The Fitchburg Line Industrial Corridor errata

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

Hi, everyone. I'm a Somerville resident, formerly of Davis Square, and currently living on Prospect Hill. I'm contemplating starting an LJ community for the Union Square area, if anyone's interested, but in this post I just wanted to share an extremely interesting page I've found this morning: http://pixels.furiousbees.com/somind/

The author mentions LJ in the introduction so forgive me if it's already been posted here. Here's an excerpt taken from the text at the link given above:

There are at least four large businesses that I know of occupying this little cluster of industry: Ames Safety Envelope, which occupies a dwindling share of a huge complex of buildings divided by Dane Street; the Peter Forg Manufacturing Co., which does metal stamping and fabricating right across the track from Ames; L. Bornstein Flooring, which operates a large and ugly structure north of Washington Street; and the H.D. Chasen Company, which sells industrial supplies out of a small complex on Lake Street. There's also a clutch of smaller industrial businesses or former businesses operating from smaller buildings. I've collected some information on the history of the locations on this page from the Sanborn maps available through the Somerville Public Library.

I had been meaning to photograph this area for some time, but ultimately it was an LJ friend's comment that "you are near a METALWORKING plant and I haven't seen pictures?!?!" that spurred me to action. So, beginning on a beautiful day in May, I went on a series of expeditions to explore and document some of the last working factories in Somerville. (The lighting conditions weren't always great, so I've done a fair amount of quick and dirty enhancement in Photoshop to create the final images.)

I found this page extremely informative, but I found at least one error. The author states that the Paper and Provisions Warehouse currently houses "the Somerville Boxing Club and an organ repair company", but to my knowledge it's artists' studio space. I left a comment on the associated Google map but couldn't find a way to contact the author.

If anyone has any more information, I'd love to hear about it. I absolutely love this area—there's so much to learn about its history. Did you know that Union Square used to be called Liberty Pole Square, for example?

Comments

[ron_newman]

I think the Paper and Provisions Warehouse building has multiple tenants, only some of which are artist studios. Someone in the planning department at City Hall might know more. I read recently that Market Basket appealed against a special permit that the city gave for some construction in the Paper and Provisions Warehouse building.

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

I believe that is the case. I just know that *some* of the space is given over to artists' studios.

[ron_newman]

Another copy of the same page is at http://placetime.org/issue1/somind/ . Backing up to the root level of that domain, I find an e-mail contact listed: editors@placetime.org

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[rax.livejournal.com]

I've pointed the author here; I printed parts of that article in a concept zine (http://placetime.org/issue1/) last year. :) I'm sure he'd be psyched to correct it, and happily confused at anyone reading it.

(Hilariously, I found the URL to the article scrawled on a piece of paper on the floor of someone else's bedroom, and contacted him based on that --- at the time he was an acquaintance, we're now very close.)

[ron_newman]

I'd love to meet and talk to the author. One of the themes we've considered for future Bicycle Tours of Historic Somerville is "Somerville's Industrial History".

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

Ha, that's awesome! Cool zine! And thanks for letting the author know. :)

[findingthegirl.livejournal.com]

I would definitely join a Union Square community. I moved here a year ago and love it so much!

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

Awesome, duly noted!

[docorion.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested in a Union Sq. Community; I l;ive nearby enough, and I spend some amount of time at SCAT (http://www.access-scat.org) that it would be useful to keep up with other things happening in the area.

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

Awesome, I'd love to hear more about what's happening at SCAT. I can practically see the building from this window. :)

[ron_newman]

http://unionsquare.ning.com/ exists but seems to have fallen into disuse. It's part of Union Square Main Streets website.

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for pointing that out. This community is so successful and it deals with a lot of general Somerville information, I thought that people who are already using this would jump onto a new comm. I'm trying to get more involved in the community in general - but don't draft me yet, I'm finishing up my masters right now! :)

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

Hi -- I'm the author of that web page. Thanks much for the tip about the PPW. When I go back and properly organize the page, I'll include your new information and anything else that gets mentioned in the comments to this post. Unfortunately that may not be very soon, because I'm in the process of moving to Seattle, but it'll get done someday. :) You've also spurred me to consider putting some contact information up in there...

If you want to do some of your own research on the history of Somerville land use, I can't recommend the Sanborn maps highly enough. They don't offer much more than one or two snapshots of the city in time, but those snapshots are amazing. You can access them over the web, using your Somerville library card, but it's a bit of an involved process and I'm afraid I don't remember the details, nor is a quick google turning them up. There may also be more material at the actual physical library.

Also, I should thank you for bringing my work to the attention of many more people than would ever have seen it otherwise.

[ron_newman]

Ames Envelope was sold to an out-of-state company and is in the process of closing down its manufacturing facilities here. May even have done so already. I don't know what the future holds for those properties.

Can you add a date to your photo essay, indicating when you wrote the text and took the pictures?

[tastyanagram.livejournal.com]

You're quite welcome. It's a great resource you've created. And as a librarian I would like to applaud you for repping the public library. I used to work in insurance and got to visit the Insurance Library down in Boston. Talk about Sanborn maps! Fascinating.

