history – Belmont Citizens Forum

The William Flagg Homer House, a Quest for Escape, Community Service, Empowerment, Enjoyment, and Suffrage

Arts & Culture, Historic Preservation, History, July/August 2026, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 282026

The William Flagg Homer House, a Quest for Escape, Community Service, Empowerment, Enjoyment, and Suffrage

By John Beaty This story is the second article about the William Flagg Homer House in Belmont. The first, “Who Built the Homer House?” (BCF Newsletter, September/October 2025 issue), focused on how the house was financed, designed, and built. Here, we will describe the extraordinary effort local women made to purchase the grand old house for their Belmont Woman’s Club (BWC). This purchase was made in the context of the suffragists’ campaign for women’s rights across the country. Women’s clubs were established to free women from the home and to provide them refuge, empowerment, enjoyment, and opportunities to serve their communities. [READ MORE]

Letters to the Editor May/June 2026

May/June 2026 Comments Off

Apr 242026

To the Editor of the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, The January/February Newsletter essay on Chicago real estate investments by Belmont-born Peter Chardon Brooks III led me to think your readers also might like to know of his activity as a Boston art collector. In the mid-1860s, Brooks joined others acquiring paintings by French artists of the Barbizon School, coming to own important works by Corot, Millet, and Vermont-born William Morris Hunt, a Barbizon enthusiast. Quality was very important to Brooks, and he was aware of Boston’s developing ambition as a cultural center, made explicit when the young Museum of Fine [READ MORE]

Belmont Historical Society Enjoys New Rooms

Historic Preservation, History, May/June 2026 Comments Off

Apr 242026

Belmont Historical Society Enjoys New Rooms

Viktoria Haase, Belmont Historical Society president, provided an overview of the society’s collection in its new digs in the Belmont Library, including old newspapers and census ledgers in the Local History Room. The Underwood Room is lined with books, including a variety of town records along with books by local authors. Find both rooms on the second floor.

Correction — January/February 2026

History, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

The article “Serving Those Who Served” (BCF Newsletter, November/December 2025) contained a mistaken identity. The gentleman pictured on the left on page 3 (and above) is Mr. Robert Young, a 100-year-old veteran, not Robert Taylor. We apologize for the mistake, and we salute Mr. Young’s service

Belmont Farmers Built Chicago Skyscrapers

History, January/February 2026, Newsletter Comments Off

Dec 182025

Belmont Farmers Built Chicago Skyscrapers

By Edmund McDevitt In 1831, in the section of Watertown that later became the south part of Belmont, Peter Chardon Brooks was born. The child was to become one of the most important historic figures in the development of the skyscraper. Little is known about his family’s residence in Watertown. Peter Brooks’s grandfather, the original Peter Chardon Brooks (1767–1849), was, at the time of his death, quite possibly the wealthiest man in Boston. His wealth came from a marine insurance business, some of which insured ships involved in the Atlantic slave trade—no surprise, given that the family were slaveholders prior [READ MORE]

First Church History

Historic Preservation, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

John Howe (left) speaks with attendees after his talk at the Beech Street Senior Center about the history of First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist, which was built in 1890 in the Romanesque Revival style. The church is one of Belmont’s important historic buildings, adjacent to the 1853 Lyman Underwood House. His presentation included photos showing the church in its original location on the north side of Concord Avenue, with the railroad tracks at street level. Howe was a long-time Belmont resident, and remains an active member of First Church. The Belmont Historical Society hosted Howe’s talk last November.

