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Have you ever visited the Natick Historical Society Museum and seen the glass pig artifact that belonged to William Emerson Baker? Baker presented the glass pig to his wife, Charlotte Augusta Farnsworth, on their 15th (crystal) wedding anniversary in September 1885. The pig, however, appears to be made of glass instead of crystal. The glass pig also served as an invitation to their Pork and Bean Reception anniversary party, filled with baked beans to represent New England, with blue ribbons tied around the curling tails, which dangled directions to the party.

Early Life in Roxbury

William Emerson Baker was born in Roxbury, MA, on April 16, 182,8, to Sarah and Abel Baker. Abel owned a small business and went bankrupt. When Abel's business went bankrupt, William, then 16 years old, was attending Roxbury High School and knew that he wouldn't be able to participate in college because he had grown up in poverty. He started working as an apprentice in a wool jobbing factory, where he used a needle to poke wool fibers and create new felt material. He earned $50 a year but then asked for a commission on new business, which brought in more customers and earned him more money through commissions rather than a salary. Baker knew how to save his money.

Sewing It Up!

In his 20s, Baker became interested in mechanical devices, and a sewing machine caught his eye. He partnered with William O. Grover, a Boston tailor, and founded the Grover & Baker Company in Boston in 1850. Grover acquired the sewing machine rights from Elias Howe, and they were issued a patent for a special stitch called the lock stitch, which avoided the need for a bobbin. They pooled a patent with other sewing machine companies on the lock stitch and bobbins. They had the industry sewn up! As a wealthy sewing machine magnate and self-made man, William was a successful businessman. When their patents expired and became public, the business declined, and they sold the company in 1876. Hence, William was wealthy at 48 years old and retired early.

Married with Children

Baker married Charlotte August Farnsworth of Roxbury in September 1860. He married up! She was sedate and quiet compared to his flamboyance and gregarious nature. On their honeymoon, he spent more time negotiating business deals and meeting with numerous people, including aristocrats and royalty. Charlotte didn't enjoy many of his schemes and just let him do what he wanted. They lived in Boston. They had two sons: Edward was born in 1865, and Walter in 1870. Baker invited the Sunday School teachers and classmates of Edward and Walter to a lavish picnic on the farm. As a party favor, Baker gave a little glass pig bottle filled with expensive cologne. Edward Baker was in the real estate business in Brookline. He died in Brookline in March 1934. Walter Baker was a Harvard man and suspiciously died in New Jersey in October 1907. The Boston Herald reported that Walter's will was lost, and there was an issue in disposing of his estate.

Some Character!

Even though Baker had minimal formal education, he was a writer, political satirist, and a mechanic. There was no leisure time for him. Baker was an interesting character and different from the people of his time. He wanted to improve people's lives, entertain them, and educate them, had a lively sense of humor, and would tell bad puns and jokes. He had lots of ideas, was charming, and at the same time, radical and provocative. He did like the creed: Faith, Hope, and Charity. He believed in morality, churches, and God, but not formal religion. What fun he was! Lots of energy, whimsical, creative! His life was like a perpetual April Fools' Day.

Bought the Farm

Each time a farm was for sale, Baker bought it. Eventually, he had about 800 acres of land in the southwestern part of Needham. On the property, his summer home was named Ridge Hill Farms. Part of the land was in Natick, but Wellesley separated from West Needham in 1881, and part of Ridge Hill Farms was in the new town of Wellesley. Town borders changed. The land was on a glacial ridge in the middle of a pine swamp.

Ridge Hill Farms was his private Xanadu, resembling an amusement park with various attractions. He thought about what the public would enjoy seeing. From man-made lakes, two bear pits for his pet bears, exhibits, an underground crystal grotto featuring the Forty Thieves, saloons and restaurants, to a 225-room luxury hotel called Hotel Wellesley.

The farm was a working farm that also featured a science museum, botanical garden, and two health spas. There was also the Institute of Cookery laboratory, where men were trained in how to prepare food and serve it for work in restaurants and hotels. The farm also served as a laboratory for Baker’s social and political ideas and ideals. Everyone had fun! There were more than 100 amusements, attractions, and exhibits. People flocked to his property, and he charged an admission fee. People balked at being charged a fee by a wealthy man. They vandalized his property – trampled the garden, smashed statues and flower pots, threw sticks and stones at the animals, gave the animals tobacco, and handled animals they shouldn't have touched. Baker had the scenic Sabrina Lake dug by hand to accommodate his pleasure boats. It included the Spray Fountain, an icehouse, two boathouses, several decorative bridges, and gardens.

You can view a map of Ridge Hill Farms with its splendor and eccentricities.

Baker named the land Fairyland of the Beautiful and Bizarre. Be sure to watch the Beautiful & Bizarre video of William Baker's Ridge Hill Farms. Cue in the circus music! Doot-doot-doodle-oodle oot doot do do!

