to the war. Though there was a downpour of rain, the meeting hall was filled with war supporters. Dr. Nathaniel Ames made frequent references to the war in his diary, including on the USS Constitution's battle with the HMS Guerriere.

When news of victory in the war reached Dedham, the old town cannon was dragged to the First Church green to celebrate. Rev. Joshua Bates opposed the firing, so he went there with a bucket of water to douse the fuse before it could be lit. Pitt Butterfield, a republican and captain of the artilierists, "faced the church militant and in language more forcible than elegant gave the other party to understand that any interference with the loading or firing of the field piece would result in a fight then and there and that the broadcloth of a priest would not protect a meddling and domineering politician." Bates backed off. The cannon was fired.

Defense of Boston

In June 1814, the British Navy was off the coast of Massachusetts and threatening to invade. As people on the coast worried about invasion, they moved their valuables inland. Seven loads of specie from the Union Bank and other goods from Boston were moved to the vault of the Dedham Bank. By September, large amounts of naval and military goods would be moved from Boston to Dedham for safekeeping.

On September 12, 1814, Dedham's militia marched to Boston to help in the defense.

US Army troops

In the spring of 1814, a "regiment of flying artillery" had their headquarters in Dedham and were recruiting men there. Ames wrote of a Federalist doctor on the staff of the regiment who he called "an internal enemy." Ames claimed the doctor opposed the war and wished every American soldier would die before they reached Canada.

In August 1815, a regiment arrived and encamped on the "Church lot (Swets) South of Mill Creek." The next moth, Ames recorded: "Vast militia parade these two days at Dedham. 1st division, Boston, Bellingham Cohasset -- all meet at much expense and grumbling, only to salute a bareheaded General."

A number of Dedham soldiers fought, and some died, in the Battle of Lundy's Lane during the War of 1812 under General Winfield Scott.

Powder House

In the mid-1800s, a group of boys pried open the doors of the powder house one winter day. They found kegs of stiff white card cartridges filled with damp powder and heavy bullets. There were also kegs filled with flints used in flintlock muskets.

The boys took the cartridges down to the meadows where fires burned for the benefit of the ice skaters nearby. The damp powder hissed and sizzled when thrown into the fires, and the bullets were melted down.

A proposal was made by Louis Bullard to turn the powder house into a memorial of prominent Dedhamites, with their names carved into the building. Nothing came of it.

Civil War

Several days after the fall of Fort Sumter, a mass meeting was held in Temperance Hall which opened with a dramatic presentation of the American flag. A total of 47 men signed up to serve in the war at that meeting, forming Dedham's first military unit since the Dedham militia was disbanded in 1846. More men enlisted in the coming days and the first company was formed in early May.

The troops would march and maneuver through the streets of the village. When they did so, townspeople would come out to watch and young boys would often tag along. During one training session on the Common, a young recruit opened an umbrella when it began to sprinkle. The man, a barber who worked on Church Street, was told by Captain Onion that he could not march with an umbrella. He chose to leave instead, listening to the jeers of the men who remained. An effigy of the "man with the umbrella" appeared hanging from a noose several days later at the corner of Church and High Streets, and the young man quickly left town.

On September 3, 1864, the 18th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was mustered out of service. It had participated in some 15 battles. Of the 58 who enlisted from Dedham, 11 had fallen in the field, six had died from disease and wounds received in battle, eight had been discharged by reason of wounds, and 13 by reason of disability resulting from wounds. Of the whole company, 23 men had either died or fallen in battle. The regiment bore a part in nearly all the general battles of the Army of the Potomac except those of the Peninsula before Richmond. Upon their return, Dedham welcomed them with fitting ceremonies.

The 35th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment saw nearly three years of active service, beginning almost with the day of their arrival in the field. On its colors were inscribed, by an order of General Meade, the names of 13 battles to which was afterwards added a 14th. Their campaigns were not limited by a state or a department. They fought in Kentucky, East Tennessee, and Mississippi, as well as in Maryland and Virginia. In many of their battles, their position was among the most exposed to the enemy and sometimes in the most deadly conflicts. It became a proverb among the soldiers that the commanding officer of the 35th was sure to be struck down in every engagement.

Of the 68 who enlisted from Dedham, six were killed in battle and one more died soon after of his wounds, five died in the service from disease, eight were discharged on account of their wounds, and eleven for disability. The Town desired to give them a public welcome home, but they declined the honor, saying they preferred to pass without ceremony from the life of the soldier to that of the citizen.

