massachusetts-avenue_1557 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 1557 MASS. AVE. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 4 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: In the late 171h and 181h century this land, including this building(known as the Barnes Building) and the present Cary Memorial Building was owned by the Estabrook family. In April 1827,the "front lands" of the Estabrook estate was sold to Hammond A. Hosmer, an"innholder" from Boston. Worthen believes he might have been related to the Estabrook family. On May 25, 1847, Hosmer sold to Abijah W. Farrar the site of the Cary Memorial Building. (Later called the Plumer place.) Hosmer apparently built/retained the house that is now 1557 Massachusetts Avenue and lived here. Not much is known of Hammond Hosmer. Deed records indicate that he bought up several small farms in the area, and would combine them into large homesteads and sell them off. He also owned one or two nearby houses (Fogg House at the end of Hayes Lane, for example -- now demolished),where his hired hands supposedly lived. Hosmer died in 1854 and his wife, Susan, in 1865. Ownership then passed to their daughter, Susan D. Kenney. In 1866 the property was sold by Susan Kenney to Isaac Wetherell,who sold it in 1871 for $5,500 to Nancy E. Wentworth, wife of Otis Wentworth. Dr. Aaron H. Livermore purchased the property on February 20, 1889 and died in 1896. After his death, his widow Lydia married Bradley Putney. In 1916 the house was sold by Mrs. Putney's estate to Dr. William L. Barnes for$6,300. William Lester Barnes was born at Providence, Rhode Island in 1878 and graduated from Harvard in 1900 and from Harvard Medical School in 1904. He became a resident of Lexington in 1906. Dr. Barnes owned this house and used the wing as his office for approximately twenty years. At some point the carriage house was moved to the rear of 5 Winthrop Road. Dr. Barnes died in September 1936. The following March, the Town appropriated $25,000 to purchase the property and it was used for overflow Town offices. In 1950 the house was restored to some degree of historical accuracy by the Town. Custance Brothers were the contractors. The front porch which had been added was removed and new windows with small lights were installed on the front of the first floor. Over the years, the Barnes Building also housed the headquarters for the Sachem Council of the Boy Scouts. The School Department has used the building as its headquarters since 1958. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Doran, Sam. Information provided to Marilyn Fenollosa,November 2009. Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington. Cambridge: The Riverside Press Co., 1913. Kelly,Beverly Allison. Lexington: A Century of Photographs. Lexington Historical Society, 1980, p. 65. Lexington Minute-man, July 27, 1950. Worthen, Edwin B. Tracing the Past in Lexington, Massachusetts. New York: Vantage Press, Inc., 1998. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf November 2009