First Settlers
The three earliest families to settle in Brighton were the Danas, Sparhawks, and Champneys.
The Sparhawk family owned an estate that extended from the rear of the present Brighton Police Station all the way to Western Avenue. Sparhawk Street was laid out across this land in the 1870s. A Sparhawk family mansion, built in 1803, still stands near the corner of Sparhawk and Murdock Streets.
The name Murdock derives from Hannah Murdock, wife of Nathaniel Sparhawk III. Brighton historian J.P.C. Winship described Hannah Murdock as a "woman of remarkable ability and energy." When her husband died in 1777 while serving in the Revolutionary Army, leaving her with the support of a large family, she earned enough to pay the mortgage and save the Sparhawk property for her children by working with her needle.
The Champney family occupied a house on the northern side of Washington Street above Oak Square. The last member of the family to occupy the Champney homestead was William Richards Champney, a long-time Brighton Selectman and Town Treasurer, who died in 1884. Champney Street was laid out across his property in the 1880s.
Other early settlers include the Gardners, Holtons, and Jacksons.
The Gardner family came to Brighton from Brookline in the mid-1700s. In 1747, they owned 110 acres of land in Allston, running along both sides of Harvard Avenue (the Roxbury Highway). Gardner Street, which dates from 1841, was laid out across a portion of this extensive property.
The most famous member of this family was Colonel Thomas Gardner, an important political figure in Revolutionary Massachusetts who died leading his regiment in the Battle of Bunker Hill. His circa 1750 residence, the Gardner homestead, located originally at the northwest corner of Brighton and Harvard Avenues, was in the 1850s moved to Higgins Street near Union Square, where it still stands, the oldest surviving building in Allston.
The Jackson family of Brighton was an offshoot of the principal founding family of Newton. Edward Jackson, grandson of Edward Jackson of Newton, married Susanna Dana and moved to Brighton about 1750. He kept a tavern in Brighton Center where the Cattle Fair Hotel would later be built, on Washington Street just west of the Market Street intersection. Three generations of Jacksons were Brighton tavern keepers. Later generations of the family made their living from the slaughtering and horticultural industries. William Jackson served as the City Engineer of Boston in the 1890s. He was the engineer of both the Longfellow and Harvard Bridges across the Charles River. His residence still stands at the southwest corner of Chestnut Hill and William Jackson Avenues.
James Holton, was born in 1800 in the family homestead on Faneuil Street on the site of the present Faneuil Project. Holton accumulated a substantial fortune in the mercantile trade. When he died in 1863, he left large sums of money to several Brighton institutions. Among the bequests was $3,000 to help finance the establishment of a public library. This library was at first housed in the Town Hall. When it acquired its own building in 1874, the structure assumed the name the Holton Library.
Foster Street was named for the Rev. John Foster, who became the minister of the First Church of Brighton in 1784, serving in that capacity for over forty years. In 1785, Foster married Hannah Webster, the daughter of Grant Webster, a wealthy Boston merchant. With the publication in 1797 of a novel, The Coquette, Hannah Foster became America’s first native-born woman to produce such a work. The Coquette caused a sensation, "taking precedence in interest," one source tells us, "at least throughout New England, and was found in every cottage within its borders, beside the family Bible and, though pitifully, yet almost as carefully treasured." The Fosters lived in a rambling mansion on the site of the Franciscan Sisters of Africa Convent on Foster Street.
Parsons Street was named for Gorham Parsons, who owned a 70-acre estate called Oakland Farms on the western side of Brighton Center. Oakland Street crosses the former Parsons Estate.
The Parsons Mansion, a 17th century structure, stood at the northern end of this estate facing Faneuil Street. According to Winship, Parsons spared no expense in the cultivation of his Brighton estate. A brook was diverted to create ponds and waterfalls. Bridges spanned the ponds which were full of swans and geese. A flower garden and summer house stood nearby.
Parsons served as Brighton's state Representative in 1820, and is credited with having prevented the building of the Boston & Worcester Railroad through Brighton Center. He was also a noted horticulturalist who helped found the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1829.
Duncklee Street was named for the family of John Duncklee, who purchased 17 acres of the Parsons Estate and the mansion when Gorham sold his Brighton property and moved back to his native Byfield, Massachusetts in 1837.
