Ellen Swallow's Neighborhood - Mrs. Blodgetts's Boarding House (1871-75)

Starting in January 1871, following her admission to MIT, Ellen Swallow (1873, SB Chemistry) rented a room at Mrs. Blodgett’s boarding house at 523 Columbus Avenue in Boston. It was not unusual at the time for families to augment their income by renting out rooms in their homes and providing meals to boarders. Living with a family was a safe and economical option for a single young woman moving to the city. Now a private home, Mrs. Blodgett’s brick townhouse in what was one of Boston’s newer neighborhoods was less than a mile from MIT’s location on Boylston Street.

When MIT opened, it was a commuter college. All students lived locally with family or friends, or they rented rooms in the Boston area. MIT did not provide any student housing until 1916 when Senior House was built as part of the new Cambridge campus. Even then, MIT did not offer housing to women until the fall of 1945, when it purchased 120 Bay State Road in Boston for use as a women’s dormitory. This early dormitory was over a mile from campus, so Katharine Dexter McCormick (1904, Biology) another of MIT’s women pioneers, established a fund to pay for taxi rides to school on days when the weather was inclement. Mrs. McCormick went on to fund the building of Stanley McCormick Hall, named in honor of her late husband, which opened in 1963 to house women students on campus.

When Ellen began her studies at MIT in 1871, she chose to room with the Blodgett family at 523 Columbus Avenue. She knew the family because Isa, Mrs. Blodgett’s daughter, was Ellen’s closest friend and classmate at Westford Academy. Founded in 1792, Westford Academy welcomed both boys and girls of any background. In 1859, Ellen’s father moved his family to Westford, choosing a home in a neighborhood near this good school. Ellen attended Westford Academy from April 1859 to March 1862.

Although MIT covered Ellen’s tuition, she was responsible for finding and paying for her own room and board. Since her finances were tight, she initially contracted only for a room, which she shared with her friend, Helen Morse. In order to save money, the two young women prepared their own meals.

As Ellen settled into her life in Boston, she took on additional responsibilities that helped ease her financial burden. When one of the Blodgett daughters fell seriously ill, Ellen took over the running of the Blodgett household while continuing with her studies at MIT and earning additional money as a tutor. Eventually, her work in the chemical field provided her with enough income to pay for board as well as a room.

Ellen lived at Mrs. Blodgett’s from January 1871 until her marriage to Professor Robert H. Richards, head of MIT's department of mining and engineering, in June 1875. Directly after their wedding, the couple moved into their new home at 32 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain. That night, Ellen discovered that she had left all her keys in the closet door in her room at the boarding house. Professor Richards gallantly made a last-minute trip to 523 Columbus Avenue to retrieve the keys on behalf of his new wife. 

History of McCormick, McCormick Hall: MIT's Only All-Women's Residence. Accessed March 2nd, 2023. https://mccormick.mit.edu/about/mccormick-history.

Hunt, Caroline Louisa. The Life of Ellen H. Richards. Boston, Massachusetts. Whitcomb & Barrows, 1912. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t3513ww21. Accessed 10 February 2023. 

McCormick Hall and Katharine Dexter’s Legacy at MIT, Cambridge Historical Commission. Accessed February 24th, 2023. https://cambridgehistoricalcommission.wpcomstaging.com/2019/03/11/modern-monday-mccormick-hall-and-katharine-dexters-legacy-at-mit/.

MIT Housing Chronology: Institute Archives & Special Collections, Archive-It Wayback Machine. Accessed March 11th, 2022. https://wayback.archive-it.org/7963/20190701205156/https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/housing.html.

Westford Academy, The Westford Historical Society & Museum. Accessed March 25th, 2022. https://museum.westford.org/westford-academy/.