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Text
23 Jackson Street
Salem, Massachusetts 01970
Built for Thomas F. Little, c. 1927-1929
Researched and written by David Moffat – August 2017
�I.
The Neighborhood
Diagonally oriented to the corner of Broad and Jackson Streets, 23 Jackson Street is near
the south-western extremity of downtown Salem. In 1676, when the people of Salem feared an
attack by French and Indian forces, a large palisade was constructed along Salem’s western edge.
The location of 23 Jackson Street today fell just outside of that defensive barrier.1 In 1700, the
area was the most southwesterly tract of privately owned land in Salem, belonging to Col. John
Hathorne (1641-1717), magistrate during the Salem Witchcraft Trials and great-great grandfather
of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864).2 The farm was established within the first decade of
Salem’s settlement by Maj. William Hathorne (c. 1606-1681), the earliest of the Hawthornes in
America and a merchant in Salem. Hathorne had a house on the site in 1646 and 1661, though it
was gone by the time of his death in 1681.3 This was the earliest house in this section of town
and no trace of it remains today.
The closest house in 1700, according to deed research by Salem historian Sidney Perley
(1858-1958) in 1901, was that of Benjamin and William Pickering.4 The Adams-Pickering
House, built by mason Richard Adams before 1679, when it was purchased by Lt. John Pickering
1
Phillips, James Duncan, Sidney Perley, and William W.K. Freeman. “Part of Salem in 1700.” Map. In Salem in the
Seventeenth Century. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1933.
2
Ibid.
3
Perley, Sidney. “Part of Salem in 1700. No. 6.” The Essex Antiquarian. Vol. V, No. 3 (March 1901), Salem, MA. p.
34
4
Ibid.
�(1637-1694), who in 1664 had built the Pickering House which still stands on Broad Street.5 In
1694, the Adams-Pickering House passed to Pickering’s sons, Benjamin (1665-1718) and
William (1670-1702). The house survived until 1865, when it was lost in a fire. It was sketched
from memory in 1866 by antiquarian and botanist John Robinson (1846-1925) and appears to be
a two-and-a-half story central chimney house with a prominent overhang.6 The present day
course of Jackson Street runs parallel to the southern boundary of the Pickering’s land.
In the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, if one were to stand where 23 Jackson Street is
today located, the vast common pasture would be provide a vista stretching across the west,
while to the north across the common land could be seen the rocky outcrops of Proctor’s Ledge.
Gallow’s Hill would be seen across the marshes at the southern extent of the North River. To the
south, past the common pasture could be seen the marshy banks of Mill Pond and the South
Fields and Castle Island Neck. Due east, one would see the busy shipbuilding area of Knocker’s
Hole across the Broad Field. Looking to the northeast, one would see streets which are today
Broad Street and Flint Street, Hathorne’s farmhouse, as well as the aforementioned houses of the
Pickerings and a house belonging to Thomas Flint, along with a patchwork of fields across which
would be visible the more dense settlement along the North River. 7
It would take 200 years for sizeable development to occur in the area. A town map drawn
in 1794 or 1795 shows the town’s settlement ending abruptly near the corner of Broad Street and
5
Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory Unpublished Report 2007/27. “SALEM, Essex Co; The Pickering House,
18 Broad Street.” http://www.dendrochronology.net/ma.asp
6
Perley, 1901. pp. 35-36.
7
Phillips, Perley, and Freeman, 1933.
�Flint Street. 8 Broad Street and Flint Street had begun in the seventeenth century and both
achieved their present names in 1801. Warren Street was laid out and so named in 1804.9
Around a decade later, when Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) mapped Salem in 1806,
the southwestern terminus of the settled town was still located at the intersection of Broad Street
and Flint Street. In Bowditch’s map, it appears that Essex Street continues on in the direction
Swampscott, and that Broad Street may continue farther southwest as well. 10 This intersection is
about one tenth of a mile to the northeast of where 23 Jackson Street sits today.11
Change came to the neighborhood slowly in the nineteenth century. An 1820 map, drawn
by Jonathan Peele Saunders (1785-1844), shows Highland Avenue (called the Salem Turnpike)
extending to the southwest towards Swampscott. Broad Street extends southward and ends
abruptly, as it did in Bowditch’s map. Two new streets have been added to the neighborhood as
well, Phelps’ Lane and Circus Street (today Hathorne Street), both extending southwest from
Broad Street towards Mill Pond.12 To the south of the house, in the Great Pasture, can be seen a
powder magazine, the namesake of today’s Powder House Lane. An 1832 map, also by Saunders,
shows no appreciable change in the neighborhood.
