If Walls Could Talk, What Would Your Home Say? Research Your Home Tutorial

Just over a century ago a Government Research Laboratory opened in Melrose. According to a government report issued in 1911 from the USDA Bureau of Entomology: “After considerable search, Mr. Kirkland found a lease for a term of years in a commodious house at Melrose Highlands.  The building was remodeled so far as necessary to fit for the work.  The grounds in back of the house were sufficiently ample to enable the building of several outdoor laboratories, properly screened and ventilated, which were planned and erected under the direction of the junior author.  The building is well warmed, lighted and with electricity, and, being close to fire protection, possesses many advantages over the old laboratory.  Moveover, it is much nearer the central office in Boston, enabling an important saving of time in sending to the laboratory shipments of parasites received from abroad.”

As the excerpt above illustrates, many of the beautiful homes, properties, and people of Melrose have an interesting and unique history.  Between 1907 and 1931, one single home on one single street in this city became the epicenter of Government Research for suppressing the invasion of Gypsy Moths and Brown-Tail Moths.  These invasive moths, accidentally released by a Professor in Medford in 1869, were wreaking havoc by defoliating the orchards, forests, and trees of many New England areas.  The Melrose home and property was used to house the scientists and the ample grounds in the backyard were used to erect many outdoor work laboratories, known as “insectaries”, to rear and study imported parasites of the gypsy moth and brown-tail moth.  The scientists working and living here developed relationships with other entomologists around the globe and parasites of the Gypsy Moth and Brown-Tail Moth were shipped from countries near and far, including France and Japan, to be studied here in Melrose.

The reports used to gather this information are now available online with many interesting historic photographs, as well as other historical information about Melrose and its neighborhoods, homes, and people.  For pictures and more information about the study of these invasive moths and their parasites, visit http://books.google.com and search “Melrose publications on the gypsy moth volume 2”. For more comprehensive early history of Melrose and its residents, search instead for “the history of Melrose” and find an excellent book by Elbridge Henry Goss published in 1903.  It is possible to key word search within these texts.

If walls could talk, what stories would your home tell?  To learn more about how to research the style and history of your home, its inhabitants, your neighborhood, and the whole City of Melrose, please join the Melrose Historical Commission on Tuesday June 14 from 7:00-8:30pm for a tutorial that will explain resources available to you at the Melrose Public Library.  This tutorial is limited to 15 persons because of space considerations.  To reserve a spot please contact MelroseHistoricalCommission@gmail.com.  At the completion of the event, the Melrose Historical Commission will collect donations of any amount that will be used in part to preserve these valuable, unprotected resources.