Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity, Part 1

Author: Homans, I. Smith (Isaac Smith), 1807-1874. cn; Harvard University. cn
Publication date: 1851
Publisher: Boston, Phillips, Sampson, and Company; Crosby and Nichols
Number of Pages: 760


USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33



Gc 974.402 B65hom 1775956


M. L.


REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 8809


1


SKETCHES


OF


BOSTON 9


PAST AND PRESENT,


AND


OF SOME FEW PLACES IN


IT'S VICINITY .. 5 1. Homans.


" Honor to the Past, Gratitude for the Present, and Fidelity to the Future "


eWith one hundred & Twenty Engrabings.


BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY. CROSBY AND NICHOLS. 1851.


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Homans, Isaac Smith] 1807-1874.


Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some few places in its vicinity ... With one hundred & twenty en- gravings and three maps. Boston, Phillips, Sampson, and company ; Crosby and Nichols, 1851.


3 p. l., [vi-viii, 246, 112 p. front., illus., 3 fold. maps. 17}em. "The university at Cambridge": [pt. 2) p. 30-79.


CHELF CARD


1. Boston-Hist. 2. Boston -- Descr. 3. Boston-Suburbs. 4. Harvard university. I. Title.


17-18119 1


[32b1}


1011


Tiheart of Congress F73 3.14758


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015


https://archive.org/details/sketchesofboston00homa_0


1101 ine


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by J. SMITH HOMANS, . in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.


CAMBRIDGE : STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY METCALF AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.


TO


JOSIAH QUINCY, LL. D. A


RIPE SCHOLAR, AN


ACCOMPLISHED CIVILIAN,


AND THE


PROJECTOR OF NUMEROUS PUBLIC WORKS,


THIS VOLUME


IS


RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY A NATIVE OF BOSTON.


-


PREFACE.


THE present volume is not intended as a formal history of the metropo- lis of New England, nor as a complete index to the many public institutions for which it is so famous. Our object has been to furnish a mere outline uf the early history of the city, with notices of some prominent events : adding an account of some few institutions that are particularly deserving the attention of citizens and strangers.


The Appendix will be found to contain much information relating to towns in the vicinity. For that portion which describes the beautiful "Forest Hills Cemetery," we are indebted to the late General H. A. S. Dearborn, who little thought, when he was preparing the sketch in the month of May last, that he would so shortly


" Rest his head upon the lap of earth."


He died July 29th, 1851, some few days before this volume could be com- pleted for publication.


The compiler takes occasion to express his acknowledgments to Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston, and to Professors Bond, Horsford, and Francis, of Harvard University, and to the Rev. J. B. Felt, of the Massachusetts Historical Society, for copious materials furnished by them for this work.


BOSTON, September, 1851.


1


SKETCHES OF BOSTON,


PAST AND PRESENT.


CONTENTS.


Page


Boston in the Times of the Pilgrims, .. 1


Prominent Incidents in the History of Boston, 27


The Churches of Boston,. 62


The Bridges and Ferries of Boston, 130


Faneuil Hall,.


137


Faneuil Hall Market, 138


Grand Junction Railroad, 140


Asylum and Farm School, 142


The Islands in Boston Harbor,


143


Boston in Districts,


146


East Boston,


148


The Theatres, 151


Cochituate Water-Works, 153


The New City Jail, 160


The Eye and Ear Infirinary, 162


The Boston Athenaeum,


163


The New Custom-House,


166


The Club-House, 168


The Boston Society of Natural History, 168


The New Court-House, 171


The New Almshouse,


172


The State's Prison,.


176


Massachusetts General Hospital,. 180


The McLean Asylum for the Insane,


183


The State-House,.


185


Massachusetts Historical Society,


188


Provident Association for Savings,


191


The Banks in Boston,


192


Hancock House,


193


-


BiVe


vi


CONTENTS.