Brooks Street was laid out in 1848 across Brighton's largest farm, belonging to Samuel Brooks, who came to Brighton from Townsend, Massachusetts about 1800. Brooks first lived in a house at the southwest corner of Foster and Washington Streets, but eventually purchased an estate in the Faneuil section that had formerly belonged to Samuel Sparhawk. The Brooks homestead still stands on Hobart Street. George Hobart Brooks inherited the estate from his father, which he farmed until his death in 1892. Hobart Street was officially laid out in 1888 across another portion of the Brooks property.
Warren Street was named for one of Brighton‘s most distinguished families. Josiah Warren came to Brighton from Waltham just before the Revolution. He served at Bunker Hill as a lieutenant in Col. Thomas Gardner’s regiment. Josiah’s son, William, an officer in the War of 1812, ran the Bull’s Head Tavern on the site of 201 Washington Street, which was the original site of the first Brighton Cattle Market before it moved to the grounds of the Cattle Fair Hotel in Brighton Center about 1830.
Another family member, William Warren II operated the first store in Brighton, a combination apothecary shop, grocery store, and depot for the sale of school books, which stood on the site of the present Warren Building in Brighton Center. William Warren also served as town clerk from 1835 to 1857, as well as state representative, selectman, and school committee member. His brother, Joseph, had earlier served as Brighton's first town clerk. Joseph's son, J.L.L.F. Warren, owned the Nonantum Vale Gardens at the corner of Lake and Washington Street.
William II]s son, William Wirt Warren, was instrumental in securing Brighton’s annexation to Boston in 1874. He subsequently served in the U.S. Congress.
In 1885 a nephew, George Washington Warren, founded the Brighton Item (later the Citizen-Item), the community’s first regular newspaper . Warren Street, which originally included Kelton Street, was put through in 1889 and named in honor of William Warren II, the long-time town clerk.
Winship may well be the most important name in the history of Brighton. Winship Street commemorates the many contributions this remarkable family of imaginative entrepreneurs Winships made to the history of this community over the years. Just before the Revolution, Jonathan Winship of Lexington settled in Brighton. In 1775 he and a son, Jonathan II, founded the local cattle industry to help feed General Washington’s Continental Army, headquartered in nearby Cambridge. By 1790, the Winships were the largest meat packers in Massachusetts.
The family mansion, dating from 1780, stood on the site of the Brighton Police Station. Two of Jonathan II's sons, Captain Jonathan, a China trade merchant, and Francis Winship, founded Brighton’s horticultural industry in 1817. In 1820, they laid out 47 acres of decorative grounds, Winship's Gardens, at the intersection of Market and North Beacon Streets. Brighton's first railroad depot was built at the center of Winship’s Gardens in 1834. The present Vineland Street, which runs through the heart of the site, commemorates these gardens in its name.
Breck Avenue on Nonantum Hill was named for Joseph Breck, the famous horticulturalist, who came to Brighton from Medfield, Mass. in 1836. A noted horticulturalist, he was the editor of the Massachusett’s Farmer and the sixth President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, serving from 1859 to 1862. The Joseph Breck & Son Seed Company, which he established with his son, Charles H. B. Breck, also of Brighton, was one of the leading businesses of its kind in the country. The Breck residence stood on Washington Street in Oak Square, between Nonantum and Tremont Streets. Breck’s Gardens stood to the rear of the residence, on the site now occupied by the Oak Square School.
First called Crescent Avenue (originally it included Glenley Terrace and was crescent-shaped), Breck Avenue dates from 1846, having served originally as a carriageway to the Horace Gray Mansion atop Nonantum Hill. The avenue received its present name in the early 1900s.
Cushman Road, off Murdock Street, was named for Hiram Cushman, a Shepard Street resident, who operated the earliest express service between Brighton and Boston.
Fairbanks Street was named for the Fairbanks family. Jacob Fairbanks, who owned the land through which the street passes, was a leading Brighton cattleman, who also served as President of the Market National Bank of Brighton and the Brighton Abattoir, which was established on the banks of the Charles River in North Brighton in 1872.
Source: Allston-Brighton historian Dr. William P. Marchione