Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

tobyjug said:
Cadillacs were for parvenus and gangsters. Try Packard.

SS Pierce delivered.
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Toby -- Fuller was a respected Republican Governor -- I'm sure some of his friends and customers weren't gangsters

Yes of course -- can't forget S.S. Pierce

There's a long list of famous names from the past inclduing:
Furs I.J. Fox
Brooks Brothers for suits and such
 
nm88 said:
No denying your good taste, but I've had a thing for Duzies ever since I can remember. There was one down the street. It was a miracle on wheels when it roiled by.

Back to the subject at hand, I've not been around for a while and just catching up, the quality of pictures on this site has leaped (KZ, Cerv, et al. included). Many thanks and please keep it up.
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nm -- Duzzies and Cords and earlier Pierce Arrows and such they were for the next higher Caste the scions of the great families who had offices on and around State Street -- but they only dealt with their own money -- the "Coupon Clippers"

as in the following excerpts from a piece from Yankee Magazine about the uber of the Brahmans:

August 2012 edition of Jud’s New England Journal, the rather curious monthly musings of Judson Hale, the Editor-in-Chief of Yankee Magazine....


The Truth About the Cabots and the Lowells and That Sort of Thing

… what was once considered the “proper ancestry” for a First Family. It was written by none other that Oliver Wendell Holmes. To qualify, he wrote, one needed “Four or more generations of gentlemen and gentlewomen; among them a member of his Majesty’s Council for the Provinces, a Governor or so, one or two Doctors of Divinity, or a member of Congress not later than the time of long boots with tassels.”

Under those general guidelines, I’d say First Families include, for instance, the Cabots who, as the saying goes, speak only to God; the Lowells, who speak only to the Cabots; The Adamses, acknowledged to be the foremost of all First Families; the Forbeses, perhaps the wealthiest; the Appletons, who made a fortune, as many First families did, in the textile industry; the Saltonstalls, who have sent sons to Harvard in every generation since Nathaniel Saltonstall graduated in 1659; the Peabodys, whose family fortune was founded by Joseph Peabody of Salem, a privateer during the Revolution; the Winthrops, who helped found the Massachusetts Historical Society (right up there with the Athenaeum in social status); the Putnams who, along with the Jacksons, Bowditches and Warrens, headed the Harvard Medical School throughout the nineteenth century; the Quincys, who include a President of Harvard; the Phillipses, who founded both Andover and Exeter; the Lodges, who have been senators and oodles of other good positions, including Harvard overseer; the Emersons, whose scion Ralph Waldo did quite well in the writing field; the Eliots, who include presidents of both Trinity and Harvard…and the list goes on.

Well, it doesn’t go on forever....The number of First Family members didn’t increase as much as one might expect because they all hung around with each other and intermarried. Thus you had a Cabot Lodge, a Godfrey Cabot Lodge, a Cabot Lowell, a Peabody Gardner, an A. Lawrence Lowell and so forth. As historian John Morse, Jr. says in his Memoir of Colonel Henry Lee: “Lees, Cabots, Jacksons and Higginsons knew each other well…and had a satisfying belief that New England morality and intellectuality had produced nothing better than they were, so they contentedly made a little clique of themselves and intermarried very much, with a sure and cheerful faith that in such alliances there can be no blunder.”
Today, though most would deny it, First Family-status still can provide an inside track insofar as obtaining certain executive positions in Boston. At least, on the initial contacts. Outside of New England is a different situation, of course – as exemplified by the story of the young Bostonian who requested a family friend at the Old Colony Trust Company (which no longer exists) to write a letter of recommendation to a Chicago firm to which he was applying for a position.

“I can recommend him to you without the slightest reservation,” wrote the family friend, saying that the young man’s mother was a Cabot, his father was a Lowell and his ancestors were all Peabodys, Appletons, Forbeses, and Saltonstalls.

The Chicago firm politely replied that they were really looking for different information. “After all,” they wrote, “we are not contemplating using this young man for breeding purposes.
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Cadillac was always too flashy. The carriage trade was driven in subdued vehicles: Packards, Pierces, Lincoln K's. You might get a few buying foreign cars; "Prince of the Church" O'Connell had a 29 Delage (it was up for sale recently for 100k). Cars like the Dusie, an Isotta, or a Hispano were works of art, but rare in Boston. In fairness, rare everywhere except maybe Hollywood.

Fuller was a respected Republican Governor, but in the "motor trade". The polite society mindset was that a gentleman did not concern himself about what was under the hood of his vehicle, any more than he would have operated on a sick horse that pulled his carriage.

