Until the 20th Century, this section of Linebrook was called Boxford Road. This house first appears in the 1856 map. The building has a simple Greek Revival frontispiece with plain frieze and projecting cornice. Windows on the facade are finished with similar friezes and projecting caps.

Arthur Rishi is a former owner of the house at 5 Linebrook, and wrote the following history:

In 1839 John Lane sold some of his land to the railroad. In December of 1851 John Lane sold some of the land (bordering the railroad’s land) “with the buildings thereon” to his younger brother, Richard Rogers Lane, for $1000. According to the 1850 Census, Richard Lane lived with John and his family. Both were wheelwrights.

My supposition is that Richard Rogers Lane, perhaps with his brother, built the house during the year 1851, and when it was completed, he purchased the new house and the land it stood on from his older brother. We found the word “Rogers” written in the plaster of our house when we removed wallpaper.

Richard Lane died in 1858, and his only child, Etta, inherited the house. This is mentioned in the 1898 deed when she sold it to Charles W. Woodbury. The paper trail of deeds from Etta Lane to the present is clear. Therefore, I propose that the date of construction is 1851 or c. 1851 and the name of the builder should be “Richard Rogers Lane.”

Sources:

• MACRIS
• 1856 Ipswich village map
• 1872 Ipswich village map at Ward maps (zoom in for details) high resolution
• 1884 Ipswich village map at Ward maps (zoom in for details) high resolution
• 1910 Ipswich map, Ward maps
• Arthur Rishi
• Deed of Sale, John Lane to Richard Lane, January 1852; book 454, page 296: “tract of land, with the buildings thereon”
• Deed of Sale, Edwin and Etta Geyer to Charles Woodbury, April, 1898 (“said Etta being he only child of Richard Lane” book 1545, page151
• Deed of sale, Charles Woodbury to Almeria B. Brown, 1920 (2462, 291)
• Deed of Sale, Charles Woodbury to Matilda Woodbury, 1916 (book 1565, page 237)
• Deeds and owners