No. 5190 Granary Building, 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.
Orcutt in Good Old Dorchester says of the Granary:
In 1832 a syndicate was formed for the prosecution of the whale and cod fisheries at Commercial Point. This syndicate was composed of Messrs. Nathaniel Thayer, a brother of John E. Thayer, the founder of the house of the well-known firm of Kidder, Peabody, & Co.; Mr. Elisha Preston, of Dorchester, who was the senior part of the firm of Preston & Thayer; Mr. Josiah Stickney, a well-known Boston merchant; and Mr. Charles O. Whitmore, of the firm of Lombard & Whitmore, whose residence was near the Point, and who acted as “ship’s-husband” for the vessels composing the fleet. This syndicate equipped four vessels for the whale fishery, and twenty schooners, of which two–the “Belle” and the “Preston”–were built at the Point. They purchased not only the wharf, but quite a tract of land in its immediate vicinity, where they put flakes for the drying of their codfish. They also built some cooper-shops and a store for the supply of sailors? outfits and ship chandlery. The store was built from the material used in the construction of the granary which formerly occupied the site of the present Park Street Church in the city proper.
No. 5298 The ships’ storehouse was apparently located on the southern side of Commercial Point.
No. 3200 Photograph in the collection of the Dorchester Historical Society, possibly used as a model for the brick painting.
Whitmore lived in the Newell House which had been rented out over the 19th century to many occupants.
The Niles House, a companion to the Newell House, was owned by Captain William M. Rogers whose name may be seen on the map along with the Wales House.
No. 3199 Photograph of the Wales House.