In 1963 my family and I were living in apartments built and owned by John “Dropkick” Murphy, on Rte 2 or 2a, I forget which, in Acton. I was then working in Bedford, Mass. We called him John, and he was one of the nicest gentlemen I ever met. He always brought champaigne on Christmas Eve, sometimes took all the children in the apartment complex to the Ringling Bro. circus at the Garden, build a sled ramp for the kids, etc. The rehab farm was still used, and sometimes John gave some of his customers odd jobs around the apartments. We left Acton in 1965, so I haven’t seen the apartment site since then-I guess it’s changed. The Dropkick Murphey singing group should post some information on John Murphy on it’s website, since I think they would have liked John Murphy and vice versa.

Indeed “Dropkick” Murphy was a pro-wrestler in
promoter Paul Bowser’s stable in Boston, MA. The venue for all Bowser’s events was the old Boston
Arena on St. Botolph Street. Murphy also had a
doctorate in Podiatry. I saw him wrestle numerous times in Boston as a kid in the mid-40’s. He was
a slick wrestler who was almost always on the
second bill. I remember him wrestling to a draw
with Leo Numa (real name Axel Anderson). His dry
out tank in Acton was truly legendary…a book should written about Murphy’s life.

OMG John E. Murphy Jr. was a very dear friend of mine for 7+ years (back in the day…(1977 -1984) and he was the absolute best….
I still miss him till this very day.

The Boston Globe had an article in a Sunday Edition(1972?) about the closeing of Dropkicks. Have not been able to find the article again.It was an adventure @ Bellow Farms

Most of my friends will be glad to know where the name of their favorite band comes from. Funny thing is I was actually listening to them when finding the article.

You may like to look at this webpage - http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/3216/124/
with several references to Dropkick Murphy wrestling in 1942.

When I started in A.A. in the mid 1980’s in Boston, I would hear some of the “old-timers” talk about stays at Dropkick Murphy’s in Acton—it definitely was a farm/detox of sorts—sort of old-school—they spoke fondly of it—God bless Dropkick—(I’m still sober—God bless A.A.)— Bill M., Roslindale

I am so pleased to see all of this great information. I own Dropkick Murphys house and moved it in 1971 to it’s current (and only in my life time) resting place on Main Street. It was the first house on the right on Davis Road and was going tot be demolished to make room for the apartments. I only moved the main house and not the L with the kitchen or the big porch. I will provide more information in the near future.

My AA Sponser was a huge Irishman with over 35 years of Sobriety. He helped many people get sober. He died over a decade ago. His name was Big Jim. In his story he told of DKM’s. But he said that when he dried out that it was a small place actually over bar. I can still hear him talk about the beer fumes drifting up between the floor boards. My guess is that Murphy may have started out around Boston in a smaller place and expanded to nicer digs in Acton. Big Jim always spoke like Murphy was a Saint.

Here legendry Cape Cod saloon owner Bobby Byrne -
www.bobbybyrnes.com - recounts The Legend of Dropkick Murphy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QC2YxKbWuM&playnext_from=TL&videos=AL6LctOiWQg

If the grounds of that old farm could speak
for those that came-went and came again.
JM and his sons were fine people.

Dropkick was my uncle. I grew up from ages 2-9 on the farm. My cousin and I would walk the road and collect whiskey bottles that the drunks had stashed in the stone walls and hedges on their way in for rehab. John would pay my cousin and I anywhere from $1-$5 for each bottle we found!

I worked for John “Dropkick” Murphy and his sons, John and Dave in the 1960’s as a dishwasher at Bellows Farm Sanitarium. BFS was what could be referred to as a “spin dry”, not a rehab….didn’t have rehabs back then. Alcoholics were dropped off at the Farm by their wives to “dry out”. Alcohol detox is one of the most dangerous so alkies were weaned off the booze with whiskey or in some cases a substance known as paraldahyde (put them in a near coma). It was a front seat window to this 16 year old kid of what alcoholism is…..I washed dishes, served meals, cleaned up puke, mopped floors and played a lot of pool. The residents were immediately put in red pajamas when they arrived which would tip off the local tavern owners when one escaped to the local bar for some refreshment. BFS was a legendary establishment and served some notable clients. John was a big, gregarious Irishman and always was strolling the grounds picking up his own bottles stashed on the road into the facility. The property was sold and develoiped a few years after I left…..

