USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Boston of to-day; a glance at its history and characteristics: with biographical sketches and portraits of many of its professional and business men, 1892 > Part 10
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1 The picturesque ruins of the Ursuline Convent occupied the height known as Mt. Benedict, in Somerville, a short distance from Charlestown Neck, until a few years ago, when the hill was levelled. The convent was established in Boston in iSzo, and first occupied a building adjoining the old Cathedral in Franklin street; it was re- moved to Mt. Benedict in 1526. The grounds about the building, which stood on the summit of the hill, were laid out in terraces, with fine orchards, shade-trees, and gardens. The burning of the building by the mob, who were infuriated by stories of ill-treatment of inmates, notably Rebecca Reed, a pupil, and Sister Mary John, was a wanton act deplored by orderly citizens. In Boston a meeting to denounce it was held in Faneuil Hall, at which Harrison Gray Otis and Josiah Quincy, Jr., were among the speakers. Thirteen of the rioters were arrested, but only one, Marvin Marcey, Jr., the least guilty, it was said, was convicted. He was afterwards pardoned on the petition ot the bishop and others, on the ground that he should not suffer punish. ment while the ringleaders escaped.
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Exaltation of the Cross by the Emperor Herac- lius, and the miracle " by which the True Cross was verified." Those on the chancel windows represent the Crucifixion, the Ascension, and the Nativity ; these are memorial windows, gifts to the church. Smaller stained-glass windows in the clere-story of the transept and the chancel represent biblical sub- jects. The interior terminates in an octagonal apse. On the right of the church is the Chapel of the · Blessed Virgin, containing a marble statue represent- ing the Virgin. The three other chapels are those
the ground adjoining the cathedral, on the corner of Union Park street and Harrison avenue, is the man- sion-house of the archbishop, in which are the chief offices of the archdiocese. The cathedral was eight years in building, and was consecrated with a brill- iant service on the 8th of November, 1875. P. C. Keely, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was the architect.
Most of the South End Protestant churches which make any pretensions to architectural effect are in the familiar Gothic style. One of the earliest built here, dating from 1862, that of the Tremont-
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of St. Joseph, St. Patrick, and the Blessed Sacra- ment. Between the latter and the sanctuary is the large vestry. The great organ, the sixth 'in size in the world, is built around the exquisite rose-window of the west, and the chantry, with the smaller organ, is near the chancel and the archiepiscopal throne. Of the chapels, that of the Blessed Sacrament is a beautiful piece of architecture, and it has a peculiar interest in that it contains the altar of the old cath- edral which stood so long in Franklin street.1 In
street Methodist ( Hammatt Billings, architect), with low walls and finely proportioned spires, is still re- garded as one of the most artistic in design. Lower as Catholics, and in the movement for the new church the generous aid of a number of influential Protestants was secured. The sub- scription to the building fund was headed by John Adams. A bell brought from Spain was given by Hasket Derby. The building was designed by Bulfinch; and it was consecrated by Bishop Carroll, of Baltimore, Sept. 29, 1503. Boston at this time was only a mis. sion; and when in ISOS it was created an episcopal see, the diocese then embracing all New England, Father Cheverus was made the first bishop. In 1825 he was translated to France, and died, cardinal- archbishop, in Bordeaux, in 1530. Dr. Matignon died here in Boston, Sept. 19, ISIS. His remains lie buried under the floor of the mortuary chapel of St. Augustine in the Catholic cemetery in South Boston. Boston was created an archbishopric in IS;5, and Bishop John Joseph Williams was made the first archbishop. The old cathedral 'was sold in ivo to Isaac Rich, for $115,000. The first Catholic church was on School street, established in 17sg, in a chapel previously occupied by French Huguenots.
