Prides Crossing Explained

Prides Crossing is a neighborhood of the city of Beverly, Massachusetts in the North Shore region. It is bordered to the east by Beverly Farms, and to the west by the Beverly Cove areas of Beverly.

History

The name is associated with John Pride – supposedly a nephew of Thomas Pride – who was granted land in the area in 1636.^[1] In the late 1800s and early 1900s grand mansions were built as summer "cottages' for wealthy business magnates. Henry Clay Frick,^[2] who made his fortune in steel (Carnegie Steel) was among the best known of these summer residents. He built "Eagle Rock",^[3] located between Hale Street and the Atlantic Ocean. Edward Carelton Swift,^[4] at one time the owner of the largest meat packing operation in the U.S. built a mansion, "Swiftmoor"^[5] on Paine Avenue in Prides Crossing. Eleonora "Eleo" Sears, a flamboyant female socialite and world class tennis player, owned a residence that still exists where Paine Avenue and West Beach meet.

Wealthy residents were known to travel to Prides Crossing in their private railroad cars, disembarking at the Prides Crossing station, located on Hale Street across from the entrance gates to Paine Avenue. (Some, including Frick and Moore, had private sidings for their cars.^[6] ^[7]) MBTA Commuter Rail service to the station lasted until 2020; the structure was converted to commercial use decades prior.

Notable former residents

Frederick Ayer, industrialist^[8]
Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II, French-American military officer
Henry Clay Frick, steel magnate
Alice Roosevelt Longworth, writer and socialite
Loring family:^[9]
- Augustus Peabody Loring Jr. (1885–1951), legal writer^[10]
- Charles Greely Loring III (1881–1966), architect based in Boston, son of the Civil War general
- Charles Greely Loring Jr. (1828–1902), Union Army general during the Civil War, later director of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts
- Charles Greely Loring Sr. (1794–1867), lawyer and politician based in Boston, father of the Civil War general
- Katharine Peabody Loring (1849–1943), historian^[11]
- William Loring (1851–1930), Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice^[12]
William Henry Moore, judge and financier
Norman Prince, co-founder of the Lafayette Escadrille
Richard D. Sears, tennis player^[13]
Edwin C. Swift, industrialist

References

Wright, John Hardy (2000). Images of America, Beverly (Paperback ed.)Charlestown S.C. Arcadia.

External links

Notes and References

Book: Historical markers erected by Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission . 10 . 1930 . Commonwealth of Massachusetts . Internet Archive.
http://www.thefrickpittsburgh.org/about/henry_clay_frick.php Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919)
http://www.primaryresearch.org/postcards/show.php?file=frickhouse.jpg Residence of H.C. Frick, Prides Crossing near Beverly, Mass.
News: Funeral of Edwin C. Swift . New York Times . 9 April 1906 . 15 May 2011.
http://www.primaryresearch.org/postcards/show.php?file=Swiftmoor.jpg Swiftmoor, estate of Edwin C. Swift, Prides Crossing, Beverly, Mass.
Web site: How the Fricks Traveled: The Westmoreland . The Frick Pittsburgh . January 9, 2020.
A Glimpse of Life Well-Lived . Holly . Pulsifer . Drivers Digest.
News: Frederick Ayer dies in Georgia at 95 . 15 March 1918 . New York Times . 15 May 2011.
Book: Images of America: Beverly Revisited . 9780738573588 . 2010 . Beverly Historical Society . Arcadia Publishing.
Memoir of Augustus Peabody Loring, Jr. . Transactions of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts . February 1952 . 42 . Colonial Society of Massachusetts . 7.
News: Essex County Chronicles: Train service turned coastal farms into playground for the wealthy . Salem News . October 4, 2010 . Jim . McAllister . March 10, 2021.
News: One train stop to be restored . Boston Globe . January 15, 1927 . 10 . Newspapers.com.
http://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/richard-sears Richard Sears