Few people have had as much impact on the town of Peterborough as Mary Cheney Schofield (1868-1943). This one woman, dubbed the “Empress” of Peterborough by one would-be biographer, reshaped the architectural viewshed of the downtown area, built one of the town’s preeminent churches, built the clubhouse at the golf course, and much more. Mary Cheney Schofield donated funds for the development of Brantwood Camp in 1904, as well as Temple Ski Mountain. When I say “built,” what I really mean is she financed these projects, for she was on a beautification trend and she was genuinely interested in the betterment of the town.
Mary Cheney Schofield had the means to do a lot, and in fact, she did. Mrs. Schofield, of Cheney Road fame, built two substantial homes in town, “Beside Still Waters” and “East Hill.” She renovated the “Manse” on Main Street, leveled the old Bell mill at Depot Square, and built the Memorial Gates on Grove Street. She tore down unsightly homes all around the Nubanusit River and at the corner of Union, Maine and High streets, and commissioned new homes to be built, leaving an indelible mark on the town of Peterborough. It is my hope that readers will appreciate my attempt to bring this remarkable woman back into the light for a brief moment in time and reflect upon her legacy.
Born on Dec. 24, 1868, in New Britain, Connecticut, as the only child of a physician and his wife, Mary Lyon suffered the loss of her mother early in life. She was educated at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, an all-girls boarding school (and my alma mater, coincidentally) and then matriculated at Wellesley College. It was here that she met her first husband, Charles Paine Cheney, while he was attending Harvard College. Charles was the son of B.P. Cheney, a railroad magnate among other things, whose company later morphed into American Express, the company we know today. In his time, it was known as the Pony Express. They married in 1892, and this union produced three children. As the senior Mr. Cheney was born in Hillsborough, the family retained property there. His widow retired to her estate known as Highgate Farm in Peterborough, and it was here that Mary first came to know our town.
Charles and Mary Lyon Cheney settled at 38 Marlborough St. in Boston and spent their summers in Peterborough. Mary and Charles had dreamed of building a palatial estate for themselves, but tragedy struck in 1897. Mr. Cheney fell ill with tuberculosis and removed himself to Colorado Springs, where one of his brothers was living, to take the curative airs. He passed away in Colorado right before his third child, William Hallsall Cheney, was born.
This left Mary in the most derogatory position in society, the single mother. Undaunted, and considerably salved by an inheritance from B.P. Cheney, who had recently passed as well, Mary commissioned architect Thomas Fox of Boston to build a grand estate for her on the former common on East Hill in Peterborough. She purchased 264 acres and work on the Neo-classical revival home imaginatively entitled “East Hill” commenced in 1898. It had sweeping lawns, a formal garden, an Italian garden, pergolas, fountains and porticoes. It featured a clay tennis court, horse stables and a playhouse for the children. Mary’s three children, Charles Ward Cheney (1893-1973), Ruth Cheney (1895-1990) and William Hallsall Cheney (1897-1918), spent their formative years, at least the summers, in Peterborough. In the 1902 telephone directory, Mary had five phone numbers, one for her stables, one for her coachman and three more for her residence — this at a time when most people had to walk to the local grocery store to place a call or put up with a party line.
After the death of her husband, Mary threw herself into raising her children and entertaining copious guests from Boston and abroad (hence the need for a golf course.) Eventually, in 1907, she married William H. Schofield, a scholar who had founded the Comparative Literature Department at Harvard College. They traveled widely and briefly lived in Europe while Mr. Schofield was lecturing at the Sorbonne and in Copenhagen. Back in Peterborough for the summers, they entertained the likes of Thornton Wilder and Robert Frost. It’s rumored that Mrs. Schofield accidentally referred to Mr. Frost as “Mr. Snow” on one occasion.
At some point around 1914, Mrs. Schofield became interested in erecting an Episcopal church in town. Her husband was a medieval scholar, and they had spent time in England and were practicing Episcopalians. She purchased the land and built the rectory and the parish house of All Saints’ Church. Architect Ralph Adams Cram started the work using granite from the quarry at East Hill. The work was completed in 1923. Mrs. Schofield was very active in public life at this time; she chaired several organizations, founded the Women’s Auxiliary at the church, was president of the state’s Girls’ Friendly Society, served as president of the Women’s Progressive Club, among other engagements.
Tragedy struck again when Mrs. Schofield’s youngest son was killed in World War I. The Schofields threw themselves into the war effort; Mr. Schofield did speaking engagements all over the country for the war, and Mrs. Schofield founded “Our Boys’ Club,” which later became Peterborough’s American Legion Post. She became president of the Women’s Land Army of America and was on the Women’s Council on National Defense. She was the chairperson of the state’s emergency training courses and persuaded the University of New Hampshire to use East Hill as a training center for women agricultural workers.