Boston Common,. 195


Perkins Institution for the Blind, 198


The Public Schools of Boston 203


History of the Public Schools,. 233


Conclusion,


215


PART SECOND.


THE VICINITY OF BOSTON.


Page


I. ROXBURY,


1


II. LYNN,


10


III. WATERTOWN, . 13


IV. CHARLESTOWN, 16


V: LOWELL, .


22


VI. BROOKLINE,


26


VII. CAMBRIDGE,.


28


Harvard College,


31


Faculties of Harvard College,


44


The Medical School,


45


The Botanic Garden,


50


Dane Law School,


53


The Theological School, 58


The Observatory, 61


Lawrence Scientific School, 65


Library of the University, 71


Christ Church,.


90


Washington's Head-Quarters, 94


The Riedesel House, 96


Mount Auburn, 103


Fresh Pond, 109


VIII. WALTHAM, 111


.


-----


SKETCHES OF BOSTON,


PAST AND PRESENT.


LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.


Page


Page


State Street, Frontispiece. .. Fourth Methodist Ep. Church, 119


Trimountain,


1. . Freewill Baptist Church,. 84


Old House in Ann Street,


40. . Friends' Meeting-House, .. 72


.. Grace Church, .. 109


CHURCHES.


.. Harvard Street Church, 103


Baldwin Place Baptist Church,.


81 . . Hawes Place Church, 91


Bethel for Seainen, .. 103. . Hollis Street Church, 78


Bowdoin Square Church,


123. . Mariners' Church, 107


Bulfinch Street Church,


97 .. New Brick, or Second Church, 69


Cathedral of the Holy Cross, ...


83 .. New Jerusalem Church, 94


Central Congregational Church, 111 .. New North Church, 74


Chardon Street Chapel .


118. . New South Church, 75


Charles Street Baptist Church,. Christ Church


89. . Old South Church 70


76. . Park Street Church, 90


Church in Brattle Square,


73. . Phillips Church, 99


Church of the Advent


99. . Pine Street Church, 104


Essex Street Church,. 95. . Rowe Street Baptist Church, .. 122


Federal Street Church, 77 .. Salem Street Church, 105


Fifth Universalist Church,


112 .. Second Methodist Church,. 85


First Baptist Church,


69. . Second Universalist Church, ... 93


First Christian Church, 114 87. . South Baptist Church, ...


First Congregational Church, .. 67 .. South Boston Meth. Church, .. 86 First Independent Baptist Ch., 88. . South Boston Universalist Ch., 110 First Methodist Church 129. . South Congregational Church,. 106 First Universalist Church,. 82. . St. Augustine's Church, . . 113


Bowdoin Street Church


101. . Maverick Church, 80


£


viii


LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.


Page Page


St. Mary's Church,. 116. . Hawes School,. 214


St. Matthew's Church, 92. . Smithy School, 215


St. Patrick's Church,


117. . Boylston School,


216


St. Paul's Church, .


96. . Bowdoin School,


217


St. Vincent de Paul's Church, .. 102. . English High School, 218


Stone Chapel, 71. . Hancock School, 219


Suffolk Street Chapel,.


126. . Wells School,


220


Third Methodist Church, 115. . Johnson School, 221


Thirteenth Congregational Ch.,. 120. . Winthrop School,


222


Trinity Church,.


79. . Lyman School,. 223


Tuckerman Chapel,


125. . Endicott School, 221


Twelfth Congregational Church, 100. . Mather School, 225


Warren Street Chapel,.


124. . Brimmer School


226


West Church, 127. . Phillips School, 227


. . Otis School, . 223


MISCELLANEOUS.


The National Theatre, ...


151. . Quincy School,


230


Cochituate Water-Fountain, .. ..


153. . Primary Schools, 231


160. . Ingraham School, 232


Boston Athenæum,


163 ..


interior view, 164 ..


VICINITY OF BOSTON.


