Chelsea Historical Society

WHATS NEW

Chelsea, Massachusetts 02150

www.olgp.net/chs

Bellingham - Cary House Website

On March 12, 1857 Chelsea became a city. Presented here is the first complete Charter of the City of Chelsea

 

 

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CHELSEA CABLE 15
(Live) on your computer

NOTE: We are in the process of creating the most up to date listing of Chelsea residents who served in any of the wars. If you have any information of family members who may have served in the armed forces in any war, living or decesaed, please e-mail your information to gfo1432@verizon.net This can be photo's, birth, death, where served, short bio. Any infomation you have is needed.

PICTURES OF EARLY CHELSEA

Photos of Chelsea in the late 1800's.

LATE 1800'S

Homes in Chelsea reflect the style and architecture of many of the residents of the city in the 19th and 20th century.

CHELSEA'S
HOMES

Pictures of local Chelsea Business Establishments and Factories in the late 1800's, before the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908.

BUSINESSES IN 1898

For many years Chelsea Square has been a thriving center of business, politics, entertainment and civic ceremonies.

CHELSEA SQUARE

Photos of Bellingham Square through the years.

BELLINGHAM SQUARE

Where Broadway now lies, Indians once followed a forest trail.

BROADWAY

A timeline of events in the history of Chelsea.

HISTORY
TIMELINE

CHELSEA'S
FOREFATHERS

Various maps of Winnisimmet, the farms, Boston Harbor from the early 1600's to present.

EARLY MAPS
OF CHELSEA

This section contains various records of residents of Chelsea starting in the early 1700's. This is a work in progress and not yet completed.

GENEALOGY
SECTION

Chelsea's population from the first census in 1776 to the present.

CHELSEA
POPULATION

History of the Indians who lived in Winnisimmet before and after the time the colonists arrived.

INDIANS OF
WINNISIMMET

Listing of all Chelsea family names from the 1600's throught the late 1800's.

CHELSEA FAMILY NAMES

PRATTVILLE - Its history in words and pictures.

The detailed history of all of Chelsea's newspapers.

CHELSEA'S
NEWSPAPERS

Most of the streets in Chelsea were named after a famous American, a politician, businessman, land owner or local inhabitant.

CHELSEA'S
STREETS

CHELSEA FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND RELATED ITEMS

The history of the Chelsea Police Department.

CHELSEA POLICE DEPARTMENT

A complete history of the Chelsea Fire Department from the early 1800's to now.

CHELSEA FIRE DEPARTMENT

Chelsea Police and Firefighters killed in the line of duty.

THEY DIED IN THE LINE OF DUTY

Statistics for The Chelsea Fire Department from 1866 to 1933. Members, Fire houses and apparatus, Horses, Saleries, Alarms, and detailed costs of the department.

FIRE DEPT.
STATISTICS
1866 - 1933

CHELSEA - MILITARY HOSPITALS AND INSTALLATIONS

Photos and History of the Unites States Naval Hospital in Chelsea.

U. S. NAVAL HOSPITAL

Built in 1857, the Marine Hospital remained a part of Chelsea until 1940, when the hospital was moved to Brighton.

MARINE
HOSPITAL

The Chelsea Soldier's Home was dedicated June 8, 1882 and opened for admission June 25, 1882.

SOLDIERS HOME

THE GREAT CHELSEA FIRES
1908 and 1973


THE STORY

Map of the
1973 fire

Click to enlarge

Map of 1908
& 1973 fires

Click to enlarge

Chelsea Fire of 1908

Chelsea Fire of 1973

PHOTO SECTIONS

Chelsea Fire of 1908

Chelsea Fire of 1973

Chelsea Fire of 1908
Page 2

Aftermath of
Chelsea Fire of 1973

Looking for a home.
The Great Chelsea Fire
of 1908
Click picture to enlarge

1908 Fire

1973 Fire

Article from The Chelsea Gazette April 18, 1908
One Week After The 1908 Chelsea Fire

