F 74 .B9 B905 Copy 1 R O O K L I N E f^]H- Class. Copyright W COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. BROOKLINE ■»-y 'f The Brookline Number of a Series devoted to the illustration of certain of the cities and towns adjacent to the City of Boston and the presentation, in brief accompanying text, of some suggestive facts concerning their advantages and development. PUBLISHED IN BOSTON IN THE FALL OF NINETEEN HUNDRED AND NINE BY THE EDISON ELECTRIC ILLUMINATING CO. 39 BoYLSTON Street, Boston, Massachusetts. (Copjrrigbt 1909 by The Edison Electric Illuminaling Company of Boston.) ^^ (S^D^T >CI.A^51634 The Town of Brookline \^^ITHIN a few years after the settlement at Plymouth it became apparent that the then business of Hfe in a new coun- try could be pursued in this wild and almost unknown land with hope of due reward. It may be that the many attendant dangers and dif- ficulties seemed of little relative consequence to the hardy and ad- venturous early comers, or that the troubles were minimized in the re- ports sent to the mother country. At all events nine years after the settlement at Plymouth, by royal charter was created a corporation entitled the "Governor and Com- pany of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," and Boston was established in 1630. Then and for seventy-five years the territory of the present Brookline was included in that of the larger place. In 1686 when the inhabitants of Muddy River, as' the locality was then known, needed a school of their own they were given exemption from the Boston town rates and per- mission to choose their own officers. This partial separation did not long satisfy the ambitious young com- munity, and in 1700 an agitation The Town Hall, Dedicated 187^. 3 The New Fire Station at Brookline Village. was begun which resulted in the in- corporation of the town in 1705. Brookline not only gained control of its own neighborhood affairs, but a pleasanter name and one bet- ter fitted to so charming and pic- turesque a country than its old, however much of the soil was car- ried by Muddy River in its turbu- lent course from Jamaica Pond to the Back Bay. Occupying an oblong area of nat- urally beautiful land, Brookline is the northermost town of Norfolk County. Formerly the northern line extended to the Charles River, but in 1874 a rather narrow strip of land here was ceded to the City of Boston. Otherwise, and in the main, the boundary lines of the town are as these were defined by committees of the neighborhood along toward the middle of the eighteenth century. For about a mile on the southwest, and a little more on the west, Brookline ad- joins the City of Newton, while at all other points it is bounded by Boston. Unusually pleasant in situation, Brookline is distinguished for the pleasant diversity and the attrac- tive character of the land comprised within its area of six and eight- tenths square miles. The natural features have been permitted to re- tain their beauty, or doubtless in the eyes of many their charm has First Parish Unitarian Church, Wahiut and Warren Streets. Police Station and Court House, Brookline. s The High School Building, Brookline. Brookline National Bank Building, Harvard Square. 6 been enhanced in tlic course of the development of the town and in tlie adapting of its territory to all the requirements of satisfactory resi- dence. In the southern portions of the town are many hills, some ris- ing to altitudes of consequence, and some bearing on their crests or slopes residences of architectural excellence, or set in grounds quite worthy of their generally attractive surroundings. At the north rises Corey Hill with its view so remark- able for its wide extent and so famous for its charm, and an acre at the summit is to be retained as a public pleasure ground. Near the geographical centre of the town is the Bolyston Street reservoir once the property of the Boston Water W^orks, but long unused as a part of the system of water supply and in due time acquired by Brookline. This large and lake-like body of water is retained also, and with its surroundings, as a part of the town's system of parks. It is an added attraction to the scene as well as a charming playground. It is evident from the care with which are preserved the stately old trees which line so many of the streets or embower so many of the houses or with which new trees are planted, that these are regarded properly as important parts of the municipal asset of beauty. Furthermore, welcome addition of course to the natural ad- vantages, are the good roads, the broad straight avenues and the windine streets, so constructed and The Harvard Congregational Church, Erected in 187:5. 7 Municipal Bath Mouse and Gymnasium, Tappan Street, (^Brookline Hills.) SO maintained that they not only serve their useful purpose but are pleasing in their varied aspect. Brookline is a station on the Bos- ton and Albany Railroad four miles by rail from Boston. There are twenty-nine trains out from Boston daily and thirty in from Brookline; on Sundays nine and eight respec- tively. The single fare is eight cents ; twelve rides cost eighty-five cents and twenty-five rides $1.50. The average running time is ten minutes. Within the limits of the town there are stations at Cottage Farm, Longwood, Brookline Hills and Reservoir. Cars on electric railways, potent servants of con- venience, connect one part of the town with another. These run at frequent intervals also to Boston by way of Beacon street, by Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue, and by Roxbury Crossing and Tre- mont Street, as well as to Faneuil, Allston and Brighton ; they run also to the settlements in Newton ; to Wellesley, Framingham and on to Worcester. Communications be- tween Brookline and the rest of the world is made an easy matter by these steam and electric railways. The population of this prosperous and most important town is far larger than the number necessary to qualify it to become a city of the Commonwealth. Indeed the re- quirements in this respect were ex- ceeded years ago ; but the form of government assumed over two cen- turies ago has been retained in def- erence to the continued wish of the inhabitants and as better suited than any other could be to a town so 8 Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary of the Assumption. Pleasant Homes on Buckminster Road, Brookline. 