After Packard and Pierce failed, their buyers gravitated to Lincoln as they found Cadillac to be too chromey and crass. (Personally, I'd like to have a 49 Fastback or a 67 Eldorado).

Cord was a nice looking car too, but the L29 was a mechanical dog and the "coffin noise" prone to transmission failure. They weren't for the carriage trade.

Packards and Pierces of the 20's and 30's are tough to drive. Cadillac is easier to drive.
 
P.S. to get on track, the IJ Fox building looks like an Art Deco hotel waiting to happen. Think Ocean Drive in Miami Beach!
 
And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells talk to the Cabots
And the Cabots talk only to God.
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John Collins Bossidy (1860-1928):
--Toast, Holy Cross Alumni Dinner, 1910.

A Jewish family named Kabotchnik received permission from a court in Philadelphia to change their name to Cabot. The doggerel then became,

And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Lowells have no one to talk to,
Since the Cabots speak Yiddish, by God.
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A Cabot objected to the name change, Cabot v. Kabotchnik
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ylr35&div=58&id=&page=
 
statler said:
I dig it. What is going in this space?

Also is E.B. Horn the last of the old school retailers left in DTX? I can't think of any others still standing.
There maybe a couple of hold overs in the Jeweler's Building but they wouldn't really count.
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Stat -- what about Long's -- while they are now in the 100 Summer St. building -- they've been in the downtown area since the late 1800's

Long’s Jewelers is a family-owned and operated full-service jeweler with five stores throughout Massachusetts. New England’s love affair with Long’s began in 1878 when Thomas Long, a Massachusetts native, opened his Boston-based jewelry business. Since then, Long’s has become the foundation of Boston’s luxury jewelry and timepiece market.
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Sure I guess. They were absent for quite a bit during the late nineties / early aughts if I recall.

I wonder if E.B. Horn is in their original location. They have been there a long time judging from old pictures of Washington St.
 
Ron Newman said:
For whom is the Fox building being renovated?
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That's the old Strawberries/FYE space, correct? 14 apartments are going in there.

"411 Washington Street (407-411 Washington St.): the project calls for the renovation of the upper stories into 14 apartment units (12 two-bedroom units, 1 three-bedroom unit, 1 four-bedroom unit) ranging in size from 700-1,000 square-feet. There will be a full restoration of the historic Art Deco sculpture (dating from when it was the I.J. Fox Furs store) in the recessed doorway. Scheduled for completion: February 2014."

http://www.downtownboston.org/doing-business/development-projects/
 
I think whatever retail they land for that space will tell us a lot about the future of DTX.
 
stellarfun said:
John Collins Bossidy (1860-1928):
--Toast, Holy Cross Alumni Dinner, 1910.

A Jewish family named Kabotchnik received permission from a court in Philadelphia to change their name to Cabot. The doggerel then became,



A Cabot objected to the name change, Cabot v. Kabotchnik
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ylr35&div=58&id=&page=
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What about the Secretary of State?

we know Kerry's father changed his name and married a Forbes but what happened before?

Kerry's Great Grand Parents Father's side:
Siegfried LÖWE was born on 12 Sep 1834 in Märisch-Aussee (now Úsov, Severomoravsky province, Czech Republic). He died on 31 Mar 1918 in Vienna, Austria.
Josefa LÖW was born on 31 Oct 1845 in Boskowitz, Moravia (now Boskovice, Jihomoravsky province, Czech Republic). She died on 17 Nov 1897 in Vienna, Austria.
they married on 20 Mar 1870 in Brünn Synagogue, Brünn, Moravia (now Brno, Jihomoravsky province, Czech Republic).

Grand Mother on Father's side
They had a daughter Ida LÖWE born on 22 Feb 1877 in Budapest, Hungary. -- no Cabots though Lowe is kinda close to Lowell

Great Grand Parents Father's side
Benedikt KOHN was born about 1824 in Austria. He died on 4 Jul 1876 in Bennisch (now Horni Benesov, Severomoravsky province, Czech Republic).
Mathilde FRÄNKEL was born on 14 Sep 1845 in Oberglogau, Prussia (now Glogówek, Poland). She died on 24 May 1935 in Vienna, Austria.
Benedikt KOHN and Mathilde FRÄNKEL were married before 1869

Grand Father father's side:
Their son Fritz Kohn was born on 10 May 1873 in Bennisch, Austria (now Horni Benešov, Severomoravsky province, Czech Republic). --- in between being born in Europe and later dying on 23 Nov 1921 in Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He was buried on 25 Nov 1921 in Holyhood Cemetery, Brookline, Norfolk County, MA. -- Fritz changed his name to Frederick A. KERRY -- assumed to be o County Cork?