8
Map of Salem, c. 1795. Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem, MA.
http://salemdeeds.com/salemdeeds/atlases_pages.aspx?
atlastype=Atlases&atlastown=ESSEX+COUNTY&atlas=ESSEX+COUNTY+1795&atlas_desc=ESSEX+COUNTY
+1795&pageprefix=&direct=T&From=
9
Perley, 1901. p. 33.
10
Bowditch, Nathaniel. “Chart of the harbours of Salem, Marblehead, Manchester, and Beverly: From a survey
taken in years 1804, 5, & 6.” Map. 1806. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library. http://
www.leventhalmap.org/id/10920
11
12
Google Maps, retrieved 3/28/2017.
Saunders, Jonathan Peele. “Plan of the Town of Salem in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts From actual
Surveys made in the years 1796 & 1804: with the improvements and alterations since that period as Surveyed by
Jonathan P. Saunders.” Map, 1820. Engraved by Annan & Smith, Boston. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston
Public Library. http://www.leventhalmap.org/id/12094
�Henry McIntyre’s 1851 map is the first to show individual residences. The map shows
that the western sides of Hathorne Street and Phelps Street were built-up with houses, as were
both sides of Broad Street past the intersection with Flint Street. No houses stood near where 23
Jackson Street is located today. A new street, Prospect Street, stretches from Broad Street to the
Mill Pond. Its name suggests a hopefulness and forward motion of Salem’s expansion, though it
could be a reference to the scenic view over the Great Pasture.13
Those whose houses are marked on McIntyre’s map include Benjamin B. Swasey, a
captain, and his son, Benjamin B. Swasey, Jr., a mariner, who lived at 51 Broad Street as well as
currier Jeremiah Mahoney and Mrs. Joseph Phipps, who lived in separate houses at 56 Broad
Street. Henry Brown, a shoemaker, and George Turner, a shipbuilder, lived near the intersection
of Broad Street and Phelps Lane. Farther down the street were Rodman J. Davis, a dancing
master, George H. Thomas, a shoemaker, Sarah Thomas, Richard Thomas, a fish dealer, and
Rebecca Green, a widow. Listed in the Salem directory are further residents: Patrick Davis, a
gardener, Sarah Towne, a dressmaker, John Breen, a currier, Hugh Boyce and Richard Palmer,
laborers.14 The hilly area to the south of Prospect Street was the estate of “Stearns,” 15 perhaps
William or Caroline, who are mentioned in the 1851 Directory, or Sarah Stearns, who appears
later.
13
McIntyre, Henry. “Map of the City of Salem, Mass. From an actual survey By H. Mc. Intyre. Cl. Engr.” Map,
1851. Henry McIntyre, Salem, MA. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library. http://
www.leventhalmap.org/id/15108
14 Adams,
George. Salem Directory…also including a directory of the towns of Beverly, Peabody, Danvers, and
Marblehead. H. Whipple, Salem, MA. 1851.
15
McIntyre, 1851
�An 1872 map from an atlas of Essex County shows continued residential development in
the neighborhood, with two new streets (Vale Street and Green Place, today Stearns Place)
stretching between Phelps Street and Prospect Street. 18 new houses were constructed on these
streets between 1851 and 1872, including one for James McNiff, a mason, and Bernard McNiff,
a tanner, at 10 Vale Street. To the south of Warren Street, Warren Street Court and the beginning
of the Dalton Parkway appear for the first time as well.16 The southwestward expansion of Salem
was picking up.
By 1874, when an atlas of Salem was prepared by G.M. Hopkins & Co. of Philadelphia,
the Salem Great Pastures stretched across a vast section of the western end of town and there was
not much new residential construction in the neighborhood over the course of two years.17 Two
houses, one for Joseph Andrews, a currier, and another for John W Fabens, a shoemaker, were
located where Prospect Street once ran and the only trace of that former street is a straight line of
property boundaries at the southern end of Vale Street and Green Place.18
Being at the far extent of settlement in town, it was an attractive area for land speculation.
Charles Weston, the owner of Charles Weston & Sons, a tannery, owned a large piece of land on
the opposite side of Broad Street (later home to 21 Jackson Street) with a tall house in the
center.19 In 1899, Weston’s property was divided into 13 lots, each roughly 4,000 square feet.20
16
Beers, D.G., J.H. Goodhue, and H.B. Parsell. “Map of the City of Salem, Mass.” Map, 1872. In Atlas of Essex
County, Massachusetts From actual Survey’s and Official Records. D.G. Beers & Co, Philadelphia, 1872.
