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Text
16-18 Loring Avenue
Built for
Susan B. Moulton
Widow of Nelson H. Moulton
&
Lulu E. Moulton
Music Teacher
c. 1894
Research Provided by
Amy Kellett
September 2018
Historic Salem, Inc.
9 North Street, Salem, MA 01970
978.745.0799 | HistoricSalem.org
© 2018
�Historic Salem, Inc.
9 North St. Salem, Massachusetts
www.historicsalem.org
16-18 Loring Avenue | Salem, Massachusetts
Historic Property Report
September 2018
16-18 Loring Avenue | Salem, Massachusetts | Google Maps |Street View
Image from Eastern Angle showing the front entry to the building at 16 Loring Avenue
�Historic Property Report
for
16-18 Loring Avenue
Salem, Massachusetts
Prepared for:
Sandra Powers & Family;
Current Residents and Managers of 16- 18 Loring Avenue
16-18 Loring Avenue | Salem, Massachusetts | Google Maps | Aerial View
Image from Eastern angle showing 16-18 Loring Avenue, including the back gardens and neighboring properties
Research & report completed by Salem, Mass. historian;
Amy E. Kellett
www.amykellett.com
�16-18 Loring Avenue | Salem, Massachusetts | Google Maps |Satellite View
Birds eye view of the property at 16-18 Loring shows the property’s proximity to Salem State’s Edward Sullivan
Building, as well as Linden, Charles, and Lafayette Streets
Researcher’s Introduction:
The following is a compilation of research conducted by me, Amy E. Kellett, during the Summer and Fall
of 2018 for Historic Salem, Inc. of Salem, Massachusetts. The resources for this report were numerous but
consistent; all of the evidence accrued to support the timeline of ownership, tenancy, and events at 16-18
Loring Avenue was sourced from Salem City Directories, US Federal and State Censuses, the
Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (henceforth ‘MACRIS’), Atlases and Records from
the Essex County Registry of Deeds, and historic documents provided to me by the current owner and
resident of 18 Loring Avenue, Sandra Power, who has lived at the property since 1963. This property’s
history is extensive and complicated, as it has been owned both by single entities and multiple entities at
different times in its past. For simplicity sake, I have broken this report into an overview of the property
and architecture, followed by a breakdown individual blocks of time as it relates to the ownership history
of the property, though the names of residents (according to City Directories) may not correlate to the
names of the property owners; such is the nature of a multi-family property. It should be noted, too, that
this report is subject to editing by the author should new evidence arise related to the property; while my
research has been extensive and exhaustive, I cannot preclude the possibility of new historic evidence
being discovered in my continued research of Salem, Massachusetts’ history.
— Amy E. Kellett, September 2018
�1874 Salem City Atlas showing area of 16-18 Loring Avenue, at the corners of Lincoln Street and Lynn Road
1874-1893 | Record of land preceding construction of Queen Anne Building at 16-18 Loring Avenue:
The earliest recorded image of the property at 16-18 Loring Avenue is found in the 1874 Salem City Atlas
(above), which shows that what is today called Loring Avenue, instead was named Lynn Road (until
1893-4 when it became Loring Avenue). The area that would ultimately become the building and lands at
16-18 Loring Avenue once belonged to John Hurley, an Irish immigrant who came to Salem through
Boston in 1852, and was naturalized in 1872. Prior to Hurley’s ownership of the property, it had been
owned by several of the prominent land-owning families of Salem, including the Almy’s, Ives’, Putnam’s,
and Wiggin’s. On the 30th of July, 1878 the Essex County Registry of Deeds Index lists the sale of the
property at “Lynn Rd. Park & Lincoln Ave. Lots 17, 18 & 20 Pl. Rec. 727-300” (though earlier, Hurley
had owned all the property bordered by Lynn, Lincoln, Park, and Maple) to George T. Flint. The sale was
the result of a public auction, as Hurley had defaulted on his loan from his neighbors, Almy, Wiggin &
Clark.
�On July 13, 1878 George F. Flint, an aging Salem farmer won the property auction for $500. The 1870 US
Federal Census lists George Flint as 62 years old, and living with two other Flint men, Charles Flint
(presumably George’s twin, as he is also listed as 62 years old), and John Flint, who was fifty years old in
1870, logically making him the brother of George and Charles — all are listed as living in the 6th Ward of
Salem, all having been born in Maine, and all who made their living as farmers. The deed describes the
parcel of land that Flint now owned as follows:
The lot of land in Salem which is bounded Southeasterly on the
Lynn Road seventy five feet, Southwesterly by lot no. nineteen on
the plan hereinafter described two hundred feet southeasterly
again by said lot no. nineteen seventy five feet Southwesterly again
by lot no. twenty two on said Plan two hundred feet Northwesterly
by Park Avenue one hundred and fifty feet and Northeasterly by
Lincoln Avenue four hundred feet. Being lots numbered seventeen
eighteen and twenty on a plan of that part of the Derby Estate
recorded in Essex Registry of Deeds South District Book 727 Leaf
300. Subject to all the restrictions and reservations as to building
with thin thirty feet of said Lynn road or said Park Avenue
continued in a deed of the presses from Nath. Wiggin estate to John
Hurley recorded in Essex Registry of Deeds So. District Book 786
Leaf 40.
** Note: The record entitled “Essex Registry of Deeds South District Book 727 Leaf 300” is the
recurring reference point that is key to tracing the rest of the property’s history at 16-18 Loring Avenue.
September 19, 1878, just a few months later, the land changed hands again from George Flint, et al. to
James F. Almy, again for the price of $500, recorded in the Registry of Deeds Book 1004 Page 195 for
“Lynn Rd. Park & Lincoln Avs. Lots 17, 18 & 20 Pl. Rec. 727-300.” The city directory from the same
year, 1878, lists James F. Almy as being of the dry goods company ‘Almy, Bigelow, & Webber’ at 188
Essex Street, while his home was located at 56 Lafayette Street. Almy was extensively involved in the
buying and selling of land throughout Salem, as evidenced by the baker’s dozen index pages filled with
transactions with virtually every person and business in the city at the time.
�Eventually the land came to be owned by brothers Albert and Joseph Poor, who sold the land in pieces,
one parcel to Charles Coulthurst in 1890, and then on 11 April 1892 Land Deed from Albert F. and Joseph
H. Poor records the sale of the property to Ira Vaughan, machinist & millwright, owned a business at 4
Broadway called Rood & Vaughan. He was likely also related to the Vaughn Machine Co.,
“manufacturers of hide and leather working machinery.”
In 1893, mother and daughter Susan B. Moulton and Lulu E. Moulton purchased the properties from
both Ira Vaughan and Charles Coulthurst. Thus begins the history of the Queen Anne multi=family
home that still stands on the property to this day.
16-18 Loring Avenue | Salem, Massachusetts | 1989
Image from MACRIS report, completed by a D. Hilbert with Northfields Preservation Associates for the Salem
Planning Department in July 1989.
