Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Old Smith house :Main and Water Streets, circa 1867

Description

Historical references indicate that the Old Smith House was built by the Reverend Samuel Haugh prior to 1662 and stood at Main and Water Streets. Haugh is believed to have "come over" to this country from England with his father after Atherton Haugh in 1634. As the second minister of Reading, now Wakefield, he began preaching in Reading in 1648 and was ordained in 1650. He died in 1662 and left all the houses, land and "quick stock" that he was in possession of within the Town of Reading to his daughters Elizabeth, Sarah and Mary. In addition to the Reading possessions he also owned land and houses in Boston, Cambridge, and Braintree. Elizabeth lived in the house with her husband Capt. John Herbert, a mariner and sea captain who went on to serve as Town Clerk and as a Selectman several times. The house was later occupied by her daughter Mary and husband, Deacon Thomas Nichols. The house was sold by Thomas Nichols to Capt. David Smith. Smith's son Noah lived in the house until his death in 1859. Noah was also a Selectman as well as a justice of the peace, representative and an officer of the calvary [i.e. cavalry]. The house was moved to 15 Lincoln Street in 1868 to make room for the Cyrus Wakefield Town Hall and remained standing until the 1950s. Smith Street was originally the alley that ran behind the Smith house, according to the August 21, 1921 edition of the Wakefield Daily Item, and it later became the street between the Town Hall and the Miller Piano factory. The article also claimed that Smith Street was probably the shortest street in Massachusetts, at just 100 yards in length, and without a single house.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2021

Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Item Company

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

ca. 1867

Format

image/jpeg

Language

eng

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Architecture, domestic

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture :black and white

Extent

30 x 17 cm.