17
Busch, Edward. Atlas of the City of Salem, Massachusetts. From actual Survey & Official records. G.M. Hopkins
& Co. Philadelphia, 1874.
18
Ibid.
19
D. Mason & Co. “Salem, Mass. 1883.” Map. Syracuse, New York, 1883.
20
Metcalf & Ashton. “Weston Estate Salem.” Map. Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 1603, Page 1. http://
salemdeeds.com/salemdeeds/PlanDisplay.aspx?
type=PID&src=plbp&book=1603&Page=1&booktype=Record&PID=122705
�In 1874, the future site of the house was an oddly-shaped chunk of vacant land owned by
the heirs of Sarah M. Stearns. A Sarah E. Stearns boarded at 384 Essex Street in 1861 with
William A. Stearns, who later owned the property.21 In 1870, those pieces of land were given to
William Stearns by Sarah W. Stearns, his aunt. In 1884, a parcel of land containing 384 Essex
Street was sold to William Stearns for 1 dollar from her estate, through her administrator Nathan
Morse.22 By that time, Sarah Stearns had died in Somerville.
The closest houses were to the north, that of Elizabeth Burt and John Huse, a currier, on
Broad Street, and John McCarthy and Patrick Troy, a mason, off Vale Street. Green Place, to the
northeast, was a working class neighborhood, home to Cornelius Norris, a teamster, Terrence J.
O’Donnell, a grain cutter, Michael McCarty, a laborer, and Patrick F. Slevin, a blacksmith23.
Jackson Street was laid out in 1877.24 Jackson Street, according to Census data compiled
by FiveThirtyEight, a website focused on statistical analysis, is the 33rd most common street
name in the United States, with 3,725 instances. 25 Jackson Street was likely named for the
seventh American president, Andrew Jackson. Initially the street ran only from Highland Avenue
to Broad Street.
An 1883 perspective map of Salem shows Broad Street ending abruptly at a range of hills
which stretch to a ridge of trees in the distance. The hilly terrain of the great pastures is likely
what halted westward expansion of Salem for centuries. Highland Avenue can be seen stretching
21
“The Salem Directory.” Salem, Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing Company, 1861.
22
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem Massachusetts, Deed 1124:231
23
Busch, 1874.
24
Perley, 1901. p. 33
25
Chalabi, Mona. “What’s the Most Common Street Name in America?” FiveThirtyEight (blog), December 19,
2014, https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/whats-the-most-common-street-name-in-america/
�towards the horizon, with several factories clustered around it near the edge of Salem’s dense
settlement and scattered buildings along its length.26
The Boston and Maine Railroad Company, established in 1835, had tracks running
parallel to the Jackson Street, running south of the property and crossing Jefferson Street in order
to service the leather tanneries near Gallows Hill. An 1891 map of Salem shows the old Mill
Pond bisected by a railroad track, with the eastern end of the pond filled in.27
William Saint Agnan Stearns inherited the property in 1887. A survey of the land at the
time by Charles A. Putnum shows the ghostly outline of Jackson Street, then parallel to Prospect
Street. Prospect Street has all but ceased to exist, cut off where the Boston & Maine Railroad
tracks were laid. Stearns owned three parcels of land divided from the land owned by the heirs of
Sarah Stearns in 1874. The parcels totaled 125,200 square feet and the lot which would become
Jackson Street was 12,000 square feet.28
William Saint Agnan Stearns (1822-1905) was a Harvard-trained lawyer who practiced in
Princeton, Illinois and Ipswich, South Reading, Malden, Charlestown, and Boston,
Massachusetts.29 Stearns’ house at 384 Essex Street (otherwise known as the Capt. Joseph Dean
House, the Sprague-Stearns House, or the East India House) was an impressive First Period
house built around 1706 and later modified by Samuel McIntire. It still stands at the corner of
Essex Street and Flint Street. After his retirement in 1892, he devoted himself to “his private
26
D. Mason & Company, 1883.
27
Walker, O.W. “City of Salem.” Map. From Atlas of Massachusetts. Geo. H. Walker & Co., Boston, 1891.
28
Putnam, Charles A. “Plan of Land of the Stearns’ Heirs, Conveyed to William S. Stearns, Oct. 31, 1887.” Map.
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 1210, Page 489, 1887. http://salemdeeds.com/salemdeeds/PlanDisplay.aspx?
type=PID&src=plbp&book=1210&Page=489&booktype=Record&PID=124508
29
Men of Progress: One Thousand Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional
Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ed. Edwin M. Bacon. New England Magazine, Boston, 1896. pp.
1007-1008.