New Custom-House,


166. . Grove Hall, Roxbury, 2


New Court-House,.


171 .. Taft's Hotel, 3


Almshouse, Deer Island, 173 ..


Ground Plan of Almshouse,


174. . Forest Hills Cemetery,. 8


176. . Railroad Depot, Lynn, 10


Massachusetts Gen. Hospital, ... 180. . Lynn High School, 11


The State-House,


IS6. . Lynn Mechanics' Bank, .


12


Statue of Washington,.


187 ..


Carver Sword,


189. . View of Harvard College, 31


Speaker's Desk,.


189 .. Dane Law School, 54


Philip's Samp. pan


190. . Cambridge Observatory,. 61


Provident Savings Institution, .. 191 .. The Telescope, . 63


Bank of Commerce,


192. . Lawrence Scientific School


65


Hancock House, .


193. . Gore Hall,


75


Asylum for the Blind,.


200 ..


.. Christ Church, 90


.. Washington's Head-Quarters, .. 94


Latin School, Bedford Street, ...


209. . Riedesel House,


96


210. . Entrance to Mount Auburn, ..


103


Eliot School, ..


Adams School,


211. . Tomb of Spurzheim,.


107


Franklin School,


212. .


May hew School


213. . Christ Church, Waltham, ... .. 112


--


----


PUBLIC SCHOOL HOUSES.


Massachusetts State Prison,


..


. . Dwight School,


223


The New City Jail,


- ige 214


16 17


18 19 20 :1 2 3


BOSTON.


SHAWMUT-TRIMOUNTAIN.


[A brief sketch of the leading events in the early history of Boston had been pre- pared for this little volume : but the following remarks were finally considered more appropriate, to precede views of Boston as it is in 1851. They forin part of " An address to the citizens of Boston, on the 17th of September, 1830, the close of the second century from the first settlement of the city." "By Josiah Quincy, LL. D., then President of Harvard University . ]


CITIES and empires, not less than individuals, are chiefly indebted for their fortunes to circumstances and influences independent of the labors and wisdom of the passing generation. Is our lot cast in a happy soil, be- neath a favored sky, and under the shelter of free institutions ? How few of all these blessings do we owe to our own power, or our own prudence ! How few, on which we cannot discern the impress of long past genera- tions !


It is natural that reflections of this kind should awaken curiosity con- cerning the men of past ages. It is suitable, and characteristic of noble natures, to love to trace in venerated institutions the evidences of ances- tral worth and wisdom ; and to cherish that mingled sentiment of awe and admiration which takes possession of the soul in the presence of ancient, deep-laid, and massy monuments of intellectual and moral power.


Standing, after the lapse of two centuries, on the very spot selected for us by our fathers, and surrounded by social, moral, and religious blessings greater than paternal love, in its fondest visions, ever dared to fancy, we naturally turn our eyes backward, on the descending current of years ; seeking the causes of that prosperity which has given this city so distin- quished a name and rank among similar associations of men.


BOSTON.


Happily its foundations were not laid in dark ages, nor is its origin to be sought among loose and obscure traditions. The age of our early an- cestors was, in many respects, eminent for learning and civilization. Our ancestors themselves were deeply versed in the knowledge and attain- ments of their period. Not only their motives and acts appear in the gen. eral histories of their time, but they are unfolded in their own writings, with a simplicity and boldness, at once commanding admiration and not permitting mistake. If this condition of things restrict the imagination in its natural tendency to exaggerate, it assists the judgment rightly to an- alyze, and justly to appreciate. If it deny the power, enjoyed by ancient cities and states, to elevate our ancestors above the condition of humanity, it confers a much more precious privilege, that of estimating by unequiv- ocal standards the intellectual and moral greatness of the early, interven- ing, and passing periods ; and thus of judging concerning comparative at- taiment and progress in those qualities which constitute the dignity of our species.


