No. 5169 James Baker 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 Dr. James Baker house was located at the northwest corner of what is now Codman Square, the intersection of Washington and Norfolk Streets. In its earlier history the intersection took the name of Baker’s Corner from Dr. Baker’s presence there.
No. 99 The intersection is at the left side of this detail from the 1831 Map of Dorchester
Dr. James Baker was born September 5, 1739, of the fourth generation from Richard who was the pioneer of the Baker family in this country. Richard landed in Boston from the Norsey (North Sea) bark “Bachelor,” of which he was second in command in November 1635. He settled in Savin Hill. Orcutt says of Dr. James, … owing to the gentleness of his disposition, his parents were induced to fit him for the ministry. With this in view he went through Harvard College, graduating in 1760, and then began to study theology with the Rev. Jonathan Bowman, the minister of Dorchester, whose son-in-law he afterwards became. While fitting for his profession, Mr. Baker taught school, and this delayed him in getting started in the ministry. It soon became apparent that his extreme diffidence would prevent him from performing the duties of a minister; so he voluntarily gave up the idea, and began to study medicine, teaching school at intervals during this period.
Picture 9933 Dr. James Baker
Dr. James had his home on a large tract of land at the corner of Washington and Norfolk Streets. The profession of medicine, however, proved distasteful to him; and he laid in a stock of merchandise, and opened a store [possibly on the opposite corner of the intersection from his house]. In 1780, he saw that there were great possibilities in the chocolate business; so he closed his store, and began to manufacture chocolate. The success of this undertaking was remarkable, and Baker’s Chocolate has been manufactured ever since, now being known in all parts of the world.
Sources:
1 Baker map of Dorchester, 1831.
2 Walling map of Norfolk County, 1858.
3 Cocoa and Chocolate: a short history of their production and use. Revised edition. (Dorchester, Mass. : Walter Baker & Co. Limited, 1917)
4 American Series of Popular Biographies. Massachusetts Edition. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (Boston: Graves & Steinbarger, 1891.)
5. Orcutt, William Dana. Good Old Dorchester: A Narrative History of the Town, 1630-1893. (Cambridge: The University Press, 1908 [c1891].)