9-11 Watson Street

Two-story, two-family with front landing in vaguely Italianate style.
  • Historic Name: None 
  • Uses: Residential two-family 
  • Date of Construction: 1898 
  • Style/Form: Vaguely Italianate 
  • Architect/Builder: Unknown 
  • Foundation: Granite 
  • Wall/Trim: Wood frame 
  • Roof: Gable 
  • Major Alterations: Front porch, windows 
  • Condition: Fair 
  • Included in Hengen survey? No 
  • Related oral interview? No 
  • Portuguese owned? Yes 
  • Recorded by: Gregory Gray Fitzsimons and Marie Frank
  • Organization: UMass Lowell 
  • Date: July 2023

Description

A large two-family residence set on the left half of a substantial lot. The entry doors are on the left of the front façade with bow windows on the right. The front porch has both Doric engaged columns as well as turned Victorian-style columns; a dentil molding crowns the frieze of the porch. The porch itself is concrete. Other limited ornament includes a few carved brackets at the eaves. The west elevation also has a bow window and an additional entry at the rear that still has its Italianate hood with carved brackets and dentil molding. The house has signs of rotting woodwork and peeling paint.

History

9-11 Watson was constructed on the last open lot on the north side of Watson Street. Prior to its construction, tenements to the west (1880s house numbers 15, 17, 19, 21, and 31) were already in place by 1879; and Johanna Walsh purchased the lots to the east and had two buildings constructed by the early 1890s (see 5 Watson Street entry). The area to the south of Watson Street had been heavily industrialized. By 1882 (see atlas), over half a dozen industries had made use of the waterpower of River Meadow Brook: Belvidere Woolen Mill, U.S. Cartridge, George Naylor Carpet Manufacturing, J.S. Jacques Shuttle Company, Wamesit Power, and U.S. Bunting. Thus, the north side of Watson Street marks the “back corner” of the Back Central neighborhood. 

In the 1890s, the majority of homeowners in the area were Irish. Thaddeus MacMahon (Thady) purchased the lot for 9-11 Watson Street around 1895 and constructed the house by 1898. MacMahon worked as a hairdresser/barber and owned and operated a shop on Gorham Street (#193 on 19th century maps—near the junction with Keene Street) with his wife Susie. They lived at the house with their daughter Lydia (who became a nurse) and two of his sisters—Mildred, who was unmarried in 1920, and Gladys Nerney whose husband had deserted her. Thady rented out #9 to a young couple from Vermont, Louis and Louise Campbell, (Louis worked as a boilermaker). The MacMahons lived at 9 Watson until 1920 when they sold the property to Manuel and Vanda A. Machado. The 1920 census indicates that Manuel (b. c. 1878) and Vanda (b. c. 1879) were born in Portugal, immigrated in 1898 and they had two children, Charles (b. 1910) and Mary (b. 1915). Manuel worked as a cutter in a shoe factory (in later city directories he is listed as a leather worker). They took out a mortgage of $3,000.00 for the house. 

In 1920, prior to purchasing the house, the Machados lived at 4 Edgerely’s Court (note—they may have befriended Joaquim Furtado there who went on to purchase 5 Watson Street—see entry for 5 Watson).  Interestingly, the Machados did not move into the house until 1922/23 and only owned the house until 1925.  After they sold it, they moved to 5 Watson Street in 1926 and then 5 S. Whipple Street. Vanda died in 1927 after a long illness (perhaps this prompted the sale of the house); her obituary notes that Manuel was “one of the best known Portuguese residents in the city” and that she also had a sister in Lowell, Rosa Texeira. Manuel eventually remarried (Mary) and remained at 5 S. Whipple—he died in 1946/7 but an obituary has not been located because the digitized versions of the Lowell Sun have a gap in these months. Manuel and Vanda’s son Charles also had a public role in Lowell as well—he was a member of the Lowell council of the Knights of Columbus, a member of the Fur and Leather Workers union, and the Lowell dog club; he died in 1957 at the age of 47.  