" The business block known as the "Cathedral buildings," on Franklin street, now occupies the site of the old cathedral. It was the second Catholic church in Boston, and its establishment was due to the zeal of Fathers Francis Antony Matignon and John de Cheverus, exiled French priests, who came here, the former in 1792 and the latter four years later. Both made warm friends among Protestants as well
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down Tremont street, at the corner of Brookline street, the Shawmut Congregational Church (Con- gregational-Trinitarian), completed two years after, shows an effective piece of work in its tall, square campanile. Of this C. E. Parker was the architect. The unpretending meeting-house of the Church of the Disciples, on Warren avenue, is one of the most distinguished in the South End, not because of its architectural design, for it is one of the plainest, but because it was the pulpit of James Freeman Clarke. It was completed in 1869, and dedicated on the twenty-eighth anniversary of the first public meeting of the society, Feb. 28, 1841. At that first meeting it was resolved that the society should never rent or sell or tax the seats, and from that day to this it has been a free church. The present house was built and furnished at a cost of $57,000, all given outright by subscriptions ranging from $5,000 to $5. The interior is very pleasant ; " cheerful and sunny, like our faith," Dr. Clarke has described it. The auditorium is capacious, and will seat comfortably from 1,000 to 1,500 persons. Below it are two halls connected by sliding doors ; a large Sunday-school library room, also opening into the , of Slavery, " published after a visit to South Carolina larger hall; a pastor's room, class and committee in 1854, which drew upon him the sharp criticism of the band of earnest abolitionists here in Boston, by whom he was dubbed "South Side Adams." The two other churches on this avenue -- the First Presbyterian, at the corner of Berkeley street, just below Dr. Miner's church, and the People's Metho- dist-Episcopal Church, on the opposite side - are not particularly strong architecturally. The interior of the People's Church is in its arrangement more like a theatre than a church, the object being to pro- vide for an unobstructed view of the platform from every seat. It is a free church, and its construc- tion was due largely to the untiring zeal of J. W. Hamilton, long its pastor. The work of building was begun in 1879, and it was completed in 1885. rooms, and a kitchen. All are high, well ventilated, well lighted, well warmed. The establishment of the church, in the beginning, was Dr. Clarke's own idea, and he strove for it several years before it was ac- complished. It first met in halls ; then it built the Freeman-place Chapel, on Beacon hill (named for James Freeman, first "reader" and afterwards rector of King's Chapel) ; and then, from 1853 until the present building was built, it was established in In- diana place. Among the earliest signers of the book of the church were Nathaniel Peabody and his three daughters, one of whom became the wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and another the wife of Horace Mann. John A. Andrew, Samuel J. May, Ellis Gray Loring, and George William Bond were other early members. For a while after the death of Dr. Clarke (in 1889) it was feared that the society would be scattered, but with the engagement of the Rev. Charles G. Ames as his successor, the ties were strengthened, and it is now again a strong organization.
Of later churches, those on Columbus avenue are most noteworthy. The feature of the Columbus- avenue Universalist Church, built in 1872, at the corner of Clarendon street, also of Roxbury stone, is its shapely stone tower and steeple at the side, with the carriage-porch at the base; and that of the Union Church (Congregational Trinitarian), built in 1870, farther up the avenue, at the corner of West
Rutland street, is its picturesque outline, a rambling group of stone church and chapel, occupying the front of an entire square. The interior of the Universalist Church, built in the clere, without pillars, is light. It has painted windows rep- resenting the Man of Sorrows, the Risen Lord, and the Twelve Apostles ; symbols of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Purity ; and memorials of the first pas- tor of the church, the revered Hosea Ballou, of its Sunday-school superintendent for thirty years, Thomas A. Goddard, and of eight deceased dea- cons. This is Dr. A. A. Miner's pulpit, and the suc- cessor of the famous old School-street church. It was designed by the architects L. Newcomb & Co. The interior of the Union Church is made attractive by its high pitched roof of open-worked timbers. The old church which it succeeds was long on Essex street, and its most famous pastor in the old days was Nehemiah Adams, whose pastorate covered thirty- five years : a cultivated man who early won a reputa- tion as a writer as well as a preacher, but was more generally known in local history as the defender of the institution of slavery in his "South-side View
The Latin and English High School building on Warren avenue, Montgomery and Dartmouth streets, is the largest structure in the world used as a free public school, and much attention was given in its design to architectural effect. It is built of brick, in the modern Renaissance style, with all the lines of strength treated architecturally in buff sand- stone, and the frieze courses inlaid with terra-cotta. The exterior ornamentation in the terra-cotta work is from designs by the sculptor, T. H. Bartlett. The building occupies a parallelogram 420 feet long by 220 feet wide, and is designed after the German plan of the hollow square, with corridors following its outlines. The Latin School fronts on Warren ave- nue and the English High on Montgomery street,
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and the two are connected in the rear by the drill- hall and gymnasium, across the easterly end of the block. Across the westerly end, facing Dartmouth street, a building for the accommodation of the School Board and its officers may ultimately be built. Each of the street-fronts of the main
building is divided into three pavilions. The divi- sion between the two courts of equal size within the block is made by the central or 'theatre " building, connected with the main street-fronts by a trans- verse corridor. The statuary decorating both of the great vestibules from the main entrances is good
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work. That in the vestibule on the Latin School side is the marble monument designed by Richard S. Greenough in honor of the Latin School graduates who were in the Civil War. The orator and the poet on the occasion of its dedication in 1870- William M. Evarts and Dr. William Everett - were . graduates of the school. That in the vestibule of
BUILDING OF THE POPE MANUFACTURING COMPANY. Taken from an oil-painting.
" Flight from Pompeii," by Benzoni of Rome, the gift of the late Henry P. Kidder, another eminent graduate of the school. It stands on an African marble pedestal, with panels representing dancing- girls in bas-relief. The interior of the bailding is finished in Michigan oak. Thirty six school-rooms occupy the street-fronts, and twelve receive their light and air from the courts. The "theatre "
building contains lecture-halls and library-rooms for both schools. The chemical laboratory and lecture- room are in a detached building, separated from the remainder of the structure by fire-proof walls. The drill-hall and the gymnasium above are models of their kind. The floor of the former is of thick plank, calked like a ship's deck, and laid upon solid concrete. It can accommodate the entire school battalion, and can also be used for mounted drill. The gymnasium is of the same size. The basement and court-yards are especially fitted for play-room. The building was dedicated Feb. 22, 1881. Its cost thus far, with the land, has been about $750,000. George A. Clough was the archi- tect.
