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A pretty productive second career
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| | Next Thursday - Get your tickets now! | | |
“Looking Back to Unlock a Future”
the Needham History Center
Annual Meeting & Dinner,
with author Janis Robinson Daly
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October 8, from 6:30-9:00 pm,
at the Needham Golf Club, 49 Green Street, Needham
Tickets are $45
Join us on October 8 for the Needham History Center’s Annual Meeting & Dinner. The Annual Meeting is a great opportunity to meet new people, see old friends, and learn more about the History Center! We will also have a speaker – author and Needham High School graduate, Janis Robinson Daly. A buffet dinner will be provided. Cash bar. Tickets are $45 (available HERE).
“Looking Back to Unlock a Future”
A lifelong love of history led Janis Robinson Daly (NHS ’80) to a second chapter of curiosity, research, and writing historical fiction. In this engaging talk, Daly explores how she chooses which stories to tell, shares the details that bring the past to life, and balances historical fact with the imagination required to create compelling and award-winning fiction.
Tickets HERE
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What else is on the Schedule?
We have a busy calendar of events coming up!
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- October 8 - the Annual Meeting & Dinner
- October 28 - The World of Gin
- November 12 - The Hardest, Longest Race
- December 2 - Women in World Jazz
- December 13 - the Holiday Gift Sale
For all the details, see our Events Calendar, HERE
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The Grounds of the Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation in Canton. The brick building is the old rolling mill, now part museum, part restaurant. The yellow building is the former barn, now the main part of the museum. This is a great museum for both kids and adults - lots of cool science and hands-on activities.
Paul Revere Short Takes
Another NARM-membership visit with my buddies, this time to the Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation in Canton. (We did have fun this summer!)
We all know about Paul Revere’s career as a silversmith, and as a Son of Liberty. Probably less well-known is that after the Revolutionary War he branched into other forms of industry – most importantly copper-rolling and metal casting. His innovations brought important manufacturing technology to the new republic, but were also a crucial factor in our early military defense as he cast cannons and rolled sheet copper (to clad the hull of the USS Ironside, for example). He’s also indirectly responsible for your older Revere Ware cookware – his company continued in business until 1982. For an excellent and enjoyable account of Paul’s post-war career, read Rob Martello’s Midnight Ride, Industrial Dawn.
The site in Canton that is now the Innovation Museum was the site of Revere’s metal working projects. The former rolling mill is now preserved as part museum, part restaurant. An old barn adjacent to the mill has been renovated into the main part of the museum with exhibits and lots of activities for both kids and adults, and the mill pond is now a feature of the grounds. That the site still exists at all is pretty amazing, since it was in industrial use for various businesses over the years. At some point the city of Canton bought the whole parcel, turned some of it into housing, some into a park, and leased the original buildings for the museum.
But, of course, all roads lead to Needham, and the road from Canton is no exception. Several of the sights at the museum have a trail that leads back to us.
Paul’s Progeny
George Revere, one of Revere’s grandsons, moved to Needham in the 1830s or 40s. In 1844 he built one of the earliest retail and meeting halls in Needham, which was known as Nehoiden Hall, or Revere Hall after its owner. Nehoiden Hall was located near the corner of Nehoiden Street and Central Avenue, in the heart of the old town center. The first floor housed Revere's shoe shop and a general store. It was also Needham’s first Post Office. On the second floor was a large public hall that was used for a variety of official purposes – including Town Meeting, the Needham Lyceum (a series of lectures/debates on topics of the day), and the Civil War recruiting station. But it was also used for balls, banquets, and other celebrations, because there just weren’t that many big party spaces in those days. Reminiscing in 1911, Selectman Edgar Bowers recalled that when he came to Needham in 1857, “All social functions too large for the ordinary dwelling were held in Nehoiden Hall … there convened the Needham Lyceum, an institution in its day that met to discuss moral, political and religious problems… Lectures and debates on all sorts of subject which concerned the well-being of the community were listened to, and participated in by men from all parts of the town… thus, this was the forum of the day.” The Hall fell into disuse after 1869 when town meeting functions were moved to the meeting rooms at the new poor house/town hall in West Needham (now Wellesley). Jonathan Avery bought Nehoiden Hall and converted it into tenements. In 1906, William Carter bought the building and moved it to its current location at 270 Rosemary Street, where he refurbished it into housing for his mill workers. Sometime after the 1950s, the house was converted into apartments, as it currently remains (you can recognize it by its three chimneys). Although now an unremarkable building on a side street, it was once the most important building in Needham.