Support from home

The women of the town immediately began working on producing supplies for the troops at the outbreak of war. In a span of 24 hours, they sewed 100 flannel shirts, of which 60 were sent to the state and 40 were reserved for Dedham soldiers. In the next two weeks, they made an additional 140 shirts, 140 pairs of flannel underwear, 126 towels, 132 handkerchiefs, 24 hospital shirts, 70 pincushions, 70 bags, and a handful of needlebooks. During the war, several Dedhamites traveled to visit the soldiers in camp, and several in service received furloughs to visit home.

After the Second Battle of Bull Run, a messenger burst into a church on Sunday morning with news of the defeat. The service was halted, and churchgoers organized into work parties. Less than six hours later, two wagon loads of clothing, bandages, medicines, and other supplies were on their way to Boston to be loaded onto an emergency supply train.

On May 6, 1861, the Town voted to "stand by the volunteers and to protect their families during the war." The Town Meeting also appropriated $10,000 for the cause. A number of other similar votes took place in the coming years such that the town spent a total of $136,090.81 on outfitting the troops, supporting the families, and providing bonuses for soldiers who enlisted.

Residents

Population

The population of Dedham has grown more than 10 times since 1793, reaching its peak around the year 1980.

The population grew dramatically in the 19th century, largely by immigrants seeking work in the mills along Mother Brook. The largest group, comprising 75% of new arrivals, were the Irish who fled the Great Famine. The second largest group were Germans who moved to the area in large numbers beginning in the 1850s. Later in the century, large numbers of Italians and Eastern Europeans moved to Dedham. The immigrants were overwhelmingly Catholic.

Race and ethnicity

In the mid-1800s, there were only a few non-white families in town. One student remembers only two black classmates at the Centre School during this time: Sara Robbins, the daughter or granddaughter of Seth Robbins, and Sam Johnson, the grandson of Mott Johnson. There was also only one Irish student, Patrick "Pat Slat" Slattery.

A black family lived at the corner of Washington Street and Wilson's Lane (modern day Worthington Street). The father was a whitewasher and was assisted by his son, who also had a great musical talent. They were very social with the boys of the neighborhood, although practical jokes were played on the family, including lighting a quantity of gunpowder placed under one of their beds on the morning of the Fourth of July.

Neighborhoods were often segregated by national origin. In the area between Bussey and Washington Streets, the Germans congregated on Shiller Road and Goethe Street. Many Irish lived on Maverick, Colburn, and Curve streets. Curve Street also had a number of Canadians. An Irish immigrant, who lived at 27 Myrtle Street from 1872 to 1907, rose from working in the woolen mills to becoming Superintendent of Streets and then eventually a deal estate developer. He both rented and sold many homes in the Hill Avenue area to fellow Irish immigrants.

New Dedhamites

Alcott

Louisa May Alcott's mother, Abba, ran an "intelligence office" to help the destitute find employment. When James Richardson came to Abba seeking a companion for his frail sister who could also help out with some light housekeeping, Alcott volunteered to serve in the house filled with book, music, artwork, and good company on Highland Avenue. Alcott imagined the experience as something akin to being a heroine in a Gothic novel as Richardson described their home in a letter as stately but decrepit.

His sister, Elizabeth, was 40 years old and suffered from neuralgia. Elizabeth was shy and did not seem to have much use for Alcott. Instead, Richardson spent hours reading her poetry and treating her like his confidant and companion, sharing his personal thoughts and feelings with her. Alcott reminded Richardson that she was supposed to be Elizabeth's companion, not his, and she was tired of listening to his "philosophical, metaphysical, and sentimental rubbish." He responded by assigning her more laborious duties, including chopping wood and scrubbing the floors.

She quit after seven weeks in the winter of 1851, when neither of two girls her mother sent to replace her decided to take the job. As she walked from his home to Dedham station, she opened the envelope he handed her with her pay. She was so unsatisfied with the four dollars she found inside that Aloctt family tradition states that she mailed in back to him in contempt.

She later wrote a slightly fictionalized account of her time in Dedham titled How I went into service, which she submitted to Boston publisher James T. Fields. He rejected the piece, telling Alcott that she had no future as a writer.

Browns

In 1847, a successful dry-goods merchant in Boston moved to Dedham with his wife. Charles Brown and Mary Patterson Shaw built a home at the corner of East Street and Auburn Street, modern day Whiting Avenue. It was described as "one of the most commanding positions in the town." At a cost of $18,264, it was one of the most expensive home in the Greater Boston area. After Mary died in 1886, it was purchased by the Boston Children's Friend Society as a home for boys.

Goulds

William and Cornelia Gould with their children.

