Station G at 665 Washington St. was opened in late 1899 and is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. It housed three companies: Hook and Ladder #1, Combination Company #4, and Steam Engine #2. It is probable that the station here has recently opened as there are no inscriptions yet on the entrances. Shown is the steam engine which was relocated from the Devotion Engine House when the station was opened in late 1899.

At the rear is John W. Manley, engineer, who also came over from the Devotion Engine House when this station opened. In 1906 he moved to the chemical fire station at 86 Monmouth St. where he remained for a number of years. The driver has been listed as “Fay” which is the name sometimes used by Michael J. Fahey, a driver of many years for the fire department. However, there are no listings of him at this station and this man does not match other photos of Michael Fahey.

Snow plow. This station at 665 Washington St. is still active today as Fire Station No. 7.

The photo is taken across the street from the Washington Sq. fire station which opened in 1900 and remains in operation today as Station 7. The station housed both Station G Engine No. 2 and Hook and Ladder No. 1. Shown is the Amoskeag steam engine. All the houses in the photo are still standing. From left to right:

• 666 Washington St.
• Vacant lot where 672/674 1910 Washington St would be constructed in 1910
• 46 University Ave.
• 40 University Ave.
• 676 Washington St.

The tall fire fighter is identified as John F. (“Jack”) Norton. Born in 1872, he rose by 1898 to the rank of lieutenant and worked at the Village station. He was at one point discharged (for various infractions and “intoxication”), but in 1902 the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in his favor in his lawsuit against the town to receive back wages withheld at the time of his discharge. In 1905, there was a vacancy in the department when Frank Foster resigned from the force to pursue his business interests. The Fire Commissioner, Burton W. Neal, was then lobbied by supporters of Jack Norton and Neal reinstated Norton with a position at Station G. where he worked until 1908 as a ladderman. Norton lived in Brookline with his widowed mother, never married, and died in 1910 at the age of 38.

[ref. Brookline Chronicle, pg.4, May 24, 1902]
[ref. Brookline Chronicle, pg.5, July 7, 1905]
[ref. Brookline Chronicle, pg.7, July 8, 1905]
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Across the street from the fire house. 676 Washington St. is to the left, still standing. He tall man with the moustache is identified as Jack Norton.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Station G at 665 Washington St. was opened in late 1899 and is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. It housed three companies: Hook and Ladder #1, Combination Company #4, and Steam Engine #2.

The tall fire fighter seated on the right is John F. (“Jack”) Norton who worked as a ladderman at the station between 1905 and 1908.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Station G at 665 Washington St. was opened in late 1899 and is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. It housed three companies: Hook and Ladder #1, Combination Company #4, and Steam Engine #2. It is probable that the station has recently opened here as there are no inscriptions yet on the entrances.

After a brief initial stint housing Hose Company #4 the station transitioned to Combination Company #4. This is likely the combination wagon which would have acted as a quick-response vehicle carrying hoses, chemical extinguishers, and equipment.

The man standing on the left is reported to be Selden Robert Allen, lieutenant, a future chief of the department. He transferred from the Hose Company #1 in the Village Square when the station opened and moved again circa 1902 to the Devotion St. station.

Station G at 665 Washington St. was opened in late 1899 and is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. It housed three companies: Hook and Ladder #1, Combination Company #4, and Steam Engine #2.

The tall fire fighter is John F. (“Jack”) Norton who worked as a ladderman at the station between late 1905 and 1908. The men are standing in front of the entrance to Hook and Ladder #1 and it can be speculated that the four men shown are the same four who worked as laddermen on the hook and ladder wagon from 2006-2008: Daniel J. McCarthy, Joseph Strannaham, John F. Norton, and Thomas F. Kelley.

The fire department had recently purchased a new auto-pumping combination wagon and fire station G, today’s Station 7, needed to upgrade the station to make the transition from horse-drawn equipment. The department was fortuitously offered the temporary use of the large garage of Mrs. Alice B Watson located on Salisbury Rd. behind her townhouse at 1710 Beacon St. Both are still standing.

The Boston Globe, September 23, 1915, Page 2

[Source: Brookline Preservation Department]

Looking west at the Clark house (formerly the Otis Withington house), roughly located at today's Lancaster Terrace. At the far left of the photo is Washington Sq.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Beacon St., looking east, is on the right. Eben Jordan, son of one of the two founders of Jordan Marsh, built this mansion in 1890 and lived there until 1897 when he moved into the Beacon Hill house of his parents following their deaths (1895 and 1897). The mansion served as the Choate School (Country Boarding and Day School For Girls) from 1922-1950. The building was torn down in 1955.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Looking east at the Clark house (formerly the Otis Withington house). Today's Lancaster Terrace would be just beyond it.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

In the distance at the top of the hill is the Clark house (formerly the Otis Withington house).

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Looking east on Beacon St. to the left, Washington St. is on the right. From left to right:

• The remains of the tannery. It is probable that it was being dismantled in preparation for the widening of Beacon St.
• The gasometer storage tank of the Boston Gas. Co.
• The man standing against the fence may be the photographer’s assistant.
• A house owned by Eben Jordan.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer. This photo contains the mystery man, here standing against the fence, who was posed in a number of the 1887 photos.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Looking north on Washington St. from Beacon St. Corey Hill ascends to the right. The farm house which faces Washington St. was owned from 1843 until the early 1870s by James Bartlett and was later acquired by Eben Jordan who developed a large part of Corey Hill. It is speculated that this photo was taken just prior to the 1887 widening of Beacon St.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St. [speculative]
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

[Source: Olmsted]

On the corner is the Liggett Drug Store, 1634 Beacon St. At 1638 Beacon St. there is a bowling alley. Parked out front is a Red Cab with its telephone number on the back, “ASP 5000”.
[Source: Brookline Preservation Department]

Damage to the right front end of the car on the trolley tracks is noted. From right to left on the northwest corner:

• [top row, left] Shows Ayr Rd. for the proposed zoning change that would allow stores to be erected and the existing apartment buildings torn down. The owner’s complaint was that the noise from the existing stores on the Boston side of Ayr. Rd made her apartments difficult to rent. It was voted down.
• 1634A Beacon St. – The Studio, beauty shop.
• 1636 Beacon St. – William Segal, realtor
• [middle row, center] Add the extensions shown to Bonad Rd. and Russet Rd.
• 1638 Beacon St. – Colvin’s Bakery
• 1640 Beacon St. – The Beaconsfield, Tailor and Furrier
• 1640A Beacon St. Barber Shop, unidentified, recently operated as the barbershop of John A. Seufert
• 1642 Beacon St.
• 1642A Beacon St.
• 1644 Beacon St. – Sargent Inc., record shop
• 1644A Beacon St.
• 1646 Beacon St. – R & H Cleansers and Dyers
• 1646A Beacon St. – Laundereze, laundromat which opened in November 1949
• 1648 Beacon St. – Rex Grill

[Source: Brookline Preservation Department]

#729 is in the center. To the right is Graystone Lodge at #721, a tourist lodge. None of the four houses in the photo remain standing.
[Source: Brookline Preservation Department]