9 On Babcock Street, with a Few of Its Attractive Dwellings. The Manual Training High School, facing the Cypress Street Playground. lo St. Paul's Episcopal Church, St. Paul and Aspinwall Streets. distinctly residential in purpose and development. Their own munici- pal affairs are within the immediate direction of the residents, jealous of their rights and privileges, or are administered by officers, com- mittees and heads of departments quickly responsive to the will of the people as this is expressed in the town meetings. The population has been steadily advancing, but this as ascertained by the census of 1905 amounted in that year to 23,- 436, the figures representing an in- crease of about forty-five per cent during the ten year period then ending. Together with its continued growth in population the town has advanced as notably in prosperity. Unmistakable evidence of this pros- perity is presented almost every- where throughout the town and in many ways. As parts of the evi- dence may be cited the unusual pub- lic buildings, the many churches, and the admirable school houses, while no less convincing evidence is afforded by the stores and business buildings, by the well kept streets and by the dwellings of such dif- fering sizes and varying import- ance. The due impression is unes- capable and the impression is confirmed or strengthened by the official report of the Board of As- sessors. The assessed valuation as of May 1st, 1908, amounted to near- ly one hundred and one million dol- lars — on personal estate $34,812,- 6co, on real estate $65,954,200. That the growth of the town in prosperity has been continuous as well as gratifying, is shown by the 1 1 The Riverdale Casino on Francis Street. The Pierce Grammar, one ot the Modern School Buildings. I 2 The First Presbyterian Church, Brookline. comparative figures representing the valuation so steadily advancing during a long period. In the seven- teen years ending in 1908, the valu- ation doubled. The situation of Brookline and the easy and certain communication afforded by the steam and electric railways, permit its residents to command so far as they choose, the facilities, the conveniences and the amusements of Boston or, for that matter and so far as they are other- wise able, of the world. Yet in Brookline itself are presented the conveniences w'hich tend to promote the comfort of living while the well introduced and well administered public utilities have further power to render residential existence sat- isfactory. Water is made generally avail- able by the extensive supply sys- tem of the town. This water of ex- cellent quality for all household purposes and of undoubted purity, as ascertained by proper tests, comes from wells driven near the course of the Charles where this river flows along the dividing line between Boston and Dedham. Carefully taken through proper con- duits to covered reservoirs and thence to the distributing pipes, the water from wells to individual meter and faucet is protected from any contamination. Of the two ])umping stations, one is on Newton 13 Hotel Beaconsfield and a little of Regent Circle. A View along Beach Road, Brookline. Park Street, another Avenue of Pleasant Homes. Brandon Hall, one of the Family Hotels in Brookline. 15 Street and one at West Roxbury and together these deHvered over one thousand milHons of gallons during the twelve months ending with January of 1909. The low ser- vice reservoir with its cement roof is on Fisher Hill ; the high service reservoir, also covered, is on Single Tree Hill. Of main and service pipes there are nearly eighty-seven miles. In the town there are over one hundred water cart feeders, several drinking fountains and six hundred and fifty-six fire hydrants. The fire department is efficiently manned by many permanent men and by others on call. An automo- bile is provided for the chief, and there is an automobile chemical and hose combination while the appara- tus drawn by horses consists of two steamers, five combination chemical and hose wagons, three hose wagons and two hook and ladder trucks, while chemical extinguishers as well as other suitable equipment are carried. The stations including the new and imposing structure at Village Square, are so located as to permit the shortest possible lapse of time between the alarm and the beginning of protective activities at any menaced point. The satisfactory sanitary con- dition of the town is fostered by the ample system of sewers which protects all of the more thickly set- tled parts of the town and from which in turn, the sewerage is taken by Metropolitan and State Trunk Sewers. Under the direction of the Superintendent of Streets and Sew- ers, the streets are watered or otherwise treated for the prevention Stores and Business Buildings, Harvard Square. 16 Sr. Mark's Methodist Episcopal Church. Residences on Francis Street, Brookline. 17 i^ 1 ■■■• ! 1^ 'jJl^^lHjk :'^Tf MK H 1 1 ^^ 1 1 ^ :i! f .r- rr, , ^ 1 1. X-— ' ''.r^'i^'r^ . -J L-^ ^ frrw-^---^^^- ■' .^ I \ The Baptist Church at Bacon and Park Streets -'^.