Willard School Building

This beautiful Gothic and Tudor Revival style building was built in 1891 as a school for children of the granite workers in West Quincy; it housed 1000 students at its peak. Not only is this building unusual for the picturesque style chosen for its architecture, but also it is unique for its tripartite plan; no other school in Quincy was built with this configuration. The Boston firm of Sturgis & Cabot (John H. Sturgis and W. R. Cabot) were the architects for the Willard School and borrowed some design influence from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The building was named in honor of Solomon Willard, the "Father of the Granite Industry" and the architect and builder of Quincy's City Hall, and the Bunker Hill Monument

The Willard School was unfortunately closed in 1982 (due to a budget crisis) and sold for use as office condos.

Granite Railway 2

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This is where the first commercial railway got started: at the end of Bunker Hill Lane. The overgrown rail bed here was once used to move massive hunks of granite from the quarry site to the Neponset River where it would be loaded onto a barge and brought to the building site of the Bunker Hill Monument. It would be a challenge to move the massive blocks of stone specified for this project. Quincy architect Solomon Willard was determined to get it done and enlisted the aid of Gridley Bryant who conceived of the idea for a rail system and got it operating by 1827.

If you enlarge the picture below you can see some of the details in a model of this railbed that is based on work done by Quincy archaeologist, Richard Muzzrole. The roadbed is essentially a dry stone wall three feet deep. The "wall" supported massive granite sleepers that are spaced eight feet apart. The first rails were wooden, but they were eventually replaced with granite ones to help transport stone loads of 21 tons or more for a distance of 3 miles. The horse drawn railway cars were loaded from the bottom so as not to damage the stone blocks. This was a pioneering design achievement which has earned this site a designated National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

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I just discovered an excellent blog post about the Granite Railway: click "Stories in Stone" to see the old rail car and find out more about this fascinating piece of Quincy's history.

Thursday is "This Old House Day"

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Today's handsome Greek Revival building was designed by Quincy's renowned architect, Solomon Willard, in 1826. Today's house is the Norfolk County Superior Courthouse in Dedham; the highest court in Quincy's County of Norfolk and is the location of the famous Sacco-Vanzetti murder trial in the 1920s. Today's "Old House" is a departure from my usual Thursday post because I am performing my civic duty here and thought you would enjoy the Quincy connection.

Have you ever served on a jury? It is interesting to see first hand how our justice system works.

Old City Hall

Completed in 1844 at a cost of $19,115.93, including 0.88 cents to seal the chimney with lead. The architect was Solomon Willard, known also for designing the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston.