INTRODUCTION Settled one month before Boston in 1630, Dorchester grew up along an Indian trail leading to summer fishing grounds by the harbor and on the islands. The first settlers established themselves on the hills: Pope's, Jones, Savin, and Ashmont. Today, the two oldest houses in Boston remain in Dorchester, and there are more than a dozen pre-Revolutionary War buildings in existence here. By 1800 many Yankees had farms in Dorchester, some quite large; then in 1844 the first railroad lines were built by Old Colony, despite bitter opposition by the residents. Horse-drawn streetcars ran down Washington Street and Dorchester Avenue from 1857, and at this time the Yankees began to sell their farms and move south or west to Milton or Brookline. This caused a sudden and unreplaced loss of leadership, and in 1870 Dorchester was annexed as a part of Boston. This was also the time when real estate flourished on a grander scale, as the emerging wealthy middle class chose Dorchester as the place to have architects build them houses in the newest styles, such as Queen Anne, Shingle, Colonial Revival, and Bungalow. Close enough to the city to commute quickly to their jobs, yet so suburban they could keep horses, sheep and the occasional cow, these families enjoyed a way of life we can still glimpse today through Dorchester's architecture. By the turn of the century, much of Dorchester was filling rapidly with second-generation Irish Americans, and the first triple-deckers were built. Dorchester today is a truly multicultural collection of neighborhoods where, although life-styles have of necessity become increasingly urbanized, lovely, spacious homes still abound and are affordable, and community spirit and commitment endure. CODMAN SQUARE Codman Square existed primarily as a crossroads in a farming district until 1805-6, when it became necessary to build a new church to relieve the overcrowding and theological differences within the First Church at Meeting House Hill. Thus the Second Church, a pure example of neoclassicism, was built on the north corner of the square. The first minister of the new church was the Reverend John Codman, after whom the square was named. Its bell was cast by Paul Revere and placed in the tower in 1816. The tower clock was a gift from Walter Baker of the Baker chocolate factory in Lower Mills. Early visitors to the church included Daniel Webster and John Adams, and today it is the oldest Congregational Meeting House in Boston still used as a church. Over the years the Codman Square neighborhoods were developed into sites for stately homes, and the square itself was distinguished by the Town Hall (since demolished and now the site of the Health Center), a theater, Dorchester High School, and the Dorchester Court House. ASHMONT HILL This carefully planned neighborhood was developed with much care and thought by George Derby Welles, who inherited the land in 1870 at the age of twenty-six. Ably assisted by his agent, Edward Ingersoll Browne, land sales began in 1872, and by 1874 there were seven houses on Ashmont Hill. The most impressive houses were built at the top of the hill where they commanded a view of both Boston Harbor and the Blue Hills. Here homeowners vied with one another for the most impressive gardens, the lushest fruit trees and arbors; "a landscape of pleasure." Debutante parties, teas, and gala celebrations of all kinds kept residents busyand there were polo matches and other equestrian events, drama societies, and choral groups when entertainment was wanted outside the home. Living in these grand houses were those whose wealth came from new industries; educators, including a Harvard president or two; and, of course, "Honey Fitz," Boston Mayor John Fitzgerald whose daughter Rose would marry Joseph Kennedy and launch an American political dynasty. MELVILLE PARK This neighborhood is bordered on three sides by Washington Street, Park Street, and Dorchester Avenue, and on the fourth side it blends gracefully into the neighborhoods of Codman Square and Ashmont. CARRUTH STREET Extending from Ashmont Street south to Gallivan Boulevard, the neighborhood around Carruth Street and its side streets (most notably, Beaumont, Fairfax, and Rowena Streets, Elmer Road and Radford Lane) were laid out at about the time of Dorchester's annexation to the City of Boston in 1870. Named for Nathan Carruth, a nabob of the clipper-shipping trade who was perhaps more significantly the first president of the Old Colony Railroad, Carruth Street was planned for residential subdivision shortly thereafter; however, the financial panic of the early 1870s hindered large-scale building for more than a decade. Nathan Carruth's son Herbert built his own home at 30 Beaumont Street in 1877, and by the time better economic conditions returned in the 1880s, Herbert Carruth began to develop his late father's estate in earnest. Hitherto a bookseller, as a real estate developer the younger Carruth exercised considerable control over his family's landholdings, stipulating standard setbacks and including deed restrictions forbidding the stabling of horses on the house lots he sold. As an avid ornamental gardener, Carruth also took a lively interest in the aesthetics of the neighborhood, which he envisioned as a garden suburb to be ornamented by commodious houses in the fashionable styles of the day. Although there are no houses from Carruth Street featured on this year's tour, houses on this street have been an integral part of the tour in the past, and we expect other houses from this neighborhood to be featured on the tour in the future. At the end of the Civil War a building boom began in Dorchester which slowed for a time with the Depression of 1873, and then began again in earnest in the mid 1880s. Most of the homes in the tour area were built during this period with Queen Anne and its variant, Shingle Style, appearing first and Colonial (or Classic) Revival and Bungalow styles appearing soon afterward. The Queen Anne style is evidenced by its complicated roof and turret forms and is usually asymmetrical. Shingle Style is simpler and, as its name suggests, is characterized by the use of shingles which seem to flow over the surface of the house in an almost liquid skin. Colonial Revival houses are not mere reproductions of an earlier dwelling, but rather an attempt to recall the spirit of the American past. They display classic detailing and often have porches with Greek columns. Bungalows are small one- or two-story box-shaped homes with pitched roofs and often porches designed for family living. These houses came later and began to reflect the popularity of the Arts and Crafts movement in the first part of the twentieth century. BIBLIOGRAPHY Dorchester, Boston 2000 Neighborhood History Series Ashmont, Paul Douglass Shand-Tucci, Boston, 1991 The Second Settlement 1875-1925, Paul Douglass Shand-Tucci, Boston, 1974 Living in Dorchester, Dorchester 1630-1972, Tribune Publishing Company The Story of Wellesley Park, newsletter by Adelaide M. Robertson, 1959 A Brief History of Codman Square, Bill Walczak Ashmont Hill Association House Tour Guides Melville Park House Tour Guides Dorchester GALA House Tour Guide