Father
Fred and Ida married and Richard John KERRY was born on 28 Jul 1915 in Brookline, Norfolk County, Massachusetts -- suitable for downstairs employment though before he died on 29 Jul 2000 in Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Suffolk County, MA -- got lucky?



Meanwhile on the other side upstairs:

Rev. John Murray FORBES was born on 5 May 1807 in New York. He died on 11 Oct 1885 in Elizabeth, Union County, NJ.
Anne HOWELL died on 21 Jul 1849
Rev. John Murray FORBES and Anne HOWELL were married on 26 Dec 1838.
They had a son Francis Blackwell FORBES born on 11 Aug 1839. He died on 2 May 1908 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Stephen CLARK was born about 1775. He died on 18 Sep 1828 in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Roxanna PHELPS was born about 1764 in Windsor, Connecticut. She died on 19 Jan 1837 in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Stephen CLARK and Roxanna PHELPS were married.
they had a daughter Isabel CLARK born in Jul 1846 in New York. She died on 1 Sep 1931 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts -- a bit suspicious NY?

Robert Charles WINTHROP Jr was born on 7 Dec 1834 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He died on 5 Jun 1905 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
Elizabeth MASON was born on 1 Oct 1844. She died after Apr 1910.7
Robert Charles WINTHROP Jr and Elizabeth MASON were married on 1 Jun 1869.
They had a daughter Margaret Tyndal WINTHROP born on 23 Feb 1880 in Massachusetts. She died on 7 Jul 1970 in St Briac Sur Mer, Ille et Vilaine, France. --- a bit more suspicious?

Francis Blackwell FORBES and Isabel CLARK were married on 8 May 1867 in New York, New York. --- they had a son James Grant FORBES born on 22 Oct 1879 in Shanghai, China. He died on 24 Apr 1955 in Paris, France.

James Grant FORBES and Margaret Tyndal WINTHROP were married on 28 Nov 1906 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. -- certainly suitable grand parents with plenty of the "right kind" of international background

Their daughter was john Kerry's upstairs mother Rosemary Isabel FORBES who was born on 27 Oct 1913 in Paris, France. She died on 14 Nov 2002 in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Essex County, MA

so we have Mr Kerry -- he could have been the driver for the James Grant Forbes' -- marries Rosemary Isabel FORBES on 8 Feb 1941 in Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama -- definitely suspicious unless it was an Army post

Apparently it was because the future Senator and Secretary of State and "would-that-were [as he would say]-President" is born on 11 Dec 1943 in Fitzsimons Army Hospital, Aurora, CO.

The benefit to having a mother who was a Forbes and a Winthrop and a Clark and a Tyndal and a Mason and a Howell is that he owns a part interest [though undividable] of Naushon Island
 
stellarfun said:
John Collins Bossidy (1860-1928):
--Toast, Holy Cross Alumni Dinner, 1910.

A Jewish family named Kabotchnik received permission from a court in Philadelphia to change their name to Cabot. The doggerel then became,



A Cabot objected to the name change, Cabot v. Kabotchnik
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/ylr35&div=58&id=&page=
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Stel don't forget the intentional? mistranslated version that seems to be popular during the days of when Henry Cabot Lodge ran for Vice President

And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where the Cabots talk to the LODGES
And the LODGES only to God.
Click to expand...
 
Well they're certainly not going to make their "Late Fall 2013" opening date.
 
statler said:
I dig it. What is going in this space?

Also is E.B. Horn the last of the old school retailers left in DTX? I can't think of any others still standing.
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Then you're really not thinking very hard, are you? My, where to begin:

--Brattle Book Shop
--Bromfield Camera Shop
--Bromfield Pen Shop
--The Watch Hospital
--Essex Corner (some might say that's Chinatown, but I think it's more in Downtown Crossing)
--Winmil Fabrics (ditto--it's right next door to Essex Corner)
--Peter Stern Rare Books (Pi Alley, north entrance)
--Commonwealth Books (Spring Lane)

And if by "Old School," you simply mean, "non-chain, mom-and-pop operation," there are newer folks like:

--King Frame
--CityGolf Boston

And yes, I know, the majority of these are on Bromfield St. Nevertheless...
 
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