Luther Gibson Order Box (description)

The red painted order box of the Luther R. Gibson & Son Plumbing Shop is a great example of an ordinary and serviceable piece of Milton’s commercial history. Luther Gibson was a plumber who had his shop in the Suffolk Resolves House when it was on Adams Street in Milton Village (now the site of the Citizens Bank.) Along with the Charles W. Stiles Electrical Shop, these two shops flanked the front entrance of the house and had a door and a large plate glass shop window on either side.

The order box, beautifully lettered, probably dates from the turn of the twentieth century, and has a small lid with a slot where customers would insert orders so Luther Gibson would be summoned to repair electrical wiring. This piece, an important part of the history of the Suffolk Resolves House, shows the evolution of the house from the residence of Daniel and Rachel Smith Vose to the subdivision of the colonial house for commercial shops, and upstairs a book drop for the Milton Public Library.