�c. 1894 | Queen Anne home built at 16-18 Loring Avenue
At the end of the 19th century the world was changing rapidly, and Salem’s wealth and prominence set her
among the forefront of the incoming century. What was once rolling fields of farmland with a path named
Lynn Road was now Loring Avenue, and the Salem Normal School was being built at the corner of
Lafayette and Loring — Salem’s legacy of stunning architecture was expanding southward, beginning
with houses such as that of 16-18 Loring Avenue.
Susan B. Moulton and Lulu E. Moulton purchased the property from Ira Vaughan and Charles
Coulthurst for ‘consideration of One Dollar and other valuable consideration paid’ (a popular price for
the time) on March 6, 1893, and mortgaged the property with Salem Five Bank for approximately $9,000
in November of the same year. One then can deduce that it would have taken the rest of the following year
to build the multi-family home, hence the logical conclusion is to date the multi-family home on the
property to 1894, making it one of the first homes built on the newly-named Loring Avenue.
Architecturally, the home is one of the finest examples of Queen Anne architecture in Salem. The
MACRIS report of 1989 details the architectural design and significance of the building eloquently:
16-18 Loring Avenue is […] 2 1/2 stories high, with the complex
roofline characteristic of the style. It features a steep hipped roof
with two cross gables at the facade, and one at each side, as well as
a large, central gambrel dormer. Flanking the center entry are onestory paneled bay windows connected by a two-story porch with
paneled and dentilled [sic] entablature with decorative molding
exists at the cornice. Gable and gambrel ends feature fans, shells,
panelling and various window configurations. Other features
included corbelled [sic] chimneys, dentilled cornices, decorative
sash. The foundation is granite. The back yard of the house is
ornately landscaped and possess a terrace and pergola atop a six-car
cast-stone garage.
�According to the widely referenced text A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia & Lee McAlester
(1984) the Queen Anne style was popularly built between 1880-1910, making the property on Loring
Avenue built essentially during the mid-point of this architectural time period:
This was the dominant style of domestic building during got period
from about 1880 until 1900 […] in the heavily populated northeastern
states the style is somewhat less common than elsewhere.
The style was named and popularized by a group of 19th-century
English architects led by Richard Norman Shaw… had little to do with
Queen Anne or the formal Renaissance architecture that was dominant
during her reign (1702-14). Instead, they borrowed most heavily from late
Medieval models of the preceding Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.
… by 1880 the style was being spread throughout the
country by pattern books and the first architectural magazine, the
American Architect and Building News. The expanding railroad
network also helped popularize the style by making pre-cut
architectural details conveniently available through much of the
nation.
In the decade of the 1890s the free classic adaptation became
widespread. It was but a short step from these to the early, asymmetrical
Colonial Revival houses which, along with other competing styles, fully
supplanted the Queen Anne style after about 1910.1
Other features described in this text are also apparent at the home on Loring Avenue, including varying
wall textures; shingles, clapboards, and detailed masonry — a few ornamental windows, and features
several porches. Also, since the house was designed and built as a multi-family property, we can assume
that Susan and Lulu Moulton intended this property to be a source of income, as well as a home, for
themselves and future owners.
1 McCalester, Virginia & Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. 1984. Pages 263-268.
�1895–1902 | 16-18 Loring Avenue
The 1895 Salem City Directories list eight different people as living at 16-18 Loring Avenue, to include
Susan B. & Lulu E. Moulton, Miss Mabel. A Phillips, Jacob C. Batchelder and Irena B. Carlton at 18
Loring, while Charles A Ketchum and Ellis W. Andrews lived on the 16 Loring side of the house.
1897 Salem City Atlas
Centered is 16-18 Loring Avenue, with Susan B. Moulton’s name labeling the large property. Directly across the
street can be seen the ‘State Normal School’, which is now the Sullivan Building of Salem State University.
Susan B. & Lulu E. Moulton were the owners of the entire property as they were the ones to have it
commissioned and built in 1894. Susan B. Moulton was born Susan B. Carlton in Claremont, New
Hampshire in July of 1840 where she was raised and educated. She was married to Nelson H. Moulton, a
Salem clerk turned business owner and dealer of ‘ladies furnishing goods’ or ‘fancy goods’ living at 200
Lafayette Street, Salem. The couple welcomed their daughter, Lulu Eva, on January 1, 1874. However,
the family unit would not survive long — according to the Massachusetts Death Records of 1875, Nelson
H. Moulton passed away in Middleton, though his residence had remained in Salem. Locally, his cause of
death is listed as “debility” which is defined as dying from being weak and sedentary. Officially, Mr.
Moulton died from ‘consumption,’ also known as tuberculosis, at the Middleton Campus of the newlyopened (and later infamous) Danvers State Hospital on September 18th, 1875.
�c. 1893 Photograph of Danvers State Hospital
Susan B. Moulton would become a widow at the Middleton Campus of the hospital, where her husband Nelson H.
Moulton died at only 34 years of age of tuberculosis.
At thirty-five years old, Susan B. Moulton found herself a widow and new mother of a 20-month-old
daughter, Lulu. It seems that Susan did not despair, but worked through her grief to provide a life for
herself and her daughter. Susan and Lulu moved in with Susan’s parents, Irena B. Carlton and Rufus
Carlton at 20 Lafayette Street, and in 1886 is found in the Salem City Directory as working at 181 Essex
Street as a saleswoman.
Lulu Eva Moulton, Susan’s daughter, grew up in her grandparent’s home at 20 Lafayette Street, where
she attended area schools and studied music, specifically piano. She and her mother Susan purchased the
property together at 16-18 Loring Avenue in 1893, when Lulu was just nineteen years old. The 1895 Salem
City Directory lists Lulu as boarding at 18 Loring, and the 1897 City Business Directory lists her as a local
music teacher.
�1897 Salem Business Directory
Miss Lulu E. Moulton is listed under ‘Music Teachers’ in the City Directory (top of the right hand column); Miss
Moulton’s listing on this page denotes that she working out of her home as a music teacher at 18 Loring Avenue
�Jacob C. Batchelder is listed as living at 18 Loring in 1895 and was the proprietor of J. C. Batchelder &
Co. at 42 Central Street in Salem. According to the 1880 US Federal Census, Plainfield, Vermont native
Jacob Batchelder was a 35 year-old bachelor, boarding from the owners at 20 Lafayette Street, Susan B.
And Lulu E. Moulton, who he would later move with to 18 Loring Avenue after the house’s construction
in 1895. J.C. Batchelder & Co, a wholesale and commission dealer in produce, including butter, cheese,
eggs, and the like from the shop on Central Street (now the parking lot area behind the Lafayette Street
fire department building. He had formerly been a superintendent at Kernwood, which is likely the
Kernwood Estate as of 1893, which would become a private golf club in 1914 (and is still in business
today), Kernwood Country Club. (The Kernwood Estate had once belonged to the Peabody family,
located on the Danvers River off of Liberty Hill Avenue. Francis Peabody built the estate near the locallynamed ‘Cold Springs’.) According to the Salem City Directories, Charlie Ketchum both lived and
worked at the Estate until he moved to 20 Lafayette and then 18 Loring Avenue (with the Moultons). lived
at 18 Loring Avenue until heart disease took his life when he was only 54 years of age.
