Excerpted with minor edits  from the project: If This House Could Talk (Author: Bonita Cox)

This was the home of Boston’s first African-American police officer’s granddaughters Lillian and Maria Homer. Sergeant Julius Homer was appointed to the Boston Police Department in 1878 and served until 1910. He was believed to be the second African American policeman in the United States. Sergeant Homer played ten musical instruments and memorized one poem each day. He was a Republican (party of Lincoln). He was recently discovered in an unmarked grave in Brighton, and was reburied in Boston’s Evergreen Cemetery June 2010. 

The story continues. This house was owned by Samuel Dottin who came here from Barbados with five brothers. The Dottin family is one of the oldest and largest families residing in Cambridge, many of whom live in Cambridge today, including Maria and Lillian Homer. The block of Upton St. from #16-#28 suffered a major fire in 1997. All homes were lost but were rebuilt within 18 months.