Update and Annual Appeal

Dear Friends,

Last December, the Southborough Historical Society began the most ambitious restoration of a public landmark ever attempted in Southborough—turning the 1911 Fayville Village Hall into a new history and arts center. As anyone who has ever renovated an old structure knows, the process is long, arduous and hugely expensive, often with multiple unforeseen obstacles along the way. For us, these included discovering a spring in the basement (flowing at 50 gallons a minute!); rotted sills; termites; bowed walls; sagging roof and crumbling foundations. (We’ve included some photos of these delights to share with you.)

Yet, one by one, these problems have been overcome, and as 2023 closes, we’re now entering the final phases of the restoration.

When completed, Southborough will have a vibrant venue for art instruction, meetings, social gatherings, private functions, and of course, state-of-the-art archival storage and exhibit space for the Society’s growing historical collections. Fayville Village Hall will be a veritable Atheneum for our town, an enduring symbol of Southborough’s dedication to history and culture. (You can see the floor plans and renderings online at southboroughhistory.org/fayville)

Needless to say, we need your generous financial support now more than ever. There are a thousand things that remain to be done (and paid for), from basics, like fitting out the catering kitchen and art space, to complicated projects like installing our elevator, which will provide the hall with ADA access for the first time. Outdoors, parking, ramps and site work are yet to be achieved, as well as restoration of the historic columned front entrance and stair hall.

But they will come— with your help.

In conjunction with our partners the Southborough Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, we’d also like to make a general call out to local residents interested in history or the arts. Perhaps you are a teacher of a particular craft or skill, wishing to offer a class? Or, perhaps an artist looking for a new exhibit space, or maybe you just want to learn more about future course offerings or lectures for you or your family? We are starting to think about our 2024-2025 programming, so email us at info@southborooughhistory.org, and we’ll make sure you are kept in the loop.

Our very best wishes for the holiday season from the SHS Board! And thank you!

Michael Weishan
Sally Watters
Dean Lamsa
Matthew Young

Click on the image below to donate safely and conveniently online.

 

 

Society Receives 200K Grant for Fayville Hall Renovations

The Southborough Historical Society is honored and gratified to announce that it  has today received a 200K grant from MassDevelopment and it’s partners in the Capital Grants program, the Mass Cultural Council, Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao and the Healey Driscoll, to further the renovations of Fayville Hall.

While these funds are not restricted to a specific portion of the project, it is the Society’s intention to use these monies to help pay for the ADA compliance portions of the building, including the new elevator, ramp and associated services.

Despite bizarre material shortages and extensive supply chain delays (6 months for the windows!) we anticipate finishing the exterior of the structure this September, with a soft opening early in the new year.

Forward, and thanks again to our friends at the Mass Cultural Council for believing in our new history and arts center!

 

Progress and a Call for An Annual Meeting

Ladies and Gentlemen of Southborough,

How to begin. Flooding, termites, decay, mold, dust, and totally rotted sills.

And YET!!

We are beyond all of these! Finally progress on stabilizing the structure!

We are heading home, and to that end, we would like to plan for an Annual Meeting of the Southborough Historical Society, potentially in June, and potentially at our new site!

We will want to make this invitation open to ALL Southborough residents, to show the town what we are up to, and encourage new members in our organization!

Stay tuned here over the next couple of weeks for an update

And hang on to your hard hat!

 

Back stair treads being cut to secure rear wall…

 

Become this, the stair you will walk to many events!

 

This is our 300K commitment to ADA: the elevator pit that will for the first time in the building’s history link all floors
Who needs HVAC?  Fresh air!

 

Hello Fayville Athletic Club,. our new neighbors!
The Future History Gallery
Looking across two floors. This is a one-time view, as there will be a wall here for the new stair.
The new structural struts to keep the building from collapsing. A long road home.

 

The Place to Be in 23!

We’re delighted to be able to share with you today a fantastic rendering of what our new large lecture and event space will look like before the year is out:

The second floor gallery @Fayville. Click to enlarge.

