Historical Walking Tour of

Lower Mills

Dorchester, Massachusetts

Recipe pamphlet from about 1880. Historical Walking Tour An imaginary historical walking tour allows us to mingle images of existing buildings with images of those lost to fire or demolition. It allows the reader to sense what it might be like if all the buildings with their varied architectural styles could be seen on the same day. It is quite clear that this is not possible, especially where a newer building has replaced an older one on the same site. Yet the imagination is a powerful force.

Choice Recipes published in 1899.

Lower Mills The Massachusetts tribe, who greeted the English

settlers when they arrived in 1630, used the Algonquin name Unquety , meaning lower falls, for the place on the Neponset that later came to be known by its manufacturing. The Lower Mills became the site of Israel Stoughton’s gristmill in 1634, of the first powder mill in New England in 1665, of an early iron slitting mill in 1710, of the first paper mill in 1728, and of the first chocolate mill in America in 1765. Over a thousand people worked in the industries located at the Lower Mills at its peak in the mid-19th century.

Page from 1908 recipe pamphlet.

Four chocolate companies were at one time

located here: Baker, Preston, Ware and Webb and Trombley. Over the years Baker acquired the other three, making Baker Dorchester’s largest manufacturing concern.

Cover of recipe

pamphlet published in 1917. La Belle Chocolatiere by Jean Etienne Liotard

1. Chimney/Power House

2. Webb and Baker Mills

3. Old Stone Mill

4. Baker Mill, Forbes Mill, Administration

5. Pierce Mill

6. Telephrage System

7. Grinding (nos. 7-12 not indicated on map)

8. Machinery

9. Wrapping

10. Noon Hour at Pierce Mill

11. Trucks at Baker and Forbes Mills

12. Group of Demonstrators

13. The Lower Falls

14. The Village Inn

15. Milton Station Car Barn

16. Blaney Memorial Church 17. St. Gregory Roman Catholic Church 18. Third Church, Unitarian 19. Gilbert Stuart School 20. First Methodist Church 21. Edmund Baker’s House 22. Blue Hill Bank

23. Richmond Hall

24. Pierce House

25. Tolman House

26. Stoughton School

27. Mason Regulator

Dr. James Baker, 1739-1825, was the founder of the Baker chocolate company. He financed John Hannon in the manufacture o chocolate beginning in 1765, and by 1780 he acquired Hannon’s company, renaming it.

3. The Old Stone Mill, built in 1813, and

rebuilt in 1848 after a fire, stood on the Dorchester side of the Neponset River, where the Baker Mill stands now.

Edmund Baker,

1770-1846, followed his father in the chocolate business in 1791 and became sole proprietor of the chocolate mills, with the water privileges on the Dorchester side of the river.

1. The Big Chimney - Power House was

built as the electrical power station for the Baker Chocolate mills. Electricity allowed chocolate production to continue in summer months by providing refrigeration.

Walter Baker, 1792-1852, Edmund’s oldest child, followed in the family business. He lived at the corner of Washington and Park Streets in a house built by Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver.

4. The Baker Mill, the Forbes Mill, and

the Administration Building in a postcard from the 1920s. Named for the founding family, the Baker Mill was built in 1895 to a design of Winslow and Wetherell.. The Forbes Mill, built in 1911, was also designed by Winslow and Wetherell. Milton architect George F. Shepard, Jr., designed the Administration Building, which was built in 1919.

Henry L. Pierce,

1825-1896, a step-nephew of Walter Baker, succeeded to the business in 1854 and expanded it to international fame.

2. Webb and Baker Mills. The Webb Mill on the Milton side of the Neponset River was built in 1882 to a design by Bradlee and Winslow. Henry L. Pierce named the mill to honor the Webb Chocolate Company, another chocolate producer at Lower Mills that was purchased by Baker.

10. Noon Hour at the Pierce Mill. 5. Designed by Bradlee and Winslow and built in 1872, the Pierce Mill was named for Henry Lillie Pierce, the President of the company, who brought it to international recognition.