Revere descendants lived in Needham until around 1960. A funny story that someone passed on to me years ago – Revere’s most recent Needham descendant was also named Paul, and he lived at 963 Central Avenue, right next door to the Dwight School. One night in 1950 there was a fire at the school, so he called it in to the fire department. When asked his name, he replied “Paul Revere.” The officer who answered the phone laughed and said "Sure, and I'm George Washington." It took three calls for Paul to convince him that the call was legitimate.
The old town center, circa 1870. Nehoiden Hall (Revere Hall) is the building in the center with the three chimneys. The First Parish Church is next door. The white house on the left margin (now 963 Central) was later owned by Revere's descendants.
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The Revere Bell
In addition to casting cannons, Revere also learned to cast bells, which until then had to be imported at great cost from Europe. His company made 398 bells between 1792 and 1828, though the bell-making was carried on longer by former employees and apprentices. Of these, 146 Revere bells are still known to exist.
One of them is in Needham. Just over two centuries ago, Needham decided to celebrate its centennial in 1811 by buying itself a bell for the First Parish meeting house. Apparently deciding that this was not a time to skimp, Needham went for the best – a bell from Paul Revere and Sons. Revere had opened the bell foundry in 1792 in partnership with his sons Paul Jr. and John Warren Revere, and they soon became the area’s most prominent bell-makers. Making bells is not easy. If the percentages of copper, tin, zinc (etc) in the alloy are not precise, or if the bell casting does not cool properly, the bell becomes brittle rather than resonant, and is prone to crack. The Liberty Bell, for example, was riddled with cracks, not just the famous one. Revere’s bells tended to be durable.
The bell cost $408 dollars, and weighed 960 pounds. To accommodate it, the parish added a tall steeple to the side of the meeting house. The steeple cost an additional $750, so overall the project cost about $1150. This does not sound like a lot to us, and direct calculations for the value of old money are imprecise. Even so, this was not cheap – it was the rough equivalent of the net worth of ten comfortable families. The bell was completed and installed in time for the centennial celebrations. It first rang on November 15, 1811 for the centennial worship service. It was the first time such a bell ever rang in Needham. Our bell is foundry number 126, and probably one of the last the Paul supervised himself before he retired.
Unfortunately, swinging half a ton of bronze atop a narrow tower created a strain that destabilized the meeting house. After 25 years, in 1836, the church had to be pulled down and rebuilt. This time with a proper steeple to hold the bell. The current First Parish church is the 1836 structure (also the one in the picture above), and the steeple is the one that was built to hold the bell, which still rings every Sunday and on other important occasions.
The Blake Bell
There is a second bell in Needham, this one not a Revere, but Revere-adjacent. The bell that used to sit in front of the History Center (and now hangs in the new Heights Fire Station) was made in 1897 by the Blake Bell Company. It was originally a school and alarm bell, housed in the Parker School on Charles River Street. That part of town was too remote to hear the regular alarm bells, so they needed one of their own. William Blake was an apprentice of Paul Revere’s grandson, Paul III, and worked at the Revere Bell foundry. In 1823, Blake went into partnership with Paul III to form the Blake & Revere Foundry. In its day, Blake & Revere were busy and innovative bell-makers, and they made hundreds of church and school bells. Many are still in use in this area. Our bell was cast in 1897, near the end of the Blake company’s life. The inscription cast around its top reads: “Blake Bell Co. Boston Mass 1897.” It also bears the company’s original Blake & Revere foundry mark, with a bell and eagle. The Blake Bell Company operated in Boston until about 1900, and then moved to Waterbury, CT.
