Chestnut Hill Village Associates...75th anniversary 1939 - 2014 5 In the fall of 2013 a few residents began meeting informally to plan for the 75th anniversary of the Chestnut Hill

75th anniversary 1939 - 2014 1

75th Anniversary Edition

1939 –2014

A G

oo

d Neighborua Found Treasure

Chestnut Hill Village Associates

chestnut hill village assocates 2

Lost Pond


Contents

Introduction 5

Prologue: The First Three Centuries 7

An Early History of CHVA 17

CHVA: A Fractured History 22

Certificate from the Board of Selectmen 40

Original Charter 41

Introduction to the 50th Anniversary Book 43

Welcome to chestnut Hill Village 45

Excerpts from Report on Town Meeting Articles 94

Reminiscences and Remembrances 100



In the fall of 2013 a few residents began meeting informally to plan for the 75th anniversary of the Chestnut Hill Village Associates. Officially incorporated October 4, 1938 the association was recognized in November 2013 by the Brookline Board of Selectmen as the oldest neighborhood association in the Town. In the beginning, the incorporators were all residents of Craftsland Road; other streets in the area were not yet developed. Over time, the association has grown to include Lyon Road, Arlington Road North and the house at the corner of Arlington and Heath.

At the early meetings we looked back at the very successful 50th anniversary event from 1989. Many residents still remember that event with pleasure. Decisions were made to repeat some of the popular activities from the past. This book is an updated version of the 50th anniversary book. It contains updated house pictures and owner information. Historical documents from that book are also included as well as a local history written and updated by Bente Fortier.

Many people worked hard to make this event a success. Janice Kahn initiated the idea of a celebration by arranging the recognition of our organization by the Board of Selectmen and inviting them to the event.

Bente Fortier held the first organizing meeting at her home and persisted in moving the project forward. It would not have come to fruition without her.

Susan Morley took on the role of organizer in chief; created committees and kept us on track as well as keeping up with the RSVP’s. Susan and Paul Trevithick took on pulling the event together and making sure we had enough food, drink and decorations. Toby Dewey worked out the details of renting a tent and tables and chairs. Sylvia Brenner graciously provided her backyard as a site for the tent.

Kim Smith was the chair of the food committee, assisted by Preeti Paul, Edie Raskin and Bambi Good and by all the other neighbors who volunteered to cook a delicious variety of food for the large crowd.

Introduction


Family Activities were organized by Susan and Paul Trevithick, Sarah and Brett Pangburn, Chetna Naimi and Dean Cohen.

Susan Trevithick designed the 75th book, logo and event invitation. Invitations were sent to former neighbors by Bambi Good. Photographs for the book were taken by Marian Lazar. John Cunningham organized the wonderful slide show of old photographs and video that played all afternoon in the tent.

Generous donations in kind were successfully solicited by Rita Bartczak. Among the donors were Wegman’s, Winston Flowers, Starbucks and Sweetgreen.

The time capsule from the 50th anniversary has been safely preserved for the last twenty-five years by Karen and Lew Edgers.

Mary Murphy worked with the Town to enable us to close the street for the afternoon of the celebration.

Thanks go to everyone who made special donations for this event.

Keeping a neighborhood together takes effort and we take pride in our long history of working together.

75th Anniversary CommitteeBambi GoodSusan and Toby DeweyBente FortierMarian LazarSusan MorleySarah and Brett PangburnKim SmithSusan and Paul Trevithick


In the earliest days of the colony, Muddy River (which we now call Brookline) was part of Boston, and the Selectmen had the power to dispose of the land as they saw fit. Almost all of the grants were to church members and “freemen” who already owned land in Boston. They were carpenters, bricklayers, tailors, etc., being a notch below the “gentry,” but still respectable. The large lots seem to have gone to people of means or to official of Boston, perhaps because they could make them productive and thus produce taxes. In Brookline most of the grants were large, partly because the recipients were prominent and partly because of the nature and remoteness of the allotment. The grantees were encouraged to raise cattle not only for milk and meat, but also for hides which it was unlawful to waste.

The selectmen granted so much land that on October 26, 1640, a moratorium was declared on new grants of land in Muddy River until the remaining land could be surveyed. The following year, ordinance forbade any grants without the express approval of the Town Meeting.

The largest single pre-1640 grant was given to William Tyng, a merchant of distinction. The adjacent owner was Williams Hibbins, whose grant included the present Craftsland Road area.

For a time, William was an exceedingly important person, being Selectman, special commissioner and assistant of the colony from 1634 until his death. He probably arrived from England on the ship Mary and John in 1634. Although his estate was much diminished in his late years, undoubtedly he was a man of extensive property. He was allotted three hundred acres of land in addition to smaller parcels in the swamps. Also he bought the area known as the “Ronton Farm,” making him the second largest proprietor in the region.

William Hibbins married Ann Bellingham, sister to Richard Bellingham for many years governor of Massachusetts. William Higgins died childless in 1654, leaving his estate to Ann. Two years later she was hanged as a witch “only for having more wit than her neighbors. Perhaps the street should have been named “Witchcraft Road”!

Her executor sold the lands. Ronton Farms was bought by John Winchester, senior. Isaac Stedman of Muddy River, yeoman, paid 160 pounds for the farm of 410 acres in the North West corner of the town. The farm was known as the “Stanford Farms”. That included about 9 acres that we now know as Craftsland Road neighborhood.

Prologue: The First Three Centuries By Bente M. Fortier


The Stedmans owned the land for the rest of the 17th century. Early in the 1700s, the land was broken up into several wood lots, and the part that is now called Craftsland Road passed to the Hill family, described as negroes in some accounts and Indians in others.

The Craft Family

In 1746 the land passed to the Craft family, in whose ownership it remained for a century and a half.

Griffin and Alice Craft arrived with John Winthrop’s party of colonist in 1630 and settled down on the west bank of the Muddy River, in what to day is called Roxbury. Griffin Craft is believed to be the first white man to settle the area. Nearby his grandson Ensign Ebenezer Craft built a house in 1709 on the north side of the road leading from Roxbury to Brookline (at the base of Parker Hill). It was occupied by a direct line of six generations.

Ensign Ebenezer’s son, who would be known as Deacon Ebenezer Craft, was born in 1705. Being the oldest son, he inherited the homestead in Roxbury, at his father’s death when he was only seventeen. He married Susannah White of Brookline and they had seven children. Deacon Ebenezer was a cordwainer by trade, and was extensively engaged in farming. In addition to the homestead in Roxbury, he owned large tracts of land in Brimfield, Monson, Northfield, Newton and Brookline.

On December 4, 1746, Deacon Ebenezer Craft bought eight acres more or less of pasture and woodland, known as “Hills lot” in Brookline. The deed granted Crafts all the fences, wood and under wood standing or lying on the premises. The sellers were Nathaniel and Patience Hill who signed by mark. Little is known about the Hills except Nathaniel Hill bought the parcel from Samuel Hill in 1727 and from an old deed in 1723 of Dudley Boylston we learn bordered the Hills. From Harriet F. Wood we know that Nathaniel was a negro, who worked for the farmers in the area.

The Area in 1746

Let us try to visulalize what Deacon Ebenezer Craft sees when he visits his newly acquired land the following spring. He looks North west to the county line dividing Newton and Brookline, which also serves as his boundary line. Turning Southwest and West he looks over Dudley Boylston’s woodland with the volcanic rock formation and puddingstones. Down below is his swamp with the skunk cabbages just up the ground. The alder bushes already green, reaching for the last sun lights, before the towering oak trees will open their leaves. Here the rare white cedar, black spruce, poison sumac and black ash can be found.

Looking southwest he is able to see what we today call “Lost Pond”. Few people knew the area, but he was familiar with it, because his father Ensign Ebenezer Craft, who together with Henry Winchester had bought fourteen acres in and around Lost Pond from Joseph


Stedman in 1708. He can clearly see the pond, as the leaves on the oak trees are not quite out yet.

The shoreline of the pond is composed of vegetation floating on water with a progression of small shrubby plants to moisture-loving and then trees less dependent on moist soil.

Little does Deacon Ebenezer Craft suspect that more than thirty-seven houses sould be built on his new lot, and the residents will gather for hot chocolate after skating on Lost Pond.

Louise Kent’s Story

Let me quote Louise Kent, who wrote The Brookline Trunk for her grandchildren in 1955, to give you the feel of what the Lost Pond area was like, because very little has changed.

“When your mother was a little girl, there was still an old road in Brookline that had never been improved. It was called Two Mile Road and it ran from Heath Street in Chestnut Hill through a piece of woodland that had belonged to my grandfather and then across Newton in the direction of West Roxbury. I rode over it on a horse when I was a girl, and when your mother and uncle were little, I drove them over it in a Model T Ford. It never changed much in my memory of it and my mother remembered it about as I knew it. The wet places were corduroy. Although it was rather bumpy, I do not think it was any worse than driving on a wash boarded gravel road or a hard-top road full of frost holes. I was never on the Roxbury side of it, just on the part that went through our own woods, but I think that it was the same kind of wood.

“It is hard-topped now,” she went on, “and you go along a piece of it to get to the new town incinerator, but up to a few years ago it was still just a narrow stony dirt road running through a wild piece of woodland. The swamps were full of pitcher plants and the wild azalea called Rhodora grew here. Even after they had been frightened away from the rest of the town, scarlet tanagers nested there. Spring peepers rang their silver sleigh bells there on April evenings and thrushes sang in summer. There were ruffed grouse all through the woods. Once your uncle jumped over a log and a mother grouse flew up from his feet and almost knocked him down. The nest was just a twist of brown oak leaves beside the log. It had fourteen bluish-green eggs in them. Nearby was Lost Pond.

“Why was it called that?, who lost it?” the children asked.

Their grandmother told them that she supposed the pond got its name because it was so hard to find.

“If you wanted to back into the seventeenth century and see what Brookline was like” she went on, “you could just go and look for Lost Pond. On all sides of it there was a swamp for all you could tell, marshy plants grew out of the wonderful black dirt. There was only


one path to the pond. If you missed it, you would soon be up to you knees in mud. Trees and bushes were so thick along the path and around the pond that you could not see even a gleam of water until you got close to its edge. You could not ride you horse to the pond. You had to tie him to a tree and leave him among the skunk cabbages while you went from one grassy tussock to the next. More than once, after half an hour of tussock jumping, I found I had missed the trail and finally got back to my horse never having seen the pond at all.”

“What was it like when you did find it?” they wanted to know. “Just a round quiet sheet of water,” she told them. “It was so deeply shaded by trees that it was usually a silvery green instead of blue. Some of the trees around it were chestnuts with their sharply notched leaves and burs like green porcupines. In the autumn the chestnut trees turned a wonderful bright gold and the oaks among them bronze and deep red. Close to the pond were swamp maples – the kind that turn scarlet and crimson and plum color, all on the same leaf. In wintertime when the ground was hard and the trees were bare, the pond was easier to find than at other seasons. I remember once coming on it sooner than I expected and seeing a pair of wonderful skaters waltzing there. The pond seemed like a secret ballroom with a silver floor and the walls hung with dark tapestries. The ballroom had a lamp, the full moon up above the trees. I never put my skates on but just stood there, watching the skaters whirling, dipping, and gliding until I almost froze. Then I went away through the dark woods. For a while I could hear the music of the skates ringing on the ice, but as I came out on the Two Miles Road, I thought I must have dreamed that the waltzers were there.”

The Saw Mill on Newton Street

Now, in 1746, Deacon Ebenezer Craft eyes gaze beyond the pond and he thinks about the little house on the western side of Newton Road which he someday would inherit. The house was built in 1683 by his wife’s grandfather Erozomon Drew, who in his youth had come from Ireland and married Bethiah, daughter of Vincent Druce. The latter, together with Thomas Hammond had bought the 600 acre Tyng farm next to the Hibbins-Stedman farm. He was a wealthy man for those times and left his son-in-law considerable property. Next to the little house, Erozomon Drew built his saw mill, powered by water from an outlet of Hammond Pond. Here all the sawing of boards for miles around was accomplished.

