Standing on Beacon St., Carlton St. going north to the right; just offscreen to the right is the house of John Ruggles. This is a school house that was built around the time of the widening of Beacon St. in 1851. There is no evidence that it was ever a public school. There is a record of its use as a private school in 1871 by M. Fannie Welbasky. Welbasky (1841-1922) periodically operated “Miss Welbasky’s Home School for Girls” at various locations in Brookline until 1889. She had an interesting history. Her father was a recent immigrant from Russian and her mother, coincidentally named Susan Ruggles Plympton, was from an established early-European-settler family. Her mother apparently separated from her father shortly after their marriage. Her daughter never married and mother and daughter lived together, mostly in Brookline, until the mother’s death in 1885.

The school building was likely removed for the 1887 widening of Beacon St.

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]