1895 Advertisement in the Salem City Directory for J.C. Batchelder
between a granite dealer and confectioner
J.C. Batchelder was the employer of Charles A. Ketchum the year that this advertisement was published, and the
same year that Ketchum is first seen at 16 Loring Avenue.
�Opposite Susan and Lulu Moulton, at 16 Loring Avenue lived Charles A. Ketchum, along with his family,
and a boarder named Ellis W. Andrews as of 1895. Charles A. Ketchum worked for J.C. Batchelder & Co.
at 42 Central Street, and after Jacob Batchelder’s passing in 1898, opened a flour and feed store (at the
previous J.C. Batchelder Location) ’Ketchum & Co.”. 1897’s Salem City Directory also lists a George
Smith as living at 16 Loring, with his occupation noted as ‘hostler,’ what would today be called a groom,
who likely lived and worked at the property caring for the Ketchum family’s horses and carriages.
The city directory of 1895 listed Ellis W. Andrews as living at 16 Loring — tracing the family names leads
to the logical conclusion that Ellis W. Andrews was likely Carrie Ketchum’s uncle, brother of Martin
Andrews.
Mr. Ellis W. Andrews is listed as a milk dealer in Lynn, and a boarder at 16 Loring Avenue in Salem.
While living at the house on Loring Avenue he would meet his neighbor, nineteen-year-old Mabel
Phillips, and introduce her to his son, Ellis M. Andrews, a bookkeeper. The two were married on
September 12, 1895, and went on to have a family of their own, eventually moving to 4 Charles Street, just
behind the property at 16-18 Loring where they first met.
1895 Massachusetts Marriage Records
Image showing record of marriage between Ellis M. Andrews and Mabel A. Phillips on September 12, 1895, just months
after the two likely met as neighbors at 16-18 Loring Avenue.
�The 1900 United States Federal Census confirms that Susan B. Moulton & Lulu E. Moulton, as well as
Charles A. Ketchum and family remained at 18 and 16 Loring Avenue (respectively). Also living with
Charles Ketchum was his father-in-law, Martin Andrews, a produce salesman.By 1902 records show that
Charles A. Ketchum was owner of a successful flour and feed dealing business, noted in the December
1902 Edition of Flour & Feed, “Mr. Ketchum succeeded J. C. Batchelder & Co., and reports a fine
business year” J. C. Batchelder, of course, being Jacob C. Batchelder, the Ketchum Family neighbors at
18 Loring Ave. until his death in 1898 — its
possible that Charles Ketchum purchased his
late neighbor’s business and simply renamed
it to ‘Ketchum & Co.”. Later in life Charles
became a Freemason at the Essex Lodge in
1906-7. His Mason Membership Card lists his
‘Nativity’ as being born in Barre, Vermont on
August 12, 1858, his Residence in 1907 in
Salem, and his ‘Occupation’ as ‘Hay &
Grain’. Finally, it lists his death date — the 5th
Source: December 1902 — Flour & Feed
of November, 1918.
18 Loring Avenue was the primary residence for Susan B. Moulton and Lulu E. Moulton, as well as
Susan’s Mother, and Irena B.Carlton (née Batchelder). Florence N. Snell, a 35 year-old single woman,
she was an Ohio native who is listed on the Census a teacher at the Normal School (directly across the
street from 16-18 Loring). Florence P. Salisbury boarded at 18 Loring as well, and like her roommate Miss
Snell was also a teacher at the Normal School. Alice E Barnard is noted in the 1899 City Directory as
living at 18 Loring, and then as the head of the household on the 1900 Federal Census. In 1900 she was a
45 year-old widow that found herself in the role of managing 16-18 Loring’s boarders. A Mrs. Lucy S.
Magoun lived in the home briefly as well in 1901, she was the widow of Elias Magoun, and had moved to
Oxford by 1903. Sophronia Woodward, at eighty-three, was also a boarder at 18 Loring, and was possibly
one of Irena B. Carlton’s friends as they were closest in age at the time to anybody else in the home.
Unfortunately, Irena passed away later that year, on August 11th, 1900 at the age of 88 after a hip fracture
and apparent subsequent heart failure.
�Lulu Eva continued to list herself in the local city
directory as a music teacher at 16 Loring through
1901, and apparently continued to enjoy success in
her endeavors beyond her time at 16-18 Loring
Avenue. At the age of 37 on the 17th of August, 1910,
Lulu was married to Horace F. Hutchinson, a
widower who worked aboard a transportation
steamship. After the marriage, Lulu moved just
around the corner from her mother to 10 Wisteria
Street and continued to teach piano. Susan B.
Moulton moved (after the sale of the property at
16-18 Loring to Edward L. Cleveland) to an
apartment at 35 Leach Street. After the Great Salem
Fire of 1914 in which Susan lost her home, mother
and daughter once again moved in together, this
1897 Salem City Directory — Susan & Lulu Moulton
time at Lulu’s home on Wisteria, where Susan B.
Moulton lived out the rest of her life until her passing in 1919.
1902-1907 | 18 Loring Avenue
As the 20th century began, the rapid pace of property exchange involving 16-18 Loring Avenue subsided,
and historic records indicate that families owned and lived in the home for much longer periods of time.
By 1901, both Susan B. And Lulu E. Moulton women are shown as having moved from 18 Loring to 16
Loring (for reasons yet discovered). Approximately one year later Susan B. Moulton and Lulu E. Moulton
sold the property to Edward L. Cleveland on July 11, 1902 for $14,500:
Know all men by these presents that we, Susan B. Moulton and Lulu
E. Moulton, both of Salem, in the County of Essex and
Commonwealth of Massachusetts in consideration of Fourteen
thousand five hundred dollars paid by Edward L Cleveland of
�Houlton, in the County of Aroostook in the State of Maine the
receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby give, grant,
bargain, sell, and convey unto the said Edward L Cleveland, the real
estate is situated in said Salem and is bounded Southeast on Loring
Avenue… 2
Cleveland came to Salem from Houlton, Maine. Houlton is situated on the eastern border of Maine,
neighboring New Brunswick, Canada, and was one of the 10 richest communities in the United States at
the beginning of the 20th century because of it’s flourishing logging and potato industries.3 Edward L.
Cleveland and his brothers William A. Cleveland
and Frederick G. Cleveland likely came to Salem
from Maine to expand their fortunes, and
considering Salem’s economy at the beginning of
the 20th century, especially in the South Salem
neighborhood of Loring Avenue, one can imagine
that the brothers achieved success indeed. In
1903, Edward’s brother William A. Cleveland is
listed as living at 18 Loring Avenue, while he
owned a wholesale produce business at 85–87
Lafayette Street, along with brother Frederick G.