^ •S^^^'^ j^,:^;J,-;»^f:=i^^^^S^g^^^ One of the Larger Apartment Hotels in Brookline. i8 Surroundings ot the Brookline Covered Reservoir on Fisher's Hill. of annoying dust, ashes and refuse collected ; snow removed and the highways and sidewalks properly maintained. The Board of Health successfully combats the spread of infectious or contagious diseases, and is keenly alert in the enforce- ment of measures to preserve the public health. Under its charge a hospital is maintained on Newton Street, which not only helps suf- ferers from contagious diseases to recovery, but so far protects the town. In Brookline, as in any other community, public order must de- pend upon the will and the ways and manners of the residents and this town with its high ethical stands needs no protective army of policemen. The force here main- tained, however, is ample for the restraint of the few needing re- straint; for the protection of life and property so little menaced here, and for the preservation of peace and orderliness. The town is lack- ing in saloons. In the Court House near the Town Hall, sessions of the Municipal Court of Brookline are held daily and once a month a ses- sion of the Norfolk County Pro- l)ate Court. At Village Square and on the ad- jacent thoroughfares ; at Coolidge Corner, which takes its name from a store conducted by members of the Coolidge family fifty years or so ago, and at various other points stores are maintained in which may be met the usual requirements of the residents. Banking facilities are afforded by the Brookline Na- tional Bank, bv the Brookline Sav- 19 ings Bank and by the Brookline Co- operative Bank. Two weekly news- papers giving the local news are published in Brookline. Manufac- turing industries are represented by the Holtzer-Cabot Electric Com- pany, makers of many kinds of elec- trical goods, and here long ago es- tablished and by E. S. Ritchie & Sons, makers of compasses and in- struments. Gas for illumination and cooking is supplied by the Bos- ton Consolidated Gas Company. In part the streets are lighted by gas and to some small extent by naphtha lamps. In other part the streets of Brookline are lighted by electricity by The Edison Electric Illuminating Company. This Company also fur- nishes electricity for the illumina- tion of residential or commercial structures, as well as for power, at its standard rates as established throughout the thirty-three cities and towns it supplies with the elec- tric current. The service of the Company is continuous during every liour of every day in the year. Unusual provision has been made in Brookline to promote the wel- fare of its youth. There are ninety- six public schools as reported by the State Board of Education in- cluding the High School with a large building devoted to Manual Training and Domestic Arts in which is carried on important edu- The Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, in the Longwood District. 20 Svvedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem. The Civic Center oi Brookline in Older Days. 21 The Present Edifice of the Leyden Congregational Church. Dwellings on Beacon Street, Brookline. 22 Stores at Coolidge Corner with Building of the Universalist Church in the Distance. cational work. In all these schools a high educational standard is maintained in all the various grades, and the pupils are helped not only to gain knowledge but to acquire the clarity of intellectual vision and the power to exercise good judgment so essential to their own progress and the future good of society. There are sixteen commodious school buildings prop- erly reported to "conform to very high standards of heat, light, ven- tilation and attractiveness." ]\Iedi- cal inspection is provided and con- tinual care exercised to give the pupils sound bodies as well as cul- tivated minds. Some fourteen play- grounds have been provided, and the most important of these is that at Cypress Street, while the largest at Newton and Hammond Streets has been left in a nearly natural state pending the growth of neigh- borhood needs for its development. Facing the Cypress Street play- ground are the large buildings of the Municipal Bath House and the Gymnasium in which swimming is taught and athletic exercises en- couraged under proper direction. In 1857 the Public Library was established when Brookline, about the first of towns in the Common- wealth to do so, acted under the statute authorizing cities and towns to raise and appropriate money for library purposes. The library at first occupied a single room in the then Town Hall ; but in the fifty-two years of its exist- ence the collection has increased until it comprises about seventy tliousantl volumes. That the library 23 St. Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church, Boylston Street. is closely interwoven with the neighborhood life is shown by the use made of the reading rooms and the circulation of 164,573 volumes in 1908. The building more re- cently occupied by the library and erected in 1867 has been outgrown and is soon to be replaced by an imposing structure of modern de- sign and equipment. It will be remembered that in the early days of the Colony and for many years after the creation of the State the church and the local gov- ernment were so closely associated that the Meeting House was a town institution. The first house of wor- ship in Brookline was constructed in 1 71 5. This proving inadequate after ninety years was replaced by a second structure erected near by. The First Parish Unitarian Church is representative of the old organiz- ation and its present beautiful edi- fice at Walnut and Warren Streets is on the site of the second of the Meeting Houses. The Second Uni- tarian Society has its church in Sewell Avenue. The Baptist Church in