W. E. Boyden House
William Ellis Boyden was born in 1806. He operated the Plymouth/Sandwich Stage coach operation starting in 1822. The W. E. Boyden house is a large 2½ story, 2-family home built around 1842. It still stands at 148-150 Main Street and is in beautiful condition. The original house had 5 rooms on each side. Nathaniel Howard, who was in business with William Boyden and ran the stage service between Hyannis and Sandwich, occupied the left side of the house, which had materials in it of average quality. Boyden, who operated the service between Sandwich and Plymouth, occupied the right side and used expensive materials (e.g. marble fireplaces rather than brick).
When the Cape Cod Branch Railroad came to town in 1848, Boyden formed the Cape Cod Express Company for handling, packing, picking up and delivering local freight and for moving the mail between post offices and trains. He served as President of the new Sandwich Savings Bank which was founded in 1856 by glass factory owner Deming Jarvis and other local merchants and landowners. In 1857, he built what became known as the “Boyden Block” on Main Street between the Unitarian Church and the Central House (now the Daniel Webster Inn). It consisted of a long building with several shops and a meeting hall upstairs where the DeWitt Clinton Lodge of Masons met. He also built a large adjoining livery stable where he kept his old Plymouth stagecoaches.
William Ellis Boyden died in 1879. His son, Willard Ellis Boyden, inherited the property but went bankrupt in 1900 and lost all of the property including the house and Boyden Block. In December 1913, the Boyden Block was destroyed by fire. All eighteen horses from the livery stable were rescued but most of the beautiful Plymouth stages were lost.
To log this geocache on opencaching.us, the password is Biz Owner.
When the Cape Cod Branch Railroad came to town in 1848, Boyden formed the Cape Cod Express Company for handling, packing, picking up and delivering local freight and for moving the mail between post offices and trains. He served as President of the new Sandwich Savings Bank which was founded in 1856 by glass factory owner Deming Jarvis and other local merchants and landowners. In 1857, he built what became known as the “Boyden Block” on Main Street between the Unitarian Church and the Central House (now the Daniel Webster Inn). It consisted of a long building with several shops and a meeting hall upstairs where the DeWitt Clinton Lodge of Masons met. He also built a large adjoining livery stable where he kept his old Plymouth stagecoaches.
William Ellis Boyden died in 1879. His son, Willard Ellis Boyden, inherited the property but went bankrupt in 1900 and lost all of the property including the house and Boyden Block. In December 1913, the Boyden Block was destroyed by fire. All eighteen horses from the livery stable were rescued but most of the beautiful Plymouth stages were lost.
To log this geocache on opencaching.us, the password is Biz Owner.