After the Civil War, the formerly enslaved Naval veteran William B. Gould settled in Dedham with his wife, Cornelia, who had been purchased out of slavery before the war. Together they had six sons and two daughters and raised them on Milton Street in East Dedham. While living in Dedham, Gould became a building contractor and community pillar. He did the plaster work at St. Mary's Church, was a founder of the Church of the Good Shepherd, and was extremely active in the Grand Army of the Republic's Charles W. Carroll Post 144.

When he died in 1923 at the age of 85, he was interred at Brookdale Cemetery. The Dedham Transcript reported his death under the headline "East Dedham Mourns Faithful Soldier and Always Loyal Citizen: Death Came Very Suddenly to William B. Gould, Veteran of the Civil War." A statue of him was unveiled on Milton Street to mark the 100th anniversary of his death during Memorial Day 2023.

Mann

During the 1800s Dedham became the summer home of many wealthy Bostonians and, with the Industrial Revolution, many immigrants to the United States. One of the new residents of Dedham was Horace Mann, who lived for several years at the Norfolk House and opened a law office in December 1823. He soon "became interested in town affairs, was often chosen Moderator of the town meetings, and was an early candidate for office." Mann served as Dedham's Representative in General Court from 1827 to 1832 as well as on the School Committee. In only his first year in Dedham he was invited to deliver the Independence Day address. In his speech he "outlined for the first time the basic principles that he would return to in his subsequent public statements, arguing that education, intelligent use of the elective franchise, and religious freedom are the means by which American liberties are preserved." Former President and then Congressman John Quincy Adams later read the address and "expressed great confidence in the future career of Mr. Mann."

Nickerson

Albert W. Nickerson first arrived in Dedham in 1877. He was the president of Arlington Mills in Lawrence and director of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and built a home near Connecticut Corner where he "took an active part in community affairs and made generous donations to charitable causes." He sold the house to his brother George when he had a dispute with the town over taxes and improvements he wished to make to the property a few years later and moved to an estate on Buzzards Bay. Nickerson entertained President Grover Cleveland here and helped convince him to purchase the adjoining estate Grey Gables.

Several years later he bought another parcel in Dedham, this time a 600-acre (2.4 km²) estate on the Charles known as Riverdale. The estate was the boyhood home of ambassador and historian John Lothrop Motley. In 1886, he commission the architectural firm of Henry Hobson Richardson to build him a castle on the estate and hired Frederick Law Olmsted's firm to do the landscaping. The castle has a number of interesting architectural elements but its most famous is by far its numerous secret passages and "legendary underground mazes and hallways." It was built on top of a rocky hill "so that the Castle and the River appeared magically to carriages or cars arriving through the forested Pine Street entrance."

Economy

Early in the 19th century Dedham become a transportation hub and the "existence of quick freight service promoted a burst of industrial development." By the 200th anniversary of the town's incorporation in 1836, Dedham was "a thriving commercial and manufacturing center." Within 50 years of the railroads' arrival in 1836, the population almost doubled to 6,641.

Industry

With the arrival of railroads in 1831, Dedham became an attractive location for manufacturing. By 1837, the mills and factories in town were producing cotton and woolen goods, leather, boots, shoes, paper, marbled paper, iron castings, chairs, cabinet wares, straw bonnets, palm-leaf hats, and silk goods. Together they were worth $510,755 with the silk goods alone worth $10,000.

A silk factory opened on Eastern Ave in 1836 but burned down on March 11, 1845. In later years it became a dye house, a laundry, and a playing card factory. By 1880, the site had become home to the C.D. Brooks Chocolate Factory. On March 28, 1845, the Ashcroft Calico Works burned down.

There were more than 500 people employed in local industries in 1845. That year there were two cotton mills, a silk factory, a furnace foundry, a shovel works, three woolen mills, a paper factory, two tanneries, eight woodworking factories, a cotton thread factory, two iron and tin works, four coach manufacturers, and a number of smaller businesses producing boots, shoes, saddles, harnesses, cigars, marbled paper, pocket books, and headwear. The marbled paper manufactory, S.C. & E Mann, was located on the south side of High Street between Court and Pearl Streets.

Frederick L. Bestwick, the harness maker, lived on School Street just east of the Centre School with his nephew, Albert. After Joel Richard's died, Aaron Marden and Henry Curtis opened up a planing mill and sawing business in this first floor of the Richards' shop.

Major Jacob Clark was a building contractor who later became a millwright, setting up water-wheels at mills around New England and the maritime provinces before the advent of the steam engine. Clark lived on Federal Hill and his factory was powered by horses who walked in a circle and powered a large gear overhead. Most of the waterwheels in use at the time, including those on Mother Brook, were overshot wheels. Clarke also built the Allin Congregational Church.

