The Osborne - Salata House

History: Thorndike and Sarah Daniels first owned the land the Osborne-Salata house is located on. The Italianate house was probably built for them after they bought the land in 1853. After that, most likely in the mid to late 1850's Nancy Jane and Dennison W. Osborne and their two kids moved in. Records show that there were many other owners. Some are Joseph H. Osgood (1882), Elizabeth and Samuel Messon (1907), Alice Hanrahan (1914), James Barry (1916-1945), and Dr. Benjamin Salata and his wife Celia from 1945-1997. In 1997 the house was given to the Peabody Historical Society as a donation.   At some point the spacious 17-room house was divided into apartment type units. City directories of the early 1900's have records of many different people that lived in these units. Some are George S. Cushman, a machinist who later became the treasurer of the Carter Press Corp. in Danvers. Another was James J. Folk, a sorter who worked in a leather factory. Frank P. Hanarahan, a silversmith, Willard Burke, a druggist, and Irving M. Winer, a physician also lived in the apartment units of the Salata house.   From the late 1940's to the 1970's Dr. Benjamin Salata practiced dentistry in his house/office. Many Peabody residents were his patients. Many of Dr. Salata's original dental tools and equipment remained in the house with the donation. One can see three different generations of dental technology in the various rooms of the house. Mrs. Salata was a well-known music teacher in the North Shore and gave lessons in their home. Her original piano currently remains in the main hallway of the second floor. Many of her music also is  In addition to the orginial architecture of the house and due to Dr. Salata's dental practice and Mrs. Salta's interest in music, the Salata house is well suited in becoming a museum. Over those decades he lived there he never really changed the architecture of the house.