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THE BOOK OF
Boston
The Federal Period
GC 974.402 B65ROM
R73bo Ross 1163751 Book of Boston: the Federal period,1775 to 1837
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4
9-18-61
THE BOOK OF BOSTON
for
The Massachusetts State House
The Book of BOSTON
THE FEDERAL PERIOD 1775 to 1837
By MARJORIE DRAKE ROSS With photographs by Samuel Chamberlain
HASTINGS HOUSE PUBLISHERS New York
To MY HUSBAND John Clifford Ross AND MY SON John Drake Ross This Book is Affectionately Inscribed
Copyright @ 1961 by Hastings House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by S. J. Reginald Saunders, Publishers, Toronto 2B. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-14214 Printed in the United States of America
1163751
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
7
List of Illustrations
9
Colonial Boston Changes to Federal Boston
19
Shipping
21
New Fashions
29
Transportation
41
Taverns
44
Bridges
46
More Changes
49
Charles Bulfinch
52
The New State House
54
New Streets
62 63
Wharves and Warehouses
Leveling and Filling
64
Markets
64
Churches
68
Asher Benjamin
74
Other Red-Brick Buildings
83
The First Boston Theater
86
Residences
88
The Tontine Crescent
89
Other Brick Houses in the Federal South End
92
5
The BOOK of BOSTON
Colonnade Row
95
Park Street Residences
95 97
Bowdoin Square Beacon Hill
101
Bostonians' Country Houses
137
The Town Becomes a City
145
The Greek Revival in Boston
147
Hospitals
148
Churches
152
Granite Markets and Warehouses
154
Other Granite Structures
157
Greek-Revival Residences
162
Louisburg Square
166
Map of Federal Boston with Historic Sites
170
A Suggested Tour of Federal Boston
171
Index
173
6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The following source's have been drawn upon in the compiling of this book. The author is very grateful for them.
Barber, John Warner, Historical Collections - Every Town in Massachusetts. Worcester: Dobbs, Howland and Company, 1839 Bulfinch, Ellen Susan, The Life and Letters of Charles Bulfinch, Architect. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1896
Chamberlain, Allen, Beacon Hill Its Ancient Pastures and Early Mansions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1925
Colburn, James Smith, Personal Memoirs, 1780-1859
Comer, William R., Landmarks in the Old Bay State. Norwood: Norwood Press, 1911
Crawford, Mary Caroline, Old Boston Days and Ways. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1907
Crawford, Mary Caroline, Romantic Days in the Early Republic. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1912
Curtis, Caroline Gardiner, Memories of Fifty Years in the Last Cen- tury. Boston: Privately printed, 1947
Drake, Samuel Adams, Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875
Ellis, George E., History of the First Church of Boston. Boston: Hall and Whiting, 1881
Hamlin, Talbot, Greek Revival Architecture in America. London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1944
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Life and Times of Stephen Higgin- son. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1907
Hitchcock, Geology of Massachusetts, 1841
7
The BOOK of BOSTON
Howe, M. A. DeWolfe, Boston Landmarks. New York: Hastings House, 1947
Howe, M. A. DeWolfe, Boston Common, Scenes From Four Cen- turies. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1910
Kilham, Walter H., Boston After Bulfinch. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1946
King, Moses, King's Hand Book of Boston. Cambridge: Moses King Publisher, 1883
Lockwood, Alice, Gardens of Colony and State. New York: Scrib- ner, 1931
Mann, Albert W., Walks and Talks about Historic Boston. Boston: Mann Publishing Company, 1917
McCord, David, About Boston. Boston: Little, Brown Company, 1948
Morrison, Samuel Eliot, Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis, 1765-1848. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1913
Place, Charles A., Charles Bulfinch, Architect and Citizen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1925
Quincy, Eliza Susan Morton (Mrs. Josiah), Memoir of the Life of Eliza S. M. Quincy. Boston: 1861
Quincy, Josiah, A Municipal History of the Town and City of Bos- ton, 1630-1830. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1852 Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet, A Topographical and Historical
Description of Boston. Richwell and Churchill City Printers, 1891 Snow, Caleb Hopkins, A History of Boston. Boston: 1825
Stark, James H., Antique Views of ye Towne of Boston. Boston: James H. Stark, 1901
Thwing, Annie Haven, The Crooked and Narrow Streets of Boston. Boston: Marshall Jones Company, 1920
Thwing, Walter Eliot, History of the First Church of Roxbury. Boston: W. A. Butterfield, 1908
Whitehill, Walter Muir, Boston, A Topographical History. Cam- bridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1959
Winsor, Justin, The Memorial History of Boston. Boston: Charles Little and James Brown, 1846
8
