South Main Street, Spring Street, Camp Street, Beach Street, and William Street.
This map is derived from part of a December 1914 map of Vineyard Haven made by the Sanborn Map Company of New York.
Numbers and KEY added by Stan Lair, c. 1980.
KEY.
Notes in Quotation Marks by Stan Lair, c. 1980.
21. "Thomas Murrant -- Carpenter (Chapman House)"
"The building on the corner of the little lane which goes up there - we always called it Laura Johnson's Lane, it's actually Camp Street - was Tom Murrant. And he lived there for a long time. Finally Clarence Chapman lived there, still lives there in fact, his family. Old Tom, he was a cantankerous old sole. In those days, back then, the night before the Fourth was a big time. And in fact my parents would give us permission to stay out all night that night, and the boys would go out and just raising the dickens. Turning over outhouses and putting wagons on roofs and all that stuff. Old Tom - they turned over his outhouse once, and he was in it! After that he really patrolled that area on the night before the Fourth. Clarence Chapman lives there now, or his widow lives there. Clarence did run a flower garden up in back of his home, and he did work for the telephone company, also."22. "Clement West -- Stableman Mansion House Barn Main St."
"Occupied by Clem West at one time, Clem West's family. He ran the livery stable in the Mansion House barn. I believe he drove a peddler's cart around at one time. I don't remember what he sold, though. It finally wound up in the Roth Family, Dr. Roth's family. I don't know who owns it now - I know it's been sold."23. "Lucinda St. John -- (Co-op Bank)"
"the Cooperative Bank building actually now, well it - a little history connected with this one. It was built in the 1800's by Capt. Matthew Luce, and eventually came into the possession of Mrs. Grafton L. Daggett who was living there the day of the fire in August, 1883. As the fire rushed nearer, Mrs. Daggett spread quilts and heavy blankets on the roof, and wet them thoroughly, bringing water in buckets up through the skylight. Desperately she called for help. A completely unknown young man appeared, and said he came from a vessel in the harbor. And he promptly began carrying the heavy buckets to the roof. When the fire was finally over, the young man disappeared, leaving his hat which he had laid aside. He never came back for the hat. This bit of information was in the little pamphlet, Old Houses of Vineyard Haven, and I believe it was complied by Doris Hough.Also in this same building, Dr. Cosgrove had his office for quite awhile. I think that was just previous to the Coop Bank getting in there.
24. "Samuel Look -- Abbot L. Baker -- (Chipman House)"
"The building that was in Brickman's parking lot is now gone. It was torn down to make a parking lot. It was owned by the Look Family, Look sisters, I believe. Connected with Tashmoo[?] Farm, anyway. Ray and Clara Chipman lived there for quite a few years, with their family. Then it was later made into apartments, and eventually was torn down."25. "Foster H. Jenkins -- Paint Store"
"What they called Jenkins Paint Shop which is now Brickman's. ... The first thing that we remember is a fountain, the famous fountain - horse fountain, combination fountain for horses and a bubbler for people. On the sidewalk side. It incidentally is being activated again by Bill Honey. This is May, 1979. And Bill is trying to put it back the way it used to be, but he located it now between the Martha's Vineyard National Bank and the Ben Franklin store.
Well next to the fountain, directly in back of the fountain, was Jenkins' Paint Shop. It is now part of Brickmans'. Later it became Hinckley and Renear Undertaking Parlor, and I believe - yeah, I know - it's now Brickman's Toy Shop, with bicycles in the rear."
26. "Swift Brothers -- Grocers (Brickmans)"
"William Swift Grocery Store. Then a few gift shops were in there, and now it is Brickman's store."27. "Hatch Express -- Luther P. West Mgr."
"[This] building was Hatch, and then later Adams Express headquarters, operated at the time by Luther West, and then John and Laura Johnson for a number of years. I believe they operated it when it was Adams Express. Eventually they moved out of there, and down onto Union Street. It is now a silver shop, operated by Mark Lender.28. "Frank Golart -- Street floor, Tisbury Water Works"
"Where Dave Golart's clothing store is the Frank Golart building. That was Dave's father. Frank lived on the second floor. He repaired bicycles up in the back and he worked for the telephone company. Tisbury Waterworks office was on the street floor for several years.""Frank Golart worked for [Dr. Lane]. In those days, Frank worked as a telephone man, and he did work for Dr. Lane. Later he worked for the Bell Telephone Company. Frank was one of the heroes in that 1898 Gale. One of the group of men who went out and rescued a lot of people off the sunken vessels out there. I believe they all got medals for that. He also repaired bicycles up in his backyard."
29. "William H. Hammond -- Barber - Hairdresser"
"Next is the barber shop, operated by a colored man by the name of Barber Hammond, we always called him, and a Mr. Penney operated it, and then a fellow by the name of Charlie Bell. These were all barbers, operated it. And then Charlie Bell rented the upstairs rooms, and called it the Hotel Plaza. Charlie was a sight to behold, strolling the Main Street with a derby hat and cane, light colored spats and a carnation in his jacket button hole. Always smoking a large cigar. He drove an auburn car. Charlie was Italian, and he was liked by everyone. It is now Bert's Barber Shop. [To the north] there was a vacant lot, now Brickman has a mini-mall at that location."30. "Sherman T. Meara -- Shoe Store -- Dr. Davis Office"
"On the corner of Main and Spring was a building owned by S. T. Moray[? Meara?] who had a store on one side, and the other side was Dr. Davis' office. Dr. Davis was a man of tremendous size. He had to have the steering wheel of his Model T made special so he could get his stomach in the car. It was ordered special by Walter Renear, who then was a Ford dealer, and was hinged in some way so it could be moved forward to allow for his tremendous size. As I remember seeing that thing it seemed to be mounted off-center, also. The steering column came up right near the front of the wheel. The building was later the Come & See Shop. Judal[?] Brickman made his start in the rear of this building. He had a small room there, and he was repairing shoes, and he worked there night and day. He later moved to the Mosher building, across the street."31. "Elmer Chadwick -- Blacksmith"
"Elmer Chadwick. He ran a blacksmith shop over on the Beach Road. He was a very good blacksmith. Most of his blacksmithing was done after the horses I believe. Although he did shoe horses I believe but his main job was iron work, andirons, worked on cars, car frames, straightened them out and that sort of thing. He was a good blacksmith. He was also the fire chief for a long time, of Vineyard Haven, and his hobby was raising Dahlias. He had quite a Dahlia garden up in his back yard there. Some real pretty ones."32. "Mrs. Eddy -- (Sam Brush's Mother)"
33. "Stephen C. Luce -- Postmaster"
"S. C. Luce Sr.'s house, on the corner of William and Spring Street. That'd be Carey Luce's father. Probably Carey must have grown up in this house, too, 'cause I think the father owned it for a long time."34. "George H. Swain"
"The George Swain House. I remember George Swain. He was a big man, heavy man, but he seemed to live there all alone in my memory. I don't know whether he was ever married or not, be we do remember George Swain."35. "Rose + Charles Vincent"
"Across the little lane - I believe it's Camp Street, we always called it Laura Johnson's Lane but it's Camp Street - was the Josiah Mayhew House. I believe it was owned by an Upham at one time."
Do you have any memories or photographs of these homes and businesses that you would like to share? Email me!
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