Bicyclist Rides the Henry Knox Trail

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Historic Preservation, January/February 2026 Comments Off

Dec 182025

By David Webster When I lowered my bicycle on the grassy bank of the Sudbury River in Wayland and stared at the granite marker and historic broken Stone Bridge, time froze. The marker identified this place as being on the Knox Trail. I imagined steam rising from sweaty horses and oxen and then evaporating into the frigid winter air as the straining animals pulled their heavy loads of captured cannons across the bridge towards Boston. This winter marks the 250th anniversary of an extraordinary Revolutionary War event that was pivotal in forcing the British evacuation of Boston in 1776. During [READ MORE]

Profile in Belmont: Wendy Murphy

Historic Preservation, History, September/October 2024 Comments Off

Aug 232024

By Elissa Ely “What is that house?” Wendy Murphy thought the first time she saw the mansion at 661 Pleasant Street: elevated, magisterial, remote, uninhabited, yet somehow alive. “Is it haunted?” The William Flagg Homer House is neither inhabited nor haunted, though it is alive with architecture and art. As president of the Belmont Woman’s Club, Wendy became one of its protectors. Her decade-long tenure exceeds term limits, though not for lack of a successor search. “I’m like a general contractor,” she says ruefully, “and the problem with being productive is that no one wants to be that busy.” The [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Scott Ferson

History, Newsletter, September/October 2023 Comments Off

Sep 012023

By Elissa Ely The start of the pandemic elongated time in lonely and frightening ways. People craved the consolation of community but were prohibited from human contact. Screens were a brilliant technologic substitute, yet just as lonely in their way. Sometime around then, Scott Ferson drew a hopscotch board on the sidewalk in front of his School Street house, and an inspirational message above it. Solitary pedestrians—who were all of us—found it hard to pass without noticing, and maybe without a small involuntary skip between squares. It was a bright bit of humor we could share without knowing one [READ MORE]

How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn?

July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Carl Solander How can Belmont use the McLean Barn? The Land Management Committee of Lone Tree Hill (LMC), in consultation with the Belmont Historic District Commission, is seeking ideas to give new life to this remnant of Belmont’s agricultural past. The McLean Barn, also known as the Brick Barn at Rock Meadow, was conveyed to the town in 2005 by McLean Hospital following the 1999 agreement that created the conservation land now known as Lone Tree Hill. The barn has been unused since that time, patiently awaiting the next chapter in its long life. In 1892, as the central [READ MORE]

Belmont Was a Town of Market Gardens

Environment, History, March/April 2022, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Jane Sherwin For about a century, areas around Boston that are now suburban housing were in many cases devoted to market gardening. Arlington, Lexington, Belmont, Watertown, Brighton—all grew produce very profitably. A market garden, sometimes known as a truck farm, produces on a small scale a variety of fruits and vegetables for local markets. Around Boston, this intensive form of farming was supported by heated greenhouses. The market gardens were so close to Boston that they had no need to pay railroad charges, using their own trucks and wagons instead. The gardens were profitable, and families could afford the [READ MORE]

Historic Clock Project Seeks Donations

donations, Historic Preservation, History, March/April 2022, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Michael Flamang The First Church in Belmont Unitarian Universalist is seeking funds and a qualified contractor to restore the historic clock in the church’s tower on the town green to functioning condition. In December, the Community Preservation Committee approved a grant application for the repair funds and included it in the projects to be considered by Town Meeting. (See “CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects,” in this issue.) There is a great deal of precedent in our area for cities and towns successfully using Commonwealth-designated Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds to implement this type of project in religious buildings. [READ MORE]

Events July-August 2021

BCF Events, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jun 252021

Though days are now long and warm, event listings for local organizations harken back to the dreary depths of winter. Few groups are planning meetings this summer, the season of bittersweet freedom, of sunny days so many people did not live to see. Voltaire wrote in Candide, “We must tend our garden,” but he didn’t specify how, or who should benefit from said garden. If you’d like to help support your local web of life, consider enrolling in a class with the Native Plant Trust: “Native Species, Cultivars, and Selections: What’s the Difference?” held on Friday, July 16, from 1-3 [READ MORE]

Belmont Once Had a Cooperative Market

Historic Preservation, History, July-August 2021, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 252021

By Jane Sherwin Many people are aware that Belmont was a town of farms until the mid-twentieth century, but fewer may know that we also had a cooperative grocery: the Belmont Cooperative Society Market, which opened in 1911. The Market, the earliest commercial building in Cushing Square, was located on the southwest corner, where the Bradford development now stands. A second store stood in Belmont Center. In his wonderful Footsteps Through Belmont, the late Richard Betts, town historian, wrote that among other things the market sold spring water from a nearby well, and later, gasoline for horseless carriages. A 1905 [READ MORE]

