Lizzie Borden Society Forum

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We're OT already!??
When you go to my profile - under "Posts" there is a place to click on "Gallery" and there are 2 pics in there.
I like your AVATAR!

Kat,

The yellow sky over the court building just may be what it looked like on some days back in 1893 with all the coal smoke from the mills in the air. . .

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That's interesting.

I can find the address and post them like I used to, if I have to.

Here's another. This may be where the field was with the cow mooing during the trial?

Wow! I've been gone for a day and so many changes! Great pictures, Kat! The last one of the field isn't showing. Hope this comes through okay, this is a bit different from the last forum setup.

Wow! I've been gone for a day and so many changes! Great pictures, Kat! The last one of the field isn't showing. Hope this comes through okay, this is a bit different from the last forum setup.

Moo.
How about now, is it showing?
Of course there is not still a field...
Just a lot of old winter grass

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Kat @ Today - 07:43 am wrote:Moo.
How about now, is it showing?
Of course there is not still a field...
Just a lot of old winter grass

Yes, I see it now, thanks, Kat! For some reason, I always got the impression that the court house was in the middle of town, it seems so secluded there.

The court house is in the middle of town, on County Street, overlooking downtown New Bedford, which drops down rather steeply toward the Acushnet River. The old New Bedford High School is right next door across Court Street. Kat just managed to take photos that make is look more isolated than it actually is.

Nice Pics, Kat! Thanks for posting them.

Gramma

Wonderful pictures, Kat! I really love the enhanced effects too. (Please be patient with me if I mess up for a while on here: the new format has great advantages, but I keep getting confused when doing the simplest things.)

--Lyddie

great pics ! I had jury duty at this court house once. I wonder if it was in the same courtroom as lizzie. I remember a large painting of Mr. Hosea Knowelton on the wall.

I'm posting all over tonight, trying to navigate new
forum, this one got me, can't get the pictures.
I got half of one.

Mark A. @ Today - 09:05 pm wrote:great pics ! I had jury duty at this court house once. I wonder if it was in the same courtroom as lizzie. I remember a large painting of Mr. Hosea Knowelton on the wall.

When I was in a jury pool there, the bailiff explained that we were in the same courtroom where Lizzie was tried and he pointed out where she sat.
My mother-in-law says that she was told the story when she served, too.

Thanks, FairhavenGuy. So the courthouse is surrounded by other buildings and in the middle of town. :-)

In the photo above, you can see the old New Bedford High School on the right. Its the building made of buff colored brick. Toward the right is the more modern addition to the courthouse.

My original family doctor, the guy who delivered me 46 years ago this morning, had his office in a house on Court Street right behind the courthouse. Man, how I used to dread going there!

EDIT: Sorry, it's not the photo above. Kat sneaked in a couple more when I was posting.

Notice the buildings to the right

"In the photo above, you can see the old New Bedford High School on the right. Its the building made of buff colored brick. Toward the right is the more modern addition to the courthouse.

My original family doctor, the guy who delivered me 46 years ago this morning, had his office in a house on Court Street right behind the courthouse. Man, how I used to dread going there!"
--by Christopher

(I moved this here in proper order- because the comments were very interesting)

Is it to the left a more modern addition?
Because I was trying to find one of those late 1800's Panoramic Maps for New Bedford, to find out where the field was in 1893 and there is no map. If you know the left side is newer, maybe that is where it was?

Yes, Kat, I'm sorry I screwed up my second "right."

The part of the Courthouse building with the columns is the original section. The newer addition to the Courthouse is on the LEFT side.

To the RIGHT of the Courthouse is the old High School, which is the buff colored brick building. I'm not sure when that was built.

I just looked at a New Bedford map from 1847 and it shows the courthouse as the only building on that whole block, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. There is an 1895 Bristol County atlas with a New Bedford map, but I don't own it. That would show what was there more precisely.

Thank you so much- I appreciate it.

Along these same lines, I often mean left and write right.
I have had to actually change the writing on photos because of that! I thought I was the only one.
It was obvious what you did mean but I wanted to be clear. I wish I could find out how old that side street is on the right.

