waltham-street_0277 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Town Property Address LEXINGTON 277 WALTHAM ST. MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD 461 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Augustus E. Scott married Cecilia Gustine on January 20, 1891 and this house was built shortly thereafter. On May 15, 1891 the Lexington Minute-man reported that"The contract for A.E. Scott's new house has been awarded to H.H. Hunt of Newton. It is to be a handsome structure and will occupy a sightly position on the summit of Loring hill, just off Waltham street, about a mile from the village". Little is known about builder Henry H. Hunt. The MACRIS database maintained by the Massachusetts Historical Commission credits him with seven residential buildings in Boston, Brookline and Newton, built between 1890 and 1902. Augustus Elwin Scott was born in Franklin, Massachusetts in 1838. He studied in the Milford High School and in the Green Mountain Liberal Institute at Woodstock,Vermont and later at Brown University and Tufts College. He received the degree of A.B. in 1858 and in 1861 received his Master of Arts from Tufts College. He studied in the Albany Law School and received the degree of LL.B. He served as the principal of the high school in Abington for two years and for nearly six years was the principal of the high school in Lexington. Scott was active in many different fields. He was a member of the State Legislature from 1879-80 and a State Senator from 1885-86. He assisted in establishing the Middlesex Central District Court and was for many years an Associate Justice. He organized the Lexington Field and Garden Club and was prominent in the forming and incorporating of the Lexington Historical Society, of which he was the first president. A.E. Scott played a prominent part in procuring the charter of the Lexington Savings Bank in 1871, and was an officer in the bank and its attorney. Scott was also an early president of the Appalachian Mountain Club and was active in planning and building paths to important points in the White Mountains. He was an early climber of Pike's Peak and Gray's Peak,was one of the first American climbers of Mont Blanc and made explorations in the Scottish Highlands. He was also an authority on the flora of Eastern Massachusetts and of high altitudes(Eliot 1909). Locally, A.E. Scott also had extensive real estate holdings and was responsible for several subdivisions. A. E. Scott died prior to 1918. The property was sold by Cecilia Scott to Charles Ryder, proprietor of Ryder's Stock Farm(cattle and hogs)at 24 Maple Street. Ryder lived in Newton in the winter and spent summers in Lexington. He continued to own it into the 1930s. The house was owned by Marshall and Rena Bushnell from 1943 to 1968 and by Irving and Gladys Kanter from 1968 to 2005. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eliot, Samuel Atkins. Biographical history of Massachusetts: biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state. Massachusetts Biographical Society, 1909,vol. 2. Lexington Directories, various dates. Lexington Minute-Man, May 15, 189 1. Supplement prepared by: Lisa Mausolf April 2009