Eagle Feathers #226 – City of Homes

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Through the years, Somerville has often been called The City of Seven Hills. This was a misnomer, because in reality, there were fourteen hills, remembered over time by twenty-eight different names.

She also has been known as a City of Homes. One reason for this is that the municipality is the most densely populated city in New England and has been for the last century. At one time, over 104,000 citizens snuggled into this often-called bedroom community of Boston. Today’s population of 81,906, has almost 20,000 inhabitants per square mile living in over 34,600 housing units.

This city also could have been called an Historic City of Homes.

• Prospect Hill was home to our first American Flag, the Union Flag. It was designed and delivered by Ben Franklin and raised by General George Washington on January 1, 1776.
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• “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” These were the last words of Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale. His last home was a military tent on Winter Hill where he spent the last year of his life in training to be a ranger.
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• Somerville’s Charles Tufts put a house on Walnut Hill in the form of land for Tufts College and land on Professors Row to house its educators.
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• On Paul Revere’s midnight ride to Lexington, the first homes alerted were in Somerville. At the battle’s end the next day, the last homes damaged were in Somerville.
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• After arriving from England, John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, built his first home at Ten Hills. His son John Jr., the first Governor of Connecticut, also lived at the estate.
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• John Woolrich was the first recorded European home owner to live in Somerville. He traded with the Native Americans from his palisade surrounded home which was built in the Dane Street area near Union Square.
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• Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the world’s first outside telephone call from an electrical shop in downtown Boston to the home of his associate, Charles Williams. This historic Somerville home at One Arlington Street can still be seen today.
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• The first home burglar alarm was patented in 1853 by a clergyman, the Reverend Augustus Russell Pope (1819-1858). He lived at the corner of Central and Summer Streets in Somerville.
• It is referred to as General Lee’s House, the second in command under General George Washington, or the Oliver Tufts House. This historic home still stands on Sycamore Street and is said to be the oldest wooden home (circa 1714) in the city.

This list is a drop in the bucket of Somerville’s domiciles and the people who dwelled in them. From homesteads to high-rise and from historic to hip, Somerville is still New England’s City of Homes.