I drove cab in Boston from 69 to ‘72. I had at least one fare out to Dropkick Murphy’s in that period, so it was still open then. Somebody had called for a cab for one guy and I was the lucky driver who got the job. I picked up in the combat zone and glad to drop off without having to do too much cab cleanup afterward. No tip but the fare was paid by the Farm. Residents along the driveway in to the building were all asking what we brought for them. All in pretty good humor except the passenger, who showed no improvement as a result of the cab ride.

Stsarting with my maternal grandmother in the late 1930’s, my family owned a bar in Cambridge. I recall several times during my childhood (1960’s) my father wispering to my mother and grandmother “so and so (a customer) just got out of/went to Dropkick’s”. My first impression was that alcoholism was truly a disease and altho the bar was our family’s source of income, I was also saddened that many who went to Dropkick’s returned to the drink.

The article on the closeing of Dropkicks might have been in Parade of the Globe around 71 or 72.

I moved to Acton in 1972, just after the facility closed and land was being cleared for the Briarbrook Apartments. I was 11. I had heard the stories about a sanitarium and of some well-known celebrities who had stayed there. The house was being used as an office for the apartments and I learned how to play pool there, on the best table that I have ever seen. We used to hang-out on “Whiskey Hill” and I never knew why they called it that till now. (It was where the clients stashed their whiskey bottles on their way into the facility.) I have so many memories of that place that I could fill a book with them. To think that I learned how to play pool on a table where Jackie Gleason played blows my mind! I have seen the band(DKM)in concert and never realized that I had probably met the man (Apparently,I grew up with his sons.) I’m flabbergasted!

Dropkick Murphy’s is also mentioned in the George V. Higgins novel Cogan’s Trade (the basis for the new Brad Pitt movie Killing Them Softly).

My Dad, a boozer himself, was a Globe copy editor during the 60’s and 70’s and I can remember him mentioning fellow Globe employees who had gone to Drop Kick’s for a spin dry on a few occasions. Out of respect for their anonymity, I will not mention any names.

What a great blog post! Thanks for sharing so much wonderful information about the REAL Dropkick Murphy. I’m currently working on a book about John “Dropkick” Murphy. If any of you have some stories to share, feel free to contact me. My work email is esweeney [at] globe [dot] com.

All the best,

Emily Sweeney

Bellows Farm was developed into condos (I live in one of them now) and single family homes in the 90s. I found this page while Googling Bellows Farm - this is fascinating! Even more so since I just celebrated 1 year sober!

I met Mr. Murphy in the 60’s, and the story pretty much as told by other posters was stated rather matter of factly at the time. He was active in the Acton community. Much later, I read Leigh Montville’s Biography of Ted Williams, and that makes mention of persons in the Red Sox organization (not Ted for sure) who were partons of Dropkick’s Murphy’s.

FYI, the hallway near the bathrooms at Doyle’s in JP has a newspaper article (Herald-Traveler?) from December 1971 about the impending closing of Dropkick Murphy’s in Acton.

I remember a big clock on the wall which was used to time the “patients” next drink.

No matter how you do it, losing weight is an individual thing. Friends can help you but they can’t lose the weight for you. You’ve got to take charge of your weight loss from the beginning if you want to get serious about losing weight. The following tips will help.

When John Murphy acquired the farm, he found a facility ready for his requirements. In the 1920’s the property was used by Gertrude Daniels and her daughter, Mrs. Griffin as a facility to rehabilitate people who had suffered nervous breakdowns, by offering wholesome meals, fresh air and the facility was known as “Bellows Stock Farm”. I would presume that they had cattle and a farm environment.
I worked for the Town of Acton and recall going to Bellows Farm when we inspected the facility before it closed. In its day, Davis Road was a road that served only Dr. Wendell Davis’home and John Murphy’s facility. Both Murphy and Davis sat on parcels of land of about 80 acres, so it was not crowded, to say the least. The patrons of Dropkick’s were easily recognized in their red pants and white shirts, they all seemed to speak very highly of the facility and the patrons were well cared for.
Today, the whole area has changed with a series of structures that lead one into a large upscale housing area.
Part of the Bellows Farm lot now belong to the Town and form a long avenue of woodland along Nashoba Brook, soon the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail will pass through the edge of the property and introduce a new generation to the utopia that residents of the old sanitorum were familiar with.

I live in the Bellows Farm neighborhood, up the hill from the house. It was the second house on the right on Davis Rd, 460 feet after the Captain Davis House (which is now the clubhouse for the Briarbrook apartments). The chimney is still standing, overgrown with lots of brush. You can still see the chimney on Google Earth, at coordinates 42.50086, -71.415368. If you roll back the time slider, you can see the old footprint of the building.