In this visualization by the ever talented architectural artist Jeff Stikeman, we see the second floor gallery space set up for an arts and travel lecture on Italy. The participants have, of course, just finished a wonderful meal catered by a local restaurant , along with a flight of Italian wines to sample. (Hopefully everyone will be awake for the talk! )

This is just one of the many set ups the 1200 square foot space will be able to accommodate: small concerts, private events, art exhibitions and seminars are all possibilities on the docket.

Currently construction proceeds a pace, with a grand opening planned before the end of 2023.

Arrividerci!

 

 

William Washington – The First Free Black in Southborough

Since February is Black History Month, it seems appropriate to look at the life of William Washington who lived in Southborough over a century ago with his family.

In the midst of all the angst created by the “St. Mark’s Triangle” debacle, concern arose about how best to honor some of the marginalized people in early Southborough who might not have been buried within the walls of the Old Burial Ground. Of greatest concern was that all the tree removal and heavy construction work might have desecrated burials of the original inhabitants of the area, the Nipmucs. After much prodding. St. Mark’s School, the owners of the land, agreed to an archeological dig to discover whether there were any burials in the disturbed area. Around Labor Day, a limited dig was conducted. To the surprise of many, most of the dig took place on town owned land near the library rather than in the area owned by St. Mark’s that had been most disturbed, the site of possible native burials, and therefore of most concern. An important result of the dig is that some artifacts were uncovered as well as remnants of foundations of two buildings. After examining old maps and descriptions of the area, it seems probable that one of the foundations was a house owned by Joseph Burnett, located on what is now town library property. Further investigation revealed that house was once occupied by William E.J. Washington, the first free black man to live in Southborough.

The sections about the Washington family in Nick Noble’s Fences of Stone, A History of Southborough Massachusetts, paint a picture of a very industrious family that was integrated into the life of the community. Several of the Washington men were welcomed as members of St. Mark’s Church choir. The athletic talents of the oldest son, Edwin, were admired. We also learn that William, and then two of his sons, Edwin and Frederick, served as sextons at St. Mark’s Church. William worked at Deerfoot Farm before becoming steward at St. Mark’s School. After serving as William’s assistant for several years, Edwin replaced his father as steward when William moved back to Marlborough around 1904.

William became a bit of a legend at St Mark’s School when, in 1899, while on his rounds as night watchman, he noticed something strange about the lighting in the basement of the school room building. Investigating further, he discovered that there was a gas leak Unfortunately, when he opened the door to the basement, the lantern he was carrying set off an explosion and fire. Despite suffering serious burns, he alerted others to the fire and then tried to put it out with a hose he dragged to the cellar.  He had to be pulled out of the burning building by several St Mark’s students who then fought the fire until the fire department arrived. A grateful headmaster presented William with a check from the school to thank him for his heroic efforts.

It seems as if life in Southborough was quite good for the Washington family. St. Mark’s Church, St. Mark’s School and the Burnett family all played a role in making their lives in town pleasant. Their acceptance was certainly aided by the contributions the Washington family made to town life

Slavery was abolished in Massachusetts in 1783, so who was this man, William Washington, who after at least 110 years with no known blacks living in Southborough, moved with his family into a house in the heart of town? Where was he from and what happened to him and his family after they left Southborough?

William Everland Jacob Washington was born in 1859 in Newark, New Jersey to Thomas Washington and his wife, Martha King Washington. He had four younger sisters. Both of his parents were also born in New Jersey, in 1830. According to the 1860 federal census, Thomas was a steam engineer with a personal worth of $1000. The census also indicates that both of William’s parents could read and write. Records, with the notation “black” next to their names, indicate that Martha’s parents, Jacob King, a cooper, and his wife Mary Thompson, were married at the First Presbyterian Church of Newark in 1829.  Martha had six sisters. Both her parents were literate according to the census. Neither William nor his parents had ever been slaves. William was undoubtedly descended from slaves, but several generations back.