After Clark's death in 1837, his partner, Edward B. Holmes, continued the wheelwright business. In 1846, Thomas Dunbar, who had been their apprentice, became Holmes' partner. They moved the shop from Federal Hill to an old paper mill on High Street near East Street. The building was across the street from the train tracks in a building connected to a blacksmith shop. In the basement was a stationary engine of a peculiar design. In the lower story were circular saws, lathes, and planers. On the floor that was level with the train tracks was iron work machinery. The pair then moved to an unused building near the old stone depot on Mother Brook where they used steam power.

Sumner Wilson had a carpenter shop on Wilson's Lane where the saws and lathes were run by horsepower. He later built a two family rental house next door. A carriage manufacturing and painting shop owned by Elisha McIntosh was located on Court Street and a blacksmith was located in the rear.

With the Industrial Revolution, Dedham experienced the ups and downs of a national economy.

Dedham Pottery

Hugh C. Robertson moved the Dedham Pottery plant from Chelsea to Dedham in 1896. The architect of the building, who also served on the company's board, was Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. The plant, which rarely if ever employed more than six people at a time, was located on Pottery Lane, off High Street, where the 2012 Avery School stands. The company closed in 1942 and the building burned to the ground in the 1970s. Maude Davenport, who was raised on Greenlodge Street in Dedham, is regarded as the company's most skilled decorator.

Roads

Turnpikes, including the South Road, linking Boston and Providence, and the Middle Road, linking Dedham and Hartford, were laid through town during the first few years of the 19th century. In 1810, the stage left Boston at 4 a.m. and passed through Dedham as it traveled 100 miles to Hartford. It arrived at 8 p.m., stopping only to change horses.

In 1802, Fisher Ames and a group of others requested that the Great and General Court lay out a new turnpike between the Norfolk County Courthouse and Pawtucket. Dedham's representative, Ebenezer Fisher, voted no, but the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike was chartered on March 8, 1802. Nathaniel Ames was incensed and believed Fisher's no vote made him a "traitor" motivated by "an ancient prejudice against the Old Parish." At the following May's election, the issue of turnpikes was a greater driver of participation than political party. Those from the outlying parts of town attended in large numbers to support Representative Fisher and his opposition to the turnpike.

The Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike created modern day Washington Street from High Street in Dedham Square to the Roxbury line. It then turned west to Court Street, where it ran south to Washington Street, and then straight to Pawtucket.

Edward L. Penniman laid out Mt. Auburn Street (modern day Whiting Avenue) and Mt. Vernon Street through his own property. The Town named the intersection of those two streets Penniman Square, but Penniman died the same day and never learned of the honor.

Jeremiah Shuttleworth leased a lot of land from St. Paul's Church at the corner of Church and High Streets. The minister, William Montague, referred to the intersection as "Jere Square" in his honor.

Modern day Worthington Street was known in the 19th century as Wilson's Lane. Dwight's bridge over Wigwam Creek stood at the intersection of High and East Streets. Lyons Street is named for a 19th-century landowner, Elisha Lyon. Lyon lived on the Needham side of the Charles River. There has been a bridge on the site since the 1740s, but the current bridge was built in 1879. Lyons Street originally ran as far as Common Street but was cut short and dead ended when Route 128 was built.

Railroads

The Dedham Train Station was located in Dedham Square where the parking lot now is.

Sketches of the station

Within a few decades of the turnpikes' arrival, railroad beds were laid through Dedham. The railroad was at first "considered dangerous. It was new fangled. People didn't trust it, so they wouldn't ride it. Only a very few brave souls in those opening years" ever boarded one. This fear was short lived, however as the first rail line came in 1836 and by 1842 locomotives had put the stagecoach lines out of business. The first line was a branch connecting Dedham Square to the main Boston-Providence line in Readville. In 1848 the Norfolk County Railroad connected Dedham and Walpole and in 1854 the Boston and New York Central ran through town.

The train bridge over Wigwam Creek, near the intersection of East and High Streets, had a red roof. Mrs. Hutchins' boarding house was next door. In 1886, the railroad built a new bridge over High Street and placed a granite plaque there to commemorate both the new bridge and the 250th anniversary of the town's incorporation. The plaque was removed sometime thereafter and ended up in the woods near railroad tracks in Sharon. It has since been returned to Dedham.

In 1881 the Boston and Providence Railroad company built a station in Dedham Square out of Dedham Granite. There were more than 60 trains a day running to it in its heyday, but it was demolished in 1951 and the stones were used to build an addition to the main branch of the Dedham Public Library.

Moses Boyd was the "well-known and gentlemanly" conductor of the Dedham branch of the Providence Railroad. At a party for his 25th wedding anniversary his passengers presented him with gifts of cash that totaled between $600 and $700. In addition to the passengers from Dedham, West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, the President and Superintendent of the railroad attended the party at his home and presented him with a silver plate.