The Niagara Fire Engine
In the display on the upper floor of the rolling mill, the museum houses a hand-pump fire engine built in 1829 by the William C. Hunneman Company of Boston. The “hand-tub” consists of a large copper tank on wheels, with hand-rails on each side. The tank was filled with water; the pump was operating by pulling up and down on the side rails. The engine was horse-drawn, but when time and distances were short, the firemen could pull the engine by grabbing the rails and running alongside. William Hunneman was an apprentice of Paul Revere, and learned to roll copper at his foundry. The copper sheet used to build the tank probably came from Revere’s mill.
Needham’s first fire engine was also a Hunneman hand-tub. Called “Niagara,” it was built in 1843 by Hunneman for the Hingham Fire Department. Niagara was purchased by Needham from Hingham in 1884 for a sum of $250. For the first year or so, there was no fire house to put it in, so it stayed in a succession of private barns near the center of town. Niagara was used in Needham until about 1916, when its copper tank was sold for scrap.
Alexander Quapish
Among the displays in the rolling mill are life-size cutouts of individuals, representing various people in the area and their experiences in the Revolutionary War. One such individual depicted is Alexander Quapish. Alexander Quapish (1741-1776) was a Wampanoag man born in Yarmouth, and one of about 50 Wampanoag men who volunteered for the Continental Army in 1775 after the Lexington alarm. They enlisted in the hope (sadly, wrong) that their participation would result in greater self-determination after the war.
Quapish moved to Dedham sometime in the 1760s, and married Sarah David, a member of the Natick Praying Indian community, in 1767. They had at least one child – a daughter, Alice. Sarah died in 1774.
In 1775, Quapish enlisted in Captain Daniel Whiting’s Company (Dedham/Dover) of the Colonial militia. He was stationed in Cambridge and served at Bunker Hill. He fell ill in Cambridge in November 1775, and was taken to the Needham home of his comrade Michael Bacon, where he died in March of 1776. This final chapter of his history is recorded in the MA State Archives, in the form of a petition by Michael Bacon to the MA General Court for compensation for his care and burial: "That one Alexander Quapish a Poor Indian Belonging to this State who was taken Sick in the Army Near Cambridge and was Dismised Came to the House of your Petitioner in Said Needham in a Suffering Condition on the 15th Day of November 1775 And Remained there Sick untill the 23d Day of March 1776 and then Died, and your Petitioner was at Great Trouble & Charge in Boarding Nursing, and Burying Said Indian." The petition was endorsed and paid by the Needham Selectmen. Quapish and Bacon were in the same militia company, and were among several soldiers from the Needham area who were camped together in Cambridge, so it is not surprising that they knew each other.
Alexander Quapish was buried, it is assumed, at the Indian Burial Ground on Pond Street in Natick, near the Bacon’s home (long story, but this part of Natick was part of Needham at the time). This assumption is based in part on its proximity to the Bacon’s, in part on the allocation of the ground to Native American militia, and in part because the interment costs are included in the Needham petition. In all, at least 17 Native American militia members were buried in this cemetery.
But Quapish was not allowed to rest in peace. By the 1850s, his remains were in Dedham. It is possible that they were moved from Natick at some point. It is also possible that he was in fact buried in Dedham to start with, and the assumption that he was buried near the Bacons is incorrect. Either way, in 1856 they were disinterred by Dr. Henry Jacob Bigelow and given to the collections of the Warren Anatomical Museum at the Harvard Medical School, where they were held until 2020. The remains came under review as a result of the Warren’s ongoing research on its collections required by the federal Native American Graves Repatriation Act (1990), and were returned to the tribe. Alexander Quapish is again buried in the Pond Street cemetery among his comrades, where he belongs.
Gloria Polizzotti Greis is the Executive Director of the Needham History Center & Museum. For more information, please see our website at www.needhamhistory.org.
Needham's "Niagara" Hunneman hand-tub in 1915, shortly before it was scrapped. When new, the tank was decorated with gold-painted scrolls (now barely visible) and it had a fire bell beneath the eagle.
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But Wait - There's More!
George Washington's visit to Needham... Creepy Epitaphs... Enslavement History... An Adventurous Pin! Every month, our podcast, All Roads Lead to Needham, explores topics that educate, amuse, and provoke thought about our history and our future. Find all episodes HERE.
Current episode!
