Looking at rear of the house toward Newton St., Lagrange St. is to the left. This house stood roughly where today’s 648 Newton St. is located, a little east of LaGrange St. An approximate timeline is:
- House built in the late 1600s by Vincent Druce, later assumed by his son. Then passed to the family of Ebenezer Craft and known as “Craft’s place”
- 1859: Francis Parkman Denny, Sr. moves into the house
- 1860: Denny marries Emily Parker Groom
- 1871: Denny moves into a new house up the hill. Charles R. Dow, Denny’s farmer, takes over the Newton St. house
- 1872: Denny dies. Wife and family remain in the house on the hill
- Circa 1890: Charles R. Dow changes primary house to Newton St. at Grove St.
- Circa 1898: the land owned by Denny is purchased by investors and changed to a subdivision of house lots. Wolcott Rd. created and farm house torn down
[Courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth (CC BY-NC-ND). From the Brookline Photograph Collection published by the Public Library of Brookline]