�affairs and his real estate in Malden, Charlestown, Everett, Somerville, Salem, and
Marblehead.” 30 On these real estate dealings it was written in 1896: “the development of [his real
estate] he began some years ago, and which has enhanced in value under his prudent
management.” 31
The houses of Patrick Troy, J. McCarthy, and John Huse, a currier, remain in the 1897
atlas of Salem, the last in the hands of his estate. The house of Elizabeth Burt on Broad Street has
been purchased by James J. Mooney, a morocco dresser. A house which is unassigned on the
1874 map is now owned by Margaret S. Powers, the widow of John H. Powers, a painter, who
owned a large tract of land stretching from 55 Warren Street to Broad Street with nine buildings
on it.32
A large industrial building, the Bernard J. Mulligan Molded Counter Manufacturer’s
Supplies has been erected to the west on land carved out of Stearns’. According to the 1895-6
Salem directory, Mulligan lived in a brick Federal house nearby at 37 Warren Street. By 1903-4,
William F. Carney & Co. Shoe Findings operated on the site, co-owned by Bernard J. Mulligan.33
When Stearns died in 1905, there was legal dispute about his estate between his two sons,
William Harris Stearns and Richard Sprague Stearns.34 William H. Stearns served in the Coast
Guard and as a state representative and accused his brother, Richard, of unduly influencing his
30
Men of Progress, p. 1008.
31
Ibid.
32
Map of the City of Salem and Towns of Marblehead, Peabody, and Danvers. L.J. Richards & Co., Philadelphia,
1897.
33
The Naumkeag Directory for Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Essex, Ipswich, containing a List of
Inhabitants and Business Firms of the District and other Matters of General and Local Interest. No. XI. Salem,
Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing Company, 1903. p. 200.
34
Boston Daily Globe. July 14, 1905, p. 12.
�father’s will, though they settled out of court. His estate sold the land around Jackson Street and
Broad Street in three parcels in 1905 and 1906, to Charles A. Ketchum and Catherine Troy. The
portion which was to become 23 Jackson Street was purchased by Ketchum on December 4,
1905.35
Charles Almyr Ketchum (1858-1918) was a seller of flour, grain, and produce from
Barre, Vermont. In 1895, he formed C.A. Ketchum & Company and in the early 1900s developed
a commercial block on Jackson Street. 36 Ketchum built a Queen Anne-style home at 10 Loring
Avenue in 1893 and lived there until his death in 1918.37
In October 1906, Ketchum sold the eastern end of Stearns’ lot to Leland H. Cole, coowner of Leavitt & Cole insurance company on Washington Street.38
The 1911 atlas shows the development of Weston’s lots on the other side of Broad Street,
with the properties owned largely by women. Katie B. Coffin, Jane M. Donahoe, Catherine
Atwater, Thressa Garboni, Hattie B. Coffin, and Annie M. Turner among the owners39 No owner
is listed for the future site of 23 Jackson Street, now shorn into a right triangle with the tip cut off
by Green Place.
35
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem, Massachusetts. Deeds 1802:184, 1815:259, 1822:417,
36
Cutter, Richard William. American Biography: A New Cyclopedia. Vol. 6. American Historical Society, Inc., New
York, 1919. pp. 195-197.
37
Northfields Preservation Associates. “SAL.1903: Charles B. Ketchum House,” 1989. Massachusetts Historical
Commission. MACRIS. http://mhc-macris.net/Details.aspx?MhcId=SAL.1903
38
39
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem, Massachusetts. Deed 1487:55, 19 October 1996.
Atlas of the City of Salem, Massachusetts Based on Plans in the Office of the City Engineer. Walker Lithograph &
Publishing Company, Boston, 1911.
�Ketchum eventually sold the lots on Jackson Street. One was purchased by the National
Biscuit Company, or Nabisco, and another by E.F. King & Co.40 Ketchum sold further land to
E.F. King in May of 1915.41 In 1927, Ketchum’s widow, Carrie A. Ketchum, sold a piece of land
to William J. Fay,42 who in 1914 had been a chauffeur living at Andover Street in Peabody.
The parcel which now contains 23 Jackson Street was that which was purchased by E.F.
King & Co. King was a manufacturer of paint, varnish, and other industrial products based on
India Street in Boston. 43 A billhead from 1865 advertises such products as window glass, dye
stuffs, imperial carbon spirits, union white lead, and French zinc.44
E.F. King and Company owned the land on June 16, 1914 according to a certificate of
title. The lot was then an uneven quadrilateral with just 20 feet on the property line with Mary J.
