Susan Aprill – Page 12 – Local History Collections

2014-07-10

Fishing

This is Emily Fuller Drew’s copy negative of a panel card probably taken by someone else sometime earlier. There’s not a lot more information about it: just two boys fishing in the pond that provided water power to C. Drew & Co., the long-lived Kingston tool manufacturer. (There’s a great deal of information about C. Drew and their tools here).

Who were the boys? Who knows? That’s not captured on any of the three versions of this image in the Local History Room. Yet, for all the identifying detail lost to history, there’s something painterly about the composition of the two figures and the texture of the image that abstracts it just enough to capture the hazy, nostalgic air of a hot summer afternoon spent fishing.

Sources: Negative from the Emily Fuller Drew Collection MC16 (scan federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and digitized at the Boston Public Library in conjunction with the Digital Commonwealth)

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-07-03

Happy 4th!

In 1910, Kingston’s first 4th of July parade rolled through town.

Captain Jones in the Shallop float, 4th of July Parade, 1910

Jones River Village Club float, 4th of July Parade, 1910

Grand Army of the Republic float, 4th of July Parade, 1910

More photos from this parade are here and here.

Source: LHR General Image Collection IC7

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-06-26

Name the Town of Kingston’s new boat!

Kingston’s Town Administrator wrote yesterday

As many of you know, the town is awaiting a new Harbormaster Patrol Boat, which is estimated to arrive around July 17th, and perhaps sooner. This purchase was authorized at this year’s special town meeting.

The Board of Selectmen have offered a “contest” to name the boat for the town. The person who submits the name chosen will be given a maiden voyage around Kingston Harbor on the boat, along with family and/or friends to the maximum allowed on the boat.

So, please submit your entries to me with a copy to Laurie, and pass along the info on this contest to others in your department, and/or in the town!

Here are some possibilities from the Local History Room. Submit your own to the Town Administrator’s office (see here for how to)

Chesperus, owned by Chester Fuller (or possibly his talking dog).

Chester Fuller and dog aboard the 'Chesperus,' 1898 — Chester Fuller and dog aboard the ‘Chesperus,’ 1898

Arteola, owned by Charles Drew, in a photo from Old Home Day, 1908.

Arteola, at Delano's Wharf, 1908 — Arteola, at Delano’s Wharf, 1908

Matchless owned by Captain James (or John) Drew.

Tiger, the only steamer built in Kingston, built by Edward Ransom in 1898, owned by him, A.J.Hill, C.A. Ransom and Henry S. West.

Kittiwake V, built by George Shiverick for Henry M. Jones.

Kittiwake V, 1905. Photo by N. L. Stebbins Photo, Boston, Mass.

Herculean, built in 1839 by Joseph and Horace Holmes, owned by Joseph Holmes.

Ship Herculean of Kingston, Benjamin Cook, Master, 1840

The 7 foot figure head weighed in at 800 pounds, heavy enough to cause the ship to leak. It was repurposed as a garden statue, where it stood among the shrubs for many years.

Figurehead of the ship Herculean, no date

Finally, though there is no painting or photo, Independence, for the very first ship of the U.S. Navy, built in Kingston and seen here on the Town Seal, designed by Helen Foster.

2014-06-20

The Bradford House opens June 21

There’s a reception! And an exhibit!

Breakfasts start later in the summer.

Check the Jones River Village Historical Society’s website for more information.

Source: LHR General Image Collection IC7

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-06-12

111 years ago next Wednesday…

The Liberty Bell came through Kingston!

Yes, THAT Liberty Bell! And we have five glass plate negatives to help tell the tale.

Between 1885 and 1915, the Bell gallivanted around the country — down to New Orleans, across to Chicago, all the way to California — on a special flatbed railcar. In 1903, one of those trips brought the famed Bell to Boston for a commemoration of the Battle of Bunker Hill, then south to Plymouth on June 18th.

The Boston Globe proclaimed the event “one grand ovation.” After an estimated 50,000 people saw the Bell on Boston Common, hundreds more lined the tracks and thronged the stations as the train carried this most American symbol from South Station to meet its less-travelled cousin, Plymouth Rock.

