Osterville Men's Club

Bill Cutliffe mentions in his brief history of the Osterville Men’s Club that the “first OMC Picnic took place at the Crawford Hollidge Estate [on] October 10, 1958. Member C. Crawford Hollidge owned the Boston, Tremont Street high end clothing store… [and picnics] were held there many a year.”

C. Crawford Hollidge and his wife Nettie Beulah Gudgin Hollidge lived in a grand mansion on Adams Street in East Milton and had a summer estate at what is now 200 Hollidge Hill Lane overlooking Middle Pond and Hamblin Pond in Marstons Mills. Their son Colonel Crawford Hooe Hollidge and his wife Mary Virginia Urann Hollidge lived at 11 Cabot Street in Milton and summered on the Marstons Mills estate. Mary Hollidge hosted the last OMC picnic in 2001 as Cutliffe mentioned that the “Widow Hollidge made a brief lakeside appearance to warmly welcome the group and wish all best.”

But who was he? Clarence Crawford Hollidge (1878-1939) opened a dry goods business in East Milton in 1909 that prospered and in 1920 he built a store at the corner of Tremont and West Streets facing the Boston Common. Designed by Fehmer & Page, the six-story building was an upscale women's clothing store that displayed a distinctive style in the early 20th century. By 1930 he had transformed the store into a high-end women’s apparel and accessories store that was renowned for its red-carpet customer service, and the fact that with a prearranged appointment one could have a personal shopper who would select items for a customer and help with fittings, as well as accessories and jewelry. Successful, the store opened branches in Hyannis, Wellesley and Cohasset. The store would become a rival of R.H. Stearns Department Store that was located on the opposite corner. A disastrous fire destroyed the store in 1967, and the business was closed.