Erozomon Drew’s daughter Ann married Samuel White, Esq., and from then on was known as Madam Ann White. Eromon Drew was fond of his son-in-law and “By reason and consideration of the love, good-will and affection which he hath and doth bear toward him,” Erozomon Drew gave his son-in-law the land around the saw mill. The area was heavily timbered, but the original timber was cut away. Bears lingered there long after they were exterminated elsewhere, and foxes, musk-rats, minks, owl and other wild game were seen in the late nineteenth century. It is said that that during the Revolution this great tract was in the hands of Tories, who secured some of the King George’s cannon by hiding them in the


thick woods. They intended to use them for Royal courses. But that time never came, and the Tories were forced to escape to British Provinces. Their property was confiscated, sold, and divided among many owners.

For many years Erozomon Drew’s old house was rented out, and it became known as “the Huckleberry Tavern” because of the tenant’s skill in making a wine from the abundant huckleberries. On election days and other festive occasions, the scattered residents of adjacent Brookline and Newton often resorted to the old house for the mild stimulants of society and huckleberry wine.

The old sawmill was taken down around 1850 and the house around 1873. In its place we now have what we call the Edison house.

The South Brookline Farm

A little further down on Newton Street, Deacon Ebenezer Craft bought the house that Vincent Druce had built between 1660 and 1670. Over the years he added more and more land to the farm and several other wood lots in the area, partly by inheritance. More than one of the Crafts inherited land that had belonged to their father-in-law.

North East of Craftsland Road

Still standing on his newly acquired land, Deacon Ebenenez Craft looked Northeasterly down over John Seaver’s meadowland. Deacon Ebenezer Craft’s sister had married John Seaver’s son Nathaniel, but had died a few years later in childbirth.

Almost on the town line stood a little cottage, where the Hills had lived before they had sold off that part of this land to John Seaver.

A few years later, Rev. Jonathan Hyde, of Connecticut, would buy John Seaver’s seven acres of land and build a house on it. He came here to preach the “New Light” in Brookline and Newton. Although nearly all his followers were or became Baptists, he held to the doctrine of infant baptism of his days. He died in his house in 1787, age 78. His son Thaddeus owned the place next, and died there in 1808 and his son Arba succeeded him.

The place and the men deteriorated, and after the death of the last Hyde in 1841 the house was torn down by order of the Selectmen.

After that, John Zecher settled upon the western half of the land, and quite a village of Germans gradually grew up along that section of Heath and Florence Street. Zecher sold his land around 1880 to the McCarthy family, who owned it up to 1979 when it was sold to a developer, who built what is now called Heathwood Lane.


Let us walk with Deacon Ebenezer Craft on the old cart way which ran along his eastern side of his property down through Seaver’s land where it came out to the old Sherburne Road (Heath Street).

Heath Street

The Indians who had lived in the area (around what we now call Beverly Road and Elliot Street) had their cross-country trails. The main trail went from the Shawmut peninsula (where Boston is now situated) westward through the wilderness toward their settlement on inland lakes and streams in Connecticut Valley and beyond.

When the white people settled in the area, paths connected one farm to another. But farmers needed roads to go to meetings, church and mills. In 1658 the selectmen in Boston decided to lay out a town highway at Muddy River through John White’s and by Thomas Gardener’s to ye farme of Isaac Steadman.

The old main Indian trail had become an established path, and little by little the path became deeply worn and clearly defined, and it was on this path that the highway was laid out and called The Sherburne Road.

At the end of the cart road (Arlington Road North), Deacon Ebenenezer craft decided to go back to his Roxbury home and turns right at Sherburne Road (Heath Street). Except for an occasional stage coach, farmer’s cart or a lonely rider, there is little through traffic on this that winds through the moss-covered stone walls and dilapidated weather-beaten fences. Here and there a clear-watered brook flows lazily under the roadway. The quiet and peacefulness along the way is undisturbed except by the clatter of the bell on some cow’s neck as she feeds along the faintly-marked side path on the way to and from the nearby pastures.

Corner of Hammond and Heath

After three-quarters of a mile, he comes to where the road comes down from Thomas Hammond’s farm and merges with Sherburne Road. There on the eastern side of Sherburne Road, Elahan Winchester, in 1750 with the aid of the “New Light,” would build a house of huge proportion, containing four chimneys instead of the usual central chimney and a large hall where the meetings could be held. It was surrounded by a wall of enormous stones.

Its broad doors opened onto the Sherburne Road, “the great Road’ so called, along which the post riders and coaches passed as they started their six day’s journey to New York. In this house was born the Rev. Elehanan Winchester a leader of the Baptist denomination, to which he converted his father, who was the founder of the first of the first Baptist church in Newton in 1780. The younger Winchester became famous as a preacher throughout New England and the South.


The great house was later bought by Ebenezer Richards who turned it into a tavern. In 1783 a stage coach line of unparalleled speed had been inaugurated by which, according to its advertisement, “a merchant could leave Boston Monday morning and arrive in New York on Thursday evening”. These coaches turned in at the tavern and changed horses in the yard, while the passenger refreshed themselves in the tap room. Till 1810 the traffic passed the front step, following the trail of the ancient trail of the Indians.

Then a great innovation came about when the Worcester Turnpike was opened, after which the traffic passed to the rear of the old inn. A gate was thrown across the new road behind the old tavern and a toll of twenty-five cents was collected on each carriage. The old house became a convenient resort for teamsters and parties from Boston – bent on pleasure – often thither for a game of nine pins. It was also frequented for parties and balls. In the 1830s, when it became apparent that the railroad then being built from Boston to Worcester (Main Line of the Boston and Albany, opened 1835) would take the traffic from the turnpike, it was discontinued as a hotel. The turnpike sunk into disuse until1903 when the Boston and Worcester Street Rail Road started operating the Worcester car line. This was discontinued in 1930 and the present divided was rebuilt into the present divided highway.

Richard’s hotel was pulled down in 1928. An ancient pulpit was found stored away in the cellar from the days before the revolution when Deacon Elhanan Winchester held meeting of the “New Lights”.

Pound Lane

Deacon Ebenezer Craft continues down the old Sherburne Road, until he comes to Pound Lane, where he debates if he should go down and take a look at his twenty-six acres tract of land covered with Chestnut trees. It is almost at the foot of the hill of Pound Lane (now Reservoir Road) bordering the Newton line. He decides to wait until later when the Chestnut trees are in bloom. Someday this area will be known as Middlesex and Crafts Road. This parcel, as well as the lot Craftsland Road is on, will still be in his grandchildren’ possession.

As Deacon Ebenezer Craft continues home, he passes Samuel White’s house, which his daughter Susannah and her husband and her husband, John Heath, will move into in 1760. It is after this family that Sherburne Road was renamed Heath Street.

As he hurries down toward the village, it is tempting to stop by the old “Punch Bowl” and have a drink and see old friends, but after all, his old comfortable home just down the road the road on the other side of Muddy River.


After Deacon Ebenezer Craft

Deacon Ebenezer Craft lived on for another 45 years. The attached map shows his holdings in 1786. In 1791, 86 years old, lame and blind for many years and having outlived his son, he died. His 12 year old grandson, “Major” Ebenezer Craft, inherited the farm in Roxbury and the three lots of woodland near Lost Pond

Major Ebenezer Craft changed his name to Crafts, owned the property for seventy three years, and it remained in a trust under his will for another forty years. He became quite rich, but was ruined in the panic of eighteen-thirty-seven. His most valuable lands were sold off, but the wood lots near Lost Pond were not worth selling.


The land remained in a trust under Major Ebenezer Craft’s will until it was sold to Charles S. Skinner in 1909, who apparently could not hold on to it, and it came back to the Crafts heirs a few years later. It was not until 1929 that the land would finally pass out of the Crafts family to a would be developer, and as might be expected, the title passed through foreclosure, tax takings and insolvencies. In 1935, it was acquired by the Northern Building Supply Co. Inc. (Louis E. Rudnick, Pres.) with the intenstion of development. The very irregular boundaries at the M. D. C.’s Lost Pond Reservation was straightened out.

In 1939, Craftsland Road was officially laid out by the Selectmen.


Listen, my neighbors, and I’ll briefly relateThe incinerator story to dateAt the March Town Meeting in Forty-fiveI marvel that some are now aliveWho dared to stand and speak out straight

Forty-three acres – the entire expanseWhich by the Town reserved for useWas asked to be rezoned perchanceWith one incinerator the only excuseForty-three acres when two would be allThe burning of refuse need recallForbes was alert and spread the alarmWhile Ginty collected the proof of harmInstructing Jewett to be up and to arm.

We fought it all out – and won by a hairWith a first time in Brookline rollcallAnd our members aloft in a balcony chairWere happy to see the scheme fallBut the dump was still a live issueThe incinerator still was dueFassler awoke to the needs of the timeBy meetings and queries he followed the lineSearching solutions complete and sublime.

Brookline’s Town Fathers got on the right trackAnd Rollins, Town Counsel, made studyDetermined that we(d have no cause to come backGave us sound sense and no fuddy-duddyThrough meetings and planning the forty-threeShrunk to the thirteen and the spot chosen to beA place with least upset to you and to me.

So stands the troublesome, worrisome matterWhere the rezoning threatened us allThe thirty odd acres cause no further chatterBecause they’re reserved a free public mallCraftsland Road people now rest secureThere can be no inroad of harm to endureBut we’ll still keep awake to be sure.

Chestnut Hill Village Associates Inception to 1945

Poem by Past President John V. Jewett

(with Apologies to Paul Revere [or to Longfellow?])


I have been asked to write poetry, description texts, sermons, ads, insurance policies, wills eulogies, captions, biographies and even checks but never before has the request for a history been made. A historian must have many qualifications which even my natural modesty forces me to admit are not mine. However, I agreed because the history was to be about one of my own enthusiasms and, as such, could, legally and morally demand full pardon for error. Who does not make mistakes, forgivable mistakes, when filled with enthusiasm — wet or dry? But this is not an apology – far from it. I shall check my statements in detail with the approved records of the secretaries and if there be error do as the politicians do – blame the records.

In September 1938 three tremendous events took place. The first you all recall was the hurricane. Close upon that, in fact we have always had a strong suspicion of collusion, came the heir to the Ted Johnson fortune. Whether these two events frightful and joyful, formed the compelling force which launch the third event no one can actually tell but eight pioneers in the Rudnick development of Chestnut Hill took counsel. That was the third great event — the conception of an association of residents for mutual benefit.

At various homes in this beautiful, embryonic settlement, Van Wolf, Ted Johnson, George Gies, Allan Reuben, Eugene Grojean and John V. Jewett discussed the pros and cons. I believe that Van and Ted were the original instigators. Legal advice was needed and it was our good luck to have Attorney Elliott Grabill join us. His advice and counsel terminated in decision to form the Chestnut Hill Village Associates and he was employed to draw up articles of organization and secure a charter under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This was done on October 4, 1938 and the Charter was granted on November 4, 1938. The purpose is stated clearly in the Charter and read as follows: (read from the Charter). How this purpose has been carried out and definite proof of the great value of the Associates to the members exist throughout the minutes of the meetings held.

The first officers of the Associates were Pres. Jewett; V.Pres. Gies; Sec’y Treas. Wolf; Directors Johnson and Farley; Auditor Grojean. The first meeting recorded was held on Nov. 25, 1938. Dues were fixed at $12 per year. The cost of incorporating and organization was paid. Messrs Wells, Garfield, Rudnick and McLaughlin were taken into membership. The Pres. was instructed to talk with Town Engineer Varney in regard to the construction of sewer. The Secretary was instructed to write the Town Lighting Dept. in regard to a street light in front of McLaughlin’s house. Immediately the voice of the associates

An Early History of CHVA, 1938-1945


demanded a hearing and got it. From this initial meeting the prestige of a community association has grown steadily. The wisdom of the originators of the idea has been justified repeatedly as you will note in the reports of the meetings to follow.

On February 17, 1939 Ev. Weygant was made a member. A full report was made concerning Mr. Varney’s advice in regard to various matters pertaining to the construction of Arlington and Craftsland Roads. A committee consisting of Wolf, Rudnick and Garfield was appointed to obtain bids on sewer connections should Mr. Varney be unable to include sewer connections in one contract for the entire street.

