Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District

Last updated

Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District
Lower Mills MA.jpg
Neponset River at Lower Mills
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°16′16″N71°4′8″W / 42.27111°N 71.06889°W / 42.27111; -71.06889
Area5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built1868
Architect Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell; et al.
Architectural styleColonial Revival, Other, Romanesque
NRHP reference No. 80000675 [1]  (original)
01000304  (increase)
Significant dates
Added to NRHPApril 2, 1980
Boundary increaseApril 6, 2001

The Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District is a historic district on both sides of the Neponset River in the Dorchester area of Boston and in the town of Milton, Massachusetts. It encompasses an industrial factory complex, most of which was historically associated with the Walter Baker & Company, the first major maker of chocolate products in the United States. The industrial buildings of the district were built between about 1868 and 1947. They were listed as part of the district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, with a slight enlargement in 2001. The buildings have been adapted for mixed industrial/retail/residential use. [1]

Contents

Description

Lower Mills Village is located on either side of the Neponset River, which demarcates the southern boundary of Boston and the northern boundary of Milton. The river is crossed by Adams Street, which roughly bisects the district. The district is bounded on the south by the MBTA rail right-of-way in Milton and River, Washington, and Adams Streets in Dorchester. [2]

The historic district includes sixteen industrial buildings, all but one of which were directly associated with Water Baker & Company. Most of the buildings are constructed of brick, with numerous additions and ells. They are stylistically diverse, having been built between 1868 and 1947, reflecting styles from the Second Empire to the Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, and utilitarian modern. [2]

History

Native Americans had lived near this area for thousands of years. Members of the historic Massachusett tribe in this area encountered English colonists in the 17th century. They had occupied parcels of land near what is today the Ventura Street Playground in the Neponset River Reservation and Dorchester Park. [3] In the early 1630s Israel Stoughton acquired land to build a grist mill for grinding corn. Later chocolate factory buildings were built on that site. site. [4] In 1637 early settler John Whipple, an apprentice to Stoughton, settled on land near Butler and Bearse streets. [5]

Chocolate-making in the immediate area has a history dating to the mid-18th century, when Dr. James Baker and John Hannan established the business in 1765. The company they founded grew to national prominence in the first half of the 19th century under Walter Baker, James Baker's grandson. Additional expansion took place in the late 19th century, when a major portion of the present complex was built beginning in 1868 under the leadership of Henry Pierce; it continued under his successor, H. Clifford Gallagher. In 1926 the company was acquired by General Foods, which continued to manufacture chocolate under the Baker name on these premises until 1965. That year it consolidated operations at a plant in upstate New York. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorchester, Boston</span> Neighborhood of Boston in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States

Dorchester is a neighborhood comprising more than 6 square miles (16 km2) in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This dissolved municipality, Boston's largest neighborhood by far, is often divided by city planners in order to create two planning areas roughly equivalent in size and population to other Boston neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neponset River</span> River in eastern Massachusetts, United States

The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about 29 miles (47 km) to its mouth at Dorchester Bay between Quincy and the Dorchester section of Boston, near the painted gas tank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattapan</span> Neighborhood of Boston officially a part of Dorchester. in Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Mattapan is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester area, possibly meaning "a place to sit." At the 2010 census, it had a population of 36,480, with the majority of its population immigrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Massachusetts</span>

The National Register of Historic Places is a United States federal official list of places and sites considered worthy of preservation. In the state of Massachusetts, there are over 4,300 listings, representing about 5% of all NRHP listings nationwide and the second-most of any U.S. state, behind only New York. Listings appear in all 14 Massachusetts counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry L. Pierce</span> American politician

Henry Lillie Pierce was a United States representative from Massachusetts. He was born in Stoughton. He attended the State normal school at Bridgewater, and was engaged in manufacturing. He served as mayor of Boston and as a Republican in the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses of the United States. He declined to be a candidate for renomination, was elected again as mayor of Boston in 1877, and died in that city on December 17, 1896. His interment was in Dorchester South Burying Ground.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baker's Chocolate</span> Brand of baking chocolate

Baker's Chocolate is a brand name for the line of baking chocolates owned by Kraft Heinz. Products include a variety of bulk chocolates, including white and unsweetened, and sweetened coconut flakes. It is one of the largest national brands of chocolate in the United States. The company was originally named Walter Baker & Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neponset Valley Parkway</span> United States historic place

The Neponset Valley Parkway is a historic parkway in southern Boston and Milton, Massachusetts, United States. It is a connecting parkway in the Greater Boston area's network, providing a connection between the Blue Hills Reservation, Neponset River Reservation, and the Stony Brook Reservation. The parkway was constructed between 1898 and 1929 with design assistance from Charles Eliot and the Olmsted Brothers. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truman Parkway</span> Historic parkway in Massachusetts

