49 Turkey Shore Road, the Austin Measures House (1874)
Austin Measures purchased this lot from George Haskell in 1874 and built the house. The low-pitched roof, window hoods, and corbels supporting the flat roof portico are of Italianate influence.
The 1900 Census records that Austin Measures was born in England in 1835. He immigrated to the U.S., married Lucy W. from Maine, and settled in Ipswich. The census lists one son, Daniel W. Measures, born in 1882. Daniel lived in Ipswich and was a member of the Masons and the Ipswich Historical Society. Records show that in 1944, he purchased a house in Epsom NH, but owned it for only two years.
In the 19th and early 20th century, Ipswich village maps showed the names of the owners of each property. The 1884 Birdseye Map includes sketches of each house. I used these maps to confirm the construction period of the Austin Measures house.
The house at 49 Turkey Shore Road is indicated by a white arrow in this close-up view from the 1884 Ipswich Birdseye map
A close-up from the 1872 Ipswich village map indicates that the house at 49 Turkey Shore Rd. had not yet been built.
The 1884 Ipswich village map shows the house at 49 Turkey Shore Rd, owned by “A. Measures.” At that time, Turkey Shore Rd. had been renamed Prospect St., but it was later changed back.
This close-up from the 1910 Ipswich village map shows the house at 49 Turkey Shore Rd., owned by W. S. Sheppard. Dianne Fessenden-Cassidy informs us that the Sheppard-Fessenden family owned this property throughout the 20th Century. The Emerson-Howard house is at the intersection of Turkey Shore and Green Streets, where Ipswich artist Arthur Wesley Dow hosted a summer art school. Structures with an X are outbuildings. The two bungalows on either side of the Austin Measures house had not yet been built.
Two identical bungalows were constructed behind the house at 45 Turkey Shore Rd., at #43 & 51 Turkey Shore Rd after the death of Austin Measures in 1911.
The bungalow at 51 Turkey Shore Rd. The identical homes at 43 and 51 Turkey Shore Road were built in the Bungalow Porch Style. This eastern adaptation of California’s Arts and Crafts movement connects the home to the outdoors with an expansive front porch.
Austin Measures’ Candy Shop
Austin Measures’ Candy Shop was a long-lasting institution in Ipswich. It was first located in a small building on North Main Street, which was moved to construct the Colonial Building in 1904, and then moved to a Central Street location.
Measures Candy Shop was originally located in the small building on N. Main St., which was torn down to erect the Colonial Building in 1904.
Measures Candy Store is on the left in this old photo of Central St.
Historic Ipswich 