October 6,1939 Melvin Parker entertained the Associates in his home and Mrs. Parker served a delightful collation. At this meeting the growing power of the Association was definitely established by a letter received from a neighboring Association, the Oak Hill Improvement Assoc., which requested the cooperation of our body in combating an attempt of one, Agostino Orefacto, to contrive a nuisance on land bordering the territory of both organizations but situated in Newton. The Oak Hill Pres. assured me that our support turned the trick.

The first annual meeting was held in the home of Frank Garfield on October 21, 1939. The report of the nominating committee was accepted and it was voted to return the same officers for another year. This may be where the National return to office got its impetus if so, pardon is asked.

On June 13, 1940 Mr. and Mrs. Parker again extended their hospitality and at this meeting a large delegation of neophytes was inducted into membership. For this great event there seemed need of a gifted orator. Messrs Brosnahan, Bennett, Tyler, Farnsworth, Ginty, Forbes, Baldis and Lowe were the lucky ones to receive a welcome from our street orator Ted who did himself proud. The speech would have been recorded verbatim if Ted had not while practicing, dropped it on the street beyond recovery. Undoubtedly the flow of oratory has swept the broad Atlantic long ago.

There was much spirited discussion led in many instances by the supercharged Vice Pres. George in regard to the possibility of erecting two family houses on the vacant lot “fornints” his property. The Sec. was instructed to write to the Planning Board in favor of restricting this land to one family structures.

Selectman Richard S. Bowers, now State Senator, addressed the meeting on the subject of Town Government.

Our second annual meeting was held in the home of Louis Rudnick in Newton on November 8, 1940. The question of annual dues was discussed and a motion to reduce them to $6 was defeated. Further action in regard to the zoning of the district in vicinity of Craftsland Rd. culminated in the appointment of a committee consisting of Messrs


Farnsworth, Forbes and Wolf to attend a meeting of the Planning Board and favor changing the zoning from 3D to 4D. The following year this was accomplished and the prestige of the Associates did the trick.

The officers elected for the next year were President Farnsworth; Vice President Farley; Secretary and Treasurer Wolff; Directors Wells and Baldis; Auditor Tyler.

For some reason not mentioned in the minutes the Oct. annual meeting was not held but was postponed until June 9, 1942 and was held in the Fire college on Hammond St. It was voted to reduce annual dues to $6 payable semi–annually. A $100 war bond was purchased and four first aid kits were ordered. The matter of changing the name of Arlington Road was discussed and no immediate action was taken. The officers for the next year were elected as follows: President Farley; Vice President Weygant; Secretary and Treasurer Forbes; Directors Jewett and Farnsworth; Auditor Brosnahan.

The 1942 annual meeting was held in the Fire College, First aid kits were allocated to the home of Tyler, Forbes and Wolff. A social committee was formed after a social questionnaire had been completed by the residents. A Red Cross Committee was appointed consisting of Mesdames Farley, Jewett and Farnsworth. The same officers were returned for another year. An interesting illustrated talk was given by Chief Selden R. Allen of the Fire Department.

Among the various papers of the Secretary an interesting report of the entertainment committee was filed but not signed. Here it is. (Read from report) Another report signed by John Forbes. Here it is. (read report). Among the Club notes published in the Brookline Chronicle is this one. (read it).

On Oct.18, 1943 we met again at the annual meeting in the Fire College where after the business meeting colored pictures of the Victory Gardens were shown by the Fire Dept. and commentary made by Mr. Warren. At this meeting another bond was purchased and many interesting reports were read showing a most successful administration. Officers elected for next year were President Weygant; Vice President Forbes; Secretary and Treasurer Ginty; Directors Farley and Farnsworth; Auditor Garfield.

The last annual meeting was held on Oct. 23, 1944. An excellent accounting was made by Ethyl Gies on the Red Cross accomplishment. A scroll of honor was voted and a committee appointed the same. George Gies was elected permanent Santa Claus. Rose bushes were ordered and the cost was to be by subscription. A committee was appointed to watch out for the possibility of a playground on the adjacent lot. Officers for 1945 were elected Presidnet Forbes; Vice President Ginty; Secretary and Treasurer Garfield; Directors Weygant and Huntington; Auditor Johnson. The good work of the Associates has continued this year under President Forbes and his report covers this year’s history.


During the seven years of our association life we have lost two members by death Fred L. Baldes and Michael J. Kline both interested and loyal members.

The life history of Chestnut Hill Village Associates is short but sweet. No record of murders can be found. There doesn’t prove to be any over hilarious events—well perhaps one might say in Gilbert and Sullivan tempo, hardly any. There abounds a fine spirit of good fellowship and grand neighborliness which undoubtedly accounts for the recognition which is prevalent throughout Brookline and extends into Newton. The Associates have a member of the Town Meeting who has been recognized not so much as a member from Precinct 12 but rather as a delegate from the Associates. Indeed there cannot be a doubt in the mind of any clear thinking person concerning the merit of such an organization and the “full value received” for the monetary cost of membership. Long may it live.

Given at the office of the Charter President, this 23rd day of Oct. 1945

John V. Jewett


As president of the Chestnut Hill Village Associates for the past year several things have been brought to my attention. One which gave me the most concern was the Incinerator.

The town had great difficulty in finding a suitable location where the opposition was not too great. Three locations, the Baker School area, the Finnigan lot and the Hammond Woods were all possible sites in this part of the Town.

In the Baker School district there is the Putterham Meadows Association and in our district there is the Chestnut Hill Village Associates. Together they carry sufficient weight to have the Town take the course of least resistance. The residents of the present town dump location, near Newton Street and Arlington Road South have long wanted something done about the health menace created by the dust, fire and rats in the dump area. An agreement was made to landscape this area and build an entrance from Newton Street which would continue around the end of Arlington Road to the proposed site of the incinerator, in this way avoiding the necessity of driving trucks through Arlington Road. This is the present plan and the town will buy additional land for this purpose.

Considerable pressure has been brought on the town to furnish more play areas. A survey was made which showed that our district was lacking. A committee was formed at our last Annual meeting to see if the Town would purchase the Finnegan lot for a playground. Since that time the Town has bought the land from Arlington Road, South to the Metropolitan land and intends to develop it into a recreational area. This is taking place at the present time and if no unforeseen development occurs it should be a benefit to our district.

Along with this recreational development it is proposed to extend Arlington Road, North into the woods about 500 feet with a circle at the end. I went on record as opposing this as I thought it would lead to parking difficulties. There has been no further development on this up to the present time.

The constant search for suitable building land by speculators has made it necessary to keep a close watch of our district. A speculative builder made a survey of conditions in the Finnegan lot this summer, both as to the zoning and soil structure. This lot has an approved street laid out in such a manner as to divide it about equally. About 75% of the land could be used for building lots.

Report Of The President, 1944


I have been advised by a speculative builder that it would not be profitable to build on this lot under the “4D” restrictions. In 1941 this organization was instrumental in having the Zone of this lot changed from a “3D” to a “4D” classification. From this it is obvious that a careful watch should be kept that the Zone is not changed back to a “3D”.

Another situation arose which should be of interest to the members; that was the continuation of Craftsland Road into Newton. The Planning Boards of Newton and Brookline held a joint meeting to discuss the probable outcome of adjoining property as to Zoning and Street Extension. The Secretary of the Planning Board asked me what course our Association would take on this matter. I told him I was not in favor of an extension as I thought the present layout was more beneficial to the Town and the Community. The result was that the joint committees decided to drop the plan of continuation of the Street.

A proposed plan to build a super-housing project has been progressing at the south-easterly corner of Hammond Pond Parkway area and Boylston Street. Surveys and soil soundings have been made. This development will be in Newton and is more or less a secret, so I have not been able to find out definitely if it is considered a feasible project. The land does not lend itself well to a foundation suitable for such a structure.

These are the major problems which confronted our Association during the past year. They will come up again, therefore the associates must keep on alert.

The ownership of the three houses of Mr. Rudnick have been a source of worry as we would like to see them owned by desirable tenants. I talked with Mr. Rudnick this summer and told him I had a prospective buyer for any house he would like to sell. He stated, however, that he does not want ot sell any property at this time.

Socially this has been a difficult year. On account of rationing restrictions it has been impossible to hold as many supper gathering as usual. I hope now that the war is ended that this Association activity will be resumed since one of our primary functions is to “Promote And Encourage Civic, Educational and Social Activities”.

We have made a start on the improvement in some section of the street; for example — planting of roses and the completion of the street lighting around the circle. This beatifying of the street should be continued vigorously and the money necessary should be paid from the treasury.

I would like very much to thank the workers of the Social Committee and would like to see more appreciation shown by the members for the time and planning given by this committee to make these occasions successful.

John Forbes


Executive Committee

John Forbes, Jarvis Farley

Supper Committee

Gertrude Thomas, Lillian Ginty, Edyth Weygant, Berta ForbesProcurement – Norman Thomas

Sub-Committees

Red Cross Ethel Gies

Hooked Rug Marion Hale

Play Reading Jarvis Farley

Theatre Party Norman Thomas

Bridge Ruth Garfield

Skating Berta Forbes

Sleigh Ride John Forbes

Poker Carl Fassler

Mending Club Betty Farley

Ping Pong John Forbes

Bowling Clarence Huntington, Norman Thomas, Jarvis Farley, Monte Wells, Frank Garfield

Country Dance Berta and John Forbes

Garden Club Mrs. Farnsworth

Golf Bill Smith & Ruth Wimsatt

Tennis Geneva and Carl Fassler

Skiing Jarvis Farley

Book Exchange Alan Ginty

Car Share Plan Ted Johnson

Community Singing Clara Lowe & Geneva Fassler

Chestnut Hill Village Associates, Inc. Social Committees


1938–1989 1939 1940

president John V. Jewett John V. Jewett Jarvis Farley

vice president George H. Gies Everett Weygant

secretary/treasurer John Forbes

auditor Eugene J. Gragian James Brosnahan

directors John T. Johnson Jarvis Farley

Van Wolf A.J. Farnsworth

1938–1939

Bylaws were completed and adopted Oct. 3, 1938 at 7:30pm.

The first meeting was held on November 25, 1938.

The main concerns during this year were: Getting Craftsland Road under the betterment act which would require favorable action by Town meeting. Once approved, then the street could be paved and other improvements made.

Fourteen houses had been completed at the time and nine were occupied. Therefore, there was a need for Town services. Finally, efforts were made to close Craftsland Road along the town line dividing Newton from Brookline.

Application was necessary for membership in C.H.V.A.

1939

A petition was sent to the planning board to prevent any two-family dwellings in any part of the block. The need for a safety light for pedestrians crossing the Hammond Pond Parkway.

1942

Meetings were held at the Hammond Street Fire Station.

On August 20, 1942, the name of Arlington Road, Heath Street southerly was changed to Craftsland Road.

CHVA Fractured History: 1938–2014


1942 1943 1944 1945

Jarvis Farley E.V. Weyant John Forbes Allen Ginty

Everett Weygant John Forbes Allen Ginty Norman Thomas

John Forbes Allen Ginty Francis Garfield Clarence Huntington

James Brosnahan F.L. Garfield J. T. Johnson Marjorie Sprague

Van Wolf A.J. Farnsworth

Jarvis Farley A. J. Farnsworth

E. V. Weygant Clarence Huntington

Thomas Noonan John Forbes

1943

Dues were $.50/month. Meetings were held at the Hammond Street Fire Station.

1944

C.H.V.A. agreed to send stuffed dates to the U.S. Navy at Christmas. It was a very social year.

The by-laws were changed concerning the clerk’s duties (Article 3, Section 1). There was a Red Cross committee and an entertainment committee.

Application for membership still needed.

1945

Letters were sent to the Chief of Police regarding the fast delivery trucks on Craftsland Road and requesting that the town paint the Town fences.


1946 1948 1950

president Carl Fassler Walter Brooks, Jr Charles Cowen Leo H. Hurwitch

vice president Norman Thomas Everett V. Weygant Frederick C. Carreriro

secretary/treasurer Jarvis Farley Charles Cowen Harry Stone

auditor Marjorie Sprague Robert Miller Marjorie Sprague

directors Thomas NoonanAllen Ginty

Norman Thomas John Forbes

John Stanbury Charles Cowen

1946

There was a mosquito problem. White lines were painted at the intersection of Arlington Road Extension and Craftsland Road. The battle with the Town over the incinerator began. The town wanted a small incinerator which would have had to run 24 hours per day and would have required bulldozers. The final compromise provided for a large incinerator which would only run 12 hours per day and not require bulldozers.

