Many locals remember this building as the East Dedham Branch Library, which was in operation for an incredible 77 years from 1896-1973! This is what the library looked like when it first opened:
Others will recall Gates Pharmacy, which relocated here after several moves and closed for good in 1995. Others remember going to the office of Dr. Glickstein the dentist who kept his office here for decades.
There are few, if any, who are old enough to recall the building’s earlier past. Here is the same building in an advertisement for George Hewitt’s grocery store from the 1893 Dedham Directory:
According to the 1895 publication Boston’s Picturesque Southern Suburbs, “there is no room to doubt that so far as East Dedham is concerned the store par excellence, to patronize, is the family grocery house of Messrs. Geo. Hewitt & Co., on Milton Street…” Hewitt’s shop carried a full line of groceries and meats, as well as clocks, silverware, stoves and ranges.
George Hewitt was an English immigrant who supervised the weaving operation at the Merchant’s Woolen Mills before opening the grocery in 1877. Until his death in March 1902 Hewitt, lived above the store with his wife and nephew Sam, who helped run the business. Tragically, 26-year-old Sam contracted meningitis and died just a few months after his uncle. The property and business were then taken over by Benjamin Rose. Both Rose and Hewitt were members of a fraternal benefit society known as the Royal Arcanum, which explains the sign hanging above the windows.
When Hyde Park merchant and Russian immigrant Moses Guber purchased the property after Rose’s death in 1912, the sign was repurposed.
Moses, wife Annie and daughters Ida and Martha lived above the store, which was operated into the 1940s. Guber purchased several other properties in East Dedham Square, most of which were taken by the town and demolished during the “urban renewal” of the mid-1960s. Moses died in 1955, Annie in 1968. His daughters continued to live together in Dedham until the early 2000s. Ida was one of the first female graduates of the Massachusetts Pharmacy School and worked as a pharmacist at the Faulkner Hospital for 35 years. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 92.
Today, the building houses Akiki’s Styles and Dry Bar, continuing a tradition of business at this location for almost 150 years!
Come to the Dedham Museum and Archive and see the M. Guber sign that sparked this deep dive down the rabbit hole of East Dedham history. If you look closely, you will see faint traces of the original lettering for Arcanum Hall! All historic photos courtesy of the Dedham Museum and Archive.
Dedham Tales 