New photos of the 1973 Fire

Article from "Chelsea Revisited" detailing
events after the 1908 Chelsea Fire

An Eyewitness Account of the
1973 Chelsea Fire

List of those who were Killed and
Injured in the 1908 Fire

List of those who were Injured
in the 1973 Fire

A listing of the total property losses from the
1908 Chelsea Fire

A listing of properties lost from the
1973 Chelsea Fire

Timeline of the 1908 Fire

Timeline of the 1973 Fire

Listing of Streets destroyed in the 1908 Fire

Listing of Streets destroyed in the 1973 Fire

List of Cities and Towns that responded to Chelsea during the 1908 Fire

List of Cities and Towns that responded to Chelsea during the 1973 Fire

Selected newspaper accounts of the fire from the Boston American of April 12, 1908

Article 1

Article 3

Article 2

A personal account of the 1908 fire

Comparative weather conditions for
April 12, 1908 and October 14, 1973

OTHER MAJOR FIRES IN CHELSEA

Timeline of Major Fires in Chelsea

Gulf Oil Farm Fire January 3, 1969

Civilian Deaths from Fires

Standard Box Fire June 6, 1997

Memorial Day
1948
Outside City Hall
Click picture to enlarge

Bridges of Chelsea

Click Picture

CHELSEA'S
SHIPBUILDING
INDUSTRY

THE OLD

CLAY PIT

CHELSEA

FERRY

MAYORS
of
CHELSEA
1857 to 1991

District Officials*
1643 - 1738

Representatives to the General Court 1739-1800

Town Selectmen
1739 - 1800

Representatives to the General Court 1857-1869

City Government
1857 - 1871

Town Selectmen
1801 - 1856

Receivership - 1991
City Managers 1995 to Present

*NOTE: Winnisimmet, (Chelsea), Rumney Marsh, (Revere) and Pullen Point, (Winthrop) were a district of Boston until 1739 when they broke away and became the Town of Chelsea.

Duties of town officials

NOTABLE PEOPLE IN CHELSEA'S PAST

George M. Cohan

Vannevar Bush

Eugene "Barefoot Gene" Willard

Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber

Marcus M. Merritt

Raymond Whitcomb Bliss

Edward Stickney

Barbara Stanwyck

Leonard Florence

Ellen Maria Stone

Amy Beach

Arnold Stang

Lewis H. Latimer

Horatio Alger

Mellen Chamberlain

John J. "Sandy" Ferguson

Joseph Christopher O'Mahoney

Helen Gilson - Civil War Nurse

Other Notable Chelsea People

DOCUMENTS and STORIES

The name Winnisimmet, in the language of the Indians means "good spring nearby"

Springs of Winnisimmet

By an act of the great and General Court, passed on January 10, 1739, that part of Boston known as Winnisimmet Village, Rumney Marsh and Pullin Point " in consideration of the fact that they had long since built a meeting-house and supported the same," be set off as a town to be known by the name of Chelsea.

Chelsea Becomes A City

An Act of Incorporation was sought from the General Court of Massachusetts, by a group of men, inhabitants of the Town of Chelsea, wanting to establish an institution of learning for the first class.

Winnisimmet Academy

In the late 1840s a much needed new era of transportation came upon the scene, the steam railroad.

Early Chelsea Transportation

Situated on a knoll at 34 Parker Street, sits a living monument to the history of Chelsea, the Governor Bellingham Cary House. Chelsea's oldest historical Landmark.

Cary House

The first Cary to land in America was James Cary, who sailed from Bristol, England in 1639.

History of the Cary Family

Throughout the annals of Chelsea history the Pratts have played a prominent part, giving unselfishly in many ways to the growth and development of the city.

The Pratts of Prattville

The story of the Williams School and the 'Fern Leaf Brick'

The Fern Leaf Brick

Samuel Maverick first settled Chelsea in 1624

Samuel Maverick

A very important part of the life of the early settlers depended on the grinding of their corn and grain.

Slade's Spice Mill

The new City Hall was dedicated on Saturday afternoon October 22, 1908.

Chelsea City Hall (Web Site)

Richard Bellingham - Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony 1641. He was the owner of nearly all of the present City of Chelsea to 1672.

Governor Richard Bellingham

For many years before the Chelsea Fire of 1908 a large building made of granite blocks, was located on Broadway and Fourth Street-extending back to Cherry Street.