7. Grinding

8. Machinery 11. Trucks lined up at the Baker and

Forbes Mills.

6. The Telephrage System was used to transport materials from building to building.

9. Wrapping 12. Group of demonstrators.

13. This postcard from the early 20th century shows the bridge and a hotel. The hotel was located approximately where the Administration Building was built.

15. The Milton Station Car Barn was located on the east side Dorchester Avenue just north of Pierce Square (the intersection of Dorchester Avenue, Adams Street and Washington Street), where the high-rise residential building now stands at 2262 Dorchester Avenue.

17. Construction of the St. Gregory church building in the Romanesque Revival Style began on August 16, 1863. As part of an expansion beginning in 1894 a new facade with two towers was added, and in 1902 the church was re-dedicated

14. The Village Inn at the northwest corner of Dorchester Avenue and Washington Street was owned by Eleazer Johnson Bispham, who was born in Dorchester in 1804. He established a dry-goods store at Dorchester Lower Mills in 1822 or 1823 and carried on this business until about 1852. In 1848 he became cashier of the Dorchester and Milton Bank and president in 1876.

16. The Blaney Memorial Baptist Church stood on the site that is now the parking lot of the Mt Vernon Cooperative Bank. The Church was named after Miss Mercy Blaney who died in 1866 leaving $20,000 for the building of a church. The building was erected and dedicated March 16, 1887.

18. The Third Church, Unitiarian was built in 1839-1840, to a design by Asher Benjamin. Miss Anna Stone, Boston's greatest singer of the day, took part in the dedication service on Oct. 28, 1840. A CVS store now stands on this site.

19. The Gilbert Stuart School, built in 1896, was located where the Lower Mills Branch of the Boston Public Library now stands.

21. Edmund Baker moved to the Lower Mills in 1791 and became the sole proprietor of the Chocolate Mills. In the 19

23. Named for the Rev. Joseph Richmond, Richmond Hall at 1111-1113 Washington Street was originally the Third Religious Society in Dorchester. After a larger church was built in 1840, this building was converted into a meeting hall, and Abraham Lincoln spoke here in 1847 on behalf of Zachary Taylor’s candidacy for President.

th century he built

this house at the corner of Washington and Richmond Streets. His son Walter Baker later took over the business and leant his name to the company.

24. Henry L. Pierce, a relative of the

Bakers, took over the chocolate business after Walter Baker died in 1854. Pierce lived in this house at 1133 Washington Street.

22. The Dorchester and Milton Bank was chartered by the State, March 17, 1832, with $100,000 capital. In 1872, the Bank was moved to the brick building at the corner of Washington and Richmond Streets. E.J. Bispham became president and S.J. Willis cashier in 1876. The name was changed to The Blue Hill National Bank of Milton in 1882, and this building was sold to the city for use as a police staton and library. In the 1980s it was converted to private use, and in 2004 it became a photographer’s studio.

20. Founded in 1816 the First Methodist Church first met in a little house that is now located at 883 Adams Street near the intersection with Gallivan Boulevard. The third building shown in this picture with its 135 foot spire was erected in 1874 to a design of A.P. Cutting. The Wesley United Methodist Church now stands on this site.

25. The house opposite the head of River Street was built by Robert P. Tolman in 1822. He had a store in the next building to the right. The property is now a funeral home and has been the subject of controversy regarding proposed development of a drug store.

27. The Mason Regulator Company produced machine parts, i.e., speed, pressure and regulators, balanced valves, and steam traps. The company moved from Jamaica Plain to Lower Mills in 1898 establishing itself as a new industry in the Lower Mills area. The Mason Regulator building at the corner of Medway Street and Adams is now an assisted living facility known as Standish Village.

26. Designed by Luther Briggs, a Dorchester architect, the Stoughton School building opened in 1856 and is now the oldest existing wood-frame school building in the city of Boston. The property is being developed into residential condominiums with first-floor retail space with a conscious effort to incorporate portions of the school into the new design.