Extraneous Elements
Business and Background: Other Blackstone stories
Gerrish & O'Brien
Gerrish & O'Brien was another business on Blackstone Street with a reputation of reliability. The business was housed in 175 Blackstone as of December 21,1884.
The furniture manufacturer posted ads in The Boston Daily Globe boasting their heavily discounted prices and amazing quality.
The company advertised a rattan rocking chair for $3.50, claiming the value for the piece was at least five dollars. The ad continues to convince readers that Gerrish & O'Brien furniture would be a fantastic gift for the holidays, preying on shopping procrastinators in their publication just four days before Christmas!
The company's location is curious because as of 1876, Hardy & Company operated within 173 & 175 Blackstone Street. This leads one to wonder if Gerrish & O'Brien bought the space from Hardy & Co., which is entirely possible considering the lack of clarity about when Hardy & Company moved or went out of business.
Another possibility is that the two firms shared the building and worked on separate floors. Unfortunately, research efforts to find this information were inconclusive.
G.H. Mason & Co.
Across the road from my parcel at 154 to 158 Blackstone, G.H. Mason & Co., a manufacturer and wholesaler of tin ware, owned by Mr. George H. Mason, experienced a substantial fire on August 7, 1872.
The firm occupied the top three stories of the buildings spanning the entire block, which caught fire due to the overheating of a scolding furnace, used in the process of soldering tin ware. This furnace's heat reached wood in the building and quickly caught fire. The fire was promptly taken care of, but unfortunately the water used to extinguish the flames caused more harm in water damage than the fire itself.
The $2,500 worth of tin merchandise damaged was luckily completely covered by insurance.
A brief second account of the fire which impacted G.H. Mason's tin ware stock includes a more in depth account of the insurance coverage of the goods. This blurb seen below, mentions that G.H. Mason had $5,000 worth of coverage from Aetna Insurance, and the firm luckily experienced a loss of $2,500 worth of merchandise, so everything was covered.
To the right is an undated business card of G.H. Mason & Co., located at 152 Blackstone Street. This proves the existence of the firm, and that the operation spanned the top three floors of the entire block as noted above.
Citations
Bibliography
“Atlascope Boston · Historic Urban Atlases from the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center.” n.d. Atlascope.leventhalmap.org. https://atlascope.leventhalmap.org/#view:address-search-bar.
"LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.: FIRES LAST NIGHT THE FIRE AT THE SUGAR REFINERY. ON BLACKSTONE STREET." 1872.Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Aug 08, 8. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/local-intelligence/docview/491842601/se-2.
"TAPPERS AND GONGS.: BOSTON'S RECONSTRUCTED FIRE ALARM OFFICE --VETERANS IN THE CITY GOVERNMENT- SALEM'S TROUBLES--NOTES FROM VARIOUS ENGINE HOUSES. THE WEATHOR 10 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. TODAY, GERRISH & O'BRIEN, NO LADY." 1884.Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Dec 21, 7. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/tappers-gongs/docview/493186443/se-2.
"Trade card for Geo. H. Mason & Co., steel-edge dust-pans, 152 Blackstone Street, Boston, Mass., undated." Card. Digital Commonwealth, http://gusn.us/243304 (accessed December 12, 2022).
"WEDNESDAY'S FIRES.: THE INSURANCE. THE BLACKSTONE STREET FIRE." 1872.Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Aug 09, 5. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/wednesdays-fires/docview/491840822/se-2.