The Thatcher Magoun house.
At the present time some alteration and repair is being made on that prominent building on High street long known as the Magoun residence.
It has recently come into new ownership, and when entirely refitted will become a ‘parish house’ of St. Joseph's church.
In fine location and stately in appearance, the grey old mansion with its surrounding trees, its well kept grounds, its red gravel, box-bordered walks and marble statuary, was one of the show places of old Medford.
The writer first noticed it at his coming fifty-seven years ago, but was never upon the grounds or within its walls until the present work was well under way.
It was the Register's purpose to present the view shown in ‘Medford Past and Present’ (1905), but that half-tone cut has gone into the limbo of lost things.
We can only present our Group of Medford Buildings, and note the upper left of our Frontispiece.
We would also refer to wood engraving in the Usher history of Medford, printed in 1886.
And again to the steel engraving in Brooks' history, making later reference thereto.
Now, let us look into the history of this old place on High street, also at a little of history and genealogy not written by Brooks or Usher.
An old resident (of somewhat noted Medford family), Caleb Swan, left a record [p. 62] soon after 1855, and our quotations are from his writings, now in the Historical Society's collection.
Benjamin Leathe, born 1714. He lived in the house at the foot of the hill, formerly called Meetinghouse hill, taken down by Mr. Thatcher Magoun about 1835. Mr. Leathe was a shoemaker and made the shoes of Mrs. Samuel Swan [his mother] when he was quite young; his wife made ladies' stays, or corsets, They were very worthy people and members of the church. Their children were John b. 1742, d. in his father's house Sept. 1815, aged 73; Sally; Richard (a baker in Watertown); and Francis b. 1762, d. Mar. 19, 1840 in Mr. Roach's house,1 age 84. John and Francis were never sent to school, but Francis learned to read and write, and was well read in the history of England and the United States. He liked very much to read the works of Henry Kirk White, was very quick at figures, often doing sums in his head.Now we quote from another page of Mr. Swan:—
The visit of General Washington to Colonel Brooks in 1789 was in the forenoon. He came on horseback, escorted by several gentlemen from Boston.2 Their horses were taken to the barn of Mr. Isaac Greenleaf (nearly opposite Dr. Osgood's) [present Unitarian parsonage], where Capt. Ward from Salem afterward built his house and died, and now owned and occupied by Thatcher Magoun.Mr. Swan also noted, that ‘Thatcher Magoun, Sr., came to Medford about 1803, married Miss Mary Bradshaw of Medford, died April 16, 1856, aged 80,’ and that ‘she died April 23, 1862, aged 78. They had daughters, Susan, Mary and Martha, and son Thatcher, who married his cousin, Martha Tufts of Charlestown. Susan married Rev. Dr. Wm. Adams of New York, died—— and Martha became second wife of Dr. Adams.’ After the death of Mrs. Capt. Ward, aged 70, in 1831, Thatcher Magoun, Jr., bought the ‘Captain Ward place,’ into which he moved and occupied as before quoted. [p. 63] And what sort of a ‘place’ or house was it? The Benjamin Leathe house may have been farther west on the lot than the house of Isaac Greenleaf in 1789, and Captain Ward's house, built soon after the death of ‘John Leathe in his father's house in 1815.’ There was abundant room for both houses and barn between the old house, which still stands where it was placed when moved across High Street, prior to the building of the third meetinghouse in 1770. Captain Ward's house was a rectangular structure of two stories, with large rooms in either end, and front door and stairway between, with an ell extending westward from the rear side at the end farthest from High street. Mr. Swan's writing gives the idea that Capt. Ward's house was built on the site of the Greenleaf barn of 1789, that Capt. Ward died there, and that after his widow's death in 1831, Thatcher Magoun bought it. A careful examination of the ‘Thatcher Magoun Residence’ (steel engraving by J. W. Watts) in Brooks' History shows no bay window on the ell toward the river, no two-story extension at that end of the main house, and no fronting tower and terraces, only a simple portico at front door. This engraving is of 1855; shows a greenhouse with sloping roof of glass in the place occupied by the two-story extension, which must have been built subsequent to 1855, and prior to 1870, when we first saw it in its well-known form. At our first visit, the present work was well under way. The main staircase and partitions in the first story had been removed, making that part of the original main house into one large room. Three iron beams were put in for support of the second story. During this work the original walls were found to be brick-filled, and rift laths of long ago time are the base of the plaster in the original house. The tower is a noticeable feature of the modernized house; about twelve feet square, its first story forming a spacious vestibule, lighted through the glass panels of double-leaved doors on all its sides. [p. 64] A winding staircase in the corner of its second story led to the third floor and another above it to a narrow balcony above the windows. Above this balcony is a small oval plate of glass set in each wall without being encased in a movable sash. All the interior finish trim of the tower, as well as the staircases and balustrade, was of black walnut, which lumber came into vogue for house finish and furniture in the ‘60s. Prior to that time, cherry and the more expensive mahogany was the correct kind to use. All the exterior doors and windows throughout the house were fitted with burglar alarms. We were told that the late owner was offered $1,500 for the main staircase if it could be taken out entire. Its balustrade has been utilized upon a new flight built in the extension room, to give suitable access to the second floor rooms,— a necessity because of the narrow and crooked back stairways. The entire interior of the tower remains unchanged, and is something really unique. An entire new roofing of ‘Toncan metal’ has replaced the former roof of tin, which, from neglect, had become badly rusted. All the balustrades upon the roof cornices and balconies have been removed, making the roof more visible. The bricks of the chimney tops have been carefully relaid, and the picturesque tile vents (not in the view of 1855) removed. Only the granite base and retaining wall next the sidewalk remain as a reminder of the high fence and entrance gateway. We were (long ago) told in story, how an admirer of the latter came with an attendant, to examine, measure and make a copy of it,—and incidentally were told by Mr. Magoun how much he paid his designer for it, adding quite expressly his personal opinion of them. Who the architect was who designed the extension, tower and general elaboration added to the original house of Captain Ward we cannot say, but we note the [p. 65] fact of the erection at top of Winter hill, just over the line in Somerville, of the Governor Everett house in some recent year demolished, also in the ‘70s the Emmons Hamlin house, near Symmes corner in Winchester, both of the same design. Careful inquiry of elderly Medford men, as to who the master builder was, has none too satisfactory replies, but the most reliable is that it was William B. Thomas. Whoever he was, he did a creditable piece of work, as the lapse of time proves. The place was looking at its best fifty years ago, and then its beautiful grounds, trees, red-gravel walks—boxbordered, with the marble statuary and blooming shrubbery, were very noticeable and much admired. At about 1873, Mr. Magoun erected another building at the lower corner of his land near to High street. It was very elaborate in exterior design, with overhanging roof and a cupola, and its interior fixtures are said to have been black walnut. As the land was much below the street grade there was also a basement, and this structure was the ‘Magoun cow stable.’ After Mr. Magoun's decease his successor in residence transformed it into a dwelling house, which was demolished before the erection of the armory. Also in 1873, Mr. Magoun added the front terrace and portico to the house formerly of his father, and in 1874 signified to the selectmen his purpose of presenting it to the town of Medford (also a gift of $1,000 for fitting it) for a public library. He later added $4,000 for same. After Mr. Magoun's decease the former care of the grounds and estate ceased, and in recent years it has been unoccupied. Two years ago a project of erecting an eighty-suite apartment house there was broached, but failed to materialize. With the present refitting its deterioration will have ceased, and the well-known place taken a new lease of life and permanence.
—M. W. M.
