Virginia Elsie Aiken is pictured in front of the Hotel Beaconsfield, 1731 Beacon St., (destroyed by fire in 1966) driving one of the demonstration cars for Babcock Electric, a firm that first employed her as a teenager. Born in 1895, she moved from Chicago to Brookline, around the age of 16, and attended the Runkle School.

She lived with her father's sister Viola and Viola's husband, Day Baker, first at 145 Winthrop Road then at 33 Dwight St. Her uncle was the New England representative for the General Vehicle Co. (Buffalo, NY) and head of the Electric Vehicle Club of Boston. Remarkably, while still at the Runkle School, Virginia assumed the position of New England representative of the Buffalo-based Babcock Electric Carriage Company, responsible for sales throughout the six-state region. Aiken operated out of the Brandon Garage at 643 Washington Street, where she maintained an office, employed a stenographer and a bookkeeper, and kept several models of Babcock Electrics to demonstrate to prospective buyers.

Extensive details are avalable at Muddy River Musings.

[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Washington St. looking south, Beacon St. looking west to the right. Beaconsfield Pharmacy is on the left. The storefronts on the west side of Washington St. were built circa 1908 with a few more added on the south end in 1912. The identified businesses from left to right:

• L. C. Stevens & Co. Awnings, Upholsterers, 692-694 Washington St.
• Edward Sawyer, Hardware, 704 Washington St.
• Restaurant, 712 Washington St.
• Felix Thomas, Fish, Oysters, 712 Washington St.
• Irving R. Howatt, Druggist, 718 Washington St.
• Edward Sharp & Son, Real Estate, 720 Washington St.
• Theophiles Bros., Variety Store, 1623 Beacon St.
• Hennessey Bros., Florists, 1625 Beacon St.
• Brookline Notion Shop run by Mrs. E. W. Jewell, 1627 Beacon St.
• A. Frank Bonney, Plumber, 1629 Beacon St.

[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Station G at 665 Washington St. was opened in late 1899 and is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. It housed three companies: Hook and Ladder #1, Combination Company #4, and Steam Engine #2.

This station at 665 Washington St. is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. Shown is their Engine #2 steamer. When the station was opened in late 1899 the engine was relocated from the Devotion Engine House.

The photo is taken across the street from the Washington Sq. fire station which opened in 1900. The station housed both Station G Engine No. 2 and Hook and Ladder No. 1. Shown is the Amoskeag steam engine. All the houses in the photo are still standing. From left to right:

• 666 Washington St.
• Vacant lot where 672/674 1910 Washington St would be constructed in 1910
• 46 University Ave.
• 40 University Ave.
• 676 Washington St.

The tall fire fighter is identified as John F. (“Jack”) Norton. Born in 1872, he had risen by 1898 to the rank of lieutenant and worked at the Village station. He was at one point discharged (for various infractions and “intoxication”), but in 1902 the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in his favor in his lawsuit against the town to receive back wages withheld at the time of his discharge. In 1905, there was a vacancy in the department when Frank Foster resigned from the force to pursue his business interests. The Fire Commissioner, Burton W. Neal, was then lobbied by supporters of Jack Norton and Neal was reinstated Norton with a position at Station G. where he worked until 1908 as a ladderman. Norton lived in Brookline with his widowed mother, never married, and died in 1910 at the age of 38.

[ref. Brookline Chronicle, pg.4, May 24, 1902]
[ref. Brookline Chronicle, pg.5, July 7, 1905]
[ref. Brookline Chronicle, pg.7, July 8, 1905]
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

This station at 665 Washington St. is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. Shown is their Engine #2 steamer. When the station was opened in late 1899 the engine was relocated from the Devotion Engine House.

At the rear is John W. Manley, engineer, who also came over from the Devotion Engine House when this station opened. In 1906 he moved to the chemical fire station at 86 Monmouth St. where he remained for a number of years. The driver has been listed as “Fay” which is the name sometimes used by Michael J. Fahey, a driver of many years for the fire department. However, there are no listings of him at this station and this man does not match other photos of Michael Fahey.

Across the street from the fire house. 676 Washington St. is to the left, still standing. He tall man with the moustache is identified as Jack Norton.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

This station at 665 Washington St. opened in late 1899 and is still active today as Fire Station No. 7. The man standing on the left is reported to be Selden Robert Allen, lieutenant, a future chief of the department. He transferred from the Hose Company #1 in the Village Square when the station opened and moved again circa 1902 to the Devotion St. station.

Snow plow. This station at 665 Washington St. is still active today as Fire Station No. 7.

This station at 665 Washington St. is still active today as Fire Station No. 7.

[Source: Brookline Preservation Department]

Looking west at the Clark house (formerly the Otis Withington house), roughly located at today's Lancaster Terrace. At the far left of the photo is Washington Sq.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Beacon St., looking east, is on the right. Eben Jordan, son of one of the two founders of Jordan Marsh, built this mansion in 1890 and lived there until 1897 when he moved into the Beacon Hill house of his parents following their deaths (1895 and 1897). The mansion served as the Choate School (Country Boarding and Day School For Girls) from 1922-1950. The building was torn down in 1955.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Looking east at the Clark house (formerly the Otis Withington house). Today's Lancaster Terrace would be just beyond it.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

In the distance at the top of the hill is the Clark house (formerly the Otis Withington house).

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Looking east on Beacon St. to the left, Washington St. is on the right. From left to right:

• The remains of the tannery. It is probable that it was being dismantled in preparation for the widening of Beacon St.
• The gasometer storage tank of the Boston Gas. Co.
• The man standing against the fence may be the photographer’s assistant.
• A house owned by Eben Jordan.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St., most likely by Augustine H. Folsom, a Boston photographer. This photo contains the mystery man, here standing against the fence, who was posed in a number of the 1887 photos.
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]

Looking north on Washington St. from Beacon St. Corey Hill ascends to the right. The farm house which faces Washington St. was owned from 1843 until the early 1870s by James Bartlett and was later acquired by Eben Jordan who developed a large part of Corey Hill. It is speculated that this photo was taken just prior to the 1887 widening of Beacon St.

From the 1887 photo series taken just before the widening of Beacon St. [speculative]
[Source: Digital Commonwealth]