If This House Could Talk 2011

The "If This House Could Talk" tour is again approaching on October 1st and 2nd, 2011 and we hope Cottage Street will be the highlight of the tour.  If you're here for the first time, Welcome!  Feel free to look around.  You'll find the 1880 census showing all of the residents of our fine street.  It's an interesting snapshot of the time.

If there is no data for your house and would like to participate, please let us know.  I'm in the process of assembling the 1900 census data so perhaps we can pull that together quickly for your sign.  10 Cottage and 14 Cottage are already done below.

If you find any mistakes, please let us know.  Sometimes there is conflicting data...sometimes it's just a typo.

We hope to show to the whole neighborhood that Cottage knows its history so we hope you'll be a part of this event.

1900 Census

10 Cottage Street

Herbert Banham, born 1862, 37 y.o., provisions dealer, born in England, owns the home wth mortgage
Agnes Banham, born 1870, 30 y.o., keeping house, born in England
Herbert G. Banham, born 1899, 10 mos. old, born in Massachusetts

Arthur Ruggles, born in 1871, 29 y.o., born in Mass., glass cutter
Edith B. Ruggles, born in 1874, 26 y.o., born in Mass., clerk at piano factory

14 Cottage Street (not sure which families are in each unit)

Pearl Heffner, Head of household, 34 y.o., dressmaker,born in PA
William Heffner, brother, 31 y.o. blacksmith, born in PA
Kate Coogan, sister, 29 y.o., dressmaker, born in PA
Charles H. Coogan, brother in law, 28 y.o., conductor, born in MA
John Heffner, brother, 26 y.o., insurance agent, born in MA
Charles Heffner, brother, 23 y.o. drug clerk, born in PA

William H. Lertora, head of  household, 30 y.o., music teacher, born in MA
Mary Lertora, wife, 27 y.o., keeping house, born in NY
Esther Lertora, 55 y.o., mother (widowed), born in England

James Gray, head of household, 60 y.o., (widowed) boilermaker, born in Ireland
Jane Gray, daughter, 26 y.o., clerk, born in MA
Thomas Gray, son, 23 y.o., clerk, born in MA
Elizabeth Gray, daughter, 20 y.o., housekeeper, born in MA

...many more to come!

Isaac A. McArthur Builders, 9 Cottage Street

1907 Cottage Street Residents

Facebook 1911

We're not sure yet what this Blue Book of Cambridge from 1911 is all about but it's some early form of Facebook.  The cover page says it's a list of the "Leading Residents" and excludes people that are in the 1911 City Directory.

Here are the actual images from the directory.

We wonder what it takes to update your status to "Leading Resident"?

When Was Your House Built?

God bless Christopher Hail, assistant librarian of the Harvard School of Design, who began the onerous task of compiling a list of every structure in Cambridge back in 1978. Using a variety of public records, he's created a little synopsis for each address. It should be noted that some dates may differ from other sources as he's attached only records that were definitive. A house tax record of 1843, for example, may mean your house was built in 1841 but did not definitively appear in tax records until 1843.

Mr. Hail notes that this database should be used a framework for further research. The entire database can be found at the Harvard/Radcliffe Online Historical Reference Desk.

Cottage Street - laid out in 1816, named in 1839

#3, 1849*
#5-7, 1851*

*These two houses, referred to as the "Valentine Soap Workers Cottages" are on the National Historical Register of Historic Places and are recorded as being built in 1835.

#6, 1856
#8, 1843
#9, 1867
#10, 1873
#11, 1868
#12, 1846
#13, 1866
#14, 1890

#14-1/2, 1846 - this house was originally built at the street and was moved to the rear when the triple-decker at #14 was built.

#15, 1867

#16-18, 1981*
*#16 was originally the Methodist Epicopal chapel built in 1872.  A double house (16-18 Cottage Street) was built in 1888.  This house was destroyed by fire in about 1978

#19, 1883
#20, 1870
#20A, 1887
#21, 1863
#23, 1886
#24, 1838

Across Magazine Street are the following houses:

#30-34, 1881
#35, 1843
#36, 1845
#37, 1844
#39-41, 1846
#40, 1839
#43-45, 1856
#44, 1839
#46, 1910
#47, 1914
#48, 1839
#49, 1866
#50, 1846

There's a great deal more information on this site including owners' names at different points over the years.  This is valuable information if you'd like to research your house's former residents on Ancestry.com.  Armed with information from this site and the maps we've provided, you can research these people using Ancestry's 14-day free trial.

1873 Hopkins Map and Residents

(Click on map to enlarge it)

Owners of properties on Cottage as of 1873 according to the Hopkins map were:

1-3 - John Leonard
5-7 - Jesse Osborn
6 - Cade
8 - W.F. Watson
9 - Benjamin Dow
10 - No house, property of Warren J. Appleton
11 - Charles Moore
12 - Warren Appleton
13 - C.S. Stephen
14 - W.S. Barbour
15 - J. Sparrow
16 - M.E. Church (Methodist-Episcopal?)
19- Eben Byron -(no house)(perhaps Eben Byram listed in 1873 directory)
20 - C. Gove
21 - P.C. Page
23 - not a house, indicated as a barn on property of 34 Magazine Street
24 - Joseph M. Oxford
-----
101 Pearl, see 1 Cottage Street
107 Pearl, listed as "47" Pearl Street, E.K. Perkins
-----
2 Cottage Court - Thomas Dolan
5 Cottage Court - W.F. Watson (see also 8 Cottage)
6 Cottage Court - Pratt

Block 2 - Under Construction