159 Plympton Street

1891 In 1891, the Lawrence heirs sold Lot No. 99 in the Lawrence Estates to George F. Ballard (MLR 2044/173). Apparently, the original subdivision of lots in the Lawrence Estates in 1884 only went west to about Irving Street. In 1889, there was a further subdivision of lots going west from Irving Street, increasing the number of lots to well over 200. This new subdivision was recorded in Plan Book No. 65, Plan No. 39. Nothing was said in the deed about buildings on the lot.

1893 Ballard took out a mortgage based on this lot for $1,600 from the Waltham Cooperative Bank, and this deed specified the lot came "with buildings". George F. Ballard appeared in the 1894 annual listing of voters at this location, with the notation he had lived elsewhere in the preceding year. Therefore, it appears that the house at 159 Plympton Street was probably built in 1893-1894 for George F. Ballard. Ballard worked at the watch factory, and lived here into the mid-1930s.

1938 In 1938, Alva Simpson sold the house to Rose M. Caruso (MLR 6253/489). Alva and her husband, Alfred, had received the house from the will of George F. Ballard, and had been living in the house with Ballard around the time of his death in 1935 (see MLR 6062/217). Apparently, from voting records, the house was rented out for a number of years after 1938, but in 1942 Antonio and Lucy Caruso were living there. Antonio was a truck driver. The Carusos continued to live there into, at least, the 1970s.