Postcard Collections

It was built in 1904 and designed by the prestigious architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, the successor firm to H. H. Richardson. Built at the corner of Canton Avenue and Reedsdale Road, it was designed as an impressive Beaux Arts design, using buff brick and limestone. It has paired monumental Ionic columns flanking the center entrance, corner quoining and niches on either side, all surrounded by a limestone wall. Above the entrance, atop the cornice, is the seal of the Town of Milton, carved in limestone and surmounted by an amphimion. A large addition was added in the 1950s for the Children's Room and other uses, also designed by the original firm. A major addition to the building, designed by Schwartz/Silver Architects, was recently been completed.

Milton Transfer Station for the Old Colony Street Railway at 287 Reedsdale Road contained an office and a waiting room for Milton commuters. The former transfer station has been converted to a private residence.

Vose School/High School at Central Avenue & Brook Road was designed by Kilham & Hopkins as the Vose School in 1909. In 1917 the building was enlarged (with a gym and locker rooms) to became the new High School, with the Vose School taking over the former high school building behind town hall. The Pierce Middle School was moved into the former Milton High School building at 451 Central Ave., after extensive renovations and an addition to the existing building were completed in 2006.

Built in 1884 by J.H. Burt and Company of Mattapan, the “Milton Lock Up” was a local jail on Wharf Street in Milton Village. A small, one-story red brick and granite-linteled building, it was the first official location of the Milton Police Department, which was established in 1890. In 1906, the Police Department was moved to the former Milton Light and Power Company building on Central Avenue, after which the old jail was leased by the town to the Milton Yacht Club, which was chartered in 1902.

Blue Hills Observatory was designed by Rotch & Tilden and built by J. H. Burt & Co. in 1885 using stone available on site. The observatory was conceived and constructed for Abbott Lawrence Rotch at his own expense and is the oldest continually-operated weather observatory in the country.

Hendrie's name was incorporated in 1930 when Eliot Creamery Inc., the manufacturer of Hendrie's Ice Cream, leased an empty cracker factory at 131 Eliot Street in Milton. In 1940 the ice cream manufacturer expanded to open a Dairy Bar offering meals as well as ice cream treats. The company's demanding standards were echoed in its motto "test by taste." Hendrie's frozen dessert and ice cream business was eventually purchased by H. P. Hood Inc. of Charlestown. The factory has been demolished and replaced with condominiums.