Woburn's Tidd Home Celebrates 120 Years of Service With Victorian-Style Tea and Open House

WOBURN, MA, September 12, 2007— On September 23, an open house featuring Victorian-style music, flowers, and tea will be held at the Tidd Home, a unique residence for senior women, which this year is celebrating 120 years of providing safe and affordable housing for senior women that allows them to continue to lead independent, fulfilled lives.

The Tea will be held at the Tidd Home, 74 Elm St. Woburn, from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, September 23rd .

Preparation and presentation of tea and accompanying food will be based on those served at Buckingham Palace and will include Victorian tea sandwiches, scones, cakes, and cookies, all prepared by the Tidd Home's culinary staff. Floral arrangements will incorporate flowers and plants popular during the period.

There will be period music, a presentation of antique cars courtesy of local enthusiasts, and a raffle of a Victorian-period American Girl® Doll, vintage watercolors of Woburn and other items, including gift certificates, donated by local businesses including TJ Maxx, Tre Monte, Panera, La Stanza, Malvy's, www.stevetaney.com, as well as by several individuals. Raffle tickets will be sold at the event.

Robin Longendyke, a member of the Woburn Reenactment Guild, will greet visitors to the Tidd Home as a Victorian lady and, through reenactment, help bring alive the Woburn of 1887. She will be wearing her own creation using period fabrics and pattern, based on research into the fashion of times by Darlene Wigton, chairman of the guild.

The Tidd Home was incorporated in 1887, at the height of the Victorian era; an era recognized the world over for its grace, charm, creativity and innovation. (As reference: Woburn was incorporated as a city in 1888.)

Initial quarters for the home were on Mt. Pleasant Street, but in 1889 William Tidd donated the Tidd Homestead to the Home for Aged Women. The building was dedicated in October of 1889 and has been in use ever since. In 1953 the name Home for Aged Women was changed to the Tidd Home to recognize the generosity of the Tidd family.

Reservations for the tea are preferred and can be made by contacting the Tidd Home at 781-933-0248; email: tiddhome@comcast.net .

About The Tidd Home
The Tidd Home is located at 74 Elm St., a lovely residential area, and combines the gracious charm of the original Federal-era architecture and Victorian décor with the comfort and convenience of modern amenities. The Tidd Home recently completed a $1.5 million renovation/expansion program and is now accepting new residents. The Tidd Home was selected by SCI Woburn as one of six homes to be showcased as part of CSI Woburn's third annual Woburn Holiday House Tour in 2006.

For more information about the Tidd Home open house please call 781.933.0248.

About 1887

Many firsts occurred in the same year as The Tidd Home was incorporated. Here is just a short list:

  • Art: "Self Portrait with Felt Hat" by Vincent Van Gogh
  • Clothing: 1st earmuffs patented
  • Construction:1st fire escape patent
  • Crime: "Doc" Holliday dies of tuberculosis
  • Education: Helen Keller meets her miracle worker, Anne Sullivan.
  • Food:
    • 1st Log Cabin maple syrup made and packaged in tin house
    • Ball-Mason jars introduced
  • Government: 1st Indians granted citizenship
  • Holidays:
    • 1st state wide celebrations of Labor Day
    • 1st Mother's Day celebration in Kentucky
  • Home: Bon Ami cleansing powder introduced
  • Literature:
    • 1st public reading of Charles Dickens' work in US
    • 1st time in print, Sherlock Holmes' "A Study in Scarlet"
  • Medicine:
    • 1st form of contact lens developed.
    • 1st bacteriology laboratory opens
  • Military:
    • 1st lease of Pearl Harbor for a naval station
    • USS Boston commissioned.
  • Music: 1st motor-driven phonograph invented by Edison
  • Real estate: 1st homes sold in Hollywood, CA
  • Retail: Sears moves to Chicago, hires watchmaker Roebuck, and sells watches by mail
  • Senior Housing:
    • The Tidd Home is incorporated in Woburn, MA.
  • Sports:
    • 1st $10,000 paid for player by Boston Red Sox (then the Red Caps/Beaneaters)
    • 1st game played by Notre Dame (a loss to Michigan)
    • 1st man bicycles around the world.
  • Science:
    • Hertz discovers electromagnetism.
  • Technology:
    • 1st electric elevator patented.
    • Alternating current (a.c.) transmission patented.
    • 1st dry-cell battery developed.
  • Transportation:
    • Fare to travel on the Sante Fe R.R. from Kansas City to LA is $1.00
  • Births: Boris Karloff, Chico Marx, Georgia O'Keefe

References: www.brainyhistory.com ; www.answers.com