Cleveland.
1903 Salem City Directory
Both Frederick G. Cleveland and William A. Cleveland
are noted as owners of the business ‘W.A. Cleveland’- a
local wholesale produce source. (Note that there is no
‘Edward L.’ Cleveland on the directory)
2 Essex County Registry of Deeds : Book 1678; Page 446, 1902.
3 Maine Office of Tourism Website, Aroostook County, Houlton. 2017.
�1911 Salem City Atlas — Showing 16-18 Loring Avenue property as being owned by Edward L. Cleveland
Researcher’s Note: Edward L. Cleveland is a bit of a mystery to me as an historian, as I am finding it
almost impossible to find any records of him in Salem other than in the Registry of Deeds — otherwise he
is seldom found elsewhere; in fact the only other official record that I can find with the name ‘Edward L.
Cleveland’ is on the 1911 Salem City Atlas, where the property is clearly labelled with his name.(See above
image.) The logical conclusion, according to the evidence, shows that Edward L. Cleveland owned the
property at 16-18 Loring Avenue in Salem, but continued to live in Houlton, Maine. — A.E.K. 2018
William A. Cleveland is listed as living at 18 Loring Avenue in the Salem City Directory only for 1903,
and contemporary City Directories continue to list him as a wholesaler working out of 85-87 Lafayette
Street.
�1903 Salem City Business Directory
Among other produce dealers in the area, W. A. Cleveland is listed as a ‘commission Merchant and wholesale produce
dealer’ located at 85—87 Lafayette Street. The business was run by brothers William A. Cleveland (who lived at 18
Loring Avenue at the time) and Frederick G. Cleveland (who lived and worked at the business on Lafayette)
�Salem City Directories list a J. B. Devine as living at 18 Loring from 1905 through 1909, likely J.
Benjamin Devine of the Sullivan and Devine law firm at 252 Essex Street. J. Benjamin Devine started his
professional career as a clerk, then became an Attorney-at-Law, and Justice of the Peace from as early as
1904. The 1908 Salem City Directory lists J. Benjamin as part of the legal firm, Sullivan & Devine (see
image below), located at 256 Essex Street (rooms 3 and 4, to be specific).
1908 Salem City Business Directory
Advertisement for M. L. Sullivan, J. B. Devine, and M. J. Reardon, attorneys at law working out of
an office at 252 Essex Street in Salem (now the location of Harrison’s Comic Book Store).
Charles Emmett Devine, a native Salem Catholic born c.1877, grew up in the Derby Wharf
neighborhood, and is listed as living at 18 Loring Avenue from 1905-1907 according to the Salem City
Directories where he would have lived between the ages of approximately 28 through his early 30s. The
Devine name would have been known around the city, as Charles’ brother was James B. Devine.
The 1905 Salem City Directory lists Charles E. Devine as an employee (and likely owner) of T. A. Devine
Co., a multi-location liquor dealer business in downtown Salem. Area directories as early as 1893 show
that the business first opened at the Lafayette Street location, and then expanded to include the Front
Street location. (See image on next page.) By 1908 Mr. Devine had moved from 18 Loring Avenue, but
continued to operate a successful liquor distribution business while boarding at the Hotel Washington.
1910’s Federal Census lists all members of the Devine family living at 18 Loring just before they moved,
which included J. Benjamin Devine, his wife
Catherine D. Devine, and their children, 2-yearold Thomas B. Devine and newborn daughter
named after her mother, Catherine.
1910 US Federal Census | James B. Devine & Family at 18
LoringAvenue
�1909 Salem City Business Directory
Among the other liquor dealers, brewers, and sellers of all varieties of liquor, the promotion for T. A. Devine Co.
advertises their distribution of Harvard Brewing Co.’s Ale, Pabst Milwaukee Lager (of course, later Pabst Blue
Ribbon) and proprietors of Daniel Webster Whiskey.
�c.1902—1921 | 16 Loring Avenue
Alonzo F. Titus first appears in the Salem City Directory as living at 16 Loring Avenue in 1903, within a
year of the property purchase by Edward L. Cleveland from Susan B. & Lulu E. Moulton. For about a
year Alonzo would have been neighbors with William A. Cleveland through 1903, after which Alonzo F.
Titus continues to be listed as the occupant of 16 Loring, while 18 Loring is listed as ‘Vacant’ in 1904.
The 1903 Salem City Directory gives some insight into Alonzo F. Titus and his career: Mr. Titus is listed
as the owner of A. C. Titus & Co. at 136 to 142 Washington Street, advertised as ‘house furnishers’ from
which he dealt and traded in antique and reproduction antique furniture, carpeting, upholstery, stoves,
and other home furnishings throughout the North Shore of Boston and the United States, and
incorporated in several locations from Salem, Massachusetts as far as Portland, Maine.
Alonzo Flint Titus — Freemason Membership Card
Mr. Titus’s membership with the secretive fraternal group known as the
Freemasons would have provided an excellent networking and socializing group
for Alonzo and the other members. Mason membership cards are also a wealth of
information for historians, as it details his date of birth as being April 1, 1870, in
Newport, Rhode Island, and he joined the Masons just after his 27th birthday
and was thus a member for life.
�1909 New England Magazine
Full page from New England Magazine, Volume 40, featuring Daniel Low & Company, The Hotel Westminster, New
York, The Salem Evening News, Locke Regulator Co., and A. C. Titus & Co. in Salem, Massachusetts.
�1909 New England Magazine
Clip from business page including A. C. Titus & Co.’s advertisement for ‘Modern Antiques’ and ‘correct
reproductions of genuine antiques’.
�Alonzo F. Titus and his wife Ramie, as well as their domestic staff including a live-in housekeeper, and a
resident ‘coachman’, George W. Hudson, moved in to 16 Loring Avenue on a lease from Edward L.
Cleveland:
…on Loring Avenue, which is bounded and described as follows: the
half of the house which is numbered sixteen Loring Avenue, also the
stable on said estate, excepting one stall, altogether with efficient
room for hay and feed for one horse, and also carriage room for one
carriage […] the lessee to also have the use of land on the easterly
side of the stable to Charles Street.