List of Illustrations
The Massachusetts State House Frontis
The Burgess Map of 1729 18
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A View of part of The Town of Boston, printed and sold by 20 Paul Revere, 1768
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Portrait of Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch by Gilbert Stuart
23
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Bradford silver urn by Paul Revere
24
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
U.S. Frigate Constitution in the Navy Yard, painted by 25
Robert Salmon
Courtesy, State Street Bank and Trust Company
Old Ironsides, the U.S.S. Constitution, showing the gun carriages 26
The Hartt silver tea set by Paul Revere
27
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Federal merchants' homes on Beacon Street 28
Doorway at 64 Beacon Street 28
Chinese Export porcelain miniature tea set with one full size 29
cup and saucer
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
French, Louis XVI, andirons of ormolu in the Swan Collection 30
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
French chair, c. 1787, in the Swan Collection
30
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
9
The BOOK of BOSTON
English copperplate print cotton, Washington and Franklin, 31 c. 1800
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Portrait of Mrs. Hephzibah Lord Waterston by Gilbert Stuart, 32 showing a cashmere shawl and mull cap
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Portrait of Mrs. John Amory, Jr., by Gilbert Stuart, showing a 32 mull turban
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Athenaeum Portrait of Martha Washington by Gilbert 33 Stuart, showing a mull cap Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Athenaeum Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert 33 Stuart, used on the dollar bill
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Obelisk tombstone of Benjamin Franklin's parents in the 34
Old Granary Burying Ground
Obelisk tombstone of Chevalier de St. Saveur in 34
King's Chapel Burying Ground
Field canopy bed hung in copperplate print cotton, Mourning Picture over the mantel
35
Courtesy, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
Embroidered Mourning Picture, 1805, showing an urn tombstone and weeping willow
35
Courtesy, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
Tall clock by Simon Willard, Roxbury c. 1800, with an eagle 36
finial
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Wall or banjo clock by Simon Willard, c. 1800, with an eagle finial
36
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Girandole looking glass, Boston c. 1800, with an eagle finial 37
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
IO
List of Illustrations
Stern ornaments on the U.S.S. Constitution, stars and spread eagle 38 Fanlight doorway at 61 Beacon Street with an eagle above 38 the door
Liverpool pottery pitcher with an inscription to Boston and 39
another type of jug or pitcher with a portrait of Captain Hull of the U.S.S. Constitution Courtesy, Nina Fletcher Little
Silver pitcher by Paul Revere 39
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Interior of the first Harrison Gray Otis House showing federal 40 Hepplewhite style chairs and a Hepplewhite-Sheraton style sofa
Courtesy, The Society for the Preservation of
New England Antiquities
East View of Lowell, Massachusetts, showing the Cotton Mill 41
Courtesy, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
The Middlesex Canal, a reconstructed scene by Louis R. 42
Linscott, showing the Baldwin Mansion in North Woburn and the tow path
Courtesy, Louis R. Linscott
Boston Mail Stage, 1810 43
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Bell in Hand sign of John Wilson, the Town Crier, hung over 43 his restaurant and later over an alehouse in Pie Alley Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Exchange Coffee House, State Street, 1808-1818, woodcut by 44
A. Bowen
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
The Devens silver tankard, by Benjamin Burt, engraved with 46 a view of the Charles River Bridge
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
View of Boston and the South Boston Bridge by J. Milbert, 47
showing the State House
Courtesy, State Street Bank and Trust Company
II
The BOOK of BOSTON
Beacon Hill and the Mill Dam 48
Courtesy, State Street Bank and Trust Company
Acorn Street, Beacon Hill, showing the original cobblestones 50 and brick sidewalks
Miniatures of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bulfinch 51
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Leveling Beacon Hill, the rear of the State House, and the 53
Bulfinch Monument
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The State House and Boston Common, c. 1830 55
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
The State House by Pendleton, 1830, showing the chimneys
55
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Detail of the State House showing the dome and portico
