Baldwin House, Main Street - Charleston, Boston Mass.

Baldwin House, Main Street. This house originally fronted on Main Street, between School and Salem Streets, having been built by James Harrison on about an acre of land extending back to High Street. In the garden behind the house, there were grown grapes and currants, raspberries, apples, cherries, pears, peaches and plums. Beautiful flowers filled borders on each side of the front walk and doorsteps. On the High St. end of the estate at the corner of Salem St., James Harrison's father built the double brick house still standing there. Col. Loammi Baldwin, who had maintained his engineering headquarters in Charlestown since 1808, lived in this house from 1828 to 1838. Prof. Vose of M.I.T. wrote in 1885: "No man so well deserves the name of Father of Civil Engineering in America as Loammi Baldwin .. there were very few works of internal improvement carried out in America during the first 30 years of the present century with which Mr. Baldwin was not connected." The library of Col. Baldwin was said by competent judges to have been "the largest and best professional library of engineering works that was to be found in America." A brother, George R. Baldwin, lived in the house until the estate was sold about 1870 to be made into small house lots on the sides of the present Lawnwood Place; and the Baldwin House was moved to 15 School Street.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library