Instead of looking back, as antiquity was accustomed to do, on fabling legends of giants and heroes, - of men exceeding in size, in strength, and in labor, all experience and history, and, consequently, being obliged to contemplate the races of men dwindling with time, and growing less amid increasing stimulants and advantages ; we are thus enabled to view things in lights more conformed to the natural suggestions of reason, and actual results of observation ; - to witness improvement in its slow but sure progress ; in a general advance, constant and unquestionable ; - to pay due honors to the greatness and virtues of our early ancestors, and be, at the same time, just to the not inferior greatness and virtues of succeed- ing generations of inen, their descendents and our progenitors.


Thus we substantiate the cheering conviction, that the virtues of an- cient times have not been lost, or debased, in the course of their descent, but, in many respects, have been refined and elevated; and so, standing faithful to the generations which are past, and fearless in the presence of the generations to come, we accumulate on our own times the responsibil- ity that an inheritance, which has descended to us enlarged and improved, shall not be transmitted by us diminished or deteriorated.


As our thoughts course along the events of past times, from the hour of the first settlement of Boston to that in which we are now assembled, they trace the strong features of its character, indelibly impressed upon its acts and in its history ; - clear conceptions of duty ; bold vindications of right; readiness to incur dangers and meet sacrifices, in the mainten- ance of liberty, civil and religious. Early selected as the place of the chief settlement of New England, it has, through every subsequent peri. od, maintained its relative ascendancy. In the arts of peace and in the energies of war, in the virtues of prosperity and adversity, in wisdom to plan and vigor to execute, in extensiveness of enterprise, success in accu-


3


EARLY HISTORY.


mulating wealth, and liberality in its distribution, its inhabitants, if not unrivalled, have not been surpassed, by any similar society of men. Through good report and evil report, its influence has, at all times, been so distinctly seen and acknowledged in events, and been so decisive on the destinies of the region of which it was the head, that the inhabitants of the adjoining colonies of a foreign nation early gave the name of this place to the whole country ; and at this day, among their descendents, the people of the whole United States are distinguished by the name of " Bos- tonians."


Amidst perils and obstructions, on the bleak side of the mountain on which it was first cast, the seedling oak, self-rooted, shot upward with a determined vigor. Now slighted and now assailed; amidst alternating sunshine and storm; with the axe of a native foe at its root, and the light- ning of a foreign power, at times, scathing its top, or withering its branches, it grew, it flourished, it stands, - may it for ever stand ! - the honor of the field.


Our ancestors have left no Corinthian temples on our hills, no Gothic ca- thedrals on our plains, no proud pyramid, no storied obelisk, in our cities. But mind is there. Sagacious enterprise is there. An active, vigorous, intelligent, moral population throng our cities, and predominate in our fields; men patient of labor, submissive to law, respectful to authority, regardful of right, faithful to liberty. These are the monuments of our ancestors. They stand immutable and immortal, in the social, moral, and intellectual condition of their descendants. They exist in the spirit which their precepts instilled, and their example implanted. Let no man think that to analyze, and place in a just light, the virtues of the first set- tlers of New England, is a departure from the purpose of this celebration ; or deem so meanly of our duties, as to conceive that merely local rela- tions, the circumstances which have given celebrity and character to this single city, are the only, or the most appropriate topics for the occasion. It was to this spot, during twelve successive years, that the great body of those first settlers emigrated. In this place, they either fixed permanently their abode, or took their departure from it for the coast, or the interior.


