No. 5172 Robert Tolman House, painting on brick.
Edward A. Huebener, a former Board member of the Dorchester Historical Society, was a collector of materials relating to Dorchester history including a very large collection of graphic materials, including prints and photographs, now owned by the Society. His very own contribution to this group of materials was the idea of taking a brick from a house that had been demolished and asking a local illustrator to paint a picture of the house upon the brick. The painted bricks may be viewed at the Dorchester Historical Society.
The house opposite the head of River Street was built in 1822 by Robert P. Tolman, who had a store in the next building on Washington Street toward Lower Mills. Tolman, or one of his ancestors, may have been the originator of the Tolman Sweet apple.
No. 5278 This detail from the 1858 Walling Map of Norfolk County shows the house of Mrs. R. Tolman on Washington Street opposite River Street.
No. 3227 Photograph of the Tolman House in the collections of the Dorchester Historical Society.
In January, 2005, the building, which has been used for many years as a funeral home, was in the process of being sold to Walgreen’s Drugstores. Residents responded coolly to the Walgreen’s proposal, citing the building’s historic value and neighborhood composition, with the result that the building is still a funeral home.
No. 12338 Tolman Sweet Apple from The Apples of New York. Albany, 1905. The Tolman Sweet Apple was reported to have been hybridized by the Dorchester Tolmans.
Sources:
Chaffee, John R. The History of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts. Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1917, p. 21.
Beach, S.A., et al. The Apples of New York, v. 1. Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1905. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1903 II. Thacher’s description [1822] of this variety is the earliest one of which we have any record. He was unable to trace it to its origin. Manning in 1891 called attention to the correct orthography, the name having been differently spelled by various authors, and mentioned the supposition that the variety originated in Dorchester (Massachusetts). It has long been known in cultivation in New York and it appears that it is more generally grown in the home orchards of this state than any other sweet apple.?
Dorchester Reporter, v. 23 issue 1, January 6, 2005, p. 1.