March 18, 2026 by Geri Duff
This cozy home at 17 Leavitt Street was once the home of James Arthur Ray. Over the roof line you can see the hose drying tower of Central Fire on Short Street. Jay Ray as he was called put in many years as a Hingham firefighter at Central Fire while earning a living as Photogravure bookkeeper. He was born in 1866, in Hingham and the earliest records we have, list him, at age 44, as a Fire Captain in 1910 and a member of the Board of Fire Engineers. During the 1940s when manpower for the fire department was sparse, JA was appointed a desk officer for Central Fire and would man the desk when needed. He had a direct line to his house from the station to call him out at any time. Always a strong supporter of the fire department, he offered to sell some of the land his house was on and move it aside to help with the expansion of Central Fire in 1940 if needed. Luckily the town voted to purchase the Ripley property on Main Street for fire headquarters and JA spent the rest of his life in his home. This photograph is from the Hingham Historical Society archives.
I grew up at 25 Leavitt St.- just 2 houses down from the Ray House. Ms. Catherine Ray lived there during the 50s and we would run errands for her. At Christmas we delivered my mother’s grape jelly to her. She always had hot chocolate and cookies for us. She later moved to Spring Ln. There were a couple of times when the traffic on RT 228 increased the house just missed having cars run into it.