No. 5220 Bispham 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 Bispham House faced Washington Street at the corner of Dorchester Avenue.
A biographical sketch of Eleazer J. Bispham appears in American Series of Popular Biographies. Massachusetts Edition published in 1891:
Eleazer Johnson Bispham, for many years a well-known and highly respected citizen of Milton Lower Mills, Dorchester, was born in Dorchester, September 17, 1804, son of Eleazer and Jerusha (Leeds) Bispham. He was educated in the public schools of Dorchester and Milton, and at about the age of seventeen he began to be self-supporting, working in different stores and for some time as clerk for a Mr. Leeds, of Boston. Then coming to Milton Lower Mills, he established a dry-goods store about 1822 or 1823, which he carried on successfully until about 1852.
No. 5291 Detail from 1874 atlas showing location of the Bispham House.
In 1848 he was appointed cashier of the old Dorchester and Milton Bank, subsequently known as the Blue Hill Bank, and still later as the Blue Hill National Bank, and held that position until March 1, 1876. In the year last named he became president of the bank, and so remained till hid death, which occurred November 10, 1892. Prominent in local politics, he served nearly ten years as Selectman, was a member of the Dorchester School Committee, and was twice elected to the Legislature, besides being otherwise active in town affairs. He was married on May 25, 1833, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Tolman, daughter of Robert Pierce and Mary (Walker) Tolman, of Dorchester.
No. 5143 Postcard showing Pierce Square, looking north toward the Bispham House, colored in pink.
No. 4084 Also called the Village Inn, the Bispham House received guests into the 20th century. Lower Mills was often considered a village of Milton although more than half its business district has always been located in Dorchester. Although the postcard says Milton, the Village Inn was on the Dorchester side of the Neponset River.