John C. Cummings
Encyclopedia
John Cummings served as the president of Shawmut
Bank for 32 years, from 1868 until 1898. Owner of a farm and tannery in Woburn, Massachusetts
. John Cummings also served in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives
and Massachusetts Senate
. He ran for Congress, unsuccessfully, in 1876.
John Cummings was affiliated with many institutions, but the one in which he took the most interest was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, for which he served as treasurer between 1872 and 1889, and he was also a member of its executive committee. By a vote of the Corporation in 1889, when he retired from the office of Treasurer, Mr. Cummings' name was applied to the laboratories of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy in recognition of his services.
He was a trustee of the Woburn Public Library and of the Warren Academy of Woburn. He was also on the school committee. He was a director of the Perkins Institution for the blind.
It is also said that his great recreation was the study of Natural History and "he became so interested in that, that he was led to join the Boston Natural History Society, where he became much interested in Botany, and was chairman of the Botany section."
Mr. Cummings took a great interest in his large farm in Woburn which he had bought from the heirs of his grandfather. Today his farm is kept as a public pleasure ground known as Mary Cummings Park
named after his second wife who gave the farm on Babylon Hill to the City of Boston to be kept in trust "forever open as a public pleasure ground".
Shawmut
Shawmut, according to 19th century scholarship, is a term derived from the Algonquian word Mashauwomuk referring to the region of present day Boston, Massachusetts.University Press, 1886...
Bank for 32 years, from 1868 until 1898. Owner of a farm and tannery in Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. The population was 38,120 at the 2010 census. Woburn is located north of Boston, Massachusetts, and just south of the intersection of I-93 and I-95.- History :...
. John Cummings also served in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...
and Massachusetts Senate
Massachusetts Senate
The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the state...
. He ran for Congress, unsuccessfully, in 1876.
John Cummings was affiliated with many institutions, but the one in which he took the most interest was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, for which he served as treasurer between 1872 and 1889, and he was also a member of its executive committee. By a vote of the Corporation in 1889, when he retired from the office of Treasurer, Mr. Cummings' name was applied to the laboratories of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy in recognition of his services.
He was a trustee of the Woburn Public Library and of the Warren Academy of Woburn. He was also on the school committee. He was a director of the Perkins Institution for the blind.
It is also said that his great recreation was the study of Natural History and "he became so interested in that, that he was led to join the Boston Natural History Society, where he became much interested in Botany, and was chairman of the Botany section."
Mr. Cummings took a great interest in his large farm in Woburn which he had bought from the heirs of his grandfather. Today his farm is kept as a public pleasure ground known as Mary Cummings Park
Mary Cummings Park
Mary Cummings Park is a public park in Woburn and Burlington, Massachusetts located at Babylon and Whispering Hills. The former farm and estate became a park managed by the City of Boston's Park Department in 1930. Mary Cummings left the land to the City under the condition that it be kept...
named after his second wife who gave the farm on Babylon Hill to the City of Boston to be kept in trust "forever open as a public pleasure ground".