Introducing "This Week in Brookline History"

This Week in Brookline History (TWIBH) is a new blog and email feed being introduced for 2023.

Once a week, TWIBH will present brief summaries of four events that occurred in the past on that week's dates.

The summaries will be accompanied by photos, maps, sketches, news headlines, or other illustrations. Links to further information, where available will also be included.

An example, covering the week of January 1st to January 7th, is previewed below, but new weeks' entries will be on a separate site beginning January 1st. 

To receive these weekly TWIBH posts by email, go to https://bit.ly/brooklinehistory and submit your name and email address via the form. (You can use the same form to subscribe to the more sporadic posts from this Muddy River Musings blog, if you are not already subscribed.)

This Week in Brookline History:

January 1st -- January 7th

January 1, 1897 - Opening of Brookline Public Bath House
January 4, 1925 - Dedication of Temple Kehillath Israel
January 6, 1976 - Fire at St. Paul’s Church
January 5, 2002 - Helicopter accident at Parsons Field

January 1, 1897
Opening of the Brookline Public Bath House
The Brookline Public Bath House on Tappan Street (seen above) was described as “the first municipal, all-the-year-round bathing establishment in the United States.” (American Journal of Sociology, January 1900).

Designed by architect F. Joseph Untersee, it featured a 24’ by 80’ pool with heated water and heated floors around the edges. Other spaces were soon added, including a hair-drying room for women. (Separate times were set for use of the pool by men and by women.)

The Public Bath building was torn down in the 1950s and replaced by a new pool building, now known as the Evelyn Kirrane Aquatics Center. A remnant of the original building, with the motto, “The Health of the People - The Beginning of Happiness” is embedded in the brick wall of the building.

Read more at Brookline Public Bath: Reports of the Building Committee and of the Committee on Care and Management (1897)

January 4, 1925
Dedication of Temple Kehillath Israel
Kehillath Israel, Brookline’s oldest Jewish congregation, first met informally in 1910 and incorporated in 1917. The congregation met in various homes of members for several years.

Plans for a the KI synagogue were announced in 1922. The cornerstone of the new building, on Harvard Street just north of Coolidge Corner, was laid in 1923.

Boston Globe sketch, June 4, 1922

January 6, 1976
Fire at St. Paul’s Church 

Boston Herald photo by Ray Lusier, January 7, 1976

The Gothic Revival St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, built in 1852, is the oldest still-standing church building in Brookline. The interior of the sanctuary was devastated by a fire in 1976, leaving only the exterior walls.

The congregation, as described on the church’s website, could have given up what had been lost and move on to other churches, but decided to rebuild the interior.

January 5, 2002
Helicopter accident at Parsons Field
Two U.S. military helicopters were practicing landing at Parsons Field on Kent Street, used by Northeastern University, in preparation for the planned arrival of President George W. Bush three days later. Wind generated by the propellors of one of the Chinook helicopters knocked over a baseball dugout on the field seriously injuring four Brookline firefighters.

Headlines about helicopter accident

Two of the firefighters retired due to fractures and other injuries suffered in the accident. Two others missed several months of work. The planned landing by the president — coming to Boston for a speech — was moved elsewhere.

Five years later, the four firefighters were awarded a total of $3 million in a settlement reached with the Federal government. The town received an additional $800,000 to cover payroll, medical fees, and other costs that resulted from the accident.