Walter Brooks was president of the Special Committee on Incinerator and Development, November 1946.

1947–1948

Apparently a few problems arose regarding the association and a few letters regarding resignations on matters of principle by several officers were submitted. There is no other information in the files.

1950

“Slow, children” signs were placed on the street by the Town.

Applications were still requested for membership in the Association.

Dead End sign was placed by the town.


1951 1952 1953 1954–1955

Frederick C. Carreiro Thomas Noonan William Carroll

T.J. Noonan William C. Carroll Felix Knauth

Harold Gerrish Morris Kirsner A.G. Birnham Joseph Segal

William C. Carroll Felix Knauth James Connors

Charles HalpertLeo Hurwitch

Frederick CarreriroM.C.Hobbs

William CarrollLawrence Mason

1952

The Incinerator was in working order causing smoke and specks. Letters were written. This proved to be an ongoing problem until the incinerator was shut down in the mid-seventies.

1953

Finally got safety light at the Hammond Pond Parkway.

1954–1955

Although a record of the officers does not exist, the following individuals were active in C.H.V.A. at this time:

Joseph Segal, T.J. Noonan, R. D. Adams, J. Forbes, F. Carrereiro, J.H. Kaplan, Morris Kirsner, W.S Carroll, F.W. Knauth, A.J. Ginty and H. Kotzen.


1960

Major topics of concern that year: removing the Elm trees and replacing them and a nuclear fallout shelter for the members.

1956 1957 1958

president J. Kaplan Jewel Mason James F. Noonan

vice president Jewel Mason James F. Noonan James H. Connors

secretary/treasurer James Noonan James H. Connors Robert P. Rand

auditor James Noonan

directors Doctor AdamsMrs. Lowe

Doctor Joseph KaplanMr. Charles T. Cowen

Over the years the association has been fortunate to have someone represent us as Brookline Town meeting members.

1943–1954 John V. Jewett, 19 Craftsland Road

1960–1963 John G. Noonan, 63 Craftsland Road

1974–1996 Albert M. Fortier Jr., 90 Craftsland Road

1979–1986 Ruth Dorfman, 11 Lyon Road (around 1975 and up)

1997–1999 Janice Kahn–Edinburg

1999–Present Janice Kahn (Janice keeps us posted on what is going on in the town)

1961–Present Thomas J. Noonan, 53 Craftsland Road was elected Selectman (In 1962 he moved away from Craftsland Road).


1963

During 1963 the C.H.V.A. refiled records for its officers with the Commonwealth to ensure that the organization would stay in existence – for a few years the records had not been filed.

All during these years the C.H.V.A. had Christmas parties and from time to time Valentine’s Day parties. Virginia Adams hosted the 1963 Valentine’s Day party

1965

According to newspaper accounts, Albert M. Fortier represented Chestnut Hill Village Associates in an all out effort to prevent the Town from dumping directly into Lost Pond. If the Town’s plan had been carried out, the whole pond would have been filled in. Fortunately, through the efforts of Al Fortier, The Kennards and many others, the Town was prevented from filling in Lost Pond.

1959 1960 1961–1962 1963

James Connors Robert P. Rand Charlene Clayton Dr. Louis Brenner

Robert P. Rand Virginia Adams Victoria Thaler

Felix W. Knauth Virginia Adams Victoria Thaler Joanne Noonan

Doctor Brenner Dr. Louis Brenner Thomas Kooris

Jewel MasonJames Noonan


1966 1967 1969–1971

president Thomas Byron Leonard NewmanVirginia Adams

Albert M. Fortier

vice president Gerald Lazar

secretary Charlotte Kooris Raymond Feinberg Myrna Allen

treasurer Raymond Feinberg Felix W. Knauth Eva Small

auditor John Forbes

1967

Leonard Newman, President. For a few months following Mr. Newman’s death in February 1969, Virginia Adams took over as President of C.H.V.A., Raymond Feinberg and Felix W. Knauth were Secretary and Treasurers during this period.

1967–1971

Although the records of C.H.V.A. are incomplete, the individuals named above appear to be officers during this period.

1968

An attempt to close the Baldwin School was thwarted. The Housing Authority wanted to build apartments along the Hammond Pond in the woods and that attempt was also successfully defeated by the C.H.V.A.


1972–1973 1973–1974 1975–1976 1977–1978

Gerald Lazar Selig Salzman Terry Anne Vigil Ken Hoffman

Selig Salzman Terry Anne Vigil Ken Hoffman Brad Stewart

Mary Greely Claire Burchell Susan Rogers

Bente Fortier Bente Fortier Lynn Breuer Karen Edgers

1972

Boston Edison proposed to place a facility in the woods and that was stopped. In the same year the Town suggested that the Public Works Garage could be located in the woods and this, the first of a number of such attempts, was successfully blocked by C.H.V.A. and others.

1973–1974

The incinerator was finally closed by the Town and the dirt road leading to it from Arlington Road North was permanently closed.

1975–1976

The transfer station was built. The first Earth Day clean up was sponsored. Plans to make the woods conservation land began.

1977–1978

Ken Hoffman worked with the Town to stop illegal dumping near the Lost Pond area.


1979–1980 1981

president Brad Stewart Michael Good

vice president(s) Michael Good Max Vigil

secretary Alex Finley

treasurer Joe Segal Joe Segal

1979

In 1979 what later would later be referred to by some neighbors as the battle of the Red Maple Wood Swamp began. The property owned by Mary Cole was sold to Mr. Chieu, the developer.

An effort to downzone the neighborhood failed. Ultimately, the development was built. At the same time the Baldwin School finally was closed in 1980 and the Chestnut Hill Branch of the Brookline Public Library was closed forever. One success: Craftsland Road was made a cul de sac again through an article filed at a Town Meeting by Lou Edgers and Terry Anne Vigil.

1981

The dues were raised from $8 to $10.

The Town wanted to put the Water Division garage and facilities in the woods and that proposal was successfully opposed. In addition, many neighbors helped save the Putterham Branch Library from closing.

Friends of Lost Pond was formed in 1981 (founding members were Al Fortier, Jewel Mason and Terry Anne Vigil). The first officers were:

Lou Edgers, President

John Eichhorn, Vice-President

Jewel Mason, Secretary

Terry Ann Vigil, Treasurer

1982

Through the efforts of Friends of Lost Pond an article passed Town Meeting that made about thirty acres of the woods conservation land. The Gypsy moth infestation occurred. Recycling began at the old dump site.


1982 1983–1984 1985–1986

Michael Good Max Vigil Frank and Gladys Perkins

Max Vigil Frank and Gladys Perkins Mary Murphy

Tony Cecalupo Ruth Segal Robert DiLibero

Joe Segal Joe Segal Joe Segal

1983

Another Earth day celebration was organized. Putterham library hours were extended after having been cut and neighbors in the Craftsland Road area played a role getting the hours reinstated. Some water was discolored in people’s plumbing due to very old pipe lines. The problem was brought to the attention of the Town. Note: The ton re-did the pipes a number of years later. Cemetary Drive was to remain a “residential only” zone.

1984

Questions were raised concerning traffic problems on Heath Street that would result from the building of the farm condominiums, Hampton Place and Heathwood Lane. Max Vigil agree to investigate them and have the MAPC conduct a traffic study.

1985

After attending many meeting, Max Vigil and Frank Perkins obtained the traffic analysis of Florence and Heath Street (prepared by the Central Transportation Planning Staff of the Central Staff of the Metropolitan Area planning Council.

C.H.V.A. increased its contribution to Friends of Lost Pond to $50/year. The fence along Arlington Road was considerate a disgrace and a letter was sent to the Town requesting repairs and it eventually was fixed. Concern was also expressed over the traffic lights at the corner of Hammond Pond Parkway and Heath Street–the walk signal was considered to be too short and a letter was written.

1986

There was a discussion of the new Town garage and the possibility of it being built at the new incinerator site in the woods. The C.H.V.A. and others opposed it and the woods were not recommended as the first choice for the Town garage location.


1987–1988 1989–1990 1991–1992

president Mary Murphy Beverly Lillehei Honor McClellan

vice president Beverly Lillehei Honor McClellan Janice Kahn–Edinburg

secretary Robert DiLibero Robert DiLibero Bob DiLibero

treasurer Joe Segal Joe Segal Joe Segal

1987

The issue of the location of the new Town garage was still a major topic of discussion, although at that time it appeared that it would be built at the old incinerator site off Hammond Street. The members were encouraged to vote in the Town election. $25 was donated to Friends of Amory Woods to improve handicapped access to the site. A letter was to be sent to Newton City Hall regarding snow plowing damage to the end of Craftsland Road.

1988

Traffic problems regarding the new mall were discussed by Mary Murphy. Cars will be entering the mall along Route 9. Florence Street is to be used solely by trucks making deliveries. Bente Fortier sent a letter proposing that Craftsland Road celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1989 with a 50th anniversary party. This was just a first of a whole series of efforts undertaken by Bente on behalf of the 50th anniversary celebration. Many, many thanks to Bente for all her very hard and much appreciated work on our anniversary party.

1989

Plans for the 50th celebration were discussed. Bente Fortier circulated a petition to have Craftsland Road closed during the celebration and everyone signed it.

Joe Segal suggested that members voluntarily add $10 to their annual dues to defray the cost of the party. $1,000 in expenses was approved.

1990

Our new neighbors at 53 Craftsland Road Edie Raskin and Peter Chubinsky were introduced.

1991

Our new neighbors at 100 Craftsland Road the Scharstein/Moran were introduced.

Edmund Boles of 71 Craftsland Road passed away.

The Pooch’s Poop dog signs were discussed (scoop your Pooch’s Poop).


1993–1994 1995 1996

Janice Kahn–Edinburg Edie Raskin Edie Raskin

Edie Raskin Lenore Martin Lenore Martin

Robert DiLibero Alice Hutter Gladys Perkins

Joe Segal Joe Segal Joe Segal

1992

The Atrium has been letting cars out the back way – the traffic committee will be reactivated.

Jerry Lazar made the comment that it has been 15-16 years since Craftsland Road has been repaved and that it was done poorly. Jerry will follow up on it.

1993

Outgoing president Honor McClellan spoke about her two years.

Future use of the transfer site/chimney was discussed. NYNEX had not provided any information.

1994

New neighbors were introduced: Marcie and Irving Frankel of 790 Heath Street and Rene and Jeff Feuerman of 3 Craftsland Road.

Nynex attempted to install an antenna at the incinerator site.

Marian Lazar reports that the 1234 Boylston St. proposed site will be a 7-story office/retail building with a garage for 450 cars.

1995

Neighborhood Safety – a series of incidents along Craftsland Road. It was suggested that a Crime Watch committee be established.

Traffic problems on Florence Street

A landscape committee for beatification of the dead-end part of Craftsland Road was formed, members being Marian Lazar, Mary Murphy and Bente Fortier.

1996

Safety issues such as speeding on Heath Street continue. Newton Traffic engineer is doing a radar speed check.

Marian Lazar and Terry Ann Vigil have applied for a Greenways grant from the Department of Environmental Management to inventory the wildlife and to get the sign at the entrance to Lost Pond replaced.


1997–1998 1999

president(S) Lenore Martin Lew Edgers (Acting)

vice president(S) Stephen Pratt-Otto Marian Lazar (Acting)

secretary Gladys Perkins

treasurer Joe Segal Seth Levenson

1997

A new sign was acquired for the Lost Pond area.

Alice Hutter reported that the Town had granted us $10,000 in June for the purpose of species identification/inventory.

Unknown surveyors have been spotted in the woods painting bright colors on things. MDC does not know who they are.

It is reported that cars are allowed to take a left turn out of the Atrium onto Florence Street. People are still driving too fast on Heath Street.

1999

Jerry Lazar reported on attempts to calm traffic on Heath Street. We need more speed-limiting signs.

Lost Pond and fill area desired by public works and Park and Recreation department and others.

Transfer Station will remain open. Marian Lazar will watch over things.

Gift policy – will allow $25-30 per gift. The Sunshine person will be Karen Edgers

A notice was sent out to members about a critical meeting Dec. 3 (back landfill).

