Archives: Landmark

The Boston Athenæum

Amy Lowell (1874-1925), the first woman on the Boston Athenæum Board of Directors, led a protest to save the building in 1903 and was influential in the Imagism poetry movement.

Massachusett Women: Pre-contact (Before 1492)

Women of the Massachusett tribe fed their community by farming and gathering shellfish in pre-contact Boston. Their “Quahog Chowder” evolved into modern clam chowder, a culinary legacy.

The Parkman Bandstand

On Feb 24, 1919, suffragists staged a watchfire at Boston Common’s Parkman Bandstand, burning Wilson’s speeches and were arrested, joining others jailed earlier at the State House

Hannah Glidden Myrick (1871 – 1973)

Dr. Hannah Myrick (1871-1973), the first woman to earn a medical degree from Johns Hopkins, researched X-Ray treatment for women and children. She was a Dorchester native.

Elida Rumsey Fowle (1842 – 1919)

Elida Fowle (1842-1919) was a singer, philanthropist, and nurse who served during the Civil War. She moved to Dorchester in 1877 and raised her family in this home.

Dorchester North Burying Ground: Ann & Betty

Two stones in Dorchester North Burying Ground mark the graves of Ann (d.1743) and Betty (d.1748), enslaved women owned by the Oliver family, whose mansion was at Boston Street and Columbia Road.

Lucy Anne Kirk (1859 – 1934)

Lucy Anne Kirk (1859-1934) was a homeopathic physician, earning her MD in 1893 at BU School of Medicine. She lived on Dudley St. in a house that is no longer standing.

Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton (1759-1846)

Sarah Morton (1759-1846) was an acclaimed poet and writer. The site of her home on Dudley Street is now the location of The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center.

Hepzibah Clarke Swan (1757 – 1825)

Hepzibah Clarke Swan (ca.1756-1825) was a wealthy heiress and patron of the arts. She lived in a mansion in Dorchester, known as the Round House, on the site of present-day Mary Hammon Park.

Frances C. Kissell (1922 – 2003)

Frances Killsel (1922-2003) was the first woman appointed to the US Attorney General’s Office. She lived at this home until 1976 when she moved to Wareham, MA.

Julia Knowlton Dyer (1829 – 1907)

Julia Dyer (1829-1907) was a philanthropic leader in Boston, supporting over 24 organizations in medicine, arts, and community initiatives. She lived on Columbia Rd.

Sarah Baker (1805 – 1866)

Former site of Baker Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, funded by Sarah Baker (1805-1866), who ran a band box business in Savin Hill for over 40 years.

Anna Harris Smith (1843 – 1929)

Anna Clapp Harris Smith (1843-1929) founded the Animal Rescue League of Boston. A descendant of the Clapp family, early Dorchester residents, she lived on Pleasant St.

Isabel Hayes Chapin Barrows (1845 – 1913)

Isabel Barrows (1845-1913), the first woman stenographer in the US State Department, earned an MD and opened the first private medical practice for women. She later settled in Dorchester.

St. Mary’s Infant Asylum

St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children, successor to St. Mary’s Infant Asylum and St. Margaret’s Hospital, offers housing, education, and workforce development for young mothers

Ethel Lennox (1910 – 1984)

Ethel Lennox (ca. 1910-1984) drove the creation of Upham’s Corner Neighborhood Health Center. She lived in Dorchester in the 1940s and was a community health advocate across Boston.