Alonzo F. Titus was not only a furniture dealer, but was also a skilled carpenter and contractor, which is
likely why Edward L. Cleveland signed a lease with Titus in 1902: This lease, recorded in 1906, gives
detailed instructions that Titus was expected to complete as part of the lease of 16 Loring Avenue, and
gives an incredible insight interior architectural detail that was altered by Alonzo F. Titus as directed by
Edward L. Cleveland between 1902 and 1910:
It is hereby agreed that the lessee shall make the following
alterations, improvements, and repairs: install a laundry with set
tubs in basement with all necessary plumbing, also hot water
apparatus in kitchen, all hardwood finish throughout to be scraped
and polished; all wood work other than hardwood to be painted
two coats throughout, all rooms other than kitchen and bathroom
to be papered with sealings tinted or papered and moulding,
radiators, and steam pipes reguilded, chandeliers lacquered, dining
room cupboard doors to be replaced with leaded glass doors,
kitchen walls to be painted, ceilings kalsomined, wood work
shellacked, and electric bell installed, plumbing to be overhauled
and refinished, bathroom walls and ceiling painted, woodwork
shellacked and plumbing renickled… said Lessee does promise to pay
the said rent in monthly payments of thirty seven dollars and a
half…
The Titus family is listed on the 1910 US Federal Census as living at 16 Loring Avenue, including Alonzo
F., Ramie W., Alonzo’s wife of 15 years (as of 1910), and their live-in ‘servant’ Nora Ganley, a 20-year-old
Irish (immigrant who was part of a much larger Irish immigrant population of domestic staff in Salem at
�the time). Alonzo’s occupation is listed as a retail dealer of furniture, while Ramie’s responsibility was to
the home and community, as was a common marital arrangement at the time. By 1912, Alonzo and Ramie
Titus had begun to employ Ethel L. Bassett, a widow, as a live-in maid at 16 Loring Avenue. After the
Great Salem Fire of 1914, A. C. Titus & Co. moved to Jefferson Avenue and the Titus family (and staff)
continued to live at 16 Loring Avenue through 1921.
1916 Salem Business Directory
Among advertisements for real estate, insurance, picture frames, and hair goods — Alonzo F. Titus’ furniture retail
store, Titus & Co. encourages buyers to ‘call us often’ and that the business makes ‘ever sale a saver’
�1910-1913 | 18 Loring Avenue
From the end of 1910 until 1911 Alonzo F. Titus worked to update 18 Loring Avenue as part of the terms
of his lease. Ownership wise, the property traded hands a couple of times in the same period. Edward L.
Cleveland sold the property, including the lease agreement with Titus, to Jean B. Leveille for $9,500.
After the updates, Jean B. Leveille again sold the property to Alfred Audet in 1913. Below is an image
from the Essex County Registry of Deeds listing Jean B. Leveille’s real estate transactions from 1888
through 1913.
1888-1913 Jean B. Leveille, Sr. Real Estate Transactions
Included in this listing of deeds and mortgages grated by Jean B. Leveille notes the mortgage of ‘Loring
Av, Lots 23 & 25 Pl. Rec. 727-300’ to Edward L. Cleveland in 1910 (as well as an Arthur Jodoin who
never appears again in relation to the property), and then the deeded sale of the same property from Jean
B. Leveille, Sr. to Alfred Audet on January 16, 1913 recorded in Book 2193, Page 402-3:
Know all men by these presents that I, jean Baptiste Leveille Sr. of
Salem in the County of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts
in consideration of one dollar and other valuable considerations
paid by Alfred Audet of Said Salem the receipt whereof is hereby
acknowledged, to hereby give, grant, bargain, sell and convey unto
the said Alfred Audet, a certain parcel of land with buildings
thereon situated in said Salem and bounded Southeast on Loring
Avenue … being lots numbered 23 and 25 on a plan of part of the
Derby Estate which plan is recorded in Essex South District
Registry of Deeds in Book 727 Leaf 300.
Upon the sale of the entire property (including the Titus’ as lessees and tenants) to Alfred Audet (who
also happened to be Jean B. Leveille’s son-in-law), a new era began at 16-18 Loring Avenue, upon which
it would become known as ‘The Audet House’ and for good reason.
�1913—1955 | Becoming ‘The Audet House’ : 18 Loring Avenue
A bit of Audet Family background is necessary to introduce their ownership at 16-18 Loring Avenue:
Alfred Audet was born in Québec, Canada in 1875 and immigrated to the United States in 1893,
according to the 1900 US Federal Census that lists the Audet Family as living at 40 Congress Street. In
1900 the new family included Alfred, a twenty-five year old contractor, his wife of two years Eugenie, and
their daughter, Marie L. Audet, born in 1899.
1899 Salem Business Directory
In the same year that Alfred and Eugenie Audet welcomed their daughter Marie, this advertisement appeared for
Alfred’s contracting business, announcing Audet’s skills as a builder and painter, declaring: “jobbing of all kinds
promptly attended to” — also noted is the Audet’s residence, at 40 Congress Street.
Eugenie Audet, née Leveille, was also born in Québec, Canada in 1875 and immigrated to Salem,
Massachusetts in 1886 with her family at the age of nine. Eugenie was the daughter of Jean Baptiste
Leveille and Demerise Michaud Leveille, making Alfred Audet the son-in-law of 16-18 Loring Avenue’s
owner from 1910-1913.
The 1910 United States Federal Census records the Audet family’s move from Congress Street to 65
Palmer Street, an apartment building owned by Alfred and Eugenie, where they were neighbors with the
extended Audet family, including 21 different aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents for a total of 24
Audet family members under the same roof.
�After the death of Eugenie’s mother, Demerise, in 1907, J. B. Leveille purchased 16-18 Loring from
Edward L. Cleveland in 1910, updated the home (the work for which was completed between 1902-1921
by Alonzo F. Titus), and presented the property (probably intended as a source of income) for his
daughter Eugenie, son-in-law Alfred, and granddaughter Marie. Jean B. Leveille subsequently deeded
the property to Alfred for the proverbial ‘one dollar and other valuable consideration’ (as noted on the
previous page) in 1913.
After renovations had been completed, 18 Loring was occupied by several boarders from 1912 through
1915. In this 3 year period there were at least seven different boarders including Elizabeth T. Smith, a
clerk who is listed as boarding at the address in 1912 and 1913, and again in 1914 as a bookkeeper. Harry
H. Hames, a traveling salesman, is listed as boarding at 18 Loring only for 1912 (which might not come as
a surprise, given his occupation). Helen W.Lund, Howard C. Lund, and their mother Martha J. Lund
(widow of Henry Lund) resided at 18 Loring from 1912 through 1913, and presumably into 1914.
June 25, 1914 changed everything for Salem — the Great Salem Fire burned more than 250 acres of the
city, leveling entire neighborhoods to their foundations and chimney stacks, transforming Salem’s treelined-streets into empty, skeletal remnants of what they once were. The Audet family lost thousands of
dollars in property throughout the city, Alfred Audet
in particular lost 9 buildings, including their own
residence, as well as stores, apartments, and multifamily properties and the homes of their neighbors,
made mostly of their extended family, as well as other
tenants. Fortunately for the Audet family, although
they had suffered an enormous financial loss due to
the conflagration, they still owned several dozen
properties throughout Salem, including at 16-18
Loring Avenue on the South end of the city, which
must have seemed a world away from the piles of ash to
be found less than a mile down the road.