In 1925 the Machados sold 9-11 Watson to Manuel and Corinne D’Andrade (also Andrade). D’Andrade was born in Portugal in 1891; he was married to Corinne (also Corina), born in 1897 also in Portugal. Both Manuel and Corinne worked as weavers. Initially, Manuel lived at 5 Watson Street and rented out the units in 9-11. John Lynch, an electrician, lived in #9 until 1928 when he and his wife moved to New York; Abel Alves lived in #11. When Lynch left, George Bell, also an electrician, moved into #9; Bell was born in Connecticut but to Irish parents who immigrated from the “Irish Free State.” Bell, his wife Cecile, and daughter Rita stayed there through 1934. Abel Alves was actually related to Manuel D’Andrade: Manuel’s wife, Corinne, was the sister of Abel’s wife, Julia. In other words, they were brothers in law. Alves, born in 1898 in Portugal, worked as a dyer. The family ties get further entwined: Corinne and Julia’s mother, Agnes Freitas, also lived with the Alves’ at 9 Watson. Agnes’s son Joseph (and Corinne and Julia’s brother), lived at 5 Watson Street (see 5 Watson entry). By 1927, Manuel and Corinne moved into 9-11 Watson as well. Manuel now worked at the Boot Mills. It seems Julia Alves might have died after 1930 as she is no longer listed in the directories or the census; but her son, also named Abel jr, lived at the house into the 1940s. Manuel and Corinne also had a daughter, Alice, who worked as a cloth inspector by 1940. Because all the Machado/Freitas/Alves family members lived together in the downstairs unit (#9), Manuel could rent out the upper unit after George Bell moved in 1934—Gabriel Jonis, from Lithuania, took Bell’s place. Jonis had a wife, Eadvig (or Edith) and two children, William and Ruth. Jonis also worked as a weaver (perhaps that is how he met Manuel) and William worked as a shipping clerk at one of the cotton mills by 1940. The Jonis’ stayed at #11 through 1941. They were replaced by Miranda Horacio who lived there until 1948. In the mid 40’s, Manuel and Corina’s daughter Alice married George Silva and in 1949 the Silva’s moved in to #11. According to the 1950 census, George was 33, his wife Alice was 29, and they had two young sons, George and Bernard (they would have two additional children). George worked as a television repairman. 

With the D’Andrade’s downstairs and the Silva’s upstairs, the occupants of the house stayed stable for the rest of the 20th century. It is worth noting that the occupants of 5 Watson Street, right next door, also remained within the same family. Thus, these two houses represent a Portuguese anchor on the street. The tenements to the west deteriorated, especially after the Depression of the 1930s. Two of them were taken down and replaced by small capes in the 1950s. Manuel and Corinne continued to live in #9 for the rest of their lives—Manuel died in 1958 and then Corinne in 1976. After her death, the house transferred to her daughter, Alice Silva, George’s wife. She and George continued to live there. In 1989, she transferred the house to Raymond Silva (presumably a younger son) and his wife Karen. They maintained ownership until 2018 when the house was sold to Megan Martinez, who in turn sold it in 2020 to Jose Goncalves de Souza.  

A particular thank-you to Nicole Tantum for her help with the Machado family research. 

Sources

  • Registry of Deeds. MacMahon to Machado, 625:185; Machado to D’Andrade, 725:353 
  • Sidney & Neff Map of Lowell, 1850. 
  • Lowell atlases 1879, 1882, 1892, 1906, 1924 & 1936. 
  • Massic Falls Manufacturing Company map by I.A. Beard, 1829, copied by Caleb Butler, 1831. 
  • Lowell city directories. 
  • Federal Census 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950 
  • Lowell Sun, August 9, 1927, p. 17, obituary for Vanda Machado 
  • Lowell Sun, Jan. 30, 1947, p. 15, notice of will for Manuel Machado 
  • Lowell Sun May 28, 1957, p. 3, obituary for Charles Machado 
  • Lowell Sun, July 10, 1958, p. 3 obituary for Manuel D’Andrade