The Boston Latin School was the first school established in the colonies, and the first edu- cational institution in the country. The first record with reference to it was made in 1635, five years after the landing of Winthrop and his associates, and it reads : " Att a general meeting upon publick notice . . it was
. . generaly agreed vpon yt or brother Philemon Pormort shall be intreated to be- come schole master for the teaching and nourtering of children with vs." The first Latin School building was on School street, giving that way its name, on part of the ground now occupied by King's Chapel. The second was on the opposite side of the street, where the Parker House now stands. The third was on the same site, a structure of three stories with a granite front and a cupola, built in 1812 ; and the fourth was on Bedford street, built in 1844, and long a familar landmark. This building was shared soon after its completion with the English High School (established in 1821), and since that time the two have kept together. From the Bedford-street building removal was made to the present structure.
The Girls' High and Latin schools building near by, on Newton street, is an uninteresting structure, originally designed for the High and was commended as the largest, most substantial, and costliest school-building in the country. The in- terior is well arranged, lighted, and ventilated. In the large hall, on the upper story, is a collection of casts of sculpture and statuary, the gift of citizens interested in the schools. The octagonal structure on the roof is designed to be used as an astronomical observatory. The High is the oldest of the schools
the English High side is the marble group of the Normal schools. When is was completed, in 1870, it
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here established, dating from 1855. The Latin
School was established in 1878. The training which the girls of these schools receive is similar to that given in the English High and Latin schools for boys.
The group of attractively designed buildings of the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Hospital, on the grounds bounded by Harrison avenue, Stoughton and Albany streets, includes the hospital proper, the School of Medicine (connected with Boston University), and the dispensary. With the impor- tant additions made in 1891-92 this has become the largest and most thoroughly equipped homce- opathic hospital in the country, and the third general hospital in size in Boston and New England. The oldest portion, known as the Central Building, was first opened for patients in- May, 1876; the surgical wing, on the southerly side, and the Cottage, or Isolating Ward, were built in 1883 ; and the ex- tensions of 1891-92 included the enlargement of the surgical wing, the construction of the medical wing, on the northerly side, the large building forming the westerly addition to the Medical School, the dispensary next it, and the mortuary on Albany street. The architect of the group was T. R. Allen, and in the design of the buildings the best models have been followed. About two hundred beds are now furnished in the hospital, and it is so arranged that the rooms are all sunny and pleasant. All the modern appliances for ventilation, heating, and lighting are employed. The fourth floor of the surgical wing includes the solarium, etherization room, and amphitheatre, the latter extending through the fifth floor and admirably arranged for demon- strations to classes of students. The dispensary is most systematically planned. When the building is completed according to the original plans a mater- nity department, exclusively under the care of women physicians, will be established. The Home- opathic Hospital was chartered as long ago as 1855, when it came within a single vote in the State Senate of receiving State aid. Failing this, its growth was slow. It was first established in a modest way in the house No. 14 Burroughs place, off from Hollis street, and fitted with but fourteen beds. This was in 1871. In November of that year some of the most prominent homeopathic physicians of the city were summoned for trial before the Massachusetts Medical Society, for " conduct unbecoming and un- worthy an honorable man and a member of the society," such " unbecoming and unworthy conduct" being the practice of their profession as members of the homeopathic school. A summary expulsion from the society was prevented by an injunction from the
Supreme Court ; but the matter was warmly discussed in the public prints, and popular interest was excited. A public fair in aid of the hospital, held soon after, so profited by this interest that $80,000 were real- ized for its funds. With this in hand the work of building on the present site was begun. The cost of the additions made in 1883 was met by generous contributions from citizens, and of those made in 1891-92 by further subscriptions and a grant of $120,000 from the State, authorized by the Legisla- ture of 1890.
VIII.
NORTH AND OLD WEST ENDS.
QUAINT AND PICTURESQUE WAYS AND BY-WAYS - BEA- CON HILL AND ITS LITERARY QUARTER -SOME INTERESTING LANDMARKS.
TO the lovers of Boston, bits of the North End, despite its squalor, and much of the old West End of the town, are most interesting; and towards these sections the visitor in search of the quaint, the picturesque, and the mellow turns with agreeable anticipations. The North End especially is historic ground. Here is Copp's hill, of the original three, and its ancient burying-groun 1 with the tombs of the Mathers; and hard by. Christ Church, the oldest church-building now standing in the town, from whose steeple, the tablet on its face asserts, the signal-lanterns of Paul Revere were hung on that eventful April night in 1775 when the patriot flew along the Middlesex roads on his trusty horse warning the " minute men " of the march of the British to Lexington and Concord. Here is North square, where stood the old North Church, the "Church of the Mathers,"1 which the British tore down and used for firewood during the hard winter of the Siege ; the old " Red Lion Inn," the famous seventeenth-century tavern long kept by the Quaker Nicholas Upshall, a " man of substance," and " one of the first to feel the rigor of the persecution of the Quakers," who finally died a martyr to his faith ; and until