In April of 1879 Levi Elder bought a large parcel of land at what is now the corner of Lexington and West Concord streets from the heirs of Thomas H. Cushing. Mr. Elder divided the land into smaller lots, and in August 1881 he sold this lot to Charles H. Hobbes, who was the son of George Hobbs who lived across the street at #32. Charles Hobbs built this house which he sold to Sarah Fisher in 1883. The fisher family did not live here but rented to others including Dr. Charles Tasker, a dentist, who lived here for about ten years until he built his new house at 35 Cushing Street.
In 1909 the property was sold to Scott Caswell, the blacksmith who had previously lived at 31 Lexington Street. Caswell died in 1919 about a month after he had deeded the property to his wife Emma. For many years Emma lived at #21 and her son Ralph W. Caswell, who was superintendent of the State Police, lived at #19. In 1945 Emma deeded the property to her son Ralph. In 1952 Emma Caswell entered a nursing home and Ralph’s son Philip, who was state probation officer, moved into #21. In 1969 the Caswell family sold the property to Joseph E. Vitko, Jr.
From the 1990 Heritage Walking Tour booklet