The Truman Parkway is a historic parkway in Milton and southern Boston, Massachusetts. It runs along the southern boundary of a portion of the Neponset River Reservation and serves as a connection between the Neponset Valley Parkway and the Blue Hills Parkway. The parkway was built in 1931 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Hill Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Milton Hill Historic District is a historic district in Milton, Massachusetts. Extending mainly along Adams Street across the top of Milton Hill, it encompasses a residential area of high-style homes dating from the 18th to early 20th centuries. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butler station (MBTA)</span> Light rail station in Boston

Butler station is a light rail station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Mattapan Line. It is located at Butler Street in the Lower Mills section of the Dorchester neighborhood. It serves a small residential area sandwiched between the Neponset River, Cedar Grove Cemetery, and Dorchester Park. Butler station has no MBTA bus connections. It is accessible via a wooden mini-high ramp on the station's single island platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Avenue station (MBTA)</span> Light rail station in Milton, Massachusetts, US

Central Avenue station is a light rail station located off Central Avenue near Eliot Street in Milton, Massachusetts. It serves the Mattapan Line, a branch of the MBTA Red Line. Central Avenue consists of two side platforms which serve the Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line's two tracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ipswich Mills Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Ipswich Mills Historic District encompasses a major textile mill complex and associated worker housing along the Ipswich River near the center of Ipswich, Massachusetts. The district includes the factories of the Ipswich Mill Company, and several blocks of modest worker cottages mostly on side streets off Estes and Kimball Streets. The site had been used as for mills since the 17th century, and was purchased by the Ipswich Mill Company in 1868. Mill worker housing was built surrounding the complex through the early 20th century, when River Court, Peatfield Street, and 1st through 6th Streets were laid out. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Centre Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Milton Centre Historic District encompasses the traditional civic heart of Milton, Massachusetts. The district is located on Canton Avenue between Readsdale Road and Thacher and Highland Streets, and includes municipal buildings, churches, and residences, most built in the 18th or 19th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railway Village Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Railway Village Historic District is a historic district encompassing a densely populated, predominantly residential, area of eastern Milton, Massachusetts. The 30-acre (12 ha) district lies roughly between East Milton Square and the town line with neighboring Quincy. The area's significant growth occurred after the 1826 construction of the Granite Railway, which transported stone from the nearby granite quarries to the Neponset River. This resulted in the movement to the area of stone workers and related interests. The principal thoroughfare of the district is Adams Street; the district extends along Pierce Street, Granite Place, and Washington Street, and includes properties on intervening and connecting streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neponset River Reservation</span> Park in Massachusetts, US

Neponset River Reservation is a Massachusetts state reservation along the Neponset River in the towns of Milton and Dorchester, near where the river flows through an estuary into the Boston Harbor. It is adjacent to the Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District along the River. This was some of the last land retained by Cutshamekin (Massachusett) before he deeded much of the land comprising Dorchester and Milton to English colonists in the 17th century.

Israel Stoughton was an early English colonist in Massachusetts and a colonial commander in the Pequot War. Returning to England, he served as Parliamentarian officer in the First English Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell</span> Defunct American architectural firm

Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell (1872–1888) was an architecture firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Its principals were Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (1829–1888), Walter Thacher Winslow (1843–1909) and George Homans Wetherell (1854–1930). Most of the firm's work was local to Boston and New England, with a few commissions as far afield as Seattle and Kansas City.

John Whipple was an early settler of Dorchester in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who later settled in Providence in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, where the family became well established.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Neponset River Trail</span>

The Lower Neponset River Trail is a 2.4-mile-long (3.9 km) rail trail running along the Neponset River in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts. It roughly follows the path of the eastern part of the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad from the Port Norfolk neighborhood in Dorchester to the Central Avenue T Station in Milton, passing through Pope John Paul II Park, the Neponset Marshes, and the Lower Mills area.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "NRHP nomination for Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District (2001 increase)". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
  3. "Dorchester Atheneum: Converging Cultures of Neponset River Estuary". www.dorchesteratheneum.org. Archived from the original on May 24, 2007.
  4. Captain John and Sarah Whipple of Dorchester, Massachusetts & Providence, Rhode Island, Charles M. Whipple, Jr., Ph.D., Ed.D., Litt.D. https://www.whipple.org/charles/johnandsarah.pdf pg 3
  5. Whipple, Captain John and Sarah Whipple, https://www.whipple.org/charles/johnandsarah.pdf pg. 13