56
Interior of the Bulfinch State House, Doric Hall
57
Courtesy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Interior of the Bulfinch State House, Senate Chamber showing 58 the ceiling and galleries
Courtesy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Interior of the Bulfinch State House, Senate Reception Room 59 showing the ceiling
Courtesy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The Sacred Cod 61
Courtesy, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
India Wharf with the Bulfinch stores and the archway 63
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Faneuil Hall as rebuilt by Bulfinch 65
Interior of Faneuil Hall as rebuilt by Bulfinch 66
The Boylston Market 67
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Cupola of the Boylston Market now on the Calvary Methodist Church, Arlington I 2
67
List of Illustrations
Portrait of Jean Louis A. M. Lefebvre de Cheverus, first Roman 68 Catholic Bishop of Boston
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Church of the Holy Cross, first Roman Catholic Church in 69
New England
Courtesy, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
Bulfinch silver urn by Mathieu de Machy, Paris
70
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Second edifice of the New North Church now St. Stephen's 71
Roman Catholic Church
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
St. Stephen's Church, only one by Bulfinch still standing in Boston
72
Interior of St. Stephen's Church
73
Portrait of Asher Benjamin attributed to Chester Harding 74
Courtesy, Mrs. Harold H. Howe
West Church by Asher Benjamin 75
Charles Street Meetinghouse by Asher Benjamin 76
Detail of the Charles Street Meeting House 77
Park Street Church by Peter Banner 79
Detail of the Park Street Church
80
Meeting House Hill, Roxbury, 1790, from a painting by John Ritts Penniman
81
Courtesy, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
State Street, 1792 - showing the Old State House 83
Courtesy, State Street Bank and Trust Company
View of State Street, 1830-40, by Bartlett. Showing columned 84 buildings, center right, the U.S. Bank and, far right, the Suffolk Bank Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Silver urn by Paul Revere with engraving of the First Boston 86 Theater by Bulfinch
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
I3
The BOOK of BOSTON
First Boston Theater as rebuilt by Bulfinch with the Tontine 87 Crescent at the left
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Plan and Elevation of the Tontine Crescent by Bulfinch
88
Courtesy, Massachusetts Historical Society
The Tontine Crescent at the right of the Park and Franklin 89 Place houses at the left, Franklin Street 1794 Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Detail of the center of the Tontine Crescent showing the arch- 90 way with the street sign, Arch Street, and the Franklin Urn Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Pearl Street showing the Richardson and Harris Houses at the 92 corner of High Street
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Portrait of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, c. 1827, by Gilbert 93
Stuart
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Colonnade Row, by Bulfinch, from the Common. Design on 94 the cover of the music Promenade Quick Step, 1843,
showing the Tremont Street Mall
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Amory-Ticknor House on the left and Park Street Mall on the 96 Common at the right
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
First Harrison Gray Otis House now the Headquarters of the 98 Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
Interior of the first Harrison Gray Otis House by Bulfinch - 99 The Dining Room
Second Harrison Gray Otis House by Bulfinch 102
Detail of the Second Harrison Gray Otis House 103
Third Harrison Gray Otis House by Bulfinch 104
Detail of the third Harrison Gray Otis House 105
Stable and Yard of the third Harrison Gray Otis House 107
14
List of Illustrations
87 Mount Vernon Street 108
13, 15, 17 Chestnut Street 111
Doorway of 17 Chestnut Street 112
Portrait of Colonel James Swan by Gilbert Stuart Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
113
Blue Staffordshire printed ware plate with a view of the James 114 Perkins House on Pearl Street given by him to the Boston Athenaeum
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
115
Boston Common to the State House, 1815-20, by J. R. Smith showing the Frederick Tudor House fourth from the left, the Amory-Ticknor House on the right and the cows on the Common
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House, Original painting owned by the Boston Public Library
Double house at 26 Allston Street 116
Wyatt window at 74 Pinckney Street 117
Chestnut Street houses showing thé recessed arched doorways 118
9 West Cedar Street, home of Asher Benjamin 119
Twin houses, 54 and 55 Beacon Street, by Asher Benjamin 120
Detail of 54 and 55 Beacon Street 121