Mulligan to the southwest, roughly 276 feet along an unnamed road belonging still to Charles
Ketchum, and roughly 129 and 237 feet on Broad Street and the railroad, respectively.45
On June 25th, 1914, the Great Salem Fire began less than a half mile to the northwest of
23 Jackson Street, at the Korn Leather Factory at the corners of Boston Street and Pope Street.46
40
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem, Massachusetts. 2209:226, 3 June 1914, 2281:87, 23 Nov 1914.
41
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem, Massachusetts. Deed 2295.94, 11 May 1915.
42Essex
County Registry of Deeds, Salem, Massachusetts. Deed 2723.128, 25 May 1927.
43
Billhead, 1865. For sale on ebay.com: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Vintage-billhead-1865-E-F-KING-COPAINTS-DRUGS-DYE-ETC-BOSTON-/272702443207?hash=item3f7e550ec7:g:clQAAOSwPhdU9Qdg Accessed
11 June 2017.
44
Ibid.
45
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem, Massachusetts. Certificate of Title No. 1534, 16 June 1914.
46
Jones, Arthur B. The Salem Fire. Boston: The Gorham Press, 1914. p. 35
�The fire spread rapidly and eventually destroyed over 250 acres of the city and approximately
1,300 buildings.47
The entire neighborhood surrounding 23 Jackson Street was completely destroyed during
the Salem Fire. The beginnings of Jackson Street, the southern end of Broad Street, Phelps
Street, Vale Street, and Green Place lost every house. As a result, all the residential construction
in the neighborhood dates from 1914 or later. On May 20, 1915, the city of Salem bought the
land to as part of a rebuilding effort.48
II.
The House
The house at 23 Jackson Street was built between 1926 and 1929. The land had a
succession of owners dating back to 1635, when Maj. William Hathorne purchased the property
to the Stearns family for most of the nineteenth century. However, the Great Fire of 1914
destroyed the entire neighborhood and it was in the push to redevelop it in the following decade
that the home was constructed.
The lot was purchased from the city by Thomas F. Little on May 20, 1915. Little was an
undertaker, born around 1856 in Massachusetts, the son of Irish immigrants. In 1900, Little was
living with young wife, Katherine, two two-year-old daughters, and his 80-year old mother,
47
Kampas, Barbara Pero. “New Digital Collection Honors Centennial of Great Salem Fire, June 25 1914.” Blog,
The Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. 14 June 2014. http://www.pem.org/library/blog/?
p=1958#more-1958
48
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Salem, Massachusetts. Transfer Certificate of Title, 8:1782, Document #3561.
20 May 1915.
�Katherine D. Little.49 By 1910, he was widowed and raising four daughters under the age of 12
with the help of his sister, Catherine M. Little.50
In 1911, Little purchased up several shops on Walnut Street (now Hawthorne Boulevard)
from Hannah Stone. 51 One, a c. 1900 colonial revival shop building at 109 Essex was rented to
other tenants.52 Today this building is home to Essex Laundry and Naumkeag Antiques. The
other two buildings Little had constructed himself in 1911: a triple-decker apartment building at
5 Hawthorne Boulevard and a funeral parlor at 3 Hawthorne Boulevard.53 The funeral parlor was
known as the Thomas F. Little Funeral Service from 1911 until the 1950s, after which it was
residential until its acquisition in 1997 by herb retailer Artemisia Botanicals.54
In 1929, there were 11 undertakers in Salem, Little included.55 In that year, 268 deaths in
Salem were listed, meaning that if the job of undertaking were evenly distributed, each would
undertaker would have roughly 25 bodies a year to embalm and prepare.56 One such deceased
49
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/
61903/1:1:M9RD-3T6 : accessed 11 June 2017), Thomas F Little, Salem city Ward 3, Essex, Massachusetts, United
States; citing enumeration district (ED) 449, sheet 3A, family 44, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington,
D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,647.
50
"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/
61903/1:1:M2JJ-FC2 : accessed 11 June 2017), Thomas F Little, Salem Ward 3, Essex, Massachusetts, United
States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 463, sheet 6A, family 105, NARA microfilm publication T624
(Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 587; FHL microfilm 1,374,600.
51
Salem Atlas 1897 (Richards & Company), Salem Atlas 1911 (Walker Lithograph)
52
Hilbert, Debra. “SAL.2519,” 1986. Massachusetts Historical Commission. MACRIS. http://mhc-macris.net/
Details.aspx?MhcId=SAL.2519
53
Welch, E.C. “SAL.2521: Thomas F. Little-James R. Hart Three Decker,” 1973. Massachusetts Historical
Commission. MACRIS. http://mhc-macris.net/Details.aspx?MhcId=SAL.2521
54
Welch, E.C. “SAL.2520: Thomas F. Little Funeral Service Building,” 1975. Massachusetts Historical
Commission. MACRIS. http://mhc-macris.net/Details.aspx?MhcId=SAL.2520
55
Directory for Salem and Beverly, Containing an Alphabetical List of the Inhabitants and the Business Firms of the
District, Street and Householders Directories, and Other Miscellaneous Matters for each City. Naumkeag SeriesNo. 37. Salem, Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing Co., 1929. p. 511.