In 1879, William married Ella Mae Vanderzee in Kingston, New York. Ella was born in 1857 in Saugerties, New York to Thomas Vanderzee and his wife, Sarah Tuson. In the federal census, Thomas is listed as black and Sarah as mulatto. In another census, all the members of the family are listed as mulatto. Thomas was born in Green County, NY and Sarah was born in Dutchess County, NY. Ella was one of the younger of the 13 children in the Vanderzee family. Her father was a boatman on the Hudson River. In the 1870 federal census, she and her sisters are all listed as house servants while one of her brothers is a boatman.

After Ella’s marriage to William Washington, she worked for a short time as a servant for two white sisters, Eliza and Louisa Speer, in Newark, NJ. William and Ella’s first child, Edwin was born in Kingston, New York. They lived briefly in Brooklyn, NY before moving to Wellesley, Massachusetts where their second son, Frederick, was born in 1882.  Three daughters, Alma, Edith and Adaline followed in quick succession in 1884, 1885 and 1886 while they were still living in Wellesley. By February 1889 they had moved to Boston where their son Everland Beverly Washington was born. Their four-year old daughter Edith died in Boston in April of 1889 and five-year old Alma died a few months later.  Both girls died as the result of “weak hearts.”  By 1891, the Washington family had relocated to Marlborough where they welcomed another son, Leo, to the family. He died, of meningitis two years later. That same year, 1893, Ella gave birth to another daughter. Vera Louise in Marlborough.  In 1894, William and Ella, with their five surviving children, Edwin, Frederick, Adaline, Everland and Vera, moved into a house owned by Joseph Burnett, located on the grounds of the present-day library in Southborough.  At the end of 1894, twins, Amy Claire and Allan Gannett were born. In 1897, Esther Lucilla was born and the following year Victor Bexhill joined the family.

In 1900, Ella died delivering stillborn twins. She was 43 years old and was survived by 9 of the 14 children she had borne. She was buried in Marlborough alongside her son Leo and the stillborn twins. Within a few years of Ella’s death, William moved to a house on Hildreth Street in Marlborough with his five youngest children. His move was precipitated by the fact that the house in which they had been living in Southborough was being torn down to make way for the public library. In various documents William is listed as a stationery engraver or a watchman at a shoe factory while living in Marlborough.

The life of the Washington family in Marlborough took a tragic turn as the family was ravaged by tuberculosis. The first of the children to succumb to TB was nine-year old Amy Claire who died in December 1913. Seven months later, in June 1914, her twin brother Allan Gannett died at Lakeville Sanitorium. Seven-year old Esther Lucilla died in November 1914 at Boston City Hospital. Their father, William, who had gone to live in Everett with his married daughter Vera, died less than 3 months later, in February 1915, probably from TB, Victor Bexhill Washington was nine when he died in October 1915 at Lakeville Sanatorium.

William and Ella’s oldest son Edwin, who had married Frances Chestnut in 1905, also died at the Lakeville Sanitorium in 1916 at the age of 37, leaving his widow with three young daughters. His brother Everland died in October 1916, ten months after his marriage to Viola Jones.  He was 27.  Between December 1913 and October 1916, six of William’s children died from tuberculosis. Although William’s death certificate could not be located, it is probable that he also died of TB. During the same time frame that the Washington family lost six, possibly seven, members to TB, only five residents in the entire town of Southborough died of TB, one of them being Edwin Washington.

What became of William’s three surviving children and his three granddaughters, the children of his son Edwin?

William’s daughter Adaline moved to Boston where she became a nurse. She lived for many years in Boston and Malden. She never married. She died in 1970 and is buried in Everett alongside her father and her sister Vera.