1914 Data on the Burned District of Salem
This clip from the official report notes the various
types, materials, values, and insurance on the
burned buildings owned by Alfred Audet.
�Alfred, Eugenie, and 15-year-old Marie likely lost many of their possessions in the loss of their home, but
were fortunate to not lose their lives. By 1915 Alfred Audet’s home address is listed at 18 Loring Avenue,
along with a painter named Edward Brochu (only in 1915) and Eugenie’s aging father, Jean Baptiste
Leveille still resided with his daughter and son-in-law until his passing in 1918.
1918 World War I Draft Registration | Alfred Audet
At 43 years old, Alfred Audet was not likely to be called into service for the Great War, but was required to
register regardless. This registration card gives a wealth of information about Mr. Audet, including his home
address of 18 Loring Avenue, Salem, Mass.
The First World War required Alfred to register for the draft, even though he was forty-three years old in
1918, the insight that the report gives us into Mr. Audet’s physical appearance is intriguing at the very
least — I like to imagine the brown-eyed, brown-haired, 5’10” contractor, fit from his years of hard labor;
a man of great integrity and sense of community that drove him to help in the effort to rebuild Salem after
the Great fire of 1914, and continued to dedicate his life to the city he so clearly loved.
Alfred Audet was a prolific real estate contractor and developer in early 20th century Salem; there is not a
main street in Salem that Audet did not own or build property at one point or another. According to the
Essex County Registry of Deeds, Audet owned property on every main road in Salem, including
�Lafayette Street, Dodge Street, Congress Street, Dow Street, Derby Street, Palmer & Naumkeag
Streets, Hancock Street, Leach Street, Washington Street, and Ocean Avenue — the list is virtually
endless as it is nearly impossible to trace each and every property that Audet owned, sold, rented, or
otherwise had a hand in constructing. Quite literally, the architectural landscape of Salem today would
not be what it is without Alfred Audet and his work throughout the city.
Even in his own back yard, quite literally, Alfred Audet was innovative and built structures to last. The
six-car garage that faces Charles Street is the back side of the property at 16-18 Loring (pictured below) —
this was installed after the Salem fire, largely using rubble from the city’s ruins, and served as not only a
place to store automobiles, but at 35 feet deep, it serves for storage space, and was rumored to be a
neighborhood bomb shelter after its completion in 1937. The surface that functions as a roof to the sixcar garage has served many purposes, but was originally intended to be a garden of repose for a city with
all the growing pains of an industrial revolution; while the space was intended to be functional, it also was
important to the Audet’s to have a quiet space for nature on their property.
16-18 Loring Avenue Garage| Charles Street — Salem, Massachusetts | 1989
Image from MACRIS report, completed by a D. Hilbert with Northfields Preservation Associates for the Salem
Planning Department in July 1989.
�The uniquely designed garage-gardens proved to be popular enough to gain the attention of Popular
Science Monthly — a May 1918 article featured the technological advancements utilized in the building
and maintenance of the six=car garage and the gardens (and at one time tennis court). Coincidentally,
these are also likely the earliest images to exist of the garage and yard of 16-18 Loring Avenue.
Popular Science Monthly | May 1918
Detail view of article images featuring the garage=gardens engineered and
constructed by Alfred Audet at 16-18 Loring Avenue.
(Please see next page for full ‘Popular Science Monthly: May 1918’ article)
��The Audet gardens were of particular interest for many years, enough so that the regional newspaper,
Boston Evening Transcript, featured an article by Elizabeth Messer that gives a beautiful
contemporaneous description of the ‘hanging gardens’ to be found behind the Queen Anne home at
16-18 Loring Avenue (see image below).
Boston Evening Transcript — Image from article written by Elizabeth Messer (Exact Date unknown, post=1937)
Original Image Caption: The two views above show Salem’s unique garage- garden looking from the house
toward the per-garden. The upper picture is a vista of the gods. The lower scene shows the garage from a
lower level in back of the pergola.
�Alfred and Eugenie’s only child, a daughter they named Marie Laure A. Audet, was born at the tail end of
the 19th century, on December 14, 1898, and would have been a young lady of about 16 years old when
she and her family moved in at 18 Loring Avenue, after having lost many of their worldly possessions in
the 1914 fire. It is possible (if not probable) that she had a hand in designing, planting, and maintaining
the garden behind the home her parents owned, and where she lived through 1932. As a child of means
she would have been well educated and expected to develop her talents, hers being in the field of music.
As late as 1931, Marie L Audet is listed among the Music Teachers in the Salem Business Directory at 18
Loring Avenue.
Mr. Audet seems to have decided it was time to expand his real estate and contracting business to include
owning ‘National Bowling Alleys’ as of 1929 — what had once been the garage of legendary Salemite Zina
Goodell at 92-96 Lafayette Street became Audet’s bowling alley (and later a furniture store). The
building still remains at it’s original address on Lafayette Street, near the Point neighborhood of Salem,
and has housed dozens of businesses throughout the last century.
92-96 Lafayette Street | c.1979
Once the site of Alfred Audet’s ‘National Bowling Alley’ in the 1930s and 40s
�In addition to general contractor, Salem real estate mogul, and bowling alley owner, Audet added ‘liquor
store owner’ to his repertoire by 1934 with his store at 11 Front Street in Downtown Salem:
1934 Salem City Business Directory | Alfred Audet Liquor Store Advertisement
Listed first under ‘Bottled Goods’ in the 1934 edition of the Salem City Directory, it seems that Alfred Audet may
have benefited from the fact that both his first and last name always arrange him at the front of any alphabetical
list, thus making his many businesses often the first listed under any service he provided, of which there were many.
�After several decades of being a general contractor and
entering into his retirement years, Alfred Audet succeeded
Paul N. Chaput as Salem’s Park Commissioner in early
1939, according to a 1938 Boston Globe article published on
December 11, 1938.
Contemporary City Directories also list Mr. Audet and
Eugenie as the owners of the liquor store on Front Street,
and as Alfred Park Commissioner, a position which he
served in for the rest of his life.
Audet had a hand in the expansion of more than 25 public
parks all around the city of Salem, including architectural
landscaping, and installation of picnic tables and benches
throughout. Alfred Audet was also responsible for building
one of the most unique pieces of playground equipment this
December 10, 1938 Boston Globe Article |
Salem City Hall “Family” Changed
Details of the change of power from Paul N.
Chaput to Alfred Audet as Park
Commissioner of Salem
side of the Mississippi: the concrete slide at Forest River
Park.
1940s Image of the Slide at Forest River Park, Built by Alfred Audet
�1945 The American City | Article Featuring Alfred Audet’s concrete slide at Forest River Park in South Salem.
�After their daughter Marie grew up and moved on from 16-18 Loring Avenue, Alfred and Eugenie moved
to the Audet Apartments at 259 Washington Street (still standing today), until Alfred’s passing in 1960.
