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'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".

[rax.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that would be awesome! I expect he'll respond once he's woken up. ;)

[ron_newman]

At least one of the Peter Forg buildings is abandoned. A developer wanted to tear it down to build a senior housing complex, but I recall the city ultimately rejecting the proposal because it really crowded the lot and the units would have been really small. This document appears to be relevant.

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

I'm the author of this piece, and I think we may have met, briefly and glancingly, in the past. I'm still in Somerville for another month or so, so if you wanted to discuss this sometime, I'd be happy to exchange email or meet you in Davis or something.

Thanks rax! <3

[rax.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. <3

[avjudge]

Ron, have you seen "Somerville, Past and Present" (1897) on Google Books or Open Library? Chapter XXVI (p. 452 in the book, about 10 pp later in my PDF) is "Industries of Somerville." It's really fascinating.

The book's subtitle is "An Illustrated Historical Souvenir Commemorative of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Establishment of the City Government of Somerville, Massachusetts."

Anne

[ron_newman]

Thanks. I will take a look at that. If you have anything to add to my lengthening list of recently departed industries (see my last comment below), please chime in!