Of the five youngest children who moved to Marlborough with their father after the death of their mother, Vera Louise is the only one who did not die from TB.  In 1914, she married Albert Lee Randolph at St. Mark’s Church in Southborough. She and Albert lived in Everett and Malden after their marriage. She had two sons and a daughter.  One of her sons died at age 11 when hit by a car. In the 1950 federal census, they had three wards of the state living with them. Vera died in 1985.

Frederick Tudor Washington. the one Washington son to survive the TB scourge, lived most of his adult life in Boston. He married Daisy Mainjoy in 1906. They had a son and a daughter. According to various federal censuses, he was a painter. Fences of Stone notes that for a while he had a band that played at some dance clubs.  The Echo of Their Voices, 150 Years of St. Mark’s School, says that he achieved his dream of becoming an Episcopal priest. He died in 1965.

William’s eldest son Edwin Washington, who had succeeded his father as steward at St. Mark’s School, died at age 37 leaving his widow Frances, and three young daughters. A fourth daughter had died in 1913 of whooping cough. Frances moved with her daughters to Westborough where she worked as a hairdresser. In 1929, she married Harry Elliot, a barber. He died three years later. Her oldest daughter Frances was married in 1928 to Raymond Neizer and moved to Salem. In a scenario eerily reminiscent of her mother’s life, Frances became a widow in 1932, left to raise three young children. Her sister, Ella V. Washington was married to Marceo Griffin in 1936. They moved to Florida where, in 1940, they divorced. She returned to Westborough, making it her home base as she traveled extensively throughout the world while working as an educator for organizations such as UNESCO. She died in 2003 at the age of 93. She is acknowledged by Nick Noble as a valuable source of information for his book, Fences of Stone. Edwin’s third daughter, Edith Marion never married. She died in 1978. Edwin, his wife Frances, and their daughters are all buried at Rural Cemetery in Southborough.

William and his family passed through Southborough’s history briefly, living here for just over a decade, more than a century ago. Their lives were beset by the deaths of children from childhood diseases, death in childbirth, and devastating losses from tuberculosis. Although these were not uncommon problems at that time, it seems as if the Washington family had more than their share of family misfortunes. We remember them as pioneers, the first free black family to live in town, but we also recognize them as survivors who continued to persevere and contribute to society even when the odds were against them.

 Some Sources:

 Fences of Stone by Nick Noble

The Echo of Their Voices, 150 Years of St. Mark’s School

United States Censuses\

Massachusetts State Censuses

Vital Records of Boston, Wellesley, Marlborough, and Southborough

 

 

 

 

 

Society to Design Digital Main Street History Walk

Dear Friends

I thought I would take a break from Fayville Hall updates to let you know about another exciting program the Society has been working on over the last year: a new self-guided history walk for downtown.

 

click on the image to enlarge

The original conception for this tour was a more traditional post-and-sign route, similar to what has been done in neighboring Hudson and Marlborough. However, given the large number of stops and the primarily residential nature of neighborhood, this traditional approach presented problems. Thus, our proposed tour will be almost entirely digital, and can be started at any point along the map. Just pull out your tablet or phone, go to the proper web address,  push a button, and presto: images, text—and perhaps even audio—for each stop will pop up as you move along the route.

We’re currently in the process of adapting the map technology, and assembling the data for each stop. With a little luck, portions of the tour will be available this fall, with full completion expected by 2024.

Just another way we strive to bring your history alive!

 

On the Last Day of 2022

The basement of Fayville Hall, and the newly dubbed Lake Weishan

Dear Friends,

As 2022 fades to gentle whisper, I thought it a good time to give you a quick update on the Society’s progress. In short, our membership numbers continue to rise, our long-term plans remain sound, and our commitment unflagging!

How’s that for good news?

And—as you probably know if you have passed by the Fayville Village Hall lately—we have begun initial work to shore up the structure, and correct pressing water “issues” in the basement of our future home. It’s hard to believe from the photo above that this will shortly be our new classroom space, but it’s true. Once this urgent work has been accomplished, and after a return visit to the Planning Board to present some simplified site plans, we should be able to begin construction in earnest. We are still hoping for a phased opening in the fall of 2023, but that of course is to a large extent in the hands of the weather and supply chain gods!