56
Ibid., pp. 474-476.
�was Carrie A. Ketchum, who passed away in January of 1929. Of the other undertakers, two
were French Canadians active in the neighborhood of “La Pointe”: Ovide Boucher, at 10 Porter
Street, and Napoleon Levesque, at 15 Harbor Street. The Pocharski Brothers, at 204 Derby
Street, likely served the Polish immigrant community. Downtown, there were Henry J.
O’Donnell at 221 Washington Street, George W. Full at 19 Church Street, and Everett C. Smith
at 131 Bridge Street. The neighborhood in which Little’s funeral parlor was on Hawthorne
Boulevard had the highest concentration: there were two additional undertakers nearby at 22
Hawthorne Boulevard (George L. Millett and P.W. Murphy & Son) and others nearby at 39
Charter Street (Frank E. Smith) and 129a Essex Street (Walter T. McDonald & Son.) 57 Three
years earlier, in 1926, ten of the same 11 undertakers had been in business, save for Henry
O’Donnell. An undertaker named Stanislas Fugere worked at 250 Washington Street instead.58
Little’s primary residence was at the corner of Phelps and Broad Streets, not far from the
property. He also owned a summer house at 23 Central Avenue (now 88 Bay View Avenue), a
Victorian eclectic from the 1880s. The house which little had constructed at 23 Jackson Street
shares the unembellished Colonial Revival style of his funeral parlor at 3 Walnut Street. The
architecture reflected a national zeitgeist for Colonial-style architecture sparked in part by the
work of Salem antiquarians George Francis Dow and Caroline Emmerton.
In 1929, Salem was no longer one of the largest cities in Massachusetts, with industrial
centers in Springfield and Lynn edging up in numbers, but it still shared an outsized cultural
impact. Interest in colonial America, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Salem Witch Trials had made
57
58
Ibid.
Directory for Salem and Beverly, Containing an Alphabetical List of the Inhabitants and the Business Firms of the
District, Street and Householders Directories, and Other Miscellaneous Matters for each City. Naumkeag SeriesNo. 32. Salem, Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing Co., 1926. p. 604.
�Salem a popular tourist attraction. The House of the Seven Gables, the Essex Institute, and the
Peabody Academy all attracted visitors to town. Frank Benson, Philip Little, and Ida Upton Paine
were still painting.
There were plenty of amusements, including the Salem Willows, the North Street Arena,
the Hippodrome, two bowling alleys, five theaters, and nine pool halls. Technology was
changing and the automobile had made a large impact on the city’s layout. In the directory, there
are listings of businesses for automobile accessories, bodies, insurance, painters, repairs, covers,
springs, tired, washes and waxes, as well as new, used, and rented cars. 16 garages dotted the
city, including one at 225 Jefferson Avenue.59 In 1929, there was one telephone company (New
England Tel & Tel) and two telegraph companies (Western Union and Postal Telegraph).
The first recorded inhabitant of 23 Jackson Street is Edward J. Riley, a plumbing supplies
salesman and his wife, Bessie L, a cashier for an insurance company.60 Bessie’s father was born
in Ireland, while Edward’s family was from Massachusetts. In 1920, Edward was living at home
with his mother, then 60-year-old Annie E. Riley, at 77 Proctor Street. Then in 1926, he removed
to Providence, Rhode Island. In the 1930 census, the house at 23 Jackson Street is valued at
$55.61
59
Naumkeag Directory, No. 37. pp. 477-479.
60
Ibid., pp. 95, 407.
61
"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/
61903/1:1:XQG9-M62 : accessed 23 June 2017), Edward J Riley, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; citing
enumeration district (ED) ED 250, sheet 4A, line 22, family 78, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington
D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 902; FHL microfilm 2,340,637.
�In 1933, the home was inhabited by Timothy F. Flynn, a leather worker at Donovan
Leather Company, in Peabody, and his wife,62 Katherine G. Flynn. Timothy was the third of three
children of Patrick H. and Hannah Flynn. Both of his parents emigrated from Ireland in 1887. In
1900, Patrick was a morocco leather tanner, and by 1910 he was the foreman of a morocco
leather factory.63 Morocco is a soft leather made from goatskin, its name comes from the country
of Morocco, where it was first imported from.
