Belmont 150th - Winslow Homer Depicts New Town

Winslow Homer Depicts New Town

The Incorporation of Belmont on March 18, 1859 was an occasion for celebration. The new church bell rang out the news, bonfires were lit and cannons boomed. Townspeople went from house to house cheering, singing and shouting and the children paraded through the village with horns, drums, a gong, a dinner bell and an assortment of inventive instruments. The fight for incorporation had been waged for nearly ten years and the new town of some 5 1/2 square miles had been created. (The area was later reduced to 4.67 sq. mi. and then to 4.655 sq. mi.)

One month later, (April 23, 1859) readers of Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion would learn of the incorporation through an engraving designed by Winslow Homer entitled The New Town of Belmont, Massachusetts. In the right foreground of the picture we see the artist and a young friend looking toward Belmont Center. They are seated in a field off School Street.

The scene, with Common Street on the left, shows an expanse of Underwood property and some of the same landmarks that would be captured on the town seal twenty-three years later. The Underwood house and barn are prominently placed. Wellington Hill, now Belmont Hill, is in the background.

The steeple that rises in the center ground at the right is that of the First Church in Belmont. It was located on or near the site of our present post office on Concord Avenue. Opponents to secession charged that the proposed new town had no church. The would-be people of Belmont organized the Belmont Congregational Society in 1856 and constructed one. It was the church in which the Homers worshipped.

A train along the Boston and Fitchburg Railroad track trails a plume of smoke as it heads for Boston from Wellington Hill station. The smoke covers the spot on the hill where Winslow Homer's parents lived, but Uncle James Homer's house is just to the right of the smoke. The extension of the railroad from Fresh Pond to Waltham in 1843 made the area accessible to Bostonians who enjoyed its fresh air and rural atmosphere.

Homer was very familiar with the town that he depicts. He roamed the hills and woods sketching and painting what he saw. He was inspired by the activities and landscapes of the new town of Belmont and subsequently translated that inspiration into a number of engravings and paintings.

In the years that followed, Belmont was the inspiration for more artists. Edward Herbert Barnard, Charles Henry Hayden, Scott White, Nelson Chase and others created a variety of portraits and landscapes to help illustrate the history of the town over the past one hundred fifty years.



Winslow Homer Depicts New Town The Incorporation of Belmont on March 18, 1859 was an occasion for celebration. The new church bell rang out the news, bonfires were lit and cannons boomed. Townspeople went from house to house cheering, singing and shouting and the children paraded through the village with horns, drums, a gong, a dinner bell and an assortment of inventive instruments. The fight for incorporation had been waged for nearly ten years and the new town of some 5 1/2 square miles had been created. (The area was later reduced to 4.67 sq. mi. and then to 4.655 sq. mi.) One month later, (April 23, 1859) readers of Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion would learn of the incorporation through an engraving designed by Winslow Homer entitled The New Town of Belmont, Massachusetts. In the right foreground of the picture we see the artist and a young friend looking toward Belmont Center. They are seated in a field off School Street. The scene, with Common Street on the left, shows an expanse of Underwood property and some of the same landmarks that would be captured on the town seal twenty-three years later. The Underwood house and barn are prominently placed. Wellington Hill, now Belmont Hill, is in the background. The steeple that rises in the center ground at the right is that of the First Church in Belmont. It was located on or near the site of our present post office on Concord Avenue. Opponents to secession charged that the proposed new town had no church. The would-be people of Belmont organized the Belmont Congregational Society in 1856 and constructed one. It was the church in which the Homers worshipped. A train along the Boston and Fitchburg Railroad track trails a plume of smoke as it heads for Boston from Wellington Hill station. The smoke covers the spot on the hill where Winslow Homer's parents lived, but Uncle James Homer's house is just to the right of the smoke. The extension of the railroad from Fresh Pond to Waltham in 1843 made the area accessible to Bostonians who enjoyed its fresh air and rural atmosphere. Homer was very familiar with the town that he depicts. He roamed the hills and woods sketching and painting what he saw. He was inspired by the activities and landscapes of the new town of Belmont and subsequently translated that inspiration into a number of engravings and paintings. In the years that followed, Belmont was the inspiration for more artists. Edward Herbert Barnard, Charles Henry Hayden, Scott White, Nelson Chase and others created a variety of portraits and landscapes to help illustrate the history of the town over the past one hundred fifty years. Town of Belmont \| Belmont Historical Society