Lost Melrose, Volume Four

In this installment of Lost Melrose, we look back at 87 Essex Street, one of more acrimonious demolitions of recent memory.

The history of this house begins with one of the strangest deeds in Melrose history. In 1852, Joseph Boardman sold Wilson R. Parsons this plot of land with the following stipulation: “If the said Parsons remains here one year he is to pay two hundred dollars for the land; if two years one hundred dollars; and three years the land is his.” Boardman was a member of Melrose’s Methodist church, and they had just hired Parsons to serve as their pastor. Since Methodist pastors were itinerant, they often stayed for a term of only one year. This deed was an inducement for Parsons to tarry longer. It worked. He stayed for the full three years, had this house built, sold it in 1855 for $2550, and then moved to Ohio.

In 1878 the house was purchased by real estate developer Sidney Buttrick. Buttrick would serve as one of the last Melrose town selectmen, one of the first city aldermen, and as the second mayor of Melrose. Buttrick died suddenly in 1909; his wife, Sarah, would live in this house until her death in 1924.

In 1952 the house was purchased by Don Hooton, a vaudeville entertainer who would also serve as an alderman. Don died in 1981, but his wife Erna Hooton-Koester continued to reside here for another 25 years, until her death in 2016. Erna was a classically trained singer from Germany, whose voice was heard in the Polymnia Choral Society for over 50 years, and at Trinity Church for nearly as long.

At the time of Erna’s passing, the house contained four residential units. A developer purchased the site who was determined to demolish it and build a nine-unit structure in its place. There was an outcry against the development from neighbors and the Historical Commission gave a statement on the significance of the house. Before gaining any approval for his plans, the developer demolished the property. It remained a vacant lot for three years.

Eventually, that developer sold the land to a new developer who managed to gain approval for an eight-unit residential building that is now nearing completion.