At the age of twenty-one , Billings was appointed superintendent of the Wells Memorial Institute . He later served as its treasurer . Upon the death of its founder , Robert Treat Paine in 1910 , Billings became president of the Institute . He held this position until he left the Institute in 1922 . He also served as the superintendent of the People 's Institute . Billings was a member of relief committees that aided the victims of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake , Great Chelsea Fire of 1908 , Great Salem Fire of 1914 , the 1908 Messina earthquake , and the Halifax Explosion . During World War I , Billings served as a member of the emergency committee of the American Red Cross ' Boston chapter . For his work after the Messina earthquake he received an audience with King Victor Emmanuel III , was awarded a medal by the Italian Government , and had the first street built in Messina after the earthquake named in his honor . Upon his return he was awarded a medal by Italian Americans in Boston
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Edmund Billings