Deadly Silence

A walk into Green Street’s historic past

Green Street, the tarnished Brockton neighborhood of today, has a brilliant history. From historic architecture to history-making links to Thomas Edison, Green Street is a hidden gem.

By Maureen Boyle, Enterprise staff writer
   BROCKTON — Gerald Beals walks down Green Street, past the spot once known as Evangelical — or Congregational — Corner.
   The stretch of street between Main and Highland Streets in the central part of the city is named Green Street because of what it once was — green.
   There were stretches of green grass from the churches that once stood in the area — stretches where the district courthouse now sits, where there are now parking lots.
   “There were 12 to 15 acres of green,” said Beals, historian and curator of the Brockton Historical Society.
   Green Street, the tarnished neighborhood of today, has a brilliant city history, from historic architecture to history making.
   Just off from Main Street in the heart of downtown, 42 Green St. was the first residence in the world to be wired by Thomas Edison with three-wire power. The house was originally owned by Colonel John J. Whipple, who became a Brockton mayor.
   On the front of the house is a simple sign: “First residence in the world to be lighted from a 3-wire system.” There was beautiful oak woodworking in the house.
    “It has enormous historical significance,” Beals says.
   Nearby, there is the Dr. Edgar Everett Dean House at 81 Green St. The Queen Anne-style house, built in 1884, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s also known as the Hall Funeral Home.
   Beals points to the roof, once adorned by gargoyles, to the porch, the intricate carvings on the house, the tiny porch on the top floor.
   Down the street, there are tenements where workers once — and still — live. There are houses at the far end, by Highland Street, where factory foremen in years past bought homes as they moved up the economic ladder.
   In the 1910, the city had the highest percent of working-class people around.
   Beals points to a church at Glenwood and Green Street. Today it is the Igreja Do Nazareno Betel. It was originally the First Spiritual Church, where mediums would connect with the spiritual world, he said.
   Whipple’s opulent Victorian house still stands on Green Street but, despite its history, the structure is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. That’s something Beals said he would like to change.
   To revitalize a city, Beals says, people need to remember its history.