Buildings designed by J. Williams Beal, Sons included the Granite Trust Company building, Bethany Congregational Church, Plymouth County Hospital, Repertory Theatre of Boston (now the Boston University Theatre), the Plymouth County Courthouse in Brockton, the Hyannis Town Office, Peoples National Bank of Marlboro, and a number of school buildings.
[2] Beal got involved with the Massachusetts Republican Party through his friendships with Leverett Saltonstall and John Richardson.
That same year he also ran for a seat in the Massachusetts Senate and served as president of the Plymouth County Republican Club.
[4] In 1939, Governor Saltonstall removed Commissioner of Public Works William F. Callahan from office and offered Beal the job.
[5] On March 5, 1942, John W. and Horatio Beal were indicted on charges of conspiring to give bribes to Cambridge, Massachusetts Mayor John W. Lyons, who in 1938 awarded J. Williams Beal, Sons a contract to design the Cambridge Tuberculosis Hospital.
John W. Beal was also charged with 12 counts of giving the bribes to Lyons, as well as two counts of perjury (one for lying to a grand jury investigating the city of Cambridge's building program and one for lying during the trial of Lyons and his codefendant Paul Mannos).