All Things Porcine (Pig), All the Time!

William Emerson Baker was consumed with all things porcine, even though he did not eat pig! A Sanitary Piggery? An oxymoron? The pigs at Ridge Hill Farms were given little beds with silk sheets and pillows to show how well cared for and pampered they were – an unlikely accommodation, but certainly in keeping with Baker’s sense of humor.

Baker even created a map of the United States in the shape of a pig. At that time, in 1875, there were 38 states, which were depicted on the map with a pig's head, face, legs, and tail. The Porcineograph was what Baker called the GeHOGraphy of the United States. Initially, the map was made as a souvenir for the guests at his Sanitary Piggery Corner-Stone Laying party in June 1875, and it became so popular that he had it reprinted for sale the following year.

Lifestyle of the Rich and Swinish

Baker ran in social circles with the blue bloods of Boston, but the Brahmins of Boston didn't accept him. At the farm, he created the Representative of the Hub, a sour-faced Brahmin politico made out of wooden cart wheel hubs. And the High Church, Low Church, and Broad Church birdhouses, which criticized the local religious establishment. He sold the wooden cartwheel bruin hubs as souvenirs. Part of the time he lived in the house on Ridge Hill Farms, and the other part of the time he lived in Boston with his wife and sons. His friends were from Boston, not Needham, where townspeople didn't support him. He brought his Boston friends to the farm, some of whom were the Appletons, Longfellows, and Edward Evert Hale. Charlotte stayed back in Boston for most of the summer while Baker was at Ridge Hill Farms.

Billy Bruin - Grin and Bear It!

There were his pigs and there were his bears, housed in the Circular Bear Pit and the Octagonal Bear Pit. By 1874, Baker already had four black bears, older and relatively docile. He was expecting to take delivery of two more youngsters, but one of them died in transit. Then he was offered Billy.

In July 1874, Baker took delivery of a 2-year-old black bear, which he called Billy Bruin. Billy came with a reputation for being difficult to manage. He was said to weigh more than 500 pounds and stand some 8 feet tall.

Baker owned Billy for approximately three hours – that’s how long it took the bear to escape from the train depot and leg it for freedom (Billy was – well – smarter than the average bear). Billy spent his first night of freedom in Dedham under the porch of the Congregational Church, and then wandered back to Needham, where he spent some time in the High Rock woods and other locations around town, and terrorizing John Wing’s piggery on South Street. He was then spotted in Quincy several days later and got as far as Weymouth. Tragically, he was shot and killed while trying to swim the river. His body washed up in Hull and was returned to Baker, who had the skin stuffed and put on display. The rest of Billy was buried in a solid-copper coffin and buried overlooking Sabrina Lake.

Billy’s funeral was an excuse for Baker to hold one of his many extravagant parties. More than 1000 guests were invited to Needham to participate in Billy’s funeral. If you couldn't attend the funeral, regrets had to be expressed in the form of poetry, and a small volume of these responses was printed as a gift to attendees. The worst poetry book, ever! The honored guests came from among the political, military, and business elite.

At Billy’s funeral procession, the children were dressed in long white robes and wearing masks of blank human faces or animals. The cart carried several stuffed birds – a raven, a dove, and Leander the Swan – as well as a small girl dressed as an angel. The cart was pulled by robed and masked children, and led by Father Time – ‘the Great Destroyer’ – with his hourglass and scythe.

Party Time!

Baker frequently hosted parties, and one of his largest was a celebration of the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17-18, 1875. Guests included General William Tecumseh Sherman and Vice President Henry Wilson (to President Ulysses S. Grant and the Natick shoemaker). In June 1875, Baker was a member of a party for civic and military purposes. Baker was a Colonel in the military. Hundreds of guests arrived, and Baker dedicated a new pigsty. The party memento was a small glass pig and silver hog badges. After the Civil War, Baker played a pivotal role in the South's reconstruction. He invited the Confederate soldiers to his party. One of the soldiers gave Baker a cannon. Baker held a cannon party and invited Confederate and Union soldiers who had reconciled, shaking hands and having a big old-fashioned pillow fight, all while laughing. They could no longer hate each other. Baker took the empty liquor bottles that the guests had consumed and emptied during the party and made a monument from them, shaped like a bottle with a sign: "To the Departed Spirits"—another attraction (or detraction?) on Ridge Hill Farms.

Baker's Best – Philanthropy and Benevolence

Baker was one of the most public-spirited of men. He had a desire, almost impetuous, to improve the condition of the poor, especially regarding food and dwellings, and he expended time, money, and superabundant labor in endeavoring to perfect and carry out schemes to ameliorate their condition. Not only in these particulars, but in others, which many will recall, he strove to make the life of the poor smoother and better, and to establish institutions of philanthropy and learning. He was one of the first, if not the very first, to suggest the Institute of Technology, and was one of its most ardent friends. There was hardly any limit either to his charitable projects or efforts.