The Boston Globe featured an honorary article about the legendary Salem contractor and carpenter upon
his passing:
1960 Boston Globe Article | Rites for Audet Saturday in Salem Church he Built
1922—1926 | 16 Loring Avenue
For the first eight years of their time at 18 Loring Avenue, the Audet’s neighbors remained the Titus
family, including Alonzo and Ramie Titus along with their domestic staff. Then, in 1922, Thomas M.
Richards and Isabella G. Richards appear on the Salem City Directory at 16 Loring Avenue. Thomas is
listed as a ‘general agent’ working from 141 Milk Street, and later at 80 Federal Street in 1926. Effie M.
Bodfish served as as maid for the Richards, according to the 1922 Salem Directory, and Annie F. Gilbert
is listed at 16 Loring Avenue in 1924. Isabella and Thomas Richards moved on from Loring Avenue,
according to contemporary records, by 1928-9.
�c.1929—c.1955 | 16 Loring Avenue
John V. Downing, Maebelle A. Downing, and their 19-year-old daughter Zelia B. Downing are found in
the Salem City Directory as early as 1929 at 16 Loring Avenue. The 1930 US Federal Census taken the
1930 US Federal Census | Clip showing 16-18 Loring Avenue Neighbors
including: John V. Downing, Maebelle A Downing, Zelia B. Downing and J.
Voeper Downing at 16 Loring, and Alfred & Eugenie Audet at 18 Loring
Avenue.
next year gives more specific details about the Audet’s new neighbors at 16 Loring Avenue:
John Downing’s father had come from England to Massachusetts, and his mother was a Massachusetts
native. In 1930 he was 51 years old, while his wife Maebelle was 47. He and his wife were married at ages
30 and 26 (respectively), and had been married for more than two decades by the time they took up
residence at 16 Loring Avenue. Also listed as living at 16 Loring Avenue in 1930 were the two Downing
children: Zelia B. Downing, 20, and J. Vasper Downing (first name ‘John’), who was just 10 in 1930. John
V. Downing’s occupation is listed as a Superintendent at the Power Company as of 1930, and by the 1940
Census he is listed as a superintendent for a construction company.
The Downing children likely had two very different sets of memories from their time at 16 Loring Avenue
as Zelia was nearly an adult by the time the family relocated to Loring Avenue, and at the time was listed
as a student. Younger brother J. V. Downing Jr., alternatively, was only 10 years old and would likely have
remembered his time at 16 Loring as the place where a better part of his growth took place. By 1936 Zelia
had become a Clerk working for a company in Boston, though still living at 16 Loring Avenue. J. V.
Downing Jr. is listed as being among those enlisted in the United States Army in 1943, during World War
II, when he was just 23 years old.
�The Downing family left a lasting
impression on the property at 16-18
Loring Avenue, and when the house
sold from the Audet’s to the Jalbert’s
in 1955, the Salem Evening News
published an article about the
property’s history, a paragraph of
which describes the Downing’s history
in the city.4
1955 Clip from Salem Evening News Article | 60-Year-Old South
Salem House Sold — Describes Mr. Downing’s participation in the
reenactment of the landing of the Arbella in 1930.
1930 Landing of the Arbella Reenactment | Salem, Mass. | Photo by Leslie Jones
Among those aboard the replica Arbella would have been John V. Downing, resident of 16 Loring Avenue, and a
descendent of one of the original Arbella’s passengers that arrived in Salem in 1630, three hundred years earlier.
4 Photo Source: Jones, Leslie. "The Arbella in Salem." Photograph. June 1930. Digital Commonwealth.
�1955—1963 | 16-18 Loring Avenue
Alfred Audet and his wife Eugenie owned the
property at 16-18 Loring Avenue for a total of
forty-two years, and lived there for nearly four
decades, appropriately giving the property a
neighborhood nickname of ‘The Audet
House.’ (The Downing family’s time at 16 Loring
Avenue holds an impressive second-place title
having lived there from 1929 until 1955: twenty
six years; more than a quarter century.
Alfred Audet sold 16-18 Loring Avenue to Robert
J. Jalbert on May 23, 1955 (see document image
on next page). The sale of the Audet house
prompted the Salem Evening News to write a
column about the house’s history, (the images
and transcription for which can be found on the
1955 Salem City Directory | 16-18 Loring Avenue
This clip from the city directory in 1955 is
contemporaneous to the sale of 16-18 Loring Avenue from
Alfred & Eugenie Audet to Robert J. Jalbert, and the
subsequent updates to the property
pages following the image of the Deed from Audet
to Jalbert,) that beautifully illustrates the transformation of Lynn Road to Loring Avenue in the mid-20th
century: “Horses plodded over dusty Loring avenue, hauling hay wagons and produce wagons, some
going to Boston market. Now autos almost exclusively use the avenue.” It’s a nice reminder of what the
area that has become so developed and laden with buildings, was once pasture land for the local farmers,
and before that part of the Derby Estate.
�Essex County Registry of Deeds — Book 4167 : Page 446 | Sale of 16-18 Loring from Audet to Jalbert
�The Salem Evening News— Salem, Mass., Wednesday, July
15, 1955
60-Year-Old South Salem House Sold
Built in ‘90s by Storekeeper’s Wife, Loring Avenue Dwelling
Long Home of Alfred Audet
By Fred A. Gannon
The large house at 16-18 Loring avenue, the opposite
the State Teachers college, was sold recently. It is commonly
called the Audet house. Alfred Audet had his home in it until
he moved to the mall house that he built at 259 Washington
street, on Mill hill. Recently he sold the Audet House.
Mrs. Susan Moulton earlier lived in the house. She
had it built in 1894. Mr. Audet, then a journeyman carpenter,
stopped his wagon on Loring avenue, and watched mechanics
frame the Moulton house. He also looked on the other side of
Loring avenue and watched masons building the Normal
school, now the Teachers college.
After the big fire of 1914, Mr. Audet, in need of a
house for his dwelling place had been burned, bought the
Moulton house and made it his home in one half of it. Alonzo
Titus, of the furniture store, lived in the other half. Later Mr.
Titus moved to Swampscott and Mr. and Mrs. John V.
Downing moved into the Audet House.
1930 “Pioneer”
Recently, the Downings moved to a house in Andover, which
Mr. Downing built on the ancestral farm. In 1930, during the
Salem tercentenary celebration, Mr. Downing, then living on
Loring avenue, joined the “pioneers” who sailed into Salem
harbor on the Arbella as did their ancestors in 1630.
�William Cleveland owned the house in the ‘90s, lived in it
and kept his horses in the stable. He was in the wholesale
produce business. Old timers recollect Bill Cleveland for his
witty criticism of politicians in Salem. He had one of his
advertisements in The News.
Mr. Audet kept his automobiles to the carriage shed
of the barn and transformed the hay loft into a workshop in
the he experimented with inventions. He fitted up a
recreation room in which friends gathered to play games,
some of them being of Mr. Audet’s invention.
