From the Archives
Having a great time— wish you were here… Well, maybe, maybe not. But in the time before e-mail and attached photos, the picture postcard was a quick way to stay in touch and share an image. You could dash off a casual message without incurring the social commitment of a telephone call or perhaps a letter. Even without their messages, these postcards from the school archives contain a wealth of information. The former Warren House hotel served as the school’s main building during its first two decades in Watertown. The scrawled message, posted October 2, 1906, and mailed for one cent, reads: St. Paul’s—7, Taft—0. Have been sick since the game. Will write soon. Not hurt much. Jack The Annex dormitory, across the street where the parking lot is now, was the first major structure Horace Taft built for the school. Note the elm trees, which all but died out in the 1960s (two mature elms remain on campus), the tennis court, and the early automobile on an unpaved Route 6. The commodious infirmary, now a girls’ dorm known as Mac House, was touted in the 1930 catalog as “a 40-bed, fully equipped hospital [including] an isolation ward for contagious diseases…and an operating room.” Built in 1927, it served a school of 300 students. Apparently, the memory of losing two boys to the 1919 flu epidemic was still fresh in Horace Taft’s memory. Many alumni will remember the white wooden fence, which provided an exclusive perch for seniors as they contemplated their lives beyond the Taft School campus. If these or any other photos prompt stories of campus life, please let us know! —Alison Gilchrist Picton The Leslie D. Manning Archives 30 Taft Bulletin Fall 2006