Whatever honor devolves on this metropolis from the events connected with its first settlement, is not solitary or exclusive; it is shared with Massachusetts; with New England; in some sense with the whole Unit- ed States. For what part of this wide empire, be it sea or shore, lake or river, mountain or valley, have the descendants of the first settlers of New England not traversed ? what depth of forest not penetrated ? what dan- ger of nature or man not defied? Where is the cultivated field, in re- deeming which from the wilderness, their vigor has not been displayed ? Where amid unsubdued nature, by the side of the first log-hut of the set- tler, does the school-house stand and the church-spire rise, unless the sons of New England are there ? Where does improvement advance, under the


4


BOSTON.


active energy of willing hearts and ready hands, prostrating the moss-cov- ered monarchs of the wood, and from their ashes, amid their charred roots, bidding the greensward and the waving harvest to upspring, and the spirit of the fathers of New England is not seen, hovering and shed- ding around the benign influences of sound social, moral, and religious in- stitutions, stronger and more enduring than knotted oak or tempered steel } The swelling tide of their descendants has spread upon our coasts ; ascended our rivers; taken possession of our plains. Already it encircles our lakes. At this hour the rushing noise of the advancing wave startles the wild beast in his lair among the prairies of the West. Soon it shall be seen climbing the Rocky mountains, and, as it dashes over their cliffs, shall be hailed by the dwellers on the Pacific,* as the harbinger of the coming blessings of safety, liberty, and truth.


The glory, which belongs to the virtues of our ancestors, is seen radiat- ing from the nature of their design; - from the spirit in which it was ex- ecuted ; - and from the character of their institutions.


That emigration of Englishmen, which, two centuries ago, resulted in the settlement of this metropolis, was distinguished by the comparative greatness of the means employed, and the number, rank, fortune, and in- tellectual endowments of those engaged in it, as leaders or associates. Twelve ships, transporting somewhat less than nine hundred souls, consti- tuted the physical strength of the first enterprise. In the course of the twelve succeeding years, twenty-two thousand souls emigrated in one hun- dred and ninety-two ships, at a cost, including the private expenses of the adventurers, which cannot be estimated, in our currency, at less than one million of dollars. At that time the tide of emigration was stayed. In- telligent writers of the last century assert that more persons had subse- quently gone from New England to Europe, than had come to it during the same period from that quarter of the globe. A contemporary historian represents the leaders of the first emigration as " gentlemen of good estate and reputation, descended from, or connected by marriage with, noble fain- ilies; having large means, and great yearly revenue, sufficient in all rea- son to content ; their tables abundant in food, their coffers in coin ; posses- sing beautiful houses, filled with rich furniture; gainful in their business, and growing rich daily ; well provided for themselves, and having a sure competence for their children ; wanting nothing of a worldly nature to complete the prospects of ease and enjoyment, or which could contrib- ute to the pleasures, the prospects, or the splendors of life."


The question forces itself on the mind, Why did such men emigrate ? Why did men of their condition exchange a pleasant and prosperous home for a repulsive and cheerless wilderness ? a civilized for a barbarous vicini- ty ? why, quitting peaceful and happy dwellings, dare the dangers of


. This, it will be recollected, was written some years before the gold discoveries in California.


-


-


5


EARLY HISTORY.


tempestuous and unexplored seas, the rigors of untried and severe climates, the difficulties of a hard soil, and the inhuman warfare of a savage foe ? An answer must be sought in the character of the times ; and in the spir- it which the condition of their native country and age had a direct ten- dency to excite and cherish. The general civil and religious aspect of the English nation, in the age of our ancestors, and in that immediately pre- ceiling their emigration, was singularly hateful and repulsive. A foreign hierarchy contending with a domestic despotism for infallibility and su- premacy in matters of faith. Confiscation, imprisonment, the axe and the stake, approved and customary means of making proselytes and pro- moting uniformity. The fires of Smithfield, now lighted by the corrupt and selfish zeal of Roman pontiffs ; and now rekindled by the no less cor- rupt and selfish zeal of English sovereigns. All men clamorous for the rights of conscience, when in subjection; all actively persecuting, when in authority. Everywhere religion considered as a state entity, and hav- ing apparently no real existence, except in associations in support of es- tablished power, or in opposition to it.


