Laserfiche WebLink
7.. Original owner (if known) .illiarn Augustus Tower <br /> Original use gate <br /> Subsequent uses (if any) and dates <br /> 8. Historical significance. <br /> Along with Tower Park across I>:assachusetts Avenue and the still-onen <br /> grounds of the convent adjacent, this gate is a last remnant of the Iilliam <br /> Augustus Tower estate singled out for description in Hudson's 1866 History of <br /> Lexington: <br /> . A stately building, situated on the high land south <br /> of Iā€¢iain Street, it makes a fine appearance, and its cupola <br /> commands a prospect of great extent, variety and beauty <br /> A view of the premises, taken on the high grounds <br /> near the edifice, affords a scene of the most pleasing <br /> combination of nature and art; showing at once elegant <br /> buildings, native and artificial forests, and a beautiful <br /> pool of water. This dwelling, with all its surroundings, <br /> has no superior in the township; and any admirer of natural <br /> scenery would find his taste fully gratified by such a <br /> location (p. 432) . <br /> Tower was a very successful banker and businessman who moved to Lexington <br /> in the 1850s. He was a member of the House of Representatives and the Governor's <br /> Council, and was the chief rlarshall at the Lexinr_.ton Centennial celebration in <br /> 1875. <br /> This is the only ornamental gate to survive from the estate, although <br /> most of the wall of the estate along Massachusetts Avenue and Pelham Road remains. <br /> The ironwork is perhaps the finest to be found in Lexington. <br /> 9. Bibliography and/or references such as local histories, deeds. assessor's records. <br /> early maps, etc. <br /> Fudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, n. 432. Boston: Viggin and <br /> Lunt, 1860. <br /> Hudson, Charles. History of the Town of Lexington, revised and continued to 1912 <br /> by the Lexington Historical Society, Volume II, pp. 702-703. Boston: <br /> Houghton Lifflin Company, 1913. <br /> 3,"73 <br />