Related Records

1. 2008.001.132 - Digital photograph

   Churches - The former Congregational Chapel on Main Street was built in 1885 thanks to a gift from Marion benefactress Elizabeth Taber. She purchased the plot from Clark P. Howland, then Principal of Tabor Academy, at a cost of $300, with $5,000 allotted for construction of the building. The distinctive Shingle-Style design, formerly with eyebrow windows, was the work of noted Boston architect William Gibbons Preston. The structure was used for c...

   Record Type: Photo

   
2. 2008.001.154 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - No other single person has created more of a legacy in Marion than Elizabeth Sprague Taber. Born and raised in Marion, she was educated at Sippican Seminary. The young Miss Sprague became a teacher and eventually married Stephen Taber, a New Bedford clockmaker. After his death, Mrs. Taber returned to Marion a wealthy widow, and late in her life, began a series of bequests to the town and its inhabitants that are still ...

   Record Type: Photo

   
3. 2008.001.155 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - In 1871, Marion's most prominent benefactress, Elizabeth Sprague Taber, purchased a parcel of land from Captain Henry Allen, who owned the tract on the west side of Academy Lane, now Spring Street. This acquisition afforded the site for an Italianate-Style building that she had erected in 1875-76 at 2 Academy Lane to house the classrooms for Tabor Academy. Thus, Mrs. Taber realized her long-standing desire to provide M...

   Record Type: Photo

   
4. 2008.001.157 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - Mrs. Taber's land purchase from Captain Allen also allowed her to address the town's need for a public library and museum. In 1872, when the Italianate library was built, Spring Street dead-ended north of Cottage Street and was called Academy Lane. Mrs. Taber's envisioned a two-story structure with the Library Association occupying the ground floor and the upper story devoted to the Natural History Society. 2nd digi...

   Record Type: Photo

   
5. 2008.001.158 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - The Elizabeth Taber Library and the Natural History Museum, circa 1945. In 1872, Mrs. Taber sent the Marion Library Association a letter that contained the deed to the library and an insurance policy on the property for $4,000. Her letter, in part, read:"... which I ask you to accept as a testimonial of my esteem and kind regards for the above named institution and for the inhabitants of Marion generally ..." Upon Mrs....

   Record Type: Photo

   
6. 2008.001.159 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - Mrs. Taber's second gift to the Congregational Church came in 1885, when she bought a parcel of land at 37 Main Street from Tabor Academy Principal Clark P. Howland for $300 and gifted a further $5,000 for the building of Congregational Chapel. The chapel was designed in the Shingle Style by Boston architect William Gibbons Preston, a frequent summer visitor to Marion. This view dates to the mid-1920s.

   Record Type: Photo

   
7. 2008.001.160 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - After fire destroyed Marion's original Town Hall on April 26, 1881, Elizabeth Taber gifted the town $9,000 to build a new administration building. Marion's second Town Hall was completed in 1890, just north of Tabor Academy's current Alumni House at 226 Front Street The sign over the central window reads "Marion Grange 339." The sign over the door reads "Herbert Austin Camp 114 S. of V Auxiliary." This structure was pa...

   Record Type: Photo

   
8. 2008.001.161 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - A view of Marion's second Town Hall on Front Street, with Red Rock School to the right. Built in 1884, Red Rock School contained two rooms-one for fifth-grade classes and the other equipped for teaching sewing and cooking. The school was razed along with Town Hall in 1972. The name "Red Rock" comes from the reddish hue common to the granite in this locale (indicative of a high iron content).

   Record Type: Photo

   
9. 2008.001.162 - Digital photograph

   Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - The Queen Anne-Style red-brick Music Hall at the corner of Front and Cottage streets was built in 1891, thanks to a $23,000 gift from Mrs. Taber, to provide a building for Marion inhabitants suitable for lectures and music performances. The Soldiers Monument was dedicated in 1894. This view dates to 1906 and the inscription indicates that postcards were often sent with the expectation that they would be mounted in an a...

   Record Type: Photo

   
10. 2008.001.163 - Digital photograph

    Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - For many yean, the Music Hall served as the meeting venuefor Benjamin D. Cushing Post 2425 of the V.F.W. The Post enjoyed ownership of one of the first television sets in Marion, and the veterans opened the premises to the public on Sunday afternoons so that all could marvel at the flickering tube. In 1993, a second benefactor, Mrs. Elizabeth Davis (now deceased), provided a large fund to renovate the building, which r...

    Record Type: Photo

    
11. 2008.001.164 - Digital photograph

    Legacy of Elizabeth Taber - On April 14,1875, Elizabeth Taber purchased a lot on South Street west of then Sippican Seminary for $80. She had a meeting house built and gave the building to the Congregational Church Sewing Society. Mrs. Taber called it Union Hall. The building was damaged by fire on March 29,1951. Dr. James Arne purchased the building on January 29,1952, and immediately sold it to St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church, which had taken ov...

    Record Type: Photo

    
12. 2008.001.165 - Digital photograph

    Legacy of Elizabeth Taber -The Grammar School on Front Street was built in 1914 to accommodate Marion's 6th through 9th graders. After the land swap in 1936, it became part of Tabor Academy's facilities, which also included the former Town Hall and Red Rock School. All three structures were eliminated with the construction of the present Academic Center in 1972.

    Record Type: Photo

    
13. 2008.001.170 - Digital photograph

    Tabor Academy - Elizabeth Sprague Taber's first gift to Marion in 1872 addressed the town's need for a public library and museum. She purchased a parcel of land from Captain Henry Allen, who owned the tract on the west side of what is now Spring Street. With an addition built in 1982 wrapping around the sides and rear of the building, the Elizabeth Taber Library and the Natural History Museum at 8 Spring Street continue to occupy the spaces origi...

    Record Type: Photo

    
14. 2008.001.172 - Digital photograph

    Tabor Academy - Tabor Hall was built in 1880 as the residences of Elizabeth Taber, Principal Clark P. Howland, and boarding students. This view from about 1906 shows Tabor Hall following its first relocation to allow for the building of Washburn House to the south (the original cast iron fence that fronted the entire Tabor property on Spring Street ends at the left side of this view). As part of the 1936 land swap, Tabor Hall was relocated a seco...

    Record Type: Photo

    
15. 2008.001.245 - Digital photograph

    Miscellany -The granite and cast-iron horse watering trough on Front Street at the head of Island Wharf is inscribed "A Gift of Elizabeth Taber through the Trustees of the Improvement Fund." Though Mrs. Taber's will provided Marion with a trust fund of $20,000 upon her death in 1888-to be used for parks, fountains, trees, and other beautification projects-this fountain was not erected and dedicated until 1908. This view shows the shoreline prior ...

    Record Type: Photo

    
16. V017.298 - Newspaper

    First Head Of Academy Dies - Clark Phelps Howland Was Made Tabor Principal by Founder - Burial at Evergreen Cemetery

    Record Type: Archive