Water Under the Bridge(s) - Needham has ten of them!
with guests Carys Lustig and Tom Ryder, Needham DPW
And on October 15 - Ghost Stories!
| | Go on your own NARM adventures! | The North American Reciprocal Museum program gives you membership access to more than 1500 museums in North America - nearly 100 of them in Massachusetts, and about 50 nearby Needham! This is a huge deal! | |
That's 1500 museums for the price of ONE!
Membership in the History Center at the Silver ($100) level and above automatically enrolls you in the NARM program. Details HERE.
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Calendar and Events
Visit our Calendar for all of our event listings and details
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Our new program year has begun! Check out our Events Calendar for all of the listings and details.
Thursday!
The Needham History Center's Annual Meeting & Dinner. October 8, 6:30-9:00 pm at the Needham Golf Club. Our guest speaker will be author Janis Robinson Daly. Janis was raised in Needham (NHS ’80), and now writes historical fiction. She will talk about how she chooses her stories, and balances historical fact with the imagination required to create compelling fiction. Tickets are $45, and are available on our website, HERE.
The World of Gin, at the Needham History Center. Whether you like a traditional London Dry, or are partial to the many new styles of artisan gin, this tasting will give you a lot to experience! Conducted by our friend John Hafferty of Bin Ends Needham, The World of Gin will guide you through the various styles and profiles, as well as a discussion of cocktails and the best uses of each type. Just in time to gear up for holiday hospitality! Tickets are $25, and are available on our website, HERE.
The Hardest, Longest Race. November 12th at 7:00 pm, at the Needham History Center. Pulitzer-Prize winning author and Needham resident Eric Moskowitz tells us about The Hardest, Longest Race. It’s 1909, and America is home to 253 automakers, all trying to capitalize on the new demand for cars. But when playboy millionaire M. Robert Guggenheim announces an audacious “Ocean to Ocean” contest from New York City to the Seattle World’s Fair, only three companies are brassy enough to show up at the starting line: Acme, Ford, and Shawmut. No spoilers! If you want to find out who wins, you’ll have to join us at the History Center on November 12th! This program is free to everyone, and refreshments will be served.
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Never Miss a Story!
An archive of the Weekly Stories is posted on our website, needhamhistory.org, under
Resources > Weekly Stories
Stories are also posted in The Needham Local - a weekly online newspaper produced by The Needham Channel.
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Community Events
Other events of interest, from around town and beyond.
The Fall Book Sale of the Friends of the Needham Public Library will open on Friday, October 2 from 12:00 to 4:00. The sale continues on Saturday, October 3 from 9:00 to 4:00, and on Sunday, October 4 from 1:00 to 4:00. Sunday is bargain day, and all items are half-price; or fill a brown bag of books - a true bargain at $8.00. Fiction, general non-fiction, some separate non-fiction categories, children’s youth, and young adult books are among the many that will be available in the library’s Community Room. The fall sale will feature holiday books as well. The Needham Free Library, located at 1139 Highland Avenue, is handicap accessible. The best access to the lower level Community Room is from the library parking lot on Rosemary Street. For further information, visit the Friends’ website http://www.friendsneedhamlibrary.org or call 781-455-7559.
The Needham Concert Society opens the season with the Orion Chamber Ensemble, Sunday, October 4, 3pm, at Carter Memorial UMC, 800 Highland Ave. In a program titled "Nobility and Passion," guest artists Gábor Szabó and Wenting Kang join the Orion Ensemble to present Beethoven's "Harp" quartet, distinguished by pastoral melodies and classical elegance, and Franck’s piano quintet, a love song of romantic passion and intimate tenderness. Purchase tickets online or at the door. General admission $25; students admitted free. This programming is supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture. More information at needhamconcertsociety.org.
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We thank our Corporate Sponsors
for their generous and ongoing support!
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Lead Sponsor - The Needham Bank
Exhibits Sponsor - Beth Israel Deaconess Needham
Program Sponsor - North Hill
Louise Condon Realty . One Wingate Way East
Dedham Savings . Petrini Corporation . The Needham Women's Club
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The Needham History Center & Museum
781-455-8860 / www.needhamhistory.org
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