Sweet History: Dorchester and the Chocolate ... - Bostonian Society

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SWEET HISTORY: Dorchester and the Chocolate Factorywww.bostonhistory.org/bakerschocolate/THE VILLAGELOWER MILLS HISTORYFounded in 1630, Dorchester began as a separate community, six miles south of Boston,with its own economy and local government. The land that now makes up Milton, on thesouth side of the Neponset River, was originally part of Dorchester, but as transportationand trade routes improved in eastern Massachusetts, Dorchester and Milton developedtheir own identities. Milton separated from Dorchester in 1662.Through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Dorchester grew in industrial importanceand population. So did Boston. In 1804 Boston began annexing portions of Dorchester, aprocess that was completed in 1870. Trolly lines were built to Dorchester in 1900 and itquickly became a well-established residential suburb of Boston. Today, it is Boston'slargest neighborhood. Milton has remained a separate town, although it is now consideredpart of the greater Boston metropolitan area. 141History of the Neponset River and theLower Mills of Dorchester and MiltonThe first European settlement in the area of Dorchester and Milton began in 1630. Thesecolonists shared the land with the local Neponset Indians, one of several Native Americangroups in New England. The colonists quickly realized the power of the Neponset River,and the first water-powered mill on the river was built in 1634 by Israel Stoughton togrind corn. Stoughton also constructed the first bridge across the Neponset, connectingthe two shores. The bridge helped to expand settlement further south and made trade andland travel between Boston and Plymouth much easier.Forty years passed before another mill was built on the river. This gunpowder mill,constructed in 1674, was quickly followed by other mills that processed wool cloth(fulling), sawed lumber into boards, made paper, and by 1765 ground cacao beans intochocolate. These mills initially made products for the local market, but graduallyexpanded to become an important regional industrial center that helped paved the way forAmerica’s independence from Britain.Eventually there was little room left to support so many mills in Dorchester and Milton,and most were bought up and consolidated into larger companies. By the turn ofthe twentieth century, Baker’s became the dominant business occupying the mills alongthe Neponset.141 Sam Bass Warner, Jr., Streecar Suburbs. The Process of Growth in Boston (1870-1900), 2d ed.,(Cambridge MA: Harvard Univeristy Press, 1978) 163; Heart of the City, “Places : Neighborhoods : Dorchester”Database of Greenspaces and Neighborhoods in the Heart of Boston [online]; available from http://ksgaccman.harvard.edu/hotc/displayplace. asp?id=11514; Internet, accessed 1 Nov 2005.42 of 76© 2005 The Bostonian Society. Nothing from the site can be reproduced without specific written permission issued by:The Bostonian Society • 206 Washington Street • Boston, MA 02109-1773. Any questions, call 617-720-1713.
SWEET HISTORY: Dorchester and the Chocolate Factorywww.bostonhistory.org/bakerschocolate/Early History and European SettlementThe Massachusetts Indians were one of several Native American groups living in southernNew England prior to the first European explorers and settlers. The Neponsets, a sub-groupof the Massachusetts, moved seasonally in areas around Milton, Quincy, and Dedham,and may have favored the falls along the river near Milton and Dorchester, which theycalled “Unquity-Quisset.” European explorers began mapping and describing the area inthe early sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and Englishman John Smith coined theterm “New England” during a 1614 visit. 142Although a few earlier Europeans passed through the area in search of fish and fur, theinitial wave of one hundred and forty men and women that settled permanently near theNeponset sailed from the Dorset area of England on the Mary and John in 1630. InSeptember of the same year, their settlement was named Dorchester, though its boundarieswere not well-defined. By 1633 another eighty individuals arrived to make their homesin the new town. 143 The Influence of the Neponset RiverThe Neponset River was large enough to make crossing difficult, so its banks remainedthe southern-most limit to the Massachusetts Bay Colony for several years. The narrowshores of the river, however, and the height and layout of its falls, ultimately madeDorchester an increasingly important area for water power. 144Israel Stoughton, one of Dorchester’s first settlers, saw the river’s potential. There weretwo falls, one about seven feet in height and the other about four feet, in close proximityto each other. Stoughton secured permission from the town of Dorchester and theMassachusetts General Court to build a grist mill at these “lower falls” (the “upper falls”were a few miles up-river at Mattapan). In exchange, the town required Stoughton tobuild and maintain a bridge across the river. 145Stoughton built Dorchester’s first mill in 1634 and brought an important trade to the area.At this time, the closest grist mills were in Roxbury, and Saugus. The bridge and road tothe south side of the river were close to the present-day Adams Street bridge. With apublic road built between Braintree and Roxbury by 1655, settlement quickly developedon the other side of the Neponset and ultimately the road connected Boston to Plymouthto the south. In 1662 Unquity (Milton) separated from Dorchester and the Neponsetbecame the dividing line between the two towns. 146142Matthai and Greenberg, Draft Report, 18, 20, 22.143 Matthai and Greenberg, Draft Report, 23-24. Maude Pinney Kuhns, The “John and Mary,” The Storyof the Founding of Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1630 (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1971) 1. 144 Edward Pierce Hamilton, A History of Milton (Milton, MA: Milton Historical Society, 1957) 63. 145 Matthai and Greenberg, Draft Report, 29, 35. 146 Hamilton, History of Milton, 63-64; Matthai and Greenberg, Draft Report, 29.43 of 76© 2005 The Bostonian Society. Nothing from the site can be reproduced without specific written permission issued by:The Bostonian Society • 206 Washington Street • Boston, MA 02109-1773. Any questions, call 617-720-1713.
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