The landfill changes will greatly increase the noise pollution in the neighborhood.

2000

Introduction of Alicia and Rick Cleary who have just purchased 67 Craftsland Road.

A bagel brunch in honor of Joe and Ruth Segal who have lived 50 years on Craftsland Road. Bambie will arrange it.

A contribution in memory of Eva Small will be sent to Park Street Church in Boston.

Listing of two houses on Craftsland Road. 70 was sold to Lisa Solomon and Lawrence Horlick.

2001

Notice of the annual meeting.

A reminder of the landfill area meeting on the 24th of April.

2002

Joe Segal, long time treasurer of C.H.V.A. passed away.

John Johnson–one of the original signers of C.H.V.A.’s charter, passed away.

Notice of the annual meeting. Notice of an emergency meeting of the C.H.V.A. (proposed development of the New England Development Co.) Notice of Newton Street Landfill, taskforce–informational meeting, Oct. 11


2000–2002 2003 2004

Doris Hanna; Peter Lysaght Kim Smith; Adam Kahn Mark and Lee Jurman

Kim Smith; Adam Kahn Mark and Lee Jurman Marcy and Larry Fischer

Gladys Perkins Gladys Perkins Frank Perkins (Interim)

Seth Levenson Seth Levenson Seth Levenson

2003

Due to two large projects requiring immediate action on our part in order to have our neighborhood needs and feelings heard, we have departed from the normal scheduling and format of the C.H.V.A. annual meeting in order to devote time to landfill/soccer field project off Craftsland Road and the looming Omni area’s massive hotel/mall. This notice is signed January 12, 2003.

Notice of special meeting on Jan, 12th 2003–massive Chestnut Hill development seeks OK (Tab);

Developer Karp files Chestnut Hill plans (Globe); Neighbors decry Route 9 Mall plans.

Notice of C.H.V.A. special meeting, pressing businesses–(concerns of traffic on Florence/Heath Street).

Notice of a meeting of Newton Street Landfill.

Concerns over the new Avalon apartment next to the proposed Chestnut Hill Square.

Sale of 50 Craftsland Road.

2004


Bill Allen passed away.

Craftsland Road houses for sale: 25, 62, 67.

The soccer field at the Newton Street end of the old transfer site is due to be constructed when capping of the landfill is achieved.

The positive side effect will be that the eye-sore smoke stack and associated building will be removed and replaced with low buildings.


2005


Marian Lazar’s update on Lost Pond and the Landfill Park development project.

Notice of an important meeting of “the transfer station and backlandfill.” Notice about development on Hammond Pond Parkway.

Notice about sidewalks repair and also the kids’ street party.

Update of the Avalon and the Omni sites.

2006

Notice of annual meeting on Feb. 12; there will also be a follow up meeting set for March 19.

Notice of Open Space system (Lost Pond Reservation).

Many letters sent from neighbors to the Honorable Stephen Pritchard, Secretary, Executive Office of Enviromental Affairs.

Request to repave the street.

Notice from the Department Public Works about progress at the back landfill

Globe reports: that traffic will block the Newton development. The board of Brookline Transportation Department recommends that the developer should widen Route 9. Notice of Newton Street Landfill proposed play equipment.

TAB articles: Newton Street Landfilld, Route 9 traffic is stalled.

Petition to dead-end Heath Street.

Max Vigil of 10 Craftsland Road passed away. Ruth Segal passed away (Lee Jurman’s mother). Lou Brenner passed away.

Notice of the annual clean up day (dedicated to the memory of Max Vigil), followed by lunch at the Lillehei’s.

Update of the Chestnut Hill Square.

Neighborhood animal sightings: a fox den on the empty lot on 47 Craftsland Road. Raccoon alert. Coyotes have been spotted in the neighborhood.

Town eyes dead end for Heath Street.

LLC to MEPA office–recommending it includes a legal point.

2005 2006 2007-2010

president Mark and Lee Jurman Marcy and Larry Fischer Susan MorleyToby Dewey

vice president Marcy and Larry Fischer

Susan MorleyToby Dewey

secretary Susan Morley Bambi Good Ira Krepchin (Assisting)

Bambi Good

treasurer Seth Levenson Leslie Cohen Marian Lazar

clerk Ira Krepchin


Notice from the Town of Brookline (department of public works) sent to the Mayor of Newton and the Commissioner of Highways regarding the traffic problem in the area.

West Nile Virus confirmed in South Brookline.

Neighborhood needs to respond to the Chestnut Hill Square FEIR document.

Response to the FEIR submitted by the N.E. Development.

2007

Annual meeting

Marian Lazar reported that $25,000 was allocated for work in the Lost Pond area, but she does not think the work will be done.

Many letters and comments of the Environmental impact to the Chestnut Hill Square will have on the area.

Globe: Will Newton go for the dead end?

TAB: Article about the residents support in sealing of Heath Street–also a notice of the Transportation Board meeting in regard to Chestnut Hill Square.

TAB: official open way to dead-end Heath Street.

Notice of Newton Public Hearing in regard to the above letter from the Town of Brookline

Department of Planning and Community Development to the City of Newton Zoning and Planning Committee.

Notice of a discussion of the rear Landfill and Transfer Station. Notice of Route 9 construction and beyond, that The Stack is coming down, Heath Street. Notice of attempted break-in.Extreme makeover at the front landfill addition.

Notice of Selectmen’s meeting Oct.2nd in regard to the discontinuance of Heath Street.

Announcement of an important meeting in regard to Heath Street.

Newton Tab: Approving bigger development part II of Chestnut Hill Square.

Morris Kirsner passed away.

What is in a name–Incinerator Drive should be renamed.

2011–2012 2013 2014

Maria Marrero Chetna Naimi Susan & Paul Trevithick

Sarah & Brett Pangburn

Bambi Good Bambi Good Bambi Good

Marian Lazar Marian Lazar Marian Lazar

Ira Krepchin Ira Krepchin


2008

Annual meeting held on Sunday, March 9th

Notice from the Planning Board regarding demolition of the triple-decker house on the corner of Hammond Pond Parkway and Heath Street.

Update on Heath Street closure.

Update on Chestnut Hill Square.

TAB: Lost Pond to get State grant–New boardwalk at Lost Pond.

The new park at the former front landfill is going to have a grand opening in the Spring.

Marian Lazar suggested that we rename Incinerator Drive and call it Corduroy Road. Susan Morley will submit the idea to the Town’s Naming Committee.

Due to flickering lights in the neighborhood, N.Star came around and checked all the lines.

Coyotes are spotted again in the neighborhood.

2009

The annual meeting was held in March

Update on the development on Heath Street.

More talk about traffic calming on Heath Street.

An engineer is drawing up plans for the Kirsner property.

10 Craftsland Road is up for sale.

The Atlas’s house on Lyon Road was sold and will be developed.

Lots of discussion about Hancock Village.

The invasive Garlic Mustard plant is taking over the neighborhood.

It is time to find a vice president.

2010

The annual meeting coming up in March.

For sale 68 and 84 Craftsland Road.

Celebration of four people who have lived more than 50 years on Craftsland Road: Virginia Adams, Sylvia Brenner, Rose Segal and Ann Sutherland. Each was presented with a mug with picture of their homes (designed by Marian Lazar). (A committee of Susan Morley, president of C.H.V.A., Rita Bartczak, Bente Fortier, Marian Lazar and Edie Raskin went to the member’s home and presented the mugs.

Chestnut Hill Square is planning a smaller-scale mall.

Dreadful night at Craftsland Road–a coyote killed something–the police were called in.

Another e-mail from a neighbor that he had spotted two coyotes in the Macy’s parking lot.

Another neighbor report that a large coyote was spotted trotting by 83 Craftsland Road. Cats are missing.

Many thanks to Susan Morley and Toby Dewey who have done a great job as presidents.

Abe Morgentaler suggests we get a new updated contact list of the members of C.H.V.A.

Abe Morgentaler also says “the strength of this neighborhood is how much everyone looks after each other.”

2011

The annual meeting will be held April 10.

Sightings of deer in the neighborhood.

The Association decided to buy four “little green men” to warn drivers to slow down.

Tab article about Chestnut Hill Square

Notice of the construction of the Chestnut Hill Square.


Globe: article about the Chestnut Hill Square.

Blasting for The Chestnut Hill Square will begin December 1.

2012

Virginia Adams formerly of 80 Craftsland Road passed away.

Notice from our newly re-elected town meeting member Janice S. Kahn about the construction in the neighborhood.

Talk about the traffic calming on Heath Street. Talk about celebration of Craftsland Road or Chestnut Hill Village Association, Inc. (75 years).

Due to work stress, the president of the C.H.V.A. Maria Marrero had to resign in August.

Leaf blower Enforcer.

2013

The annual meeting was held on March 3, 3pm at 10 Craftsland Road.

The following items were on the agenda:

Welcome to Chetna Naimi who was voted in as our new president. Welcome to our new neighbors at 80 Craftsland Road, Preeti and Chatrick Paul who attended the meeting.

Marian Lazar our treasurer gave us her report. The annual dues are $10 which support all of our neighborhood activities, including our annual party, gifts to new and sick residents and the children’s party.

Bambi Good /Ira Krepchin read the annual report.

Janice Kahn, our town meeting member gave us an update what is going on in the neighborhood.

Spring cleanup day was set for Saturday April 27, 9am.

Annual Block Party to be held on Saturday June 8 (in case of rain–Saturday June 15)

Back to school Pizza party, Sunday September 8, 5pm.

Creating a C.H.V.A. list: Sharing information for workers, cleaners, sitters, utility services and so on.

Planning the celebration of 75th Anniversary of C.H.V.A. in 2014.

Later on we welcomed our new neighbors the Pangburns at 3 Craftsland Road.

The Block Party was a great success and the Back to School Pizza party was great fun with a wonderful picture of all the children.

A sizzling Neighborhood Yard Sale took place.

Concerns about the speed bumps removal at Heath Street

Also concerns about the Horace James Circle’s new “Roundabout”.

From the Globe and TAB we learn that the opening of Wegmans is postponed until spring of 2014, but that quite a few restaurants, shops and the sport club “Equinox” in the new Chestnut Square will open in the fall this year.

The Town of Brookline called us twice and warned us about the heat waves and mosquito-born viruses.

From Bambi Good we heard about all the activities that the Town has to offer.

It is with sadness that we learn that Isaih Krepchin son of Ira and stepson of Janice Kahn has passed away.

A meeting was held to discuss the celebration of the C.H.V.A. 75th celebration.

Our longtime former neighbor, Mary Lou Greenhood passed away.


Late in the winter months C.H.V.A. holds its annual meeting where old and new business is discussed and voted on including a report from the Friends of Lost Pond. Nomination of President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary takes place.

Date is set for Earth Day (cleaning up around the area, which we have done since 1975). Date is set for June party which includes children and adults and is held on Craftsland Road. Date is set for early September “Back To School Pizza Party.”

Mini committees meet during the year and deal with such issues as developments, traffic, conservation and other issues which might influence our neighborhood.

CHVA 75th Anniversary Certificate in 2014 (above), and original corporation certificate from 1938 (right)

Chestnut Hill Village Associates, Inc.




At the 1988 meeting of the Chestnut Hill Village associates (C.H.V.A), Bente Fortier noted that the following year would be the fifties anniversary of Craftsland Road, and suggested activities to mark the event. The neighbors embraced the idea with great enthusiasm. It was decide to have a grand reunion, inviting all former residents who could be located, with events of interest to diverse age groups that would mark the special character of Craftsland Road and neighboring Lost Pond.

The success of the reunion is attributable to the skills and hard work of a great many people. Very special thanks are in order for:

Mary Murphy, whose enthusiastic leadership leader ship as president of C.H.V.A. during the early planning stages got the ball rolling:

Virginia Adams, for graciously opening her house for cocktails preceding the alfresco supper:

Janice Edingburg whose communication skills made it possible for past and present neighbors to follow the planning of the event, and who with Bambi Good planned all the children’s events for the day with the help of Marg. Breslin and Frances Lee:

Marian Lazar, who created the Logo that appears on the cover of this booklet, on the reunion T-shirts, the official invitations to the reunion, decorated the banner, and led the tour to Lost Pond:

Bente Fortier and Terry Anne Vigil who researched and compiled this book of memorabilia bridging the past and present, Mark Fortier who photographed the houses, and Mary Murphy and present President Beverly Lilihei who arranged for copying and binding;

Margaret Hopkins, who with the help of Eva Small, will serve refreshments during the event: The neighbors and Mary Louise Greenhood, who arranged the house tour, and Ruth Segal, who with the help of Ann Sutherland, greeted the former neighbors; Michael Good who undertook to record the event on video tape.

