Leary Press

[Bronte]

The very first time that I ever saw the Borden House there was a printing company attached to it and I remember thinking how odd and why was that allowed to happen?I would love to hear the reason for that mistake thanks again for such a informative board I love coming here and just reading all of your ideas and knowledge concerning this murder mystery.I wish each one of you a blessed Holiday Season

[Curryong]

Hi Bronte, thanks. A blessed Holiday season to you too. Please post with us sometimes. We are all learning about the Borden case.
The answer to your question is below. Did you first see the Borden house in the 1990's?

http://www.yankeefoliage.com/mysteries/ ... urders/all

[irina]

There is a long article in the "Lizzie Borden Quarterly" written by an owner of 92 Second who had the printing shop. (I didn't check the link Curryong provided because it's hard to get back if I do, so if that's the one please forgive me.

[Bronte]

Thanks for the link and yes Curryong it was in the early 90's when I first saw the Borden House..I really became interested in the murders after reading the book about William Borden being the killer and back then I actually took that seriously but now thanks to the internet and other research I do not believe that is what happened to Andrew and Abby..Thank God that awful building is no longer attached to the house it looked so tacky the owners certainly did not have good taste when they did that to such a historic and beautiful home

[irina]

Probably because a family that owned a printing business owned the home is the reason it is still with us today. Too bad the barn is gone.

[mbhenty]

During the 20s and 30s fall river had reached it peak in population. Every inch of downtown was being occupied. The Borden house was just another building, one which was close to Main Street and easily converted into a business. At least the yard or lot on the South side was. Homes still dominated the neighborhood as businesses competed for space.

The nice people of the Leary Press gave me a tour of 92 Second Street back around 1973. They couldn’t show me the 2nd level because it was still an apartment and someone was living there. But I got a tour of the first floor with lots of it’s ancient glory. At the time I was working for New England Telephone Co., and I was conducting some work for the Press. In the kitchen on the South side of the house was a door leading between the Borden Kitchen and the interior of the Press Co.

This being said, the people at the Press appeared to have some fascination for the building, which is why it survived while it was in there hands. They appreciated the historical feature behind the crime and its house.

But the reason that that building survives today is by simple accident, fluke twist of fortune, luck. It is very doubtful that it survived because it was the Borden house. Sure by today’s standards, but through the 1900 right up to the 1980s, it was just another house. Fascination for the Borden’s and their properties were not worth a plug nickel in the early half of the 20 century. It survived by total happenstance.

Everything around it was going down. The Bowen house was dismantled, Mrs. Churchill's burnt down, and the Kelly house retained it’s value by having businesses attached to it. Redevelopment, if you can call it that, over Re-redevelopment has destroyed that neighborhood.

When I was a youngster there was very little talk about Lizzie Borden here in fall river. No one talked about her, and if you were a kid, you were reprimanded for doing so. And probably over 90% of the city did not even know where 92 or Mapelcroft was located. I drove by the Leary Press countless times and did not know it was the Borden house until the Leary lady told me and showed me. At the time I took the tour to be kind. She wanted to show me the house with much more desire than I contained to see it. I didn’t really care. The same was true for Maplecroft.

When I was growing up people in fall river just did not talk about the crime. To do so was just as bizarre as talking about making love to sheep. You just didn’t do it.

Interest in the building and the crime started amongst historians in the 60s and 70s. By the eighties everyone wanted to know more about the Bordens and their Properties.

Today it all different. Everyone wants a Jeffery Dammer for an Uncle, or marriage to Charles Manson. How cool is that. No its not. That’s just it. Who cares where Dammer or Manson lived. Who would want to stay in their house? How about those alive in the 21st century? But in the 20s or 30s if the Borden house was demolished no one would care. Today it’s all business. Time changes everything, people and places.

But the truth is that the house survives today thru shear good fortune. Call it a twist of fate. Nothing else.

[Curryong]

Thank you very much for the information, mb. Fascinating stuff. I didn't even know the Churchill house was destroyed by fire. So we owe a debt to the printing company, Bronte, or the Borden house would have been gone with the wind like the others.

It's also intriguing that nobody in Fall River spoke about Lizzie when you were young. It's akin to the earlier generation to which Victoria Lincoln belonged. If people did mention Lizzie and the murders it was in whispers. A sort of shame I suppose, that Fall River had nourished a famed murderess in its bosom. By the 1960's-70's people were far enough removed, two generations from those who had known Lizzie. There's a sort of charm about the Victorian era, too, that draws people today.

[mbhenty]

Victorian era was a great time in history... if you were well off, that is. Still.

I often thought that if I were a teenager today I would probably be into the Steampunk movement. I love steampunk stuff. Very creative and artistic. Very inventive and visual. Either that or I would be a Goth. Closer to what Lizzie would be, probably.

Goths remind me of hippies who were suppose to graduate to Steampunk, but along the way something went very wrong...... or right, depending on your defense.

Instead today I am what the call a Poof. An Old Poof. And I'm happy with that.

[Curryong]

Oh, I would never call you an old poof, mb! I can imagine Lizzie as a Goth actually, (if her father would allow it!) She'd hang out at VampireFreaks and find true love online!

At least if you are poor now there is government assistance of one form or another. In Lizzie's day, if you lost your job and your savings were gone it was total reliance on family, friends and local charities, or starve.

[Bronte]

Great info Mbhenty I am glad that the Borden house survived it would have been a shame to lost a house with its history to re-development..I think another reason I noticed the Leary Press back in the 90's is due to the fact that my hubby has worked as a printer for over 20 yrs..That and the fact that it was a major eye sore..

[irina]

That is all really interesting! Thanks Mb!

I think a lot of why the case still can't be figured out is because people didn't talk. There really weren't any useful urban legends or folklore with kernels of truth underlying, because people didn't talk. There were lots of things even in my family that weren't talked about because certain things were never discussed.

[Curryong]

Yes irina, even quite emotional issues and worries weren't discussed between family members. Mrs Gaskell the authoress once wrote that she never troubled her husband with domestic issues because he had far weightier things on his mind! There have been a few stories of Lizzie that have come down to us but I wish we knew more, far more, about the interactions of the Borden family.