Time to Fix the Town’s Historic Clock

Historic Preservation, History, May-June 2021, Newsletter Comments Off

May 042021

By Michael Flamang Since the invention of mechanical clocks in Renaissance Europe, town governments have installed clocks in prominent buildings in town centers to standardize time in support of commerce. In New England, many of the clocks that we see in historic churches on town greens were purchased and maintained by town select boards. In Belmont, in 1889, Town Meeting voted “that the selectmen be authorized to place a clock in the new Unitarian Church to be erected this year and the sum of $500 be appropriated for the same.” When the church was dedicated in 1890, the clock was [READ MORE]

Historic Reischauer House Demolished

Historic Preservation, January 2021, Newsletter Comments Off

Dec 312020

By Gary Wolf, FAIA Belatedly learning of the demolition of the Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House in Belmont was disappointing on two counts. First, because the residence/cultural center was under my radar. I had not known about it, even though my architectural practice was based in Belmont for four years, and I have worked on such nearby local landmarks as the Belmont Woman’s Club’s William Flagg Homer House. And second, because not only have I been active in historic preservation, but, even more specifically, I’ve been an advocate for preserving “the recent past”—buildings like the Reischauer House that date from [READ MORE]

BCF Editor Publishes “The Truth About Baked Beans”

History, Newsletter, Sept/Oct 2020 Comments Off

Sep 032020

BCF Editor Publishes “The Truth About Baked Beans”

When she isn’t editing the BCF Newsletter, Meg Muckenhoupt writes about land use, the environment, gardening—and food. Her latest book, The Truth About Baked Beans, was released on August 30 by NYU Press. As the NYU Press states, “The Truth about Baked Beans explores New England’s culinary myths and reality through some of the region’s most famous foods: baked beans, brown bread, clams, cod and lobster, maple syrup, pies, and Yankee pot roast. From 1870 to 1920, the idea of New England food was presented in magazines, newspapers, and cookbooks, often through fictitious and sometimes bizarre origin stories touted as [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Last Pandemic: the 1918 Flu

History, May/June 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

May 032020

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Thought you could escape coronavirus news in the pages of the BCF Newsletter? You are safe, but there is a catch. If you can tolerate more grim news, consider taking a trip back to the last global pandemic, the so-called “Spanish Influenza” of 1918. The story of how Belmont responded is replete with both striking similarities to the 2020 coronavirus response and sharp differences. A weekly record of the influenza pandemic as it swept through Belmont in the fall of 1918 can be found in the pages of the Belmont Patriot. However, before diving into the [READ MORE]

Belmont Timeline

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Parking, Sewers, Traffic, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

Belmont Timeline Featuring events significant to the Belmont’s history and Belmont Citizens Forum issues. 1654 The John Chenery house, 52 Washington Street, is built. The Chenery house is the oldest surviving house in Belmont. 1760 The Thomas Clark House is built on what is now Common Street. “Local tradition maintains that the Clark family witnessed the beginning of America’s War for Independence from the hill behind this house, seeing smoke and hearing the sounds of war breaking out on April 19, 1775.” —Joseph Cornish, BCF Newsletter, January 2011. It was moved in 2012, and finally demolished in 2014. 1805 “Ice [READ MORE]

20 Years of Historic Preservation

Construction and Housing, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Sharon Vanderslice In the late summer of 1999, a dozen or so Belmont residents met in Town Meeting member Sue Bass’s dining room on Concord Avenue to discuss ways to increase transparency in our local government and protect the small-town atmosphere that had drawn us to Belmont in the first place. We had just lost a battle to keep out a massive development proposed by Partners Healthcare on the campus of McLean Hospital. This forward-thinking psychiatric institution was originally designed to offer patients a calm, nature-based space in which to heal. With the advent of pharmaceutical treatments, McLean’s board [READ MORE]