50th Anniversary Book Introduction


Bill and Linda Carroll who most generously donated the use of a bus for the outing to the Friday night baseball game which was inspired by the large number of Red Sox players who rented houses on the street in the 1940;

The Food Committee, comprised of Sylvia Brenner, Bob DiLibero, Karen and Lou Edgers, Al Fortier, Jerry Lazar, Beverly Lillihei, Honor McClellan, Susan McNab, Will Murphy, Max Vigil and chaired by Terry Anne Vigil, who with all the other neighbors volunteered to cook delicious variety of ethnic food for more than 100 people----Bill Allen who resumed his traditional as genial bartender;

The present and former neighbors who made generous donations for the event and our treasurer Joseph Segal, who so ably administered our finances; and the true public servants of the Town of Brookline who helped with copying and binding this booklet, for permitting us to shut of the street, and particular for getting Craftsland Road “spruced up” for the event.

We are delighted that so many of our former neighbors are able to come back to Craftsland Road to help us celebrate this special event. We know each one of us will enjoy meeting each other.

The Town of Brookline is comprised of many wonderful neighborhoods, but few have stayed together in the constancy an happy involment that ours has.

The 50th Anniversary CommitteeVirginia AdamsBente FortierJanice EdinburgMarian LazarMary MurphyTerry Ann Vigil


Welcome to Chestnut Hill Village


We have come to appreciate even more what we have here in our neighborhood – qualities which many elsewhere lament not having – neighbors we know and can rely on, friendships, help in a pinch, working together for the common good and annual social activities.Susan Morley in 2013

The strength of this neighborhood is how everyone looks after each other.Abe Morgentaler in 2010

Meet the Neighbors


3 Craftsl and Road

Built by Louis E. RudnickArchitect: Raymond Stowell

1937 1978 The George H. Gies family

1978–1987 The Donald B. Stewart family

1988–1993 Maryellen Mustone and Edward Blum

1994–2013 Jeff & Rene Feurman

2013 Sarah and Brett Pangburn

48 chestnut hill village assocates 48

4 Craftsl and Road

Built 1937 by Louis E. RudnickArchitect: Charles Horton

1937–1971 The John T. Johnson family

1972 Ann and Allan J. Sutherland

75th anniversary booklet 49

9 Craftsl and Road

1038–1960 The Francis L. Garfield family

1960–1976 Blanch E. Hardy

1976 Mary and Robert F. Lucas

Built 1937 by Louis E. RudnickArchitect: C. H. Horton


10 Craftsl and Road

1939–1968 The David Montgomery Wells family

1969–1973 The Dennet W. Withington family

1973–2009 Terry Anne and Max Vigil

2009 Chetna and Timothy Naimi

Built 1937 by Louis E. RudnickArchitect: Raymond Stowell


1939 The Eugene J. Grojean family

1940 The Frederick A. Cosgrove

1941 The Richard V. Wakeman family

1942–1943 The Charles A. Myer family

1944 The James La Tucky family

1946–1956 The Harold M. Gerrish family

1957–1969 The Robert P. Rand family

1969–1988 The William Burchell family

1988 Gregory and Margie Breslin


1 5 Craftsl and Road


1938–1946 The Van Wolf family

1946–1948 The Edward D. Tolan, Jr., family

1948–1952 The John B. Stanbury family

1952–1986 The Lawrence Mason family

1987 Beverly and Craig Lillehei

Built 1937 by Louis E. RudnickArchitect: Charles Horton

16 Craftsl and Road


1938–1953 The John V. Jewett family

1953–1956 The Herbert Kotzen family

1956–1971 The Benjamin Benson family

1971–1982 The Joanne Noonan family

1982 The Schwimmer family

Built 1937 by Louis E. RudnickArchitect unknown

19 Craftsl and Road


1938–1966 The Everett F. Weygant family

1967–1973 The John A. Greely family

1973 Roberta and Kenneth Hoffman

Built 1937 by Louis E RudnickArchitect: Raymond Stowell

22 Craftsl and Road


1940–1960 The Albert Farnsworth family

1960–1980 The Richard W. Thaler family

1981–1997 The Anthony D. Martin family

1997–2004 Charles and Mary Pollard

2004 Susan and Paul Trevithick

Built 1938 by Alan ReubenArchitect: Samuel Glaser

25 Craftsl and Road


1938–1947 The Jarvis Farley family

1947–1949 The Schuyler Hollingsworth family

1949–1973 The Frederick Carreiro family

1973 Karen and Lewis Edgers

Built 1937 by Louis RudnickArchitect: Raymond Stowell

26 Craftsl and Road


1957 The Edward Segal familyBuilt 1956 by Edward SegalArchitect: Fred Lenox



1940–1942 The Charles F. Hovey family

1943 The Carl Fassler family

1944–1945 The William A. Wimstadt family

1946 The Charles F. Hovey family

1946–1962 The Charles Cowen family

1962–1970 The Thomas P. Byron family

1970 Marian and Gerald Lazar


32 Craftsl and Road


1938–1951 The Fred A. McLaughlin family

1951–1962 The James H. Connors family

1962–1991 The Raymond Feinberg family

1991 Barbara Karlin & Linda George

Built 1937 by Northern Building Supply Company, Inc.

Architect: Raymond Stowell

36 Craftsl and Road


1939– 1950 The James J. Brosnahan family

1951–1984 The Marland C. Hobbs family

1984 Mary and William Murphy


42 Craftsl and Road


1940–1953 The Woodbury Hale family

1953 The Louis Brenner family


46 Craftsl and Road


1940–1943 The Hawthaway Mabbett family

1944–1950 The Norman J. Thomas family

1951–2009 The Morris Kirsner family

2010 Keely and Matthew Calkins

Built 1939 by Roland H. MageeArchitect: Raymond Stowell

47 Craftsl and Road


1939– 1967 The Allan Ginty family

1967–1995 The William C. Allen family

1995–1998 The Hillary Winship family

1998–2003 Bellenden Rand Hutcheson and Eva Rosenn

2003 Susan Morley and Talbot Dewey, Jr.

Built 1939 by Allan ReubenArchitect: Samuel Glaser

50 Craftsl and Road


1940–1944 The Fred D. Bennet family

1945–1961 The Thomas J. Noonan family

1962–1970 Joanne Noonan

1970 –1971 The J.H. Dow Davis family

1972–1973 The Dietrich Blumer family

1974–1977 The Malcom Rogers family

1977–1989 The Tracy McNabb family

1989 Edie Raskin and Peter Chubinsky




1940–1980 The John Forbes family

1980 Rita and Norman Bartczak

Built 1939 by Allan ReubenArchitect: Samuel Glaser

56 Craftsl and Road


1940–1950 Gertrud Baldes

1941–1942 The John L. Ward family

1943–1944 Joseph E. and Gertrud Baldes Gallagher

1945–1946 The John C. Merino family

1947–1950 The Edward H. Barry family

1950–1973 The Abraham G. Birnbaum family

1973–2012 Mary Louise Greenhood

2012 Anna C. Thornton and family

Built 1939 by Roland MageeArchitect: Raymond Stowell

57 Craftsl and Road


1941–1943 Mary B. Batchelder

1944–1946 The Crosby G. Hodgman family

1946–1951 The Walter Brooks family

1951–1969 The Felix W. Knauth family

1969–1994 Margaret S. Hopkins

1994–2004 Alice Hutter and David Fram

2005 Gail L. Hoffman and Michael C. Martin

Built 1939 L.E. RudnickArchitect: L.E. Rudnick

62 Craftsl and Road


1940–1974 The James Noonan family

1974–1976 The John Wilson family

1976–1977 The Robert Holmberg family

1977–1983 The John Doggett family

1983–2002 Janice Kahn and John Edinburg

2002 Janice Kahn and Ira Krepchin

Built 1939 by Roland MageeArchitect: Raymond Stowell

63 Craftsl and Road


1942 The Leon M. Lindsey family

1943–1944 The Timothy W. Coakley family

1945–1947 The Lawrence A. Wogan family

1948–1955 The Murray Jay family

1956–1957 The John G. Norris family

1957–1999 The William I. Small family

1999–2004 Alicia and Richard Cleary

2004 Leslie and Dean Cohen

Built 1939 by Roland MageeArchitect: Joseph Selwyn

67 Craftsl and Road


1941–1942 The Alva F. Kendall family

1943–1944 The Williard Bennett family

1944–1946 The Eric Cutler family

1946– 1950 The Robert Millar family

1950–2001 The Joseph Segal family

2001–2010 Lee Rachel and Mark E. Jurman

2010 Pari Pandharipande and Johannes Schlondorf

Built 1939 by L.E. RudnickArchitect: L. E. Rudnick

68 Craftsl and Road


1943 The Millard J. Klein family

1944–1997 The William S. Carroll family

1997–2000 The Russ Hauser family

2000–2007 Lisa Solomon and Lawrence Horlick

2007 Maxine and David Lorraway

Built 1941–1942 by Antonia D’AngeloArchitect: Walter Leberman

70 Craftsl and Road


1943– 1951 The Carl R. Fassler family

1951– 1954 The Hebert Weller family

1954–1962 The James F. Noonan family

1962–1992 The Edmund J. Boles family

1993–1996 The Shigeo Koyasu family

1996 Seth Levenson and John Cunningham

Built 1941 by Craftsland Realty TrustArchitect: unknown

71 Craftsl and Road


1942 The William C. Fortune family

1943–1944 The Alberto R. Lopes family

1944–1945 The Joseph A. Bloomberg family

1946–1958 The Leo Hurwitch family

1959–1965 The Robert J. Green family

1965–1976 The Richard H. Nesson family

1976–1977 The Michael Waxman family

1977 Bambi Z. and Michael Good

Built 1939 by Northern Building Supply Company, Inc.

Architect: L. E. Rudnick

74 Craftsl and Road


1949–1950 The Isadore H. Rudnick family

1950–1971 The Samuel Price family

1971–1974 The Frank Vittimberga family

1974–1985 The Sally Pettus family

1985–1994 Frances and Jack Lee

1995 Gillian and Selwyn Wies

Built 1948 by Five Nineteen Inc.Architect: Roland Uhlin

75 Craftsl and Road


1958–1964 The Frederic S. Clayton family

1964–1970 The Leonard Newman family

1970–1992 The Selig Saltzman family

1992 Marcy and Lawrence Fischer

Built 1955 by Marobe Construction Company

Architect: Fred Lenox

79 Craftsl and Road


1942 The Roger W. Cutler, Jr., family

1943 The Theodore C. Haffenreffer, Jr., family

1944 The Raymond Blatchley family

1945–1948 The Roger W. Cutler, Jr., family

1948–2010 The F. Dennette Adams family

2011–2012 Sunshine Development LLC

2012 Preeti and Chatrick Paul

Built 1941 by Craftsland Realty Trust

Architect: unknown

80 Craftsl and Road


1948–1971 The John Ross family

1971–1974 The Jacob Savitsky family

1974–1977 The Anthony Breuer family

1977–1990 The Finley family

1990 Maria Marreo and Alfredo Ribot

Built 1948 by Five Nineteen Inc.

