Going back to the Spencer factory in Boston

[Roscoe Coles]

While I was writing some other things today I got to thinking about a trip I made to the Spencer factory in Boston a n umber of years ago.  I was going back to visit family in Maine and was spending a few days in Boston.  Having read Roy Marcott's book I knew that the Spencers had been built in a section of the Chickering Pianoforte manufacturing Co. in Boston.  I looked up the address and took the MTA out to see the place.  Marcott has an engraving of the place during the War and I was pleased to see that the building looked exactly the same, down to the giant smokestack.  It turns out that the building had been converted into condos and after a talk with the on site manager (I showed her my university ID and cards which say that I am a professor and historic archaeologist) she let me look around the place.  I even got a look inside one of the condos.  It was quite interesting.  None of the machinery remained, even in the engine house, but the floors were original and there were some fireplaces in which forges were once placed.  I wanted to climb up into the little tower at the front of the building but it was not possible.  I did take the lock from my Spencer with me so it has made a pilgrimage back home.  It was a nifty trip and it came as quite a surprise to the building manager that the building had once been a munitions factory.

[Arizona Trooper]

Look back in the archives. I posted a couple pictures of the building and plaques after a business trip to Boston in 2006. I've always wanted a Chickering Piano to hang a Spencer over. They were the favorite of the "Elvis of the Civil War" Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Too bad one wouldn't fit in my living room. That's probably why I stick with Spencers!

[Two Flints]

Three different views of the Chickering Piano Building:







Thanks Roscoe for the thread and Arizona Trooper for the post

Two Flints

[Bead Swinger]

THanks - THat's way cool.