The Schofields both had a mind for public welfare, and children’s issues and the needs of women seem to be foremost. She founded the first nursery school north of Boston in 1925 and remodeled the Manse, at the top of Main Street, to provide housing for unmarried school teachers. It served in this capacity from 1928-1940. Her tea room at the Manse was where she held meetings with local businesspeople and visiting notables. From 1919 to 1924, Mrs. Schofield was the secretary of the trustees of the school for the intellectually disabled in Laconia.
Mrs. Schofield also worked tirelessly on solving problems faced by soldiers and their families after the war. She was the first chairwoman of the Women’s Republican Committee and active with the Society of Colonial Dames. She was the first woman to preside over the New Hampshire Electoral College, in 1924. Despite her involvement in many local committees, she found time to serve on the women’s committee for the Washington Cathedral and was involved with the New York World’s Fair. In 1927, she was selected to participate in the second A.E.F. to Europe, and she addressed the Gold Star Mothers in a speech that was broadcast from the Eiffel Tower. This was a huge cultural event; more than 20,000 veterans and their families traveled back to France to commemorate the 10th anniversary of their deployment. The fact that Mrs. Schofield was selected to deliver the address seems striking.
By all accounts, Mrs. Schofield carried herself well and was energetic and healthy. She had an active mind and was known to do a lot of research before asserting an opinion. She was described as well-read and interesting. In 1914, the Schofields started a tradition of erecting a town Christmas tree and the singing of carols. She often invited children from the church to have tea with her. In the 1930s, she took schoolchildren to Boston in a chauffeur-driven car to attend events and have dinner at her club, the Chilton.
In 1920, after only 13 years of marriage, Mr. Schofield passed away. Mary threw herself into building a winter house for herself in the downtown area. She had become enamored of the 18th-century French petty aristocrat style, and, in 1926, she had the old shoe factory on River Street torn down and commissioned Edwin Goodell, from Boston, to design the new house. She tore down a lot of factory housing and built a huge French garden near the Nubanusit River. This house she called “Beside Still Waters.” Shortly after, she had another French manor house built, this time in the town of Dorval, in Quebec, to use as a summer home. She toggled between these two homes for the remainder of her life, until her passing in January 1943. She is entombed at All Saints’ Church.
During the Great Depression, in 1935, Mary sold East Hill to the Kendall School for Girls. In 1953, they in turn sold the property to the Order of Discalced Carmelite Friars. For a short while there was a seminary there, but the Carmelites renamed it “The Common” and used it as a retreat and conference center for many years. In 2005, the property was destroyed in a huge fire.
One thing that surprised this writer greatly while researching this article was what became of Mrs. Schofield’s daughter, Ruth Cheney. She married Thomas W. Streeter, a banker, in 1917, and together they raised four children in Morristown, New Jersey. Ruth became the first director of the United States Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. Later she became the first woman in the U.S. Marine Corps to attain the rank of colonel. In 1946, she was awarded the Legion of Merit, and she was also awarded the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. Ruth Streeter was one of only 300 American women to earn a pilot’s license before World War II. She also earned a commercial pilot’s license in 1942 and was a member of the Civil Air Patrol and the North Jersey squadron of the New Jersey Civil Air Defense Services, in addition to becoming the first and only woman to serve on the New Jersey Defense Council’s Committee on Aviation.
Ruth Cheney Streeter is quite well-renowned in military circles, but interestingly, there are scant references to her rarefied background. Most biographical pieces refer to Col. Ruth Cheney Streeter of Brookline, Mass., but that is hardly the story. She may have arrived at a lying-in hospital in Brookline, but their winter home was in Boston and her summer houses were in Dorval, Quebec, Peterborough, and to some extent Middle Brewster Island in Boston Harbor, where her father and his brother had built a summer “cottage,” “The Capstan,” around the time of his marriage to her mother, Mary. My own grandmother, whose lifespan closely parallels Mrs. Streeter’s within three years, and who was no slouch herself, certainly was not out there getting a pilot’s license at 47 or serving in the Marines! For her era and her class, Mrs. Streeter is quite impressive. Ruth Cheney Streeter’s gilded, white-glove, cotillion-sprinkled upbringing does not come up in her military accolades at all, which I think speaks to her character as much as anything. All indications are that Col. Streeter remained close to her mother all her life, and together, in 1933, they established the Cheney Award, to be given annually by the U.S. Air Corps for acts of valor or unusual self-sacrifice, in honor of their son and brother, William H. Cheney.
Later in life, Streeter authored a book, “Tales of an Ancient Marine” (Morristown, N.J.: Ruth Cheney Streeter, 1970) and was the subject of another monograph, “Reminiscences of Ruth Cheney Streeter,” Col-USMCR (Ret.) (Typescript of Interviews by Thomas W. Mason, 1979.)
Meg Gourley, MA, is a writer and local historian living in Jaffrey.
