[p. 3] Bishop, on October 5, 1833, ‘a certain piece of land with a dwelling house,’ having a frontage on High street of ‘seven rods and twenty-two links, to land of Widow Gray.’
The record of Medford ships shows that he built his last ships in 1834 and 1835, one in each year, and that after 1835 the building at the Magoun ship-yard was by others.
It would appear that the ‘mansion-house’ was commenced at about the time of his retirement, about 1835.
Facing page 357 in Brooks' History of Medford (1855) is a steel engraving by F. T. Stuart, showing the house and stable, with (presumably) the owner in his carriage driving out across the sidewalk.
Two pieces of statuary, and large vases, adorn the ample grounds.
An iron fence surmounts the granite wall in front.
A. C. Rawson was the delineator, and the print also bears the name of O. R. Wilkinson, Medford's daguerrean artist of that time.
But for the eastern chimney being a little out of place, (probably the fault of the delineator) the view is an excellent one, and valuable as evidence of the original building.
Thirty years later Usher's history gives a line-cut (p. 303) from a different and nearer point of view, showing the present terrace and portico, with the statuary and vases upon the pedestals of the balustrade.
One of the vases and the eastern chimney are hidden by the big elm, and no photographer's name appears, but one Copeland was delineator.
In this view the words ‘Public Library’ appear on the frieze of the portico, which indicates that the view was secured subsequent to 1875.
It is a matter of regret that no files of either the Medford journal or Medford Chronicle were preserved by their publishers, for to such we would naturally refer for information.
In the early seventies (probably ‘74) the younger Magoun had put the building in ‘the most perfect repair’ and added the terrace and portico.
His father passed away on April 7, 1856, at the age of eighty years, leaving no will disposing of his
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Medford, MA. 1919.
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