In 1917 and 1918, Cornelius was a student and Elizabeth was a stenographer while living
at home with their parents at Fay Avenue in Peabody.6465 In 1920, Timothy’s older brother,
Cornelius, was a bookkeeper for a rubber company, and his older sister was a waitress at a
“bachelor club.” 66
At the time of the 1920 census, Timothy, then 18 years old, lived with his family at 2 Fay
Avenue in Peabody and was a sorter for a morocco leather factory, likely the one owned by his
62
Directory for Salem and Beverly, Containing an Alphabetical List of the Inhabitants and the Business Firms of
the District, Street and Householders Directories, and Other Miscellaneous Matters for each City. Naumkeag
Series- No. 41. Salem, Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing Co., 1933.
63
The Naumkeag Directory for Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Essex, Ipswich, containing a List of
Inhabitants and Business Firms of the District and other Matters of General and Local Interest. No. 18. Salem,
Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing Company, 1910. p. 1139.
64
The Naumkeag Directory for Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, and Peabody, Containing an Alphabetical
List of the Inhabitants and the Business Firms of the District, Street and Householders Directories, and Other
Miscellaneous Matters for each City. Naumkeag Series- No. 25.. Salem, Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing
Co., 1917. p. 1342.
65
The Naumkeag Directory for Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, and Peabody, Containing an Alphabetical
List of the Inhabitants and the Business Firms of the District, Street and Householders Directories, and Other
Miscellaneous Matters for each City. Naumkeag Series- No. 26. Salem, Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing
Co., 1918. p. 1302.
66
"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/
61903/1:1:MXY5-1LW : accessed 5 July 2017), Cornelius J Flynn in household of Patrick H Flynn, Peabody Ward
6, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; citing ED 248, sheet 6B, line 77, family 135, NARA microfilm publication
T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 696; FHL microfilm 1,820,696.
�father.67 There were 15 leather manufactories listed specifically as “Morocco Mnfrs” in Salem
and Peabody in the 1917 and 1918 directories. 68
Prior to moving to 23 Jackson Street, Katherine lived at 25 Barr Street, in a Victorian
house built around the turn of the century. 69 In 1914 and 1915, the house at 25 was lived in by
Frank B. Ellery, a clerk.70 In 1930, the house belonged to William H. Flynn, an Irish immigrant
and city laborer, and was lived in by his wife Catherine, and two children: William H. Flynn, Jr.,
and Catherine M. Flynn. 71 From 1934 until 1937, Timothy was a “foreman,” while Katherine
was a housekeeper, and they continued to live at 23 Jackson Street.
Little died intestate in August 1936, and a decade later his land was split between three of
his daughters and Timothy and Thomas Flynn. Alice, Mary, and Teresa each received an
undivided fourth, while the Flynns split the remaining fourth. 72
According to poll records, the Regan family moved from 6 Claremont Road in North
Salem. The house on Claremont Street was lived in by Mary J. Buckley, a housekeeper, in 1934,
and in 1936 and 1937 by the three Regans. Mary E. Regan, aged 47, was a housekeeper, while
67
"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/
61903/1:1:MXY5-1L4 : accessed 23 June 2017), Timothy F Flynn in household of Patrick H Flynn, Peabody Ward
6, Essex, Massachusetts, United States; citing ED 248, sheet 6B, line 78, family 135, NARA microfilm publication
T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 696; FHL microfilm 1,820,696.
68
Naumkeag Directory, No. 25, p. 296. Naumkeag Directory, No. 26, p. 1510.
69
MACRIS, SAL.1348.
70
The Naumkeag Directory for Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, and Peabody, Containing an Alphabetical
List of the Inhabitants and the Business Firms of the District, Street and Householders Directories, and Other
Miscellaneous Matters for each City. Naumkeag Series- No. 22. Salem, Massachusetts: Henry M. Meek Publishing
Co., 1914, p. 266.
71
"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/
61903/1:1:XQGM-2K6 : accessed 9 August 2017), William H Flynn, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States;
citing enumeration district (ED) ED 266, sheet 11B, line 64, family 251, NARA microfilm publication T626
(Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 903; FHL microfilm 2,340,638.
72
Probate Case 4800-S, 15 March 1946.
�Marie D. Regan, 22, was a secretary, and Philip J. Regan, 21, was a machinist. The Regans
moved into 23 Jackson Street in 1937 and stayed there through the years of World War II. In
1942 and 1943, just Mary and Philip are listed in the polls. In 1944, Marie, now a housekeeper
and with the last name Brady, appears back in the records.
