Residence of C. H. Bond, Cliftondale, Mass.

Abstract

Charles Henry Bond, born in Saugus in 1846, made his fortune as the president of Waitt & Bond, Inc., a cigar manufacturing company. Once he had amassed a sizeable fortune, Bond became less interested in cigars and devoted more of his time to his one true passion: music. He sought out poor but talented singers and would fund their European training, even giving them monthly living stipends. Bond invested in the construction of what was to be the Lyric Theatre in Boston. Unfortunately Bond took a financial hit after the Panic of 1907. He tried to ignore the trouble and continued to accrue debt in order to keep funding the Lyric Theatre project. In May of 1908, Bond was kicked off of the project. In July of the same year he was found dead in his bathtub. He left a signed note that read, “I have been killed by my friends and enemies. It is more than I can bear. I can stand it no longer. My heart is broken. I leave everything to my wife.” The Lyric Theatre project was bought by the Shubert Organization, which opened it under the name the Shubert Theatre in 1910.