Looking west on Beacon St. From left to right: the former William Coolidge house, Webster Ave. entering Beacon St., the Samuel Hutchinson house.

William Dexter Coolidge, one half of the Coolidge and Brother store owners, died in December 1884. His house was then purchased by George H. Wheeler, a real estate broker, in 1885. When the town decided to widen Beacon St., the house had to be removed as it was situated at the apex of Beacon and Webster streets where there was insufficient room for it to be moved back. In 1887, Wheeler moved his new house to One Williams St. where it remained until 1946 when it was removed for an addition to Kehillath Israel.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer.

[Courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth (CC BY-NC-ND). From the Brookline Photograph Collection published by the Public Library of Brookline]