This page contains five selected images related to the Jason Russell House. Click on any of them to launch the slide show.
An 1885 one taken right after Jason Street was cut through the orchard to create a residential subdivision in 1884. They couldn’t call the street Russell Street because that name was already in use (named for Jason’s grandson).
A 1905 image showing the house partly hemmed-in on the Mass. Ave. frontage and most of the battlefield occupied by houses built in the 1890s and torn down to restore the field in 1960. More buildings would further encroach on the JRH in the early 20th c.
A 1957 view of the kitchen before restoration of the distinctive ceiling treatment. Note the tags used on the artifacts. There was not yet the Smith Museum, so the JRH served as both historic house museum and warehouse for the Society’s artifacts! The displays of the era thus tended to be overloaded with objects.
A 1964 image showing the battlefield cleared of late 19th-century structures. Note the building rising to the left of the Jason Russell House which fronted on Jason Terrace. It was removed for construction of the George A. Smith Museum.
Wanzer’s “White Store” — a small grocery store added in the early 20th to the double-house at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Jason St. It was removed in the restoration of the battlefield when Miss Elizabeth Smith donated the funds to purchase and remove the intrusive structures. (Image circa 1960.)
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For more images of Arlington as it appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, see Richard Duffy’s new series ‘Images of History’ on Wicked Local, Arlington.