Baker gave gifts to Chicago children after the Great Fire. He established food and milk dispensaries. Baker improved and developed South Boston flats in connection with a railway from the Hoosac Tunnel aquarium on West Street.

In 1859, Baker contributed to institutions in Boston, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a conservatory of arts and sciences, the Museum of Natural History, and the Fannie Farmer Cooking School. He was a patron of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Aquarium.

Not only was Baker philanthropic and benevolent in the US, but also Europe, Baker was lauded by the highest political and social circles. The King of Holland, the son of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, gave Baker a heavy gold watch and chain. Emperor Louis Napoleon III purchased sewing machines from Baker to make military uniforms. And Baker forged a friendship with Baron Bruning of Russia.

Baker was diligent in advancing the social causes important to him – including religious ecumenism, reconciliation between the North and South, home economics, and public health.

Health Advocate – Ahead of His Time

Public Health was the cause dearest to Baker’s heart. He supported the then-radical notion that many causes of disease could be eliminated by a more sanitary approach to food production. Several of Baker’s attractions were devoted to promoting the practice of Hygienic Farming. In his “Sanitary Piggery,” for example, pigs were kept in strictly clean conditions and given wholesome food. It made the point that better treatment at the production stage led to a healthier food supply, which in turn led to healthier people. Most of his significant public health work was conducted behind the scenes.

The hotel and spas were provided with food that was specially prepared in kitchens that he built to train cooks in the principles of “pure” (i.e., additive-free) and nutritious food. Along with Fanny Farmer’s Boston Cooking School (which Baker also supported) and other Boston-based institutions, the “scientific food” movement aimed to regulate the additives in food (some of which were quite alarming) and establish standards for nutrition. As Americans moved away from the farms and into the cities, they became more dependent upon ‘manufactured’ food and more vulnerable to the alterations or adulterations that tainted many of these foods. Baker believed that by producing clean livestock, humans would be less inclined to ingest parasites and be exposed to various diseases.

The other aspect of Baker’s farms was “sanitary” stock-raising. In the 19th century, tuberculosis and other pathogens were endemic in cattle (and therefore the milk supply). Pigs were urban livestock, and allowed – even encouraged – to eat garbage and other filth off the streets. This not only allowed the owners to feed the pigs “for free,” but had a genuine purpose in keeping the roads clear of the garbage that would otherwise attract rats. The result, of course, was pork contaminated with numerous parasites and diseases, many of which could be transmitted to humans.

Baker’s idea was that livestock should be raised under clean conditions, with wholesome food such as grass, grain, and hay. Their pens and stalls should be kept clean and free of waste. Silk pillows may have been a stunt, but they emphasized his point that livestock would benefit from clean bedding and living conditions: “ ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’. The Hog is naturally much more cleanly in its habits than many of those who say he isn’t.” The result would be fewer infected animals, ultimately leading to less human disease. It was easier and less costly, he reasoned, to prevent the incidence of disease in the first place than to try to cure it afterward. His working farm included not only the Sanitary Piggery but also the Riverside Herd Barn for his cattle, the Buffalo Barn (he was researching whether bison meat was healthier than beef), and the Laboratory for his research.

Hygienic Hygeria

In April 1881, Needham and Wellesley split, with the new town boundary running right through Baker’s estate, and made him the unhappy citizen of two towns. Baker petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to get permission to secede his 800 acres from both towns, and to establish a “hygiene village” that he would call Hygeria. In Hygeria, residents would practice the most scientific and modern methods of sanitation and hygiene in food and dwelling. The lessons learned would be offered to the state as a benefit to others. Baker also requested an exemption from taxes because his discoveries would benefit all the citizens of Massachusetts and save the Commonwealth far more than the taxes he would incur. The beneficial example of Hygeria would “encourage and control the veterinary care of animals intended for market supplies, improve the quality and the preparation of all food products,… and organize such practical applications of chemistry…. as shall serve to educate even casual observers how to detect impurities in food products…. and shall induce people…. to practice such sanitary economies and household reforms as shall tend to diminish crime and disease and improve the vigor of the race.” (the Hygiene Reporter, April 1881)

In contrast, at Hygeria, Baker was known as a "junk man." He was a collector. After the Boston fires, with $30 million in damage, he would salvage the ruins. The Boston Post Office was unscathed, except for four columns that he added somewhere on the farm, which he called The Boston Fire Monument.