Brookline was organ- ized in 1828 and its edifice is on Beacon at Park Street. The Har- vard Congregational Society had its beginning in 1844 and at first occupied the building at Washing- ton and School Streets, now used by the Bethany Sunday School As- sociation for its services and meet- ings. The present imposing edifice of the Society at Harvard and Marion Streets was completed in 1873. The Leyden Congregational Church on Beacon Street is to be replaced by a new and larger struc- 24 ture for which provision has been made. At the corner of Harvard Street and Linden Place is the larj^e CathoHc St. Mary's Church of the Assumption with its important Parochial School and other build- ings. St. Lawrence's Roman Cath- olic Church is on P)Oylston Street. St. Paul's Episcopal Church, St. Paul and Aspinwall Streets, was erected in 1852. The Episcopal Church of our Saviour at Mon- mouth corner of Carlton Street, built in memory of Amos Lawrence, was consecrated in 1868. The Episcopal All Saints Church on Beacon Street is undergoing changes which will make it one of the imposing devotional edifices. The First Presbyterian Church is on Prospect Street. St. Mark's IMethodist Episcopal Church is a modern and handsome structure at the corner of Park and Vernon Streets. The Beacon Universalist Church is on Harvard Street near Coolidge Corner and the Sweden- borgian Church of the New Jerusa- lem at the junction of Irving and Allenton Streets. At Longwood stands the Sears Memorial Chapel. Fraternal organizations are well represented in Brookline by local lodges or branches. Social pleas- ures are promoted or acquaintance- ship fostered by the active associa- tions connected with the churches and by various clubs or organiza- tions which in some instances also provide opportunity for intellectual or literary pursuit or for organized social or charitable activities. The objects other than social, of the Brookline Historical Society and of the Brookline Educational Society are sufficiently indicated by their names. The Brookline Friendly So- ciety conducts a reading room and On the Slope of the Hill on Walnut Street. 25 A Suggestion of the Character of the Houses on Tappan Street. Building of the Bethany Sunday School Association, formerly the Harvard Congregational Church. 26 High Service Pumping Station ot the Brookline Water Works on Newton Street. club for boys, for girls and for mothers. The Brookline Gym- nasium Athletic Association and the Brookline Swimming Club, sup- plement the work in the Municipal Bath House and Gymnasium, an4 help to maintain interest in these important institutions. The Brook- line Business Mens' Association advances mutual interests. The upper part of the Town Hall, Whit- ney Hall, Beacon Hall and Gardner Hall, provide suitable places for meetings, concerts, lectures or large social functions. So also does the hall of the Riverdale Casino, an organization of further social consequence. The Chestnut Hill Golf Club maintains a pleasant golf course. The Brookline Country Qub is one of the oldest and most important of similar organizations in America. On Clyde Street this club has its famous golf links of eighteen holes, its large and well appointed Club House, and here it conducts steeplechases in due sea- son, and other favored sports. In the early days when perhaps investigation was necessary to as- certain the fact which soon became obvious, due report was made that the soil here was fertile and well wooded. In i<^>33 farms were es- tablished and for many years the territory so far as it was cleared of forest was devoted to farming. In the first years of the nineteenth cen- tury, however, homes of more dis- tinctly suburban character were es- tablished here and then may be said to have begun the development of Brookline as a pleasant place for the homes in the main of those whose business or professional activities are pursued elsewhere — 27 /oy- NOV 19 ?SO0 Club House of the Brookline Country Club. the development which makes it so notable a community, unique among towns. In addition to the advantages now summarized a prospective resi- dent of Brookline doubtless would find a further important attraction in the variety of choice presented as to immediate environment or manner of residence. Whatever the preference as to kind of dwelling or its size, or whatever the intended household expenditure, the later comer would find opportunity to create a home in an ideal location representing wise selection and a home as similar as wished to those enjoyed by established neighbors. There are hotels, several palatial in size and equipment, in which fam- ily quarters or non-housekeeping apartments may be secured, while in some of these may be met the requirements of more transient resi- dents. Along some of the pleasant streets or broad avenues are apart- ment houses of handsome exteriors and of various sizes presenting their conveniences as adapted to the needs of families, large or small. On the same or other streets are many houses quite urban in appear- ance, construction and arrange- ment. In the districts less thickly settled perhaps than others are strikingly handsome residences in large and highly improved grounds duly adding their own to the gen- erally attractive appearance of the town. On pleasant streets near the lines of communication, but where monotony is happily avoided, or on tree-shaded and winding roads, are other handsome dwellings as well as numerous modest homes in which content also is invited to dwell by readily obtainable comfort, l)y easy command of conveniences and by most unusual beauty of surroundings. 28 'i: LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS iiiiiilli 014 077 243 4 ^Sl- ^i>A ^K^ :^.: >J^_i'irMs.\i ^>^ 5^^ '!^^ M