188 and 206 Hammond Street

1888 Norman J. Rose bought Lot No. 68 of the Lawrence Estates development from the Lawrence heirs on December 18, 1888 for $500 (MLR 1887/550).

1890 Alfaretta Rose, wife of Norman J. Rose, took out a mortgage with the Waltham Savings Bank in November of 1890 for $1700 based on Lot No. 68 (MLR 2011/305). The same month, the City of Waltham took land in the area to lay pipes (MLR 2007/404). Norman Rose had transferred ownership of the lot to his wife earlier in the year (MLR 2011/303 and 304).

1891 Norman J. Rose first appeared in the annual listing of voters as living in his own house on Hammond Street in 1891, and as having lived somewhere else in the city the year before. In the 1890 city directory, he was listed as a carpenter living on Taylor Street. In the 1895 directory, he was listed as a builder living at 188 Hammond Street. From the documentary evidence, it appears the house at 188 Hammond Street was probably built in 1891 by Norman J. Rose, a builder, for his own family. The Rose family continued to live there into the 1950s (MLR 6511/381 and city directories).

1892 Rollins H. Swett bought Lot No. 67 of the Lawrence Estates (next lot north along Hammond Street from Rose's Lot No. 68) from the Lawrence heirs in 1892 (MLR 2504/183). At the time he also took out a mortgage on it from Ellen S. Sherman (one of the Lawrence heirs) for $340 (MLR 2103/517). It appears he did not have a house built on the lot at this time, for no one was listed as living on the lot for many years, after.

1896 In 1896, Rose, Swett, and other property owners along this stretch of Hammond Street were listed in a betterment assessment from the city when that part of Hammond Street between Plympton Street and Lord Street was officially laid out by the city (MLR 2485/85). It must have been a private way laid out by the Lawrence heirs before this.

1907 Rollins H. Swett sold his lot to Norman J. Rose (MLR 3310/274), still with no house on it as shown on the 1911 Waltham Engineer's map and 1900 Middlesex Co. atlas.

1911 Norman J. Rose took out a mortgage from the Waltham Savings Bank on Lot No. 67 in June of 1911 (MLR 3612/477). It is probable he built the house on the lot, No. 206 Hammond Street, the same year, since no one was listed as living there in the annual listings of voters for 1911, but a Patrick Deering was listed there in 1912, as someone who lived elsewhere in the year before. It appears that Rose used the house at 206 Hammond Street for rental housing for a number of years.

1922 Norman and Alfaretta's daughter and son-in-law, M. Estella R. and Ernest C. Fisher, moved into the house at 206 Hammond Street in 1922. Ernest was a travelling salesman, and they had married in 1916. The Rose's other daughter, Lottie, was living with them at 188 Hammond Street at this time.

1932 Lottie Rose and Estella Fisher sold to their mother, Alfaretta Rose, their portions of Lot 67, which they had inherited from their recently deceased father, Norman Rose (MLR 5619/343). The Fishers continued to live at 206 Hammond Street, and Alfaretta and Lottie continued to live at 188 Hammond Street.

1941 Lottie Rose sold to M. Estella R. Fisher her interest in Lot 67, which she had just inherited from their recently deceased mother, Alfaretta Rose (MLR 6511/383). The Fishers then sold their house at 206 Hammond Street, on a slightly reduced lot, to Warren and Doris LeShane (MLR 6549/531), and move in with Lottie at 188 Hammond Street. Ernest Fisher died in 1946 or 1947, but the sisters continued to live at 188 Hammond Street into the 1950s. The LeShanes also continued to live at 206 Hammond Street into the 1950s.