Connecticut Corner

In 1800, a group of tinsmiths from Connecticut, including Calvin Whiting and Eli Parsons, began a business at the corner of Lowder and High Streets. They attracted additional businesses, including a dry good store. The area became known as Connecticut Corner. In 1833, the Russel and Baker furniture company moved into the area but, after two bad fires, moved downtown in 1853. It employed 500 people.

Banks

The Dedham Bank was founded in Dedham in 1814 and asked Nathaniel Ames to be a director. Ames declined, citing the large number of lawyers involved with its creation. Ten months after creation, however, the bank had 66 shareholders in Dedham, Boston, Bellingham, Medway, Dover, Walpole, Franklin, Needham, Woburn, Roxbury, Medfield, Sharon, Wrentham, Hopkington, Bridgewater, Canton, and Sherburne. There was an attempted burglary of the Dedham Bank in 1863 with the would-be thieves using gunpowder.

The two major banks at the end of the century were the Dedham National Bank, with over $300,000 in capital, and the Dedham Institution for Savings, with more than $2,000,000 in deposits.

Retail shops

A grocery store stood in the middle part of the century at the corner of School and Washington Streets. It was owned by Austin Bryant, the Town's treasurer and tax collector. Bryant sold the store to Horatio Clarke in 1845, and in 1847 it was sold again William H. Mason. Mason owned it until his death, at which point it was taken over by Merrill D. Ellis. Enoch Sutton, the watchmaker, owned the next house south on Washington Street. Another grocery store opened on the first floor of the S.C. & E. Manufactory on High Street and there was a slaughterhouse on Eastern Ave near the railroad station.

Andrew Wiggin's shoe store was on the corner of High Street and Washington Street. At the same corner was a tailor and Mason Richard's dry goods store.

A Mr. Eaton was the lumber dealer. A millinery store was located under Temperance Hall. Erastus Shumway owned a stove and tinshop on School Street. He later moved the shop to Court Street on the first floor of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows building. Next door lived Ambrose Galucia, a house painter.

Around the corner on Franklin Square was the home of Joseph Guild, the hardware dealer. Nathaniel Hewins was the Town's baker, and he employed a Mr. Sawin, Bestwick's neighbor. Hewins bakery, which adjoined his residence, faced Franklin Square.

On Court Street, near the intersection with Church Street, was a fish market and restaurant. The owner, Warren "Oyster" Fisher, lived next door in a house where a number of people boarded. A few doors down was a bakery.

On Church Street, near the intersection with Norfolk Street, was William Field's dry good store. Above the store was the original location of Dedham High School. Just north of the school was Mr. Packard's stove store. Next door was a hat making shop owned by Timothy Phelps. In the back, Phelps had a bathing establishment that offered both hot and cold baths.

Just north on Church Street was a barber shop owned by Amory "Barber" Fisher who later owned and an ice and coal business. Further up the street was the home and paint shop of John Cox. Next to the Cox home was Nancy Damon's store that sold "thread, ribbons, silks, and fancy goods." It was previously located across the street from the Norfolk House.

At the corner of Washington and High Streets, where the police station sits in 2021, was a number of buildings owned by Charles Coolidge. Those buildings "were rented by a class of people, especially in the rear, that made the whole locality an eyesore in the heart of the village." At the corner was Coolidge's book and newspaper store, a tailor by the name of Lynch, and another store that sold secretly sold liquor. Memorial Hall was later built on the site.

Medical

In 1819, George Dixon bought the land at 601-603 High Street and built a home there. In the ell of the house was an apothecary shop that sold products produced by Dedham's Wheaton & Dixon. After Dixon's death, an apothecary named Tower took over the shop. When Tower was named postmaster, George Marsh, who had attended the Dedham Public Schools, then became the village apothecary. Marsh had learned the trade at a chemist's store on Cambridge Street in Boston.

Jesse Wheaton, a doctor in the town, opened an apothecary shop on High Street. In the shop he employed his nephew, Jesse Talbot. Wheaton lived on the south side of Court Street and was one of the oldest residents in Dedham. He also hired Lemuel Thwing to sell his patent medicines, including Wheaton's Itch Ointment, Lee's Bilious Pills, Dumfrey's Eye Water, Godfrey's Cordial, and Godfrey's Bone Liniment, around New England and Canada in a large wagon with "Itch Ointment and Others" emblazoned on the side.

Jeremy Stimson was a family physician and president of the Dedham Bank who lived on High Street. Doctor Samuel Stillman Whitney lived in Franklin Square and later sold his house to Dr. J.P. Maynard. Maynard also lived in a house just to the west of what is today 601-603 High Street. Maynard invented a forerunner to the Band-Aid.