There is no doubt that work on an historic building like this demands a real leap of faith. It requires trust in the craftsmanship of the past, as well as a real  vision of, and a fiduciary investment in, our shared future.  Since I came on board at the the Society after the disastrous 2015 flood, I have been reminded again and again of the commitment that you, our members—and of our fellow townsfolk in general—have shown to preserving our past and moving our joint endeavors forward.  You have indeed been asked to leap, and you have. As the clock slips towards midnight and 2023 beckons, I want to thank you all again for your faithful and continuing support.

From myself and the entire SHS Board, good health and godspeed in 2023.

Michael Weishan,
President, SHS

 

 

Fayville Hall Update

The Southborough Historical Society is delighted to announce it has reached a final agreement with Jon Delli Priscoli, the current owner of Fayville Hall, to acquire the property.

JDP, as Mr. Delli Priscoli is almost universally known, has agreed to donate the building to the Society for $100. Providing the Southborough Board of Selectmen release their right of first refusal, which will hopefully occur this week, renovations will begin right after Labor Day, as site plans and permits are already in place.

Fayville Hall, shown here about 1930, is about to return to its former glory.

Draft drawings of the interior reveal many features that will vastly increase residents’ enjoyment of the building.

The 2000 sq ft. basement will be entirely finished to include a catering kitchen and a “makers'” space that will allow for classes and workshops in the arts and crafts as well as mouth-watering culinary explorations.

The first floor, of the same size, will be converted into museum and exhibit space, and will be used to host lectures, events and other paying functions. The Society hopes to name this floor the Matison Gallery, after our late and beloved friend, Kate Matison, who worked so tirelessly over decades to preserve the history of Southborough, and who was the chief mover behind Southborough’s recent Downtown National Register District.

The second floor, again roughly 2000 sq ft,  will be converted into a state-of-the-art archival, research and office space to house the Society’s ever-growing collections.

The exterior of the building will be completely restored to its 1914 appearance, complete with cast iron entrance fountain. Once work is completed, a preservation restriction will be placed on the property, which will hopefully then serve as an historical anchor in a part of Southborough that has faced considerable development pressure.  Plans also being contemplated include hosting a small farmer’s market in the parking lot on certain Saturdays to allow local growers a place to sell their wares, as well as other outdoor events throughout the year.

Work is expected to take 9 months and cost 1.2 million dollars, with the goal of providing Southborough with a thriving new history and cultural center for the 21st century (and hopefully beyond!)

Southborough Historical Society to Acquire Historic Fayville Village Hall

https://southboroughhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018.024.001-Fayville-Village-Hall-1.jpg
Fayville Village Hall  sometime in the 20’s. Note the iron fountain out front, which the Society hopes to replicate.

The Southborough Historical Society, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has reached a tentative agreement to acquire the former Fayville Village Hall for its new home.

The potential purchase was made possible through a combination of fundraising, sale of targeted assets, and the generosity of the current owner, Mr. Jon Delli Priscoli.

The exterior of the 1914 building will be restored to its previous Classical Revival glory. Inside, current plans include mixed gallery/commercial-event/concert space on the first floor, with offices and archival storage on the second. A fully finished basement will provide additional artifact storage, as well a small catering kitchen to service events. And, once renovations are complete, the Society will place a preservation restriction on the property—which currently has no demolition protection—to make sure this remarkable edifice remains standing for future generations to enjoy.

“This will be the beginning of a whole new era for us,” explained Michael Weishan, SHS President. “The town-owned Flagg School building has always been an awkward fit for the Society, and we have long since outgrown its capacities. Further, an architectural assessment report we commissioned  in 2021 revealed that the Flagg building is in need of a quarter-million dollars in urgent repairs. Rather than put money into a building we don’t own, we began looking at other options last year, and Jon was kind enough to work with us to make this happen.