Architect: Saul E. Moffie

83 Craftsl and Road


1939–1943 Marjorie M. Sprague

1944 The Chester A. Briggs family

1945 The Jerome R. Burn

1946–1952 Marjorie M. Sprague

1953 James W. Slack

1954 Marjorie M. Sprague

1954–1982 Joseph H. Kaplan family

1983–2002 The Tilden family

2002 The Abraham Morgentaler family

Built 1941 by Carl D. HallArchitect: H.M.Ramsay

84 Craftsl and Road


1948–1988 The Charles L. Halpert family

1989–1996 Cynthia Rowe and John Cardillo

1996 Veronica Serrato and Richard Marks

Built 1948 by Five Nineteen Inc.Architect: Saul E. Moffie

87 Craftsl and Road


1941–1965 The Carroll H. Lowe family

1965 Bente and Albert M. Fortier

Built 1940 by Hans Christensen

Architect: G.M. Kreider

90 Craftsl and Road


1940–1944 The Lauris F. Tyler family

1944–1946 The Horace C. Bailey family

1946–1956 The Richard Williams family

1956–1974 The Thomas Kooris family

1973–1977 The Dietrich Blumer family

1977 Agnes and Kevin Clifford

Built 1940 by Certified Homes Inc.Architect: T.G. Armstrong

95 Craftsl and Road


1948–1979 The Harry Stone family

1980–1981 The Roger Cyr family

1981–1984 The Adelman Roger family

1985 Ellen and Robert DiLibero

Built 1948 by Five Nineteen, inc.

Architect: Saul E. Moffie

96 Craftsl and Road


1982–1991 The James K. Watson family

1991–1994 Suzanne and Jonathan Scharfstein

1995–1996 Laurie and Abraham Gorelick

1996–1998 Stephen and Druscilla Pratt-Otto

1998 Kimberly C. Smith and Adam P. Kahn

Built 1980 James K. Watson

Architect: James K. Watson

100 Craftsl and Road


1954–1968 The Clement J. Beaudet family

1968–2008 The Woodward family

2008 Sue Woodward family

Built 1953 by Clement J. Beaudet

Architect: Brundage

290 Arl ington Road, North


1940–1942 Mary Minahan

1943–1946 The Clarence Huntington family

1947–1949 The Robert Kinne family

1953–1980 Howard Fuller family

1980–1981 Vicky and Anthony Cecalupo

1981 Virginia Kreis

Built 1940 Frank Losordo and sonArchitect: C. M. Huntington

302 Arl ington Road North


1893 Arthur Finnegan and family

1921–1937 Rose Finnegan

1939–1940 Margaret and Marion Berry

1941–1947 Thomas Hartigan family

1948–1953 Howard Hines family

1954–1958 Charles Kelleher family

1958–1964 Robert Peterson family

1971–1985 The Hugo Lucas family

1985-1988 Cheryl and Paul Berkowitz

1988–1993 The Honor Mc Clellan family

1994 Marcy and Erwin Frankel

According to a 1980 report by Carla Benka of the Brookline Historical Commission, the 1888 atlas shows no house on this site. By 1893 this house as well as another small one has appeared. It is possible that 790 Heath Street was moved from another location and it is definite that it had been built by 1893. The land was owned by John Mohr (part of the German settlement living up and along Heath/Florence Street). In 1893, Mohr sold the land and house to the Arthur Finnegan Family (no house number was given to the house, but it was known as the Finnegan house and farm land, which is now Lyon Road).

790 Heath Street


1952–1960 Frederick Bailey family

1964–2007 Elizabeth and Louis Weinstein family

2008 Stephen and Kathleen Derany, trustees

Built 1952 by Frederick BaileyArchitect: Joseph A. Donahue

2 Lyon Road


1954–1957 Nina and Cameron Campbell

1957–1968 Lewis Gallant family

1968–1979 The Lawrence Kadish family

1979–1998 The Ruth Dorfman family

1998 Ellen Zhan & Zhijun Luo

Built 1953 C.M. CampbellArchitect: J.P. Dooley

In 2003 the house was totally rebuilt. The architect was Howard Fruitkoff.Construction by JM Construction Co.

1 1 Lyon Road


1952–1956 Sumner Shikes family

1956–1959 Grace and Mary Cunningham

1959–1994 Abraham and Evelyn Ziskin

1994–1995 Cohen–Pelletz

1995 Doris Hanna and Peter Lysaght

Built 1952 by E. J. SarnoArchitect: E. J. Sarno

12 Lyon Road


1967–1968 Helen and Myer Miller

1968–1976 Lillian and Albert Cherry

1977–2010 Myron Atlas family

2008 The House was demolished December 18

2009–2010 The new house was built by Arthur Arbetter

2011 Jennifer Donaldson

Built 1967 by George Nelson, Inc.

19 Lyon Road


1954–1959 The Meledones family

1960–1960 Byrne Bauer family

1960–1961 The Wilburt Marsh family

1962–1963 The Edward Katz family

1963–1964 The George Strokes family

1964–1965 The Harold Berzone family

1965–1966 The William Balestri family

1966 Eva Lucas and family

20 Lyon Road


1958– 1985 Michael Aifer family

1986–2013 Helene Gerstel

27 Lyon Road


1957–1961 Leif Pederson family

1962–1963 Katherine and Robert E. Sargent

1964–1968 Cliffe Joel family

1968–2014 Gladys and Frank Perkin

2014 Shimon Cohen

Built 1957 by Jolin BasiliPeter Haviland, Architect

28 Lyon Road


Twenty-fifth Article – To accept and allow Craftsland Road from Arlington Road extension to the dividing line between Brookline and Newton as laid out by the Selectmen under the provisions of law authorizing the assessment of betterments and reported to the town at this meeting and to authorize the Selectmen to take land therefor, and to make entry for the purpose of construction before all claim for damages are adjusted to determined.

Craftsland Road is a proposed street running from Arlington Road, so-called, to the Brookline-Boston Line. It has been roughly graded for a portion of its length and there are 14 houses already constructed fronting on this street. The residents and owners of vacant land have petitioned the Town to lay out a street under the Betterment Law, agreeing to pay the betterment equal to the full construction. The water pipe and gas pipe have been laid for a portion of the length, but no other underground work has been done. The lines and grades have been established by the Board of Survey. Its acceptance under the betterment law is recommended. Copy of the laying out follows:

We the undersigned, Selectmen of Brookline, gave written notice of our intention to lay out under the provisions of law authorizing the assessment a betterments a street substantially on the line of a private way known as Craftsland Road, from Arlington Road extension to the dividing line between Brookline and Newton, such notice requiring all persons interested to appear before us at our room in the Town Hall, on January 3, 1939 at 4:05 o’clock p.m., and caused such notice to be actually served according to law by a constable of this town at least seven days before the day so appointed for the hearing, upon

Northern Building Supply Co. Everett F. and Edythe S. Weygant

John V. and Frances I. Jewett John T. and Tyyne E. Johnson

Francis L. and Ruth L. Garfield Jarvis and Elizabeth G. Farley

George H. and Ethyle P. Gies Dorothy S. McLaughlin

Lillian M. Wells Alan Reuben

Van Wolff

Excerpts from Report on Town Meeting Articles


being all the parties known to us from whom land may be taken or who may be interested in the subject-matter, and gave notice to them, and all other persons and corporations, if any, who may be interested in the subject-matter whose names are not known to us, by posting up true and attested copies of such notice in three public places in the town seven days at least before the day appointed for the hearing.

Pursuant to such notice, we met at the time and place appointed for the hearing, and heard the remarks and objections of all persons, if any, who desired to be heard, an having viewed and examined the route of the street as hereinafter described, we do adjudge that common convenience and necessity require that the said street should be laid out under the provisions of law authorizing the assessment of betterments as a town way and it is hereby so laid out.

Description of Craftsland Road

Beginning at a point on the southwesterly side line of Arlington Road a point being situated 465.47 feet distance southeasterly from the southerly side line of Heath Street.

Thence running southwesterly by a straight line for a distance of 254.52 feet.

Thence running westerly by a curve to the right having a radius of 1,190.00 feet for a distance of 138.66 feet.

Thence running westerly by a curve to the right having a radius of 285.30 for a distance of 224.14 feet.

Thence running westerly by a straight line for a distance of 77.81 feet.

Thence running westerly by a curve to the left having a radius of 435.00 feet for a distance of 174.86 feet.

Thence running westerly by a straight line of 40.67 feet

Thence running a westerly by a curve to the right having a radius of 485 feet for a distance of 140.45 feet.


Thence running westerly by a straight line for a distance of 112.43 feet.

Thence running westerly by a straight by a curve to the left having a radius of 1,054.84 feet for a distance of 113.42 feet to a point on the dividing line between the Town of Brookline and the city of Newton and taking a width of 25.00 feet on both sides of above described line.

Also beginning at a point on the northerly side line of Craftsland Road as above described, said point being situated 95.22 feet distance easterly from the intersection of said northerly side line of Craftsland Road, and the above mentioned dividing line between Brookline and Newton.

Thence running northeasterly by a curve to the left having a radius of 30.00 feet for a distance 30.13 feet.

Thence a running northeasterly by a straight line for a distance of 97.05 feet.

Thence running northeasterly, easterly and southeasterly by a curve to the right having a radius of 145 feet for a distance of 238.49 feet.

Thence running southeasterly by a straight line for a distance of 41.54 feet.

Thence running southeasterly by a curve to the left having a radius of 335 feet for a distance of 176.90 feet to a point on the previously described north side line of Craftsland Road.

Thence running westerly by the previously described line of the northerly side of Craftsland Road for a distance of 201.61 feet.

Thence running northerly and northwesterly by a curve to the left having a radius of 21.99 feet for a distance of 48.62 feet.

Thence running northwesterly by a straight line for a distance of 41.30 feet.

The last described line is parallel with and 50.00 feet distance southwesterly from a line previously described as having a distance of 41.54 feet.

Thence running northwesterly, westerly and southwesterly by a curve to the left having a radius of 95.00 feet for a distance of 156.25 feet.

The last described line is parallel with an 50.00 feet distance southerly from the line previously describe as having a distance of 238.49 feet.

Thence running southwesterly by the straight line for a distance of 45.01 feet. The last described line is parallel with and 50.00 feet distantly southeasterly from the line previously described as having a distance of 97.05 feet.


Thence running southwesterly and southerly by a curve to the left having a radius of 20.15 feet for a distance of 43.07 feet to a point on the previously described northerly side line of Craftsland Road.

Thence running westerly by the said notherly side line of Craftsland Road for a distant of 112.43 feet to a point of beginning.

For a further identification of this description and location reference is hereby made to a plan and profile made by Henry A. Varney, Town Engineer, dated December 19, 1938, approved by us, verified by our signatures, and adopted as a part of this record. The said street to be constructed in accordance with said plan and profile.

The foregoing description has been compared with the plan and is correct.

Henry A. Varney, Town Engineer January 3, 1939

Schedule showing areas expected to receive benefit and estimates of betterments to be assessed, shown on plan by Henry A. Varney, Town Engineer, dated December 19, 1938.

Description: All land abutting on Craftsland Road within 100 feet of the street.


Expected Frontage Area Betterments to Owner Block Lot Feet Sq.Feet be Assessed

John T. & Tyyne E. Johnson 423 Pt.21 76 17 3,673 $ 342 03

Lillian M. Wells 423 22 70 00 6,867 639 46

Van Wolff 423 23 70 00 7,000 651 84

Everett F. & Edythe S. Weygant 423 24 70 00 7,004 652 21

Jarvis & Elizabeth G. Farley 423 25 70 00 7,000 651 84

Northern Building Supply Co. 423 26 63 00 6,618 616 27

Dorothy S. McLaughlin 423 27 62 00 7,166 667 30

Alan Reuben 423 28 63 00 7,423 691 23

Alan Reuben 423 29 65 00 6,857 638 53










Northern Building Supply Co. 423 39 68 75 11,100 1,033 64

George H. & Ethyle P. Gies 423 Pt.20 73 07 3,893 362 52

Francis L. & Ruth L. Garfield 423 19 67 00 6,463 601 84


John V. & Frances I. Jewett 423 17 67 00 6,593 613 94




Northern Building Supply Co. 423 13-6 814 20 76,000 7,077 14

Northern Building Supply Co. 423 40 219 73 16,500 1,536 48


The estimated cost of constructing the street is $25,000.

The said street so laid out is hereby reported to the town for acceptance, and when so accepted, allowed, and recorded, is to be called Craftsland Road.

The said plan, profile, and this record are this day filed by us in the office in the office of the town clerk.

Wm. J. Hickey, Jr.,Thomas J. Brady,Samuel F. Blanchard,Daniel Tyler, Jr.

Selectmen of Brookline. Brookline, January 3 1939.

Received and filed with plan and profile as stated.

Arthur J. Shinners, Town Clerk Brookline, Mass., January 3, 1939.