The Granite Block Building

The beginning of the French settlements in Chelsea as a result of the Acadian deportation from Nova Scotia.

The Acadians

It was in the Centre District of Chelsea that the first Post Office was opened in 1832, at Fenno's Corner.

The Chelsea Post Office

Some time after purchasing Winnisimmet from Samuel Maverick, Governor Richard Bellingham divided his land into four farms.

From Townsend to Cary Farm

As the population grew, the number of wells with good water diminished and the water in the cisterns and reservoirs became stagnant. The health of the citizenry was at risk.

Introduction of Water

The James S. Green building, located at Broadway and Second Street, was constructed by a man who looked beyond the critiques and skeptics of his day.

The J. S. Green Building

September 1, 1851, an Act was approved by the Massachusetts General Court granting authority to John H. Wilkins, James Sturgis, John Gardner and their associates, to form a corporation by the name of the Cary Improvement Company.

Cary Improvement Company

September 19, 1848, Abraham Lincoln, a little known, one term, Congressman from Illinois visited Massachusetts to stump for the Whig Presidential candidate Zachary Taylor.

Abraham Lincoln's Visit To Chelsea

The Grand Army Building and Hall was located on Park Street in Chelsea Square.

Grand Army Hall

On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, an Illinois congressman and three time Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.), issued an order to adopt (his wife's idea) May 30th as a day to "decorate the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."

The First Memorial Day Celebration in Chelsea

Chelsea residents in war time

 

King Philip's War, (1675-1678)

World War II, (1941-1945)

French & Indian Wars, (1756-1763)

Korea, (1950-1953)

Revolutionary War, (1775-1783)

Vietnam, (1957-1975)

War of 1812, (1812-1815)

September 11 - Terrorism, (9/11/2001)

Civil War, (1861-1865)

All Conflicts from 1775 to present

Spanish American War, (1898)

Chelsea's Decorated Veterans

World War I, (1917-1918)

Veteran's Memorials and Monuments

Historical Events in Chelsea

Catastrophe in Chelsea Square 1908

Unusual Weather Events 1637 -1978

Fires of 1914

The Great Train Wreck of 1871

The Chelsea Flood of 1909

Listing of Losses from the 1909 Flood

The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 - 1919

Chelsea's Churches and places of worship

Saint Rose
Photos and History

Our Lady of the Assumption
Photos and History

Saint Lukes
Photos and History

Central Congregational Church
Photos and History

Saint Stanislaus
Photos and History

First Universalist Church
Photos and History

Our Lady of Grace (Web Site)
Photos and History

The Unitarian Church
Photos and History

First Methodist Episcopal Church
Photos and History

Synagogue's of Chelsea
Photos and History

Church of Christ in Rumney Marsh
Photos and History

First Baptist Church
Photos and History

 

Chelsea's Schools - History

Ye Olde Skule Haus

School Buildings 1950 - Present

Early School Buildings 1833 - 1860

History of Chelsea High School

Early School Buildings 1861 - 1900

Pictures of Chelsea's Schools 1833 to Present

School Buildings 1900 - 1950

Cronological list of Chelsea's Schools

Chelsea's Schools Special Topics

Building of the Prattville School

Personal Account of the Carter Farm School

Chelsea's First Teachers 1709 to 1798

The Williams School First Graduating Class 1861

The Chelsea High School Song

Chelsea High "RED DEVILS" Football

Notable Chelsea Educators

Parks, Beaches and Cemetaries

Union Park

Garden Cemetary

Washington Park

Woodlawn Cemetary (Web Site)

Parson's Beach

Rumney Marsh Burial Grounds

Chelsea Beach (Revere Beach Reservation)

SELECTED NEWS EVENTS IN CHELSEA'S PAST

PAGE 1

PAGE 2

Chelsea native lost his life on the Titanic (1912)

Chelsea man accused of witchcraft (1692)

Shooting Fray Ends With 3 Dead on Lambert Ave. (January 1940)

Water department worker disappears when
a hole opens up on Second Street (1948)

NOTE: We have disabled the request for historical information due to a large volume of spam.

If you need information please e-mail your request to GFO1432@verizon.net

 

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