Agriculture

In 1888, the 97 farms in town produced a product valued at $5,273,965, up from only $192,294 in 1885.

Other businesses

On Ames Street in the mid-19th century near High Street was a long building that housed a number of lawyers, with their signs adorning the exterior. Two houses down from the Centre School lived Jeremiah Radford, who cared for both the Norfolk County Courthouse and St. Paul's Church. Daniel Marsh was a mason.

The town's 1889 directory lists 10 blacksmiths, six boarding houses, five hotels, two ice dealers, 17 grocers, seven physicians and surgeons, four lawyers, 17 dressmakers, and one dentist. The products produced in town that year included boots, cabinets, chocolate, carriages, cigars, dresses, harnesses, slippers, suspenders, soap, tools, watches, and whips.

After the Columbian Minerva, the Norfolk Repository began covering the news of Dedham. Both were published by Herman Mann. It was followed by the Dedham Gazette, published by Jabez Chickering with Theron Metcalf as editor. There were two weekly newspapers, the Dedham Standard and the Dedham Transcript. The Norfolk Democrat was published by Elbridge G. Robinson.

In the 1800s many Dedham men, constrained by the growing population and the scarcity of land, left Dedham for the Ohio Country. They could thank, in part, Manasseh Cutler, a former Dedham resident and the son-in-law of South Dedham's Minister, Thomas Balch, who convinced Congress to approve a plantation there.

The town pump was located at the head of Franklin Square. It was made of wood painted green with an iron handle. Two lots over was an octagonal building with a large circular reservoir inside fed by the Federal Hill spring. The cistern was filled with hay in the winter to keep it from freezing and then emptied each spring. It was later taken down and rebuilt as a residence near Stone Haven station.

Taverns

The Norfolk House was built in 1802 and once hosted a speech by Abraham Lincoln.

Inns and taverns sprung up along the new roads as more than 600 coaches would pass through Dedham each day on their way to Boston or Providence. The stable behind Gay's Tavern could hold over 100 horses and eight horse teams could be switched within two minutes. Gay's Tavern was out of business by 1810. The Ames Tavern closed after the death of its last operator, Deborah Woodward, and was demolished in 1817.

Norfolk House

In 1802, a local mason named Martin Marsh built his brick home at what is today 19 Court Street and was then right on one of the new turnpikes. Marsh rented the land from the First Church and Parish in Dedham. He saw the traffic flowing daily past his house and quickly turned his home into a tavern, opening by August 12, 1805 His establishment, the Norfolk House, like the other inns and taverns in Dedham at that time, were bustling with the arrival of both the turnpikes and the courts. He maintained the tavern until 1818, and then sold it to Moses Gray and Francis Alden.On the north side of Court Street was a building called the "Flat Iron Building" due to its wedge-like shape. It was this partnership that hosted President Andrew Jackson for lunch as he and his entourage passed through town in 1832.

The Norfolk House was also a hotbed for Republican politics in its day. A young Congressman named Abraham Lincoln gave a speech at the Norfolk House on September 20, 1848, while in Massachusetts to campaign for Zachary Taylor. He appeared uncomfortable as he arrived but

His indifferent manner vanished as soon as he opened his mouth. He went right to work. He turned up the cuffs of his shirt. Next, he loosened his necktie, and soon after it he took it off altogether. All the time, he was gaining upon his audience. He soon had it as by a spell. I never saw men more delighted. He began to bubble out with humor. For plain pungency of humor, it would have been difficult to surpass his speech. The speech ended in a half-hour. The bell that called to the steam cars sounded. Mr. Lincoln instantly stopped. ‘I am engaged to speak at Cambridge tonight, and I must leave.’ The whole audience seemed to rise in protest. ‘Go on! Finish it!’ was heard on every hand. One gentleman arose and pledged to take his horse and carry him across country. But Mr. Lincoln was inexorable.

Phoenix Hotel

The Phoenix Hotel was one of the most popular social spots in Dedham during the 19th century. It was located on the northwest corner of the High Street-Washington Street intersection in modern-day Dedham Square. Among the distinguished guests of this hotel were Andrew Jackson and James Monroe.

When the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike was opened in 1803, Timothy Gay leased a tavern directly on the new road. Gay was also the owner of the Citizen Stagecoach Line and, due to this, all of the stagecoaches traveling between Providence and Boston stopped at his tavern. Gay was out of business by 1810, but was then operated by a number of others who gave the business their name, including Calp, Smith, Polley, Alden, and Bride. John Bride was proprietor by 1832 and it was an attractive hotel that could handle the relay of horses and the needs of the many passengers who passed through each day. The 12 to 15 coaches that pulled up each day typically had seven or more people in each. The stable housed over 100 horses at any given time. Teams of eight horses could be swapped out in two minutes.

Rules of baseball

On May 13, 1858, members of the various town ball teams in the Boston area met at the Phoenix Hotel to form the Massachusetts Association of Baseball Players. The nine team association included three teams from Boston and one from Dedham.

The association developed a set of rules that came to be known as the Massachusetts Game. There were no foul balls, four bases in a rectangular shape, and games lasted until one team had scored 100 runs. At the end of the day, after they adopted 17 rules, they broke to play a game that was well attended by residents.

Later years

Under different names and different managers, the house continued to do a good business. John Howe and his wife owned the hotel from 1850 to 1879, during which time it became one of the community's leading social spots. During the Civil War, it was commonly frequented by officers from nearby Camp Meigs. After that it gained a reputation as a spa, where people from the city might escape for a few days.

Its last owner, Henry White, had owned it for only a year when it finally burned to the ground on the morning of December 25, 1880. It was the last tavern in Dedham at the time and, when it finally burned, Dedham's days of hosting stagecoach travelers ended.

Trees

In 1832, a tree in West Dedham, today Westwood, was named for the fortuneteller Moll Pitcher, who enjoyed the shade beneath the tree during her travels to the area. On a hot summer day, she once asked a workman for a sip of his cider. When he refused, she broke her clay pipe in two and told the worker that the same thing would happen to his neck. She also said that the Nanhattan Street house he was working on would burn to the ground, which it did years later.

In the mid-1800s stood a large sycamore tree at the intersection of Court and Church Streets. Tradition holds that this was the tree to which those who broke the law would be tied and whipped. It was also the location of the town's pillory.

Schools

Though Dedham had the first public school in the country, the Commonwealth sued the Town in 1819 for failing to hire a grammar school teacher.

As early as 1848, Rev. Dr. Alvan Lamson of the First Church and Parish in Dedham was making the argument that the districts should be abolished and Horace Mann said that the law allowing districts was "beyond comparison, the most pernicious law ever pass in the Commonwealth on the subject of schools." The districts were discontinued in 1866 when the Town purchased all 11 buildings for a total of $49,180 and returned their value to the taxpayers of the respective districts.

The first public school system in the country had, by 1890, grown "complete system of graded schools, which are provided for in thirteen buildings having a value of about $60,000; to which has recently been added a new high school building in a central location in which have been embodied all known improvements." On January 11, 1895, the citizens of the town gathered in Memorial Hall to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the first free, tax supported public school in the nation. A "felicitous" speech was made by Governor Frederic T. Greenhalge and an "historical address" was made by Rev. Carlos Slafter. Lieutenant Governor Roger Wolcott, Judge Ely and the Honorable F. A. Hill also spoke.

Dedham High School

As early as 1827, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts required all towns with more than 500 families to establish a free public high school. Beginning in 1844, the School Committee repeatedly began recommending that the town establish a high school. It was not until 1850 when, under threat of a lawsuit, that the town meeting voted to "instruct the Town's School Committee to hire a building and teacher, and establish a High School according to law." A sum of $3,000 was appropriated to support it.

The new school was opened on September 15, 1851 with 42 students. Charles J. Capen, a private high school teacher, was hired to teach at the new school, and his classroom above the Masonic Hall was rented by the town. The building, located at 25 Church Street, was previously Miss Emily Hodge's Private School. The school used this space from 1851 to 1854, at which point it was moved to the Town House on Bullard Street. In 1855, a new school was built on Highland Street and dedicated on December 10. A new school was built on Bryant Street in 1887, and students moved in on October 3.

Parishes, precincts, and new towns and neighborhoods

With the division and subdivision of so many communities, Dedham has been called the "Mother of Towns."

Dover

At the 1729 election, the village reasserted its political power by taking back control of the Board of Selectmen. Four men from the village were elected, including Ebenezer Woodward, along with one man from the Springfield area of town. Shortly thereafter, Springfield became its own precinct in an apparent quid pro quo. It later became Dover in 1836.

Norwood

The south precinct had long complained that they did not receive a fair share of services from the Town. In 1872, the complaint was focused around the lack of opportunities for their children to attend the high school. In that year, they seceded and formed the town of Norwood, Massachusetts.

Westwood

In 1897, the third parish became the final area to break away directly from Dedham, incorporating as Westwood. There had been calls for a partition since at least 1857.

Waldeddo and Back Bay

In the 1850s, a proposal was made by James Tisdale to take portions of Dedham, Dover, and Walpole to create a new town of Waldeddo, but nothing came from it.