He later built a garage of concrete on the Charles
street side of the property. On its roof he planted a rose
garden and to it added a fish pool and a swing. During World
War Two he built a bomb shelter and invited the neighbors to
seek its protection if the enemy started to drop high
explosive[s] on the city.
Rooms Large
When the house was built in 1894 it was one of the
largest in the city. Its 21 rooms and the hall were of ample
size. Mrs. Moulton, its builder, was the wife of Nelson
Moulton, who kept a store on Essex street.
Houses were few and far between on Loring avenue
in 1894. John West lived in the old homestead on the corner
of Lafayette street and Loring Avenue. The ancestral lands
extended to the shore at Forest River park. “Wes’s field,” on
West avenue was sold a few years ago and houses are now on
it. The Kelly farm, a landmark of South Salem for a century
and more, is now the site of a veterans’ settlement of houses
of brick and of 100 and more families.
The Sylvania factory and the Atwood & Morrill
machine shops are on marsh lands over which the sea flowed
when tides were high long ago.
Ste. Chrietienne academy rises on the Loring farm
and Pickman park, site of Amy houses, was the Pickman farm
a century ago.
Horses plodded over dusty Loring avenue, hauling
hay wagons and produce wagons, some going to Boston
market. Now autos almost exclusively use the avenue.
�In August 1955 the Jalbert’s request to have 16-18 Loring Avenue to function as a lodging house
(although the house had already been home to many boarders over the years) for the Normal School
students and teachers was granted. However, come November of the same year, the Salem Fire
Department decided that a second means of egress was necessary for the third-floor lodging space, and
thus the fire escape was added to the back of the building at 16-18 Loring (see document image below).
Essex County Registry of Deeds — Book 4167 : Page 446 | Sale of 16-18 Loring from Audet to Jalbert
�The house remained a lodging house for dozens of local students and teachers, as well as the home
address for Robert J. Jalbert, his wife Jeanne I. Jalbert, at 18 Loring, as well as Robert’s parents Emile J.
Jalbert, and Ida Jalbert at 16 Loring Avenue from the completion of the 1955 renovations until c.1962-3.
An article in the local newspaper detailed the vivacious energy of the 23 students of the Salem State
Teachers’ College living at 16-18 Loring Avenue at the time:
Salem News Article | c.1957-62
Featuring a photo of the girls that were boarding
at 16-18 Loring while owned by the Jalbert’s. Please
see next page for full transcription of article text.
�Dormitory Atmosphere for Teachers College Students
Although the Salem State Teachers college does not
Victoria, Plymouth; Roberta Scott, South Barre;
provide living accommodations for its students, the
Diane Casali, Natick; Bernice Medeiros, New
need for dormitory space has been partially met this
Bedford; Cristine Preis, East-hampton; Dolores
year by the boarding house with needs geared to the
Almeida, Plymouth; Pat Lange, North Brookfield;
life of students by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jalbert, 16
Lucille Gilbert, Webster; Carol Brown; Helen Flyn,
Loring avenue. Students, left to right, are: Elaine
Barre, and Maxine Sealund, Hingham.
Coccione, Clinton; Ellen Dowling, Springfield; Ann
(Salem News Photo)
Manzi, Webster; Dorothy Urban, Fall River; Claire
In an atmosphere long dreamed of by students of the Salem State Teachers’ college, 23 girls are enjoying
the privileges of a dormitory-like atmosphere at 16 Loring avenue, I proximity to college activities.
Responsible for the ambitious project are Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jalbert, both former students of the
college.
Mrs. Jalbert, the former Jean Mercer of Salem, who is only 24, admits that the idea was born when, even as
a president, she recognized the problem for out-of-town students. Other than single rooms available in the
neighborhood of the school it was necessary for the students to take rooms at business clubs where it was essential
to add transportation costs to their other expenses.
The present “house mother,” who was married in 1951 at the conclusion of her sophomore year, returned
last year to complete her junior year. It was at that time that she first realized the possibilities of the former Audet
house and, as her idea grew proportionally, she re-scheduled plans for her senior year for a plater date and last May
she and her husband, a teacher at the Pickering school, bought the property and spent the summer preparing for
the first college season.
Mrs. Jalbert prepares and serves breakfast and dinner each day during the week and three meals weekends for 21 girls, while her mother-in-law, Mrs. Ida Jalbert, who has an apartment in the same house, gets meals for
the other two girls.
In addition to the large bedrooms, each shared by two girls, the house contains a large well-lighted and
comfortable study room. A large room over the two-car garage is designated as a recreation room, and television
and a ping-pong table afford an opportunity for relaxation. The large tree-filled yard, which was once a tennis
court, has a future date with a badminton net.
The Jalbert’s own enthusiasm for the future of the project is shared by all the girls and their willingness to
help has made the new dormitory-like accommodations a dream come true.
�Prior to Robert J. Jalbert purchasing the property at 16-18 Loring Avenue from Alfred Audet in 1955, Robert J. &
Jeanne Jalbert are listed in the Salem City Directory at 17 Station Road in 1953. Robert was a local elementary
school teacher and a graduate of Salem State Teachers college, as was his wife Jeanne. Robert’s parents Ida and
Emile Jalbert also lived in one of the apartments at 18 Loring Avenue, and while Ida Jalbert helped her daughter-inlaw Jeanne manage the home as a lodging house for dozens of students. Ida Jalbert, Robert’s father, is listed as a
chauffeur for the North Shore Gas Co. through 1959. The Jalbert family continued to operate the home at 16-18
Loring Avenue as a boarding house for local students until the most recent sale of the home to Walter Power III in
1963, the deed for which is the final document of this report:
�Researcher’s Conclusion:
As an historian, it would be presumptuous and wrong of me as a professional to write the history of the home of
residents who still live, manage, and maintain the home at 16-18 Loring Avenue. I have intended this report to be as
complete as possible, but do reserve the right to change this report should new historic documentation come to my
attention. History is often viewed as a finite subject of study, but in reality is much more fluid than most give it credit
for. The story of 16-18 Loring Avenue has been a complicated and at times confusing one, but fascinating through
every generation to have called this address ‘home’. I look forward to witnessing the history still to be made there.
— Amy E. Kellett, September 2018
�
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
Loring Avenue
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
16-18 Loring Avenue, Salem, MA 01970
Subject
The topic of the resource
House Histories
Description
An account of the resource
Built for
Susan B. Moulton
Widow of Nelson H. Moulton
&
Lulu E. Moulton
Music Teacher
c. 1894
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Historic Salem, Inc.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Historic Salem, Inc. house histories
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Historic Salem, Inc.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Built: c. 1894
House History Written: Sept. 2018
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Amy Kellett
Language
A language of the resource
English
16 Loring
16-18/Loring Avenue
18 Loring
1894
Massachusetts
Moulton
Music Teacher
Salem