Sullivan Square was named for the Sullivan family, several of whom were very prominent in Charlestown businesses as well as land speculation. James Sullivan (1744-1808) was the fifth governor of Massachusetts, the president of the Middlesex Canal Company (1793-1808) and…
Author: Nancy Hayford Kueny
Historic Houses of the Month The Greek Revival Cottages
From 1830 and until 1860 the most prevalent style home to be built in Charlestown was the Greek Revival. Some Greek Revivals are grand columned temple-front homes such as the Swallow Mansion at 33 Cordis Street (1845). Another iteration of…
Historic Houses of the Month: Lost Charlestown: The Hunnewell Mansion
At the top of Green Street across from the Dexter Mansion (now Memorial Hall) was another formidable Charlestown estate that for many years was the home of James Frothingham Hunnewell (1832-1910), noted Charlestown citizen and historian, and author of A…
Historic Houses of the Month The Samuel Dexter Mansion
Samuel Dexter (1761-1816), born in Boston, was a distinguished politician who served in the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives before his appointment as U.S. Secretary of War (1800-1801) by President John Adams. Subsequently he briefly served both Adams and…
Lost Charlestown: 2 Eden Street
This was the Richard Frothingham House at 2 Eden Street, an early 19th C. Federal mansion that was located at the corner of Eden Street and Main Street with the front facade facing Main. Richard’s ancestor William Frothingham was part…
Historic Building of the Month: Engine 50
One of the most beloved buildings in all of Charlestown is the Engine 50 firehouse on Winthrop Street. The current building was opened in 1918, but a firehouse has operated on this site since 1853 making it the longest serving firehouse…
Historic Houses of the Month: The Thompson Triangle
Charlestown has been blessed with an amazing number of late 18th century and early 19th century homes that were built during the reconstruction of Charlestown following the Battle of Bunker Hill. By the late 1960s the population of the town…
Historic Houses of the Month Frederic Tudor and Charlestown’s Ice Trade
It’s hard to imagine, but in the early 19th century there were 14 wharfs along the Charlestown waterfront extending along the shoreline of Charles River Bay just below Town Hill, all the way to the Navy Yard. There were an…
Historic Houses of the Month Charlestown High School
The first Charlestown High School was built on the north corner of Monument Square in 1847/8, one year after the Hubbell and Warren Townhouses at 6-7, Monument Square were built. Those were the first homes built on the newly formed Monument Square. The…
Historic Houses of the Month: Lynde’s Point and the Charlestown Wharf Company
The Lynde family immigrated from Dunstable, Bedfordshire England, to Charlestown during the Great Migration. Thomas Lynde (1615-1693), a maltster by trade, was known to be in Charlestown by 1634. Following his death the inventory of Deacon Thomas Lynde’s estate listed two…