The Boing family home at 7330 Maple is one of the very fine solidly built homes that we are fortunate to have in Maplewood. The builder, William Sites, sat this structure on solid bedrock. So there could be no doubt he left some of the bedrock exposed in the basement foundation and floor. It is a comforting detail.
I have a personal connection to this home that goes back to the late 1970s when it was occupied by the McCoy family. My wife and I have regarded them as members of our extended family. The home is now occupied by the Shewmakers who are also our very close friends.
My close friend Bill McCoy passed away earlier this year. We shared many interests and had many fine times together. Bill was one-of-a-kind and I mean that in a very good way. I feel like I have to mention his passing but anything I say is inadequate to express how I feel. Hopefully I’ll be able to properly honor him in a future post.
4 COMMENTS
You can make out “Nails, Tools Cutlery” on the sign on the Sutton Ave side of 7400 Manchester .
I stood across the street several times trying to make out the name of the hardware store.
Does anyone know ?
And again, thanks Doug for this bit of Maplewood history. All I really know about our past, I learned from your posts.
No reply to your question, Tom. No one seems to know what the name of the hardware store was. If I stumble across it, I’ll certainly let you know. You are very welcome. It is rewarding to know that you’ve gained some insights to our history from my efforts.
Thanks, Doug, for telling us all this about the home that I have lived in now for just over 11 years! You have motivated me to do a little tree-ring analysis of the other oak tree that stood at the southwest corner of the old garage (and may have been of similar age to the one that fell) to see just how old these old oaks were. I saved a wedge that was cut out of the standing oak, which had to be removed in order to build the replacement garage. As a recall, I counted approximately 175 rings back in May 2011. I’ll clean up the wedge and see if that number is correct. I’ll let you know later. Thanks for your post. By the way, I assume the chimney on the garage was there so that the coal smoke generated by the Stanley Steemer could escape. The auto was not going anywhere until the fire generated enough steam to power this vehicle. I’m sure that took a while. And as a handy side effect in winter, the garage was heated!
I think everyone would be interested to know just how old that tree was. I think your suggestion that the chimney could have been used to remove the smoke from the car is very interesting. It seems reasonable to me. You are the first to suggest that. Thank you, Sherman.
You can make out “Nails, Tools Cutlery” on the sign on the Sutton Ave side of 7400 Manchester .
I stood across the street several times trying to make out the name of the hardware store.
Does anyone know ?
And again, thanks Doug for this bit of Maplewood history. All I really know about our past, I learned from your posts.
No reply to your question, Tom. No one seems to know what the name of the hardware store was. If I stumble across it, I’ll certainly let you know. You are very welcome. It is rewarding to know that you’ve gained some insights to our history from my efforts.
Thanks, Doug, for telling us all this about the home that I have lived in now for just over 11 years! You have motivated me to do a little tree-ring analysis of the other oak tree that stood at the southwest corner of the old garage (and may have been of similar age to the one that fell) to see just how old these old oaks were. I saved a wedge that was cut out of the standing oak, which had to be removed in order to build the replacement garage. As a recall, I counted approximately 175 rings back in May 2011. I’ll clean up the wedge and see if that number is correct. I’ll let you know later. Thanks for your post. By the way, I assume the chimney on the garage was there so that the coal smoke generated by the Stanley Steemer could escape. The auto was not going anywhere until the fire generated enough steam to power this vehicle. I’m sure that took a while. And as a handy side effect in winter, the garage was heated!
I think everyone would be interested to know just how old that tree was. I think your suggestion that the chimney could have been used to remove the smoke from the car is very interesting. It seems reasonable to me. You are the first to suggest that. Thank you, Sherman.