Town of Brookline


Historical Information	Buttonwood Village Neighborhood Association
	Teresa Knoess 314 Clyde St Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

MAP DISCLAIMER: The neighborhood boundaries depicted in this map series are based on information in the Brookline Geographic Information System which was provided by the individual Neighborhood Associations. These boundaries are subject to periodic updates and changes and should not be used for any legal purposes.

Historical Information "A River Ran Thru It...(perhaps it still does)
Let your imagination bring you back to a time before… before cars and planes and trains, phones and televisions and noisy intrusions, a time when time was ruled by the morning rooster and the cycle of days was controlled by the cycle of seasons and harvesting and making ready for the long winter. Actually every before the time of the white settlers think of the Massachusetts Indian tribes of hunters and gathers foraging along these local streams and marshes for medicinal herbal plants such as the abundance of nettles I have in my backyard, that now I understand to be very healthy.
And let your imagination bring you to the times of heady political activism, the American Revolution. And you’ll hear these stones talk that we walk on daily in our little neighborhood. Just around the corner on Goddard St. is the house of Gen. John Goddard, who was in charge of the artillery for George Washington’s Continental army. So imagine if you will the beat of hoofs along the well beaten road that is now Goddard St. As George Washington met with John Goddard and other patriots in our very neighborhood to plan military strategies against the dastardly British! This was the ideal remote area to hide the confiscated artillery stores that the Patriots brought down from Canada during one of their successful campaigns against the British to eventually have the armaments to fight successfully against the British here in Boston.
It’s said there was enough cannon powder to blow the old farm sky high. One report also told how Gen. Goddard wrapped hay around the wheels of the wagon bringing the ammunition to Dorchester heights to steathfully move thru the outskirts of Boston and eventually wage the campaign that broke the British embargo of Boston harbor and to truly start the impetuous of the American Revolution. And it started right here in our neighborhood!
One of the oldest streets in our neighborhood is Clyde St. originally laid in 1715 to connect Sherborne Rd. (present day Warren St.) to Newtowne (Newton St.). It was not named until 1844 and tradition has it, a Scotsman from the town of Clyde in Scotland named it. The land surrounding our neighborhood was primarily farmland and to get a feel of what life was like 150-200 years ago it’s not unlike looking over at the Allendale farms of Newton St.	Clyde Street
It was said there was a sawmill on Newton St. that was used by the settlers in this area in the early eighteen hundreds. In the late eighteen hundreds to the nineteen hundreds there was a Tuberculosis Hospital on the grounds of what is now the Country Club, which the Country Club eventually bought and tore down.	Newton Street
Also then there were the large estates that now border the neighborhood but in those times were used as summer homes, as one quote sited “ the inhabitants of this place (Boston) for their enlargement have taken to themselves farm houses in a place called Muddy River (Brookline) two miles from the town- where there is good ground, large timber and stores of marshland and meadow. In this place they keep their swine and other cattle in summer”, this area considered as being out of the hussle and bussle of Boston, homes belonging to the Cabot, Shattuck, Gardiner, and on the original owner of the property of the Country Club, Francis Bacon. In those days before the land fill in Boston there was only a small area of land, the neck as it was called that connected the city as it was separated by a bay formed by the Charles River. Until the early 1900’s there was in this area the first public transportation a carriage, small stage that went to Boston and returned twice a day for $.25, but the thrifty women preferred to save their money and walk over Roxbury Hill to do their shopping or business.
It was such a different time and places this time of even a hundred years ago. The land on which our neighborhood exists is comprised of approximately 21 acres. Between Lee and Newton St. there had been a farm and estate with a house at the corner of Clyde and Newton since 1850 to 1888 belonging to George L. Gowen. By 1893, William Logue of Boston had brought the Gowen estate, platted it, and tore down the old house.
He began to sell all the lots, as did John J. McCormack, who bought part of the subdivision from Logue in 1894. The local newspaper of the time, The Brookline Chronicle on June 3, 1893, had a front-page story of the Clyde St. lots stating “ (it was) one of the most successful auction sales of land ever held in Brookline… Mr. McCormack (auctioneer, real estate and insurance man) sold 35 lots for sums aggregating about $15,000… some 75 lots remain to be sold by private sale.” The ad reported the auction offering the remaining lots for sale at 2 ½ cent per foot, $10.00 down and $5.00 per month until paid for.
In my estimation this was the original ‘Florida land grab’ as engineers at the Brookline town hall have pointed out that except for lots along Clyde St. the rest of the property was impossible to build, consisting of a brook and marshy ground. The streets of the subdivision, Dale, Forest, Meadow brook, etc. were not improved by the town until 1962-63, 70 years after the lots were sold, and no building took place until after that date.
According to engineers who worked on the project, along Dale and Forest streets the Highway Department had to dig out peat to a depth of 27 feet, filling the excavations with tons of gravel, but due to water seepage the ground has not stabilized and the level is dropping, leaving sewer covers sticking out of the streets and forcing front steps to separate from some of the houses, all of which had to be built on pilings.

The first house surveyed here was built in 1897, by which time all the subdivision lots had been sold, but as late as 1919 there were only twelve houses along Clyde St. The original owners of these houses worked in the neighborhood, either for the Country Club or at nearby estates. Many were stable and horse keepers as before the golf course at the Country Club there was a racetrack.
A brief mention of the other beautiful property that borders our neighborhood, the Lars Anderson estate is really a love story and a labor of love, as the Andersons traveled world-wide and their gardens reflected their love of travel with English, Italian, and Japanese gardens, which unfortunately have not been preserved. The gardens were often opened to the public and as one old time resident said Mrs. Anderson would often leave a big basket of apples for the ice skaters on the pond. As they had no children they left the property to the town of Brookline to be preserved for the public enjoyment. This property was unique in that it was granted historical monument status in the 70’s as the first open space with a million dollar grant.
Our neighborhood became known as Button village due to the large number of civil servants, firemen and policemen who lived here, although in the early part of the last century this area was considered much too far to live from the fire and police stations.
And we have our share of prominent citizens such as the great golfer Francis Ouimet, a young lad that lived at 246 Clyde St. and caddied at the Country Club and when at the 1913 US Open he not only successfully qualified but stunned the golfing world at the time by winning the tournament and thereby many argue popularized the sport of golf for the average man. His statue along with his young caddy can be seen at the Putterham Golf course. There is also another prominent sports person in our neighborhood who was Captain of the 1960 US Olympic Hockey team and by his effort we won the gold medal we salute you Mr. Kirrane's! I’m sure we have many wonderful stories about our great neighborhood and because this is a fluid medium on the computer we would love to integrate all your stories. So please let us know about yourselves and our neighborhood. The 1970’s-90’s has brought an influx of a much more diverse population not unlike the main areas of Brookline, for some old timers I’m sure the changes are with misgivings but as a dear friend says” nothing ever stays the same”, although it might seem easier that way of life. And our community is again in the throes of change with subdivisions and condo’s, so our future integrity as a great neighborhood seems to be how to integrate changes yet appreciate our uniqueness. Elizabeth Ashton, sec. Buttonwood Village Neighborhood Association
Reference: Brookline town hall historical information sheet on Clyde St. Brookline library-Brookline room historical collection/sketches George Frederic Handel- Water Music