Its original owner was a Captain Doyle. Incurring serious losses through unfortunate ventures in trade, the family took in two or three ‘paying guests.’ This plan proving successful, it was enlarged by gradual additions until a second, and soon a third, house was needed to care for the growing business. Recently a fourth house—that standing next door, once the residence of Samuel McIntire, the famous craftsman and architect—has been included in the establishment, which has carried on its business continuously for ninety-seven years.
It is gratifying to be able to record the fact that all the old furnishings of the house have been kept intact. In the hallway, as fresh as when originally hung, is a beautiful wall-paper of the familiar ‘castellated’ pattern.
The doorway is severely plain, the sole ornamentation being in the brackets which support the porch roof, and the dentils and modillions beneath the cornice.
Derby Street and Chestnut Street
Visitors to Old Salem who try to identify the scenes of the little town’s ancient glory will find small comfort on Derby Street.
Stretching for the distance of half a mile along the water-front, this was once the center of the thriving commerce of the place. Along one side of the street were the counting-houses of the merchant princes, around which hung the atmosphere and flavor of thrilling maritime romance. Practically the entire male population, young and old, was engaged directly or indirectly in the business of such as go down to the sea in ships. Ship-builders and sailors, craftsmen and navigators—Derby Street hummed with their activities. Before the ports of New York and Boston had acquired touch with Oriental trade, Salem had already dipped deep into the coffers of the East; and the ambition of her bold adventurers was well expressed in the motto upon the seal of the town—‘Divitis Indiæ usque ad ultimum sinum’—‘Unto the farthest bay of wealthy Ind.’
Some idea of the volume of the trade whose center was in Derby Street may be gained from the fact that in thirty years customs duties totaled more than eleven million dollars, while over two hundred and fifty vessels flew the flag in every corner of the seven seas.
All this brought into Salem an element not only of wealth and comfort, but of culture and refinement as well; and so on Derby Street, across from the counting-houses where the money was made, arose the handsome homes of those who had made it, and to whom it brought the means of maintaining a high standard of living. Here were to be found all the finest residences of Salem; it was in truth the ‘Court end’ of the town.
But to-day all is changed. With but a single exception here and there, Derby Street presents a squalid and forlorn succession of shabby frame houses, occupied mostly by foreigners. Commerce consists in such humble trade as goes on in Greek restaurants and Polish markets. The splendid homes of merchants and ship-owners no longer gratify the eye; and what is of note to-day in architectural beauty and taste in Salem must be sought elsewhere than in its original location.
With the advent of the railroad, the maritime commerce of the town began to decline. The counting-houses gradually closed. No longer did the boys of the town, on the lookout for returning ships, descrying a familiar rig or figurehead at the harbor’s mouth, race for Derby Street to bring the earliest news and claim the customary reward. No longer did the ship-owner pace the ‘Captain’s Walk,’ glass in hand, to raise on the distant horizon the topsails of some overdue vessel. The ancient glory was departed; and unwilling to linger where reminders of past grandeur continually met the eye, the men of wealth and standing with one accord took thought for a spot where they might rebuild, and form a sort of neighborhood community where the traditions of maritime greatness should be maintained in an atmosphere all their own. A move was first made in the direction of Beverly, but meeting some obstacles connected with land titles, another selection was made, and Chestnut Street, with its double row of beautiful and artistic Colonial mansions, stretches its half-mile under the arching trees.