Portrait of Mrs. James Smith Colburn by Gilbert Stuart
123
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Tea Party by Henry Sargent. Interior of the artist's home 124 at 10 Franklin Street c. 1820
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Dinner Party by Henry Sargent. Interior of the artist's 125 home at 10 Franklin Street c. 1820
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Chinese Export Porcelain creampot with the Arms of the 127
Cincinnati
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
I 5
The BOOK of BOSTON
Blue Staffordshire printed ware with a view of an English 128
Country House
Courtesy, Nina Fletcher Little
McLean Hospital formerly Pleasant Hill, Charlestown, the 129 country house of Joseph Barrell, by Bulfinch
Courtesy, The McLean Hospital
First page of the Inventory of the Estate of Joseph Cutler, 130
Boston, 1806
Courtesy, Suffolk County Probate Records, Boston
Interior of Shirley Place, Roxbury, now known as the 139
Shirley-Eustis House, showing the Federal staircase in Governor Eustis' country house
Gore Place, Waltham, the country house of Governor 141
Christopher Gore
Plan of The Vale, Waltham, the country house of Theodore 142
Lyman, by Samuel Mc Intire
Courtesy, The Essex Institute, Salem
The Vale, now the property of The Society for the 143 Preservation of New England Antiquities Courtesy, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
The Granite Railroad, West Quincy, 1826
146
Courtesy, State Street Bank and Trust Company
The First Boston Hospital, Bulfinch building at the Massa- 148
chusetts General Hospital, 1818, showing a rope walk building at the far right
Courtesy, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
Detail of the Bulfinch building at the Massachusetts General Hospital
150
Chinese Export Porcelain presented by the City of Boston to 151 Dr. Oliver Smith, founder of The Boston Dispensary Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
16
List of Illustrations
Chinese Export Porcelain, ten gallon punch bowl
151
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston St. Paul's Cathedral by Alexander Parris 152
The New South or Octagon Church, by Bulfinch 153
Courtesy, Bostonian Society, Old State House
Portrait of Josiah Quincy by Gilbert Stuart Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
154
East View of Faneuil Hall, the Quincy Market and warehouses
155
drawn by J. Andrews
Courtesy, State Street Bank and Trust Company
Faneuil Hall and the Quincy Market
156
Granite warehouses
156
The Custom House by Ammi B. Young showing the original dome
157
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Detail of the Custom House showing the monolithic columns 158
Custom House tower, a later addition 158
Bunker Hill Monument 159
The Tremont House, by Isaiah Rogers, 1829 161
Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Twin houses, 39 and 40 Beacon Street 162
Doorway of 40 Beacon Street 162
Block of granite town houses, on Beacon Street west of River 163
Street, attributed to Asher Benjamin
The Sears Mansion, 42 Beacon Street, by Alexander Parris at 164 the right and beside it on the left the third Harrison Gray Otis House showing the bow-end at the side Courtesy, The Somerset Club
Louisburg Square in winter 167
Louisburg Square in summer 168
Louisburg Square at sunset 169
Map of Federal Boston, with Historic Sites indicated 170
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The Book of BOSTON
THE FEDERAL PERIOD 1775 to 1837
Colonial Boston Changes to Federal Boston
B OSTON, so closely allied with the history of the United States, is part of the heritage of all Amer- icans. Founded in 1630 on a tiny peninsula con- nected by a narrow neck of land to what is now Roxbury, colonial Boston was almost surrounded by water. There were three "mountains" or hills: Copp's Hill, Fort Hill (now leveled), and the Trimountain. The Trimountain had three individual peaks: Cotton (leveled to what is now Pemberton Square), Beacon, where the beacon pole stood (now the State House area), and Mount Vernon (now the Louis- burg Square district) .*
Colonial life centered in the area of the present State Street, in the North End, and along the water front over- looking the harbor with its many islands. This picturesque Boston was dotted with frame houses built of local wood,
* See Volume I The Book of Boston - Colonial Boston, 1630-1775.
19
THE TOWNOR
.
2.16.01/1/14
-
A View of part of The Town of Boston, printed and sold by Paul Revere, 1768
an American interpretation of the English medieval half- timber style, and some boxlike brick dwellings. All were on small town farms with gardens and orchards. The skyline was pierced with church steeples and the shoreline was fringed with wharves.
As the town grew, land was filled into the harbor, so that the water front was continually changing. Eventually the site of the old Town Dock was about a half mile inland.
Some forty-five acres were set aside for the "common use" and remain so today as Boston Common.
