Concise Encyclopedia of Tufts History
Sauer, Anne
Branco, Jessica
Bennett, John
Crowley, Zachary
2000
Tufts, Charles, 1781-1876
Charles Tufts was the donor of the land which Tufts University now occupies on the Medford-Somerville line. His donation of twenty acres was valued at $20,000 and was located on one of the highest hills in the Boston area, called Walnut Hill. The land was given to the Universalist church on the condition that it be used for a college. With subsequent gifts, his donations of land to the college totaled more than 100 acres. | |
Tufts was engaged in farming and brick manufacturing, and he owned substantial amounts of land in Medford and Somerville. A descendant of Peter Tufts, an early colonist who settled in Malden in 1638, Tufts married Hannah Robinson in 1821, but had no children. | |
Charles Tufts lived for most of his life in Somerville in a house located at 141 Washington Street. Now razed, the stones from the front steps of the house were moved to the campus and as of 1999 are located along the pathway leading from Professors Row to Tisch Library. | |
Source: VF | |
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