The streets and alleys of the ward were notoriously filthy, and the contractors habitually neglected them, not failing, however, to draw their regular payments from the city treasury.

It was extremely successful. A dormitory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is named in honor of Baker but using his pen name David Grayson. A nearby dormitory Baker Hall is named after his brother Hugh Potter Baker who was the president of Massachusetts State College that later became the University of Massachusetts.