“The Fayville Village Hall, which is three times the size of our current building, will allow us to create an entirely new local and regional history teaching center for adults as well as our school children, and equally importantly, will provide income-generating opportunities that will guarantee the financial viability of the Society into future decades.

“We are also hugely pleased to demonstrate our dedication to preserving historic buildings outside of the Main Street Corridor, in acknowledgement that our town of Southborough was, and is, comprised of four distinct villages, all equally in need of preservation attention.”

If all goes to plan, work will begin this fall, with an expected grand opening  in early 2023.

Another Astounding Defeat for Historic Preservation in Southborough

Selectman Andrew Dennington, center, about to axe free-speech in Southborough.

In another astounding defeat for historic preservation in Southborough, the Board of Selectmen, now dubbed the “Select Board” voted to renew the contract for Department of Public Works head Karen Galligan.

Readers will remember that this is the same Ms. Galligan who is under investigation by the State Inspector General’s office (along with town Administrator Mark Purple and former BOS chair Martin Francis Healey, who signed the proposal) after accepting funds from a 290K “Shared Streets” grant from the State for a “History Walk”—a plan they never intended to implement, as was later admitted. In the process, Galligan and the BOS came close to destroying, if not destroying, a potential burial site for Native American and early colonial settlers. The State investigation against Ms Galligan, Purple and Co.  is seemingly ongoing, along with a stew pot of past allegations against Ms. Galligan, ranging from potential graft to gross mismanagement to spraying illegal pesticides on wetlands.

(You can watch a short video shown at Town Meeting on this HERE. BOS proposals for St. Mark’s site were rejected almost unanimously by the voters with numerous rate payers of all political stripes standing up to call out the BOS for their duplicity.)

Still, it seems from tonight’s performance, that the lessons about the dangers stemming from BOS arrogance were not fully absorbed, especially by Mr. Dennington.

Dozens of people were in fact waiting in the wings to speak against Galligan’s renewal when Dennington, who is a law partner at Conn Kavanaugh,  decided to wield his litigation skills to silence his fellow citizens. In particular, one of our most active members, who had spent the better part of two days cataloguing complaints against Ms. Galligan, was completely shut down and no discussion occurred.

Dennington’s abrupt and uncalled for move to cut off debate was legal, but, to use a not so gentle yet accurate term—incredibly sleazy—especially when it violated the rights of so many waiting to weigh in on Galligan’s poor record and the damage she has done to the historic fabric of Southborough.

You can watch Dennington’s sad performance HERE.

It’s obvious from Dennington’s demeanor he was very anxious to cut off any further discussion. And in one slice, he kneecapped democracy in Southborough.

So why would Mr. Dennington, along with three other board members, rush to approve the reemployment of a DPW director (with a raise) who is under active investigation by the State for solliciting a “History Walk Grant”, who has been proved to be incompetent on numerous occasions, and who is roundly reviled by a large number of citizens who petitioned to have her replaced?  Is there something MORE to hide? Their action defies reason, unless there are other reasons…

There is obviously more to this story to come. Maybe what’s needed is a citizens’ petition to recall Karen Galligan. It would have no binding effect, but perhaps another public humiliation is what’s needed to get the BOS to act in our interests.

In the meantime, shame on you Andrew Dennington for using your legal skills against your fellow citizens, denying them a voice in their government.  And woe to the historic fabric of Southborough under your tenure.

(Full disclosure: I ran against Andrew Dennington two years ago, and was one of several whistleblowers in the recent disclosures about the St. Mark’s Triangle.)

** This post has been edited from the original to further detail Galligan’s role in harming historical assets & and SHS response, in answer to a private letter sent to the SHS Board from Andrew Dennington claiming: ‘Frankly, I think that topic [Galligan] has only a tangential relationship to an actual historical preservation topic.”

We’ll let you decide that, readers. Godspeed!