For the 75th Anniversary of the Chestnut Hill Village Association the celebration committee decided to see if our longer term residents had recollections to share that would could be included in the re-edition of our association neighborhood book. Interviews were conducted with Sylvia Brenner and Ann and Allan Sutherland.

Interviews by Emma Kahn, Arthur Hoffman, Susan Morley, and Kim Smith.


Interv iew with Sylv ia Brenner 1 1 /2 3 / 1 3

Sylvia Brenner, reigning senior of our neighborhood at 98 years old, agreed to be interviewed despite being in recovery from a recent illness.

Sylvia reported that she was born and raised in Haverhill MA and that she lived a number of other places before moving to 46 Craftsland Road.

In 1953 her husband Louis, a psychiatrist, was finishing a five year contract at a hospital that included housing. The family had to move and Sylvia recalls seeing the house at dusk and loving it at first sight. She, her husband and two children, Mark, 3 and Janice, 1½ moved onto the street in December of that year. At that time there were many more girls than boys on the street to play with, probably 25 in all, and some of the neighbors were very welcoming.

Sylvia recounted how she was struck with how warm and friendly the neighborhood was, how much the children played with one another up and zdown the street and how there was informal competition for beautiful gardens between neighbors.

She also recalls the families skating on Lost Pond, building snow houses and celebrating children’s birthdays in style. Sylvia mentioned that her son has 3 friends from the street that met at age 10 that he has reconnected with and sees annually.

Sylvia also recalls how at one point there was someone who taught all the children Christmas carols and then they went up and down the street serenading the neighbors. There was also a Santa suit that various fathers, including her husband, would wear to surprise children in various homes. During this time many of the families were Jewish and at some point these traditions seemed to become uncomfortable for enough residents that they were discontinued.

During the 50s and 60s children from Craftsland Road went to the Baldwin School (on Heath Street near the Soule recreation area) until third grade. After that there was a choice between the Heath and Baker Schools she recalls. There was bus service near by, stores you could walk to such as the Stop and Shop, Sterns and Filenes. During those years, milk was delivered to the stoop and you could pick up fresh eggs at the farm on Florence Street (where “The Farm” is now located).

Overall Sylvia has always been impressed by the supportive, friendly and engaged nature of the neighborhood!

Sylvia passed away peacefully, on June 19, 2014. She broke a hip two days before the party and died after surgery.


Interv iew with Ann Johnson Sutherl and and All an Sutherl and December 2013

Ann and Allan Sutherland agreed to be interviewed as part of the CHVA 75th anniversary celebration. Ann’s parents, John Theodore “Ted” and Tyyne Johnson, were the first family in the neighborhood. They moved into their home at 4 Craftsland Road in 1937. Craftsland was the first home for Ann and her older brother, William. Ann’s parents lived on Craftsland until 1971 when Ann, Allan, and their sons, Brian and Tommy, moved here.

Ann and Allan shared that when the neighborhood was being built in 1937 and 1938, there were no sewers, and the roads were unpaved. The stone wall which starts at 4 Craftsland and goes up the street to 26 Craftsland (including the walled driveways of each home) was built by the Town of Brookline when the road was made. The homes at 3 and 4 Craftsland were intended to be addressed as Arlington Road when Arlington Road was scheduled to extend through the woods and meet with South Arlington Road. Much of the area was wetlands and woods, and looked very much like the land between Arlington Road and Hammond Pond Parkway does today. The current paths in Lost Pond Sanctuary were bridle paths built by the Conservation Corps. With the exception of some older buildings on Heath Street, most of the houses and buildings surrounding our neighborhood were developed after this neighborhood, including those on Louise Road, Lyon Road, Heathwood, Belmont Road, Hammond Pond Parkway, and the condominiums complexes along Florence Street. The Farm condominium complex was the site of a farm that grew corn, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. The Hampton Condominium complex was the site of The Sidney Hill Country Club.

When asked what neighbors did for a living, Ann and Allan were able to recall the professions of many. Ann’s father worked his way from errand boy to president of A.C. Lawrence Leather Company, a large tanning company. Ann is a retired school assistant and Allan is a retired teacher. Allan explained that his Brookline High School physics teacher, Monty Wells, lived at 10 Craftsland and was a world-class hurdler in the 1930s. The Heath School principal, John V. Jewett, lived at 19 Craftsland. Ethyle Gies, a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, lived at 3 Craftsland and was also remembered for her turkey stuffing. The Carroll Family lived at 70 Craftsland. They owned a gas station and started Carroll Bus Company. Several of the early neighbors were remembered for working for the Town of Brookline. John Forbes of 56 Craftsland was a foreman in the Public


Works Department. Carrol Lowe of 90 Craftsland was a science teacher at Brookline High, and Everett Wygant of 22 Craftsland was a physical education teacher and track coach. (We have several current and retired Town of Brookline employees living in CHVA today.) The Sutherlands said a neighbor named Leslie “Penny” Allen lived on Belmont Road and married actor Tony Curtis.

Ann recalled that for several summers, individuals associated with the Red Sox baseball team rented houses on Craftsland Road. Houses at 10 and 22 Craftsland were rented to professional baseball players. A former Red Sox Coach (Del Baker) and Manager (Pinky Higgins) also rented on Craftsland. Ann shared stories about her friendship with Mr. Higgins’ daughters, Bootsie and Diane Higgins. Ann’s family was invited to all Red Sox games and Ann and Bootsie were the first females to be allowed in the clubhouse. A Boston Braves player named Ebba St. Claire also summered on the street.

When asked about schools, Ann and Allan explained that most of the children attended Baldwin School from grades K-3, and then went to Baker School. However, when the Heath School principal was living on Craftsland, many children attended Heath. Ann shared that in the later years there was a school bus to Baker, but in the earlier years there was never a bus to Baldwin. CHVA students traveled to the high school by public transportation, which ran every five minutes along Boylston Street.

Ann and Allan remember the neighborhood during their childhood. (Allan grew up playing with friends on Craftsland as he lived nearby on Boylston near Hammond Street.) They recalled horses being used to pull items to Healy’s, which was where the nursing home is now at the town line of Newton and Brookline. Mr. Healy was in the landscaping and general contracting business, and stored loam and sand there. Horses would travel on Heath Street and were housed in a barn at the corner of Heath and Hammond Street. Milk deliveries and a bakery truck made rounds in the neighborhood. There was also a knife sharpener who biked a cart around the neighborhood. There were several farms in the area, including one on Florence Street and another near Dane Park. Dane farm was part of the former Dane estate, which is currently where Pine Manor is located. As children, they played at Lowell playground located at the Citizen’s


Bank complex. It was a large playground with tennis courts, baseball and softball fields, basketball area, swings, slides, climbing apparatus, and arts and crafts during the summer months. There was a building with lockers, showers and equipment storage. They said it was a sad day for this area of Chestnut Hill when the town sold the land.

Ann shared many memories of the CHVA clubs from the early years of the neighborhood, including rug hooking, mending, ping pong, bowling, book, theater, and cross country skiing. The rug hooking club would boil wool and go to various houses throughout the neighborhood to hook rugs. Ann’s mom worked on her rug for over 15 years. The mending club served as a way for women to get together. The ping pong club met in Ann’s basement. The cross country club skied in the backyards and sledded as well.

Ann and Allan shared many happy memories of the “oodles of kids” and families who have lived in the CHVA neighborhood.


Margaret S ims Hopkins

When the Time Capsule from the 50th Anniversary of CHVA was opened, it contained the letter below from Margaret Hopkins.

Mrs. Hopkins, a 1933 graduate of Vassar College, lived at # 62 Craftsland Road for 25 years, until she moved to a retirement community in New Hampshire.

Mrs. Robert Hopkins 62 Craftsland Road Chestnut Hill MA 02467

When I came to Craftsland Road in the fall of 1969 as a recent widow it was by way of a series of happy coincidences.

I had been sure for some time that I wanted to move from my present home but not to an apartment though I had no idea where I would find the small house I wanted in a congenial neighborhood.

Early in September I happened to call my sister in Brookline from my summer home to make a lunch engagement and mentioned casually that I was really going to be house-hunting when I came back for the winter. (She was then the agent for Hunneman Real Estate Co. in Brookline and Chestnut Hill).

She said a house had just come on the market which fitted my basic wants (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, space for a garden and an indoor plant window and to attract birds to a feeder.) It had all that, but where was it?. “Quite far out – Craftsland Road – you probably never heard of it”. I had, because we had looked it up on a map when my husband attended the Brookline Thursday Club (men only) a couple of years ago when they had a meeting. “Was it Felix Knauth’s house?” It was, and that was the house in question. It sounded like my kind of neighborhood and too good to be true.

I came in from Ipswich the following day and promptly fell in love. It had everything I wanted and more including a tiny greenhouse, a well established garden and many unusual trees in addition to a well arranged and attractive small house and those beautiful woods at the back door!!. Encouraged by my daughter, I bought it immediately and moved in on December 3, 1969.

I soon learned what a delightful friendly neighborhood it is. Felix Knauth invited me to his farewell party to meet many of my new neighbors and soon after I moved in Edie Hobbs had a tea for me. Then it was the Greelys’ Christmas party and I soon knew most of “the Road”. After 1974 it became my year round home and I had almost 20 happy years here.

This house has filled all my needs so I have not had the pressure for the changes so many people are making to be able to stay here with increasing family needs. A sliding door to a small deck and a larger kitchen window for a better view of the woods and the birds have been my only real changes.

I look forward to several more years here taking part in neighborhood concerns and watching my young neighbors grow up,

Margaret Sims Hopkins


Virgin ia Adams

Virginia Albert (Achtmeyer) Adams passed away at the age of 90 on April 11, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs. Adams filled her 90 years with family, good friends, music and laughter.

Virginia May Albert was born in San Diego, California on May 9, 1921. She was the eldest child of Navy Chaplin, Captain Francis Lee Albert and Fern Olsen Albert of Royal Palm, Florida. Her childhood, as the proud daughter of a Navy Chaplin, brought her all over the globe, including Guam, American Samoa, China, Japan, the Philippines, California and Florida.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude from Carlton College in 1942, Mrs. Adams settled in Long Island and married George B. Achtmeyer in 1944. They divorced in 1958. In 1960, she married Dr. F. Dennette Adams of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Dr. Adams was Consultant Emeritus in Medicine for the U.S. Army, editor of Physical Diagnosis, and was on the Senior Consultant Staff in General Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked for 55 years.

Mrs. Adams worked as a lecturer for the Public Relations Committee, American Delegation, at the United Nations from 1947 to 1955. In 1956, Mrs. Adams earned her pilot’s license and for six years, from 1956 to 1962, she flew in the Civil Air Patrol, retiring as a Captain. Mrs. Adams also graduated from the United States Power Squadron as the first female Navigator on Long Island. In the 1980s and early 1990s Mrs. Adams worked in the Radiology Department of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Mrs. Adams credited her mother, who directed Naval choirs on the military bases where Capt. Albert was stationed, for her passion for the arts.

Mrs. Adams began painting landscapes in the early 1960s, a delight that would last for the rest of her life. Additionally, Mrs. Adams was an active member of the choir at her church, Church of the Redeemer, in Chestnut Hill, and was a member of The Footlight Club in Jamaica Plain, where she stared in plays such as “Auntie Mame,” “The Philadelphia Story,” and “Bells are Ringing” Though she had given up regular exercise years ago, Mrs. Adams’ depression-era upbringing instilled in her a passion for activity and fun. She was a long time member of The Country Club where she was a regular at the pool, swimming daily into her 80s. Additionally, Mrs. Adams also enjoyed tennis and skiing. Her love for the outdoors included her garden in Chestnut Hill where she would entertain regularly. Mrs. Adams is survived by her son, William F. Achtmeyer of Boston, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Virginia Adams moved to #80 Craftsland Road when she married Dr. F. Dennette Adams in 1960. She was one of four residents who were honored in 2010 for having lived on Craftsland Road for more than 50 years. Virginia moved to an assisted living facility at the end of 2010.

Documents

Chestnut Hill Village Associates...75th anniversary 1939 - 2014 5 In the fall of 2013 a few residents began meeting informally to plan for the 75th anniversary of the Chestnut Hill