On its journey, the Bell was guarded by patrolmen from Philadelphia and Boston — “their work was not arduous” said the Globe — watched over by GAR veterans and active military escorts, and accompanied by politicos and tycoons who “scattered flowers and other Liberty Bell souvenirs” to the singing, flag-waving crowds at each station stop.

Spectators and a band, near the Cordage, 1903 — Spectators and band, near the Cordage, 1903

The celebration in Plymouth included a sumptuous banquet at the Hotel Pilgrim, patriotic tunes, and speeches galore. The sizable Philadelphia delegation even got to stand on Plymouth Rock!

Band marching on Green Street, Kingston, 1903

Though Kingston was not specifically mentioned in the Globe, we know the Bell came through on the way to Plymouth and back. This last image gives some idea of how Kingston celebrated. [If something about this image seems strange to you, you’re right! It’s reproduced in reverse, as is the third photo above.]

The Liberty Bell’s last train trip was to San Francisco in 1915. Officials determined that in 30 years of crossing the country, the Bell had lost 1% of itself along the way and this American icon has remained home in Philadelphia for the last 99 years.

Sources: Glass plate negatives from the Margaret Warnsman Collection MC30 (scans federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and digitized at the Boston Public Library in conjunction with the Digital Commonwealth); “Seen by 50,000 on Common,” Boston Globe, June 19, 1903; Liberty Bell Timeline; National Park Service “The Liberty Bell: From Obscurity to Icon”

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-05-29

Beach day!

Sooner or later, summer will come. We’ll all be hot and sticky and we’ll welcome a cooling breeze near the waterfront. Just like this crew.

Five in a boat on the Rocky Nook shoreline, no date

Source: LHR General Image Collection IC7

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-05-23

Memorial Day parade

Another Memorial Day is upon us. Here are a few photos from the Local History Room collections which provide a glimpse of one of Kingston’s Memorial Day parades sometime before 1961.*

Sailors from the U.S.S. Des Moines march on Main Street

*This date is based on a flag carried by the color guard, which reads “U.S.S. Des Moines.” This heavy cruiser was launched in 1946 and decommissioned in 1961.

Source: LHR General Image Collection IC7

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-05-14

Fruit delivery

"Peanut Jack" Costa, around 1908 — “Peanut Jack” Costa, around 1908

Who was Peanut Jack? There’s nothing in the Local History Room to help identify him, but the 1890 Plymouth and Kingston Directory gives us this.

Mrs. D. Costa, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in...Fruits and Confectionery, Cigars and Tobacco, 1890 — Mrs. D. Costa, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in…Fruits and Confectionery, Cigars and Tobacco, 1890

The 1909 Plymouth Directory has almost the same ad, but the proprietress in that version is a Mrs. M. D. Costa, exactly what we see printed on the tarp or wagon cover right next to Peanut Jack in the photo. So it seems likely that Peanut Jack was one of the “teams making regular trips to all places in the vicinity.”

Sources: Delano Photograph Collection IC11; Books OC7

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-04-25

Four-trunk elm tree

The four-trunk elm tree that stood on Main Street near Shirley Avenue was the stuff of childhood legend. The sidewalk ran underneath and between the trunks so that a daring kid could ride a bike straight through, and a real heroic type would do it no-hands style.

The mighty tree fell victim to the ravages of Dutch Elm disease around 1959, and a little bit of childhood magic went with it.

Sources: Mitchell Toabe Papers MC18 (first image); LHR General Image Collection IC7 (next two)

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.

2014-04-17

Shady green

Town House by Emily Fuller Drew, no date

Emily Fuller Drew captured what feels like the deep cooling shade of a summer afternoon in these two photos. A familiar scene, yes, but the quality of the light makes something special of it.

Town Green and Civil War Soldiers Monument by Emily Fuller Drew, no date — Training Green and Civil War Soldiers Monument by Emily Fuller Drew, no date

Source: Emily Fuller Drew Collection MC16, negatives scanned by the Digital Commonwealth/Boston Public Library.

For more, visit the Kingston Public Library, and the Local History Room, and the full blog at piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com.