There is a large walk-in combination safe at the Sawin Memorial Building. It was clearly installed when the Sawin was built in 1906-07 and has some beautiful brickwork forming the interior walls and ceiling. The safe door has a date of 1906 and was purchased (probably in that year) from the Morris-Ireland Safe Company of Boston. The firm was located at 64 Sudbury Street, a site now occupied by the JFK Federal Building. Morris-Ireland has been out of business for ninety years but it had a colorful history.

The Morris & Ireland Safe Company (note the ampersand) was founded in Boston in 1870 and manufactured high-quality safes and locks. Mr. Ireland (first name unknown) retired in 1890 and E. C. Morris changed the name to the Morris Safe Company and moved the factory to Readville. By late 1896, the company was failing and finally closed in December. Morris then vanished, shortly after being charged with fraud and embezzlement. His creditors seem to have been left empty

handed.

The safes still had a good reputation and in 1904 a gentleman named William Andrew Luce decided to capitalize on the name. He created a completely new company, Morris-Ireland (this time with a hyphen) and set up his business on Sudbury Street.

He was also treasurer (and perhaps part owner) of the National Fireworks Company, located in the same building. If you lost the combination of your safe and couldn’t crack it, I suppose Luce could provide the necessary firepower to blow it open.

This new enterprise did not manufacture their own safes, but merely distributed those built by other companies, with the Morris – Ireland name inscribed. The Dover Historical Society owns one of these. Its actual maker is unknown, but it’s a fine specimen in excellent condition and fully functional.

Luce seems to have been a bit of a playboy and after scandalizing Boston society he departed for Newton in 1924. He died in 1938 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

His company did not survive him but our safe could easily last as long as the Sawin building stands.

By Richard White