In 1948, Mary A. Nolan, a 60-year-old shoe worker, Elizabeth K., a 50-year-old
housekeeper, and Margaret W. Nolan, a 37 year-old-clerk, appear as the inhabitants. They
continued to live at 23 Jackson Street until 1953.
In 1954, Thomas Flynn, a 24-year-student, moved in with his new wife, Jane, a 23-yearold secretary. The year previous, Jane had lived at 180 Loring Avenue in South Salem, a house
built in 1936 by Willbroad T. Moreau, a superintendent.73
Thomas moved from 176 Federal Street, a small Georgian house, where the year previous
he had lived with Mary and Theresa Little. In 1953, though listed at 176 Federal, Flynn was in
the military serving during the Korean War. By 1956, Jane Flynn was listed as a housewife, and
the couple remained on the property until 1958 or 1959.
The Brennan family are listed as the owners of the property for two years, from 1959 to
1961. Edward C. Brennan was a police officer, and his wife Margaret was a housewife. They
lived previously nearby at 160 Boston Street before moving to Jackson Street. The house at 160
Boston Street is an Italianate mansion built in 1869 by John C. Burbeck, a soap manufacturer
from Peabody.74
73
MACRIS, SAL.1877.
74
MACRIS, SAL.337.
�In the mid-1960s, the home was inhabited by Robert D. Hill, a leather worker, and his
wife, Olive L. Hill, a homemaker. In 1967, the property was listed as vacant in the poll recors. 75
Edward W. Mackey, Jr. and Kathleen Mackey acquired the property in 1967. In that year,
the pair were caterers. By 1971, Edward was a factory worker and Kathleen was a waitress. For
the next decade, the two Mackeys worked as cooks. Alice L. Blakely, listed as “at home,” moved
in in 1972. Edward was born in 1913, Kathleen in 1911, and Alice in 1907. Alice continued to
live at 23 Jackson Street until 1984, when she disappears from the poll listings. The Mackeys
continued to live at the property until 1989.
The poll records from 1989 to 1991 show the property as vacant. A 1992 plan shows the
parcel as the property of Mary Ann Preece of Danville, California, near San Francisco.76
The Beauregards lived at 23 Jackson Street from 1993 until 1998. Jessica was a student
and her husband, Steven, was a phone company worker.
The Malionek family owned the property from 1998 until 2014. Wayne P. Malionek was
a mechanic and his wife, Maria, was a school worker and later a hair dresser.
23 Jackson Street is located in a part of Salem which was once the very edge of town but
with the industrial development of the city became a center for manufacturing. Throughout most
of its twentieth-century history, it was a middle class house home to secretaries, leather foremen,
and housekeepers. Its colonial revival design hearkens to a bygone era that the builder reflected
on with nostalgia in the 1920s, while its history and the history of its neighborhood relate much
more strongly to the story of Salem in the modern era.
75
1967 Poll Book
76
Essex County Registry of Deeds. Plan 277:89. 15 July 1992.
�III.
Appendices
A. Timeline of Inhabitants:
Years
Family Name
Length of Residency (Years)
1929-1932
The Rileys
3
1933-1937
The Flynns
4
1937-1946
The Regans
9
1947-1957
The Flynns
10
1959-1961
The Brennans
3
1962-1965
The Hills
3
1966
Vacant
1
1967-1988
The Mackeys
21
1989-1991
Vacant
3
1993-1999
The Beauregards
6
1998-2014
The Malioneks
16
B. Figures
Fig. 1 – Map of Salem c. 1700 by Sidney Perley (Detail)
�!
Fig. 2 – 1874 Atlas of Salem (Detail)
!
Fig. 3 – 1883 Perspective Map of Salem (Detail)
�!
!
Fig. 4 – Stearns Estate 1877
�Fig. 5 – 1897 Atlas of Salem (Detail)
!
Fig. 6 – Weston Estate, 1899
�!
Fig. 7 – 1903 Atlas of Salem (Detail)
!
Fig. 8 – 1911 Atlas of Salem (Detail)
�!
Fig. 9 – Map of the Great Fire 1914 (Detail)
!
Fig. 10 – 1938 Atlas of Salem (Detail)
�!
!
Fig. 11 – Survey of the Property 1992
�!
Fig. 12 – Survey of the Property 1992 (Detail)
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jackson Street
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
23 Jackson Street, Salem MA 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House History
Description
An account of the resource
Built for Thomas F. Little, undertaker c. 1927-1929
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Moffat
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
House History
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1927, 2017
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
David Moffat
23
Great Salem Fire
Jackson
Thomas Little
undertaker
William Hawthorne