In the late 1800s, when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was filling in Boston's Back Bay, most of the landfill came from nearby Needham. When the gravel pits there were exhausted, they turned to other area communities, including Dedham.

Subdivisions

In the 19th century many former farms became businesses and homes for those who commuted into Boston.

Nathaniel Whiting arrived in Dedham in 1641 and over the course of the next 182 years he and his descendants owned mills along Mother Brook and a great swath of farmland. In 1871 William Whiting, the last member of the family to own a mill, sold the remainder of the family farm. Charles Sanderson began laying it out in a subdevelopment to become known as Oakdale. By 1895, Oakdale was still largely woodland, with only about a dozen houses clustered around the Ashcroft railroad station. Today, Whiting Ave is home to both the High School and the Middle School, and Sanderson Avenue runs into Oakdale Square.

In 1867, the Farrington farm was laid out into house plots by the Elmwood Land Company and became the Endicott neighborhood, and in 1873 the Whiting/ Turner tract of land was developed into Ashcroft. Fairbanks Park was developed in 1895.

Notable visits

James Monroe

During his 1817 tour of the country, President James Monroe visited Dedham and stayed at the home of future Congressman Edward Dowse. A large number of people escorted him from the Norfolk border to the Boston line, including artillery and Crane's Division Ist of Militia. Monroe reviewed the troops on the Town Common. He met residents the next morning when he walked from Dowse's home to Polly's Tavern.

Fisher Ames

After he retired from Congress due to his poor health, prominent Federalist officials continued to visit Fisher Ames in Dedham. In 1800, Alexander Hamilton took a tour of New England. His stated objective was to disband the army, but his real reason was to try and convince people to vote for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney instead of John Adams.

On his way to Boston, where a dinner was held in his honor that included Governor Caleb Strong, the Lt. Governor, former senator George Cabot, Francis Dana, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and several congressmen and clergy, Hamilton stopped in Dedham. He was the guest of Fisher Ames on June 24, 1800. Next door, Fisher's brother Nathaniel was not pleased with the visit, writing in his journal that "A. Hamilton the high Adul[tere]r run after a tiptoe thro' Dedham."

On July 20, 1803, Gouverneur Morris also visited Fisher Ames in Dedham.

Organizations

The Norfolk House was also the site where "on June 4, 1810, in an expression of public outrage, a number of Dedham citizens assembled" and founded the Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves. Today the "Society is the oldest continually existing horse thief apprehending organization in the United States, and one of Dedham's most venerable social organizations."

A Masonic lodge opened in 1803.

Ghosts

When spiritualism swept over the country in the 1840s, many in Dedham took interest and attempted to communicate with the dead.

A few decades later, in October 1877, a "spook" was seen in the Old Village Cemetery. P.H. Hurley was walking through the graveyard when he was accosted by the ghost. The spook then took off, leaping over a tall fence. Later the same night, John Ward saw the spook in Brookdale Cemetery.

The spook seen by Hurley and Ward was described as being over seven feet tall and wearing a long blue coat. Others reported seeing a spectral woman in the cemeteries. She was silent and still, pointing at various graves.

One report indicated that the spook liked eggs, so the police investigated a grocery store. Women of the town made sure to confirm their husbands' identities before letting them into the house, and a woman in Oakdale fired a shotgun at the spook.

Around midnight on November 8, neighbors on Village Avenue heard shots fired in the cemetery. Caretaker John Carey found blood scattered on the white marble gravestone of Lavinia Turner the next morning, as well as a bloody handprint on the iron rail surrounding the family plot. There was also trampled grass and indications of a struggle. Constable de Morse thought the red liquid was blood, but Police Chief William F. Drugan ruled that it was simply red ink. Drugan also declared that the "spook sensation" was not real but was the work of pranksters.

The press, including the Dedham Transcript and newspapers from Boston and New York, covered the story extensively. One reporter spent the night in the cemetery, hoping to catch a glimpse of the spook. By the end of November, when a ghost was seen in a Palmer, Massachusetts cemetery and the newspaper coverage moved there, the sightings in Dedham died down.

Independence Day

In the early 1800s, residents would gather at a tavern for a feast, to drink toasts, read the United States Declaration of Independence, and to celebrate the "Glorious Fourth" of July.

By the mid-point of the century, a new annual tradition of a Parade of Antiques and Horribles was established in Dedham and in much of New England. Mocking the Boston parade of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, older residents and young people would dress in outlandish costumes.

In the 1880s, a tradition started where youths would climb to the top of the Church of the Good Shepherd and ring the bell at midnight on the 4th of July. This tradition eventually evolved into the bell being rung to signal the start of wagons being brought to Oakdale Square and lit aflame in the early 20th century.