The moral aspect of the age was not less odious than its civil. Every benign and characteristic virtue of Christianity was publicly conjoined, in close alliance, with its most offensive opposite. Humility wearing the tiara, and brandishing the keys, in the excess of the pride of temporal and spiritual power. The Roman pontiff, under the title of "the servant of servants," with his foot on the neck of every monarch in Christendom ; and under the seal of the fisherman of Galilee, dethroning kings and giv- ing away kingdoms. Purity, content, and self-denial preached by mnen who held the wealth of Europe tributary to their luxury, sensuality, and spiritual pride. Brotherly love in the mouth, while the hand applied the instrument of torture. Charity, mutual forbearance, and forgiveness chanted in unison with clanking chains and crackling fagots.


Nor was the intellectual aspect of the age less repulsive than its civil and moral. The native charin of the religious feeling lost or disfigured amidst forms, and ceremonies, and disciplines. By one class, piety was identified with copes, and crosiers, and tippets, and genuflexions. By another class, all these are abhorred as the tricks and conjuring garments of popery, or, at best, in the language of Calvin, as " tolerable fooleries " ; while they, on their part, identified piety with looks, and language, and gestures extracted or typified from Scripture, and fashioned according to the newest " pattern of the mount." By none were the rights of private judgment acknowledged. By all, creeds, and dogmas, and confessions, and catechisms, collected from Scripture with metaphysical skill, arranged with reference to temporal power and influence, and erected into standards of faith, were made the flags and rallying points of the spiritual swords- inen of the church militant.


The first emotion which this view of that period excites, at the present


6


BOSTON.


day, is contempt or disgust. But the men of that age are no more re- sponsible for the mistakes into which they fell, under the circumstances in which the intellectual eye was then placed, than we, at this day, for those optical illusions to which the natural eye is subject, before time and experience have corrected the judgment and instructed it in the true laws of nature and vision. It was their fate to live in the crepuscular state of the intellectual day, and by the law of their nature they were compelled to see things darkly, through false and shifting mediums, and in lights at once dubious and deceptive. For centuries, a night of Egyptian darkness had overspread Europe, in the " palpable obscure " of which, priests and monarchs and nobles had not only found means to enthral the minds of the multitude, but absolutely to loose and bewilder their own.


When the light of learning began to dawn. the first rays of the rising splendor dazzled and confused, rather than directed, the inind. As the coming light penetrated the thick darkness, the ancient cumulative cloud severed into new forms. Its broken masses became tinged with an un- certain and shifting radiance. Shadows assumed the aspect of substan- ces; the evenescent suggestions of fancy, the look of fixed realities. The wise were at a loss what to believe, or what to discredit ; how to quit and where to hold. On all sides sprang up sects and parties, infinite in number, incomprehensible in doctrine; often imperceptible in difference ; yet each claiming for itself infallibility, and, in the sphere it affected to influence, supremacy ; each violent and hostile to the others, haughty and hating its non-adhering brother, in a spirit wholly repugnant to the humility and love inculcated by that religion, by which each pretended to be actuated ; and ready to resort, when it had power, to corporeal penal. ties, even to death itself, as allowed modes of self defence and prosely- tism.


It was the fate of the ancestors of New England to have their lot cast in a state of society thus unprecedented. They were of that class of the English nation, in whom the systematic persecutions of a concentrated civil and ecclesiastical despotism had enkindled an intense interest con- cerning man's social and religious rights. Their sufferings had created in their ininds a vivid and inextinguishable love of civil and religious liberty ; a fixed resolve, at every peril, to assert and maintain their natural rights. Among the boldest and most intelligent of this class of men, chiefly known by the name of Puritans, were the founders of this metropolis. To a superficial view, their zeal seems directed to forms and ceremonies and disciplines which have become, at this day, obsolete or modified, and so seems mistaken or misplaced. But the wisdom of zeal for any object is not to be measured by the particular nature of that object, but by the nature of the principle which the circumstances of the times, or of so- ciety, have identified with such object.




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