Fires, the horror of those times, gradually brought about the transformation of colonial Boston from a town principally of wooden buildings to one largely of brick.
Up to the time of the War of Independence the colonial
20
Shipping
townspeople were puritan in their ideas and standards. Their way of life changed little until the Revolutionary War was over.
England recognized the new nation in 1783. In 1788 Massachusetts ratified the Federal Constitution and in 1789 George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America.
A period of readjustment followed, a transition from being a colony to becoming part of an independent nation. There was also an economic depression which was greatly relieved by the development of a new shipping industry and its allied occupations. These days of the late 18th cen- tury and the beginning of the 19th century are known as our early Federal period.
At first in the early Federal period new ideas and progress came slowly, but during the first quarter of the 19th century Boston grew rapidly into a charming town of tree-shaded streets and handsome brick homes, produc- ing architecture of a new and beautiful style. People began to "move out to the country," to Beacon Hill * (which is at present near the center of the city,) and the old colonial town farms were replaced by blocks of houses.
Shipping
Shipping increased, and the water front was crowded with sailing ships tied up at the wharves. A forest of masts, silhouetted against the sky, almost concealed the colonial steeples behind them in the town.
*
Historic Site.
* Historic Site open to the public.
2 I
The BOOK of BOSTON
Horses and wagons clattering along with their loads were hindered by the bowsprits projecting out into the streets, causing "traffic jams" in this busy seaport.
Great wharves were built with brick warehouses and countinghouses to take care of the expanding trade. In 1794 there were eighty of these quays. The most important was the Boston Pier * or old Long Wharf, at the end of King Street, which had been built in the colonial period and was now greatly lengthened. (See illus. on p. 20.) When King Street became State Street after the Revolutionary War, Long Wharf with its line of buildings extended into the harbor 1,743 feet. In 1800 the sites of Broad and India streets were still under water, but in the next year filling made possible the present India Street, and Central and India wharves were built along the new water front.
Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), the distinguished scientist and navigator from Boston, made a most valuable contribution to the shipping of his day. Born in Salem, the son of a sea captain, he was apprenticed to a ship chandler and at the age of twenty-one went to sea. His experiences included four long voyages. Although he had no formal schooling after the age of ten, he became a great mathemati- cian, the first in America, as well as an outstanding astron- omer. In 1802, before he was thirty, he published his book, The New American Practical Navigator. This became a sea captains' manual both here and abroad for more than one hundred years.
There was foreign commerce with Europe and other ports. A vast new East Indies and China trade was develop- ing and there was also shipping to harbors in the West Indies and along the American coast. Both whaling and cod fishery became great industries. Merchants and sea captains amassed
22
Portrait of Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch by Gilbert Stuart
fortunes from these ships. Some of the voyages made a profit of more than a hundred thousand dollars, an enormous amount of money in those days.
These new merchant ships were threatened by pri- vateers seeking their cargoes, and their captains and men often displayed great courage. One instance of this was com- memorated by the presentation of a silver urn to Captain Gamaliel Bradford, a descendant of the Pilgrim governor. This coffee urn, made by Paul Revere, the Boston patriot and silversmith, was engraved, "To Perpetuate the Gallant defense made by Capt. Gamaliel Bradford in the Ship In- dustry on 8th July, 1800 - when Attacked by four French Privateers in the Straights of Gibraltar. This urn is Presented to him by Samuel Parkman." It is now on view in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Fourteen ropewalks produced the ropes for the many ships. These narrow wooden boardwalks, or roofed sheds
2 3
The Bradford silver urn by Paul Revere
with open sides, stretched out in long, straight lines. Myrtle Street on Beacon Hill originally had three ropewalks run- ning from what is now Grove Street to Hancock Street. Others were on the site of the present Pearl Street, on the opposite side of the town, until they burned down. In 1794 the marsh along the water front west of the Common was filled in for a new ropewalk. This remained in use until 1824. Later the area became the Public Garden.
The New England cotton industry developed and sup- plied the duck and canvas for the sails of the merchant ships. The new American Navy also required sails. Those for the
24
Shipping
famous frigate Constitution were made in the old colonial granary, a large wooden grain storehouse, because no other building in the town was long enough. The granary stood on the site of the present Park Street Church, beside the Old Granary Burying Ground to which it gave its name.
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