The left part of the courthouse looked so connected that I was hesitant to think it wasn't original. Now it seems the cow in the field may have been over there.

The side street on the right, now Court Street, is on the 1847 map of the City of New Bedford by E. Thompson. On that map it was called Morgan Street.

I'll see what I can find out about the courthouse building. I have a great book "Guide to New Bedford" by Barbara Clayton and Kathleen Whitley, Capital City Press Inc., Montpelier, VT, 1979. Unfortunately the "County Street Tour" ends just short of the Superior Court building. It does have a photo of the Hosea M. Knowlton house at 350 Union St., though.

The Superior Court House was built in New Bedford in 1831, designed in the Greek Revival style by Russell Warren. In 1899, an addition, designed by Nat C. Smith, was added to the rear. This addition replaced the stables that had previously been used by the lawyers. Those same stables had served as a makeshift telegraph office for reporters during the Lizzie Borden trial. A second addition was added to the left side in 1953.

Unfortunately, Kat, that side door seems to be right at the junction of the original building and the 1899 addition. I still don't know if it was there or not in 1893.

Kat,

What you outlined on the right, Court Street, side of the building in Stef's photo is the 1899 addition. The new photo just catches it from a different angle and the perspective is distorted.

The building you outlined directly to the left, behind the sign, is the 1953 addition. In the old photo you're seeing a building further away, possibly even on Union Street.

Page 3 of the Evening Standard, Monday, June 5, 1893, describes the setup of the newspaper and telegraph offices behind the court house, where the 1899 addition now stands.

It also says that Lizzie went in through "the Court street entrance. . ." so that side door might be original.

Here's what appears to be a 7 year old article about the Courthouse --bemoaning its run-down condition. Hopefully something has been done about the problem.

http://www.s-t.com/daily/05-97/05-11-97/a01lo002.htm

" The state owns the newest buildings -- such as the $15.4 million newly renovated probate, juvenile and housing courthouse at the old Durfee high school in Fall River..."

So that's what became of BMC Durfee High.
Also that picture at the bottom right shows the checkered floor of the Fall River Probate Court- so as not to get mixed up with this courthouse shown.
When we were there it was very well-kept, but we didn't go inside.

One of those guys (D) talking said he wanted a NEW courthouse- did ya notice?!
Thank you for the article- it is timely even at 7 years old!

The photo of the houses across the street from the courthouse, they look original, like that may have been Lizzie's view in her day if she was looking out front at all. Nice pics, Kat and FairhavenGuy, very cool!

With all that has been going on I have only been glancing at this thread. It took until now to realize you gals took the pictures on the birthday, March 6th, of Gertrude M. Russell. When the trial was going on she was only 4 years old and her father was foreman at Pairpoint Glass in New Bedford. I'll bet her parents, Minerva and Addison were very interested in the goings on in town. I wonder if Minerva walked the kids over to view the comings and goings at all. In 1889 they lived at 33 Rockland Ave. The youngest of their other children when Gertrude was born was Frederick Clark Russell, b.23 Feb 1878. Although he was about 15 he was "slow" so would have been home but the rest were basically grown and probably working on their own. With only the two to watch I imagine Minerva could have managed a walk or two in the direction of the courthouse. That said, it was not the family nature to "poke their nose in other people's business" so she may have ignored it entirely.

Gramma

To refresh memories here:
Rebello, 289
"Gertrude M. (Russell) Callow was employed as a live-in domestic from 1912-1913. Miss Russell
was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, March 1889. She was the daughter of Addison E. and Minerva F. (Hubbard) Russell and sister of William E. and Frederick C. Russell. Miss Russell was first employed as an operator at the Kerr Thread Mill, a domestic for Miss Borden and a clerk. She later married John W. Callow (1883-1967), who was first employed as a weaver, gardener and a sexton at the Church of Ascension in Fall River. The Callows resided in Fall River. Mrs. Russell died in Fall River, February 25, 1968, at the Home for the Aged (now Adams House, a rest home). She was survived by a daughter, Mrs. Harold C. (Virginia) Taylor; and a son, Mr. John R. Callow. Mr. and Mrs. Callow are buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River."

--This would be "Gramma's" Grandmother.