This Land Is My Land

The Needham Selectmen opposed Baker’s petition for Hygeria. Needham had already lost almost 60% of its taxable land base to Wellesley and was unwilling also to lose Baker’s estate, which was another 6% of the town’s taxable acreage. The Selectmen were not so impressed with Baker himself, whose flamboyant style was at odds with the more serious and provincial character of the town. Baker's interaction with the Selectmen was limited to real estate matters, including taxes and easements. Other than those interactions, Baker had little involvement with town officials and almost none in town affairs. The Selectmen were not inclined to do such a favor for someone who had done so little for them.

Using their influence with the MA legislature, the Selectmen kept the petition languishing in legislative limbo for four years – from the Public Health Committee to the Committee on Mercantile Affairs and back again. During this time, Baker kept up the fight, haranguing (and alienating) legislators and friends alike: “Now, Gentlemen, I regret exceedingly that you should treat this petition as a foot-ball and not take time to give it proper consideration… With all due courtesy and in the name of the Taxes which I have paid…, I demand that you shall give me a hearing on this application…. I write from no selfish motives, and if I throw out threats towards you, it is simply because you are strangling the Child of my Heart, for which I have no selfish, no commercial interests, other than to advance humanity and Progress, and improve the Public Health….” (Letter to the MA Senate, May 20, 1885).

When the petition was finally refused, Baker was furious. He fired off an open letter to the Needham Selectmen entitled “Suicidal Needham,” in which he accused them of unlawfully influencing the General Court. He threatened immediate legal action (“I will contribute my share of the money and time necessary to…. indict some one or more of these legislators”). He also gave them “formal and timely notice” that he would “forthwith take immediate measures to get my estate outside of the border lines of the town of Needham.” (Letter to the Boston Post, May 26, 1885).

The long fight was costly. Baker depleted his funds and his energy. There is no record of further activity at the estate – parties, new constructions, or other events. To make ends meet, he went into debt to his father-in-law for $100,000 – roughly $3 million in current dollars. There is no way to know whether he actually moved on his threat to pack up or liquidate during the next two years.

The strain took its toll, and in January 1888, Baker died of a massive heart attack at 60 years old.

Ol' (Mc)Baker Had a Farm

After Baker died, the decline of Ridge Hill Farms began. The buildings on the property were sold, demolished, or destroyed by fire. Hotel Wellesley burned down in 1891. Only the man-made lakes remained.

His wife, Charlotte, sold Ridge Hill Farms. She had no interest in maintaining a property that had drained their funds and which she rarely visited. Several attempts were made to keep the attractions going, but fires and lack of funds eventually doomed the effort. Over time, the land was sold off in residential house lots, with few traces now left of Baker’s amazing estate.

Baker’s obituaries tended to focus on his estate and his eccentricity. Few mentioned his many philanthropies or his public health work. Nevertheless, ideas that he championed and were radical in his day, such as nutritional standards and disease-free livestock, are now standards in our day. The notion that he should be exempt from taxes in return for creating a public benefit is the basic justification for a non-profit organization today. He might have been humorous, and he might have played games, but when it came to specific topics, he was serious. Deadly serious.

Baker could have had worse spending habits.

Sources

Guide to the Ridge Hill Farms, Wellesley, Mass. and Social Science Reform: Vol. 1

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Wellesley-Social-Science-Reform/dp/3337297625/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9OIj0lW_R2YAu6CAXrJiehfmq9ml-W4eKQ0Uj6WDuVA.bt8UFGcA6qltO0T-5r95JA2jWkw1OeSUg24stsA8Ydk&dib_tag=se&qid=1738254981&refinements=p_27%3AWilliam+Emerson+Baker&s=books&sr=1-1

Guide to Ridge Hill Farms, Wellesley, Mass., and Social Science Reform

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Wellesley-Social-Science-Reform/dp/1363252704/ref=sr_1_2?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9OIj0lW_R2YAu6CAXrJiehfmq9ml-W4eKQ0Uj6WDuVA.bt8UFGcA6qltO0T-5r95JA2jWkw1OeSUg24stsA8Ydk&dib_tag=se&qid=1738255037&refinements=p_27%3AWilliam+Emerson+Baker&s=books&sr=1-2

Book - The Baker Estate of Ridge Hill Farms of Needham by Leslie G. Crumbaker was written with the help of John Alden of Needham, who grew up on the estate after his grandfather purchased it in 1889.

https://videoplayer.telvue.com/player/O7e6JrKKSJ3H_TX3VgEvpbSSL7Dbnrk2/media/545990?autostart=false&showtabssearch=true&fullscreen=false

Research Resources (add links)

NHS pig artifact article

NHS Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/natickhistoricalsociety/p/C62RzHatwU4/

Boston Globe

Massachusetts Historical Society

https://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/june-2021

Needham History Center & Museum

https://needhamhistory.org/tag/william-emerson-baker/

Rootsweb article

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~howardlake/history/amusement17/ridgehillsfarmma.html