[ron_newman]

There's a connection between 27 Village Street and that mural on the side of Ames Envelope. For many years, an artist now named Be Sargent (but then named Be Allen) lived at 27 Village, where she founded and hosted the OpenAir Circus.

Sargent painted many murals around Somerville and Cambridge, including the Somerville Immigrants Mural that you found at Ames Envelope, the First American Flag mural in Union Square, and the late lamented Wall of Respect for Women that used to be on the side of the Davis Square Rite Aid before it was painted over in 2006.

Sargent moved to New Mexico a few years ago and sold the Village Street property. I don't know who owns it now. The OpenAir Circus still thrives but no longer has its headquarters at 27 Village. It now performs each summer at Nunziato Field on Vinal Ave. instead of in the amphitheatre that Sargent had built on her property.

[ceo]

The Sanborn maps are available here. Login with a valid Minuteman Library Network card number.

[djdreilinger.livejournal.com]

For the latest info on the PPW building I'd contact the Somerville Arts Council, http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org. Boxing club has been closed for several years, replaced finally (space was vacant) with an Indian grocery.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

There's an Indian grocery in the old brick building next to Market Basket? Do you have any more details?

I think the boxing club became the Cambridge-Somerville Boxing Club that's now hosted by the Central Square YMCA.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Also, the PPW building is pixellated in Google Maps' aerial view, while nothing else in the area is. Any idea why?

[ron_newman]

Industries I remember seeing when I first moved to Somerville, that aren't here anymore:

HK Porter tools --now the big empty field next to the Mystic River at Assembly Square. Sold to Cooper Industries who closed down the Somerville factory and moved manufacturing to another state.

Catania-Spagna vegetable oil company -- was on Kent Street just north of the Fitchburg train tracks. They were a freight customer of the railroad. I remember seeing tank cars set out for them on a siding when I lived on the other end of Kent Street. They still exist but have moved to Ayer, Massachusetts. I think the City Schemes furniture warehouse now uses their old building.

There was also an industrial complex on the south side of the tracks, east of Kent Street, but I can't remember what it was anymore. It has been replaced by apartments.

MaxPak - paper factory demolished a few months ago, between Clyde and Lowell Streets. They went out of business about 10 years ago and were also a freight railroad customer, using the former railroad spur beyond the Cedar Street end of the Community Path.

John Solomon Inc, a textile company that used to be on the north side of Somerville Ave, just east of Park Street. Sold to an out-of-state company which closed down the Somerville operation. The building was torn down a couple of years ago. I don't think anything has been built there yet. My former landlady's daughter used to work there.

Bay State Smelting Company, on the south side of Somerville Ave. An obnoxious polluting industry that was guilty of numerous work-safety and environmental violations. It was owned by Ben Sack, who also founded the Sack Theatres chain. After a lot of cleanup, the city expanded Conway Park onto this site.

Comfort Pillow, on Howard Street, backing onto the bike path -- converted to condos as part of the Davis Square Lofts project.

MW Carr picture frame company, right next to Comfort Pillow -- also converted to Davis Square Loft condos.

Vacuum Industries -- was down around Allen and Linden Streets near what is now Target (but was then Bradlees). I don't know what they made. Replaced by apartments.

Research Foods -- a fat rendering plant off South Street in the Boynton Yards industrial area. Fined for dumping grease and fat into the city sewer system. I think the city may have taken this by eminent domain to shut it down.

[svilletheatre.livejournal.com]

Other soon to be gone industries include:

-Central Steel, taken by eminent domain for Assembly Square project.

-MS Walker, a liquor distributor behind the railyards off of Washington Street that will be demolished for the recently announced "Option L" MBTA Green Line facility.

One old-school factory that remains is Rogers Foam Corp. over on Vernon and Central Streets, which shares its building with artists and has done so for decades.

The number of industries that have gone away in Somerville and in Boston in general is staggering. I recall seeing a list years ago from the late 70's of the various industries that the B&M RR served in Somerville alone and it really was remarkable how many small industrial customers existed in the city even 30 years ago.

When I was serving ever-so-briefly on the historic commission, one of the buildings that had applied for demolition was a very ugly and plain cinderblock factory on Somerville Avenue next to the Wings Over Somerville location. While the building was totally unremarkable and merely had to be reviewed since it was built in 1946, the history of the factory was interesting. It was a pocket manufacturer. Literally, this place made pockets that were sent off to various pant-makers. When NAFTA passed in '96, and you could make pockets in Mexico for pennies on the dollar, the owner of the factory closed it down, sold the building, and split the proceeds with the workers, which is a rare thing indeed. There were hundreds of places like this back in the day.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

They finally demolished that old factory? I sort of liked the decaying post-industrial feel that stretch of the community path had. Besides, where will the high school kids hang out and drink 40s now?

[somervilleguy.livejournal.com]

Over the years I've worked at or purchased products from most of the businesses listed in this thread. The industrial base is all but gone and I would think within 20-30 years virtually all of the existing industrial business will also disappear. Oddly enough growing up here most people referred to Somerville as a bedroom community due to other cities having larger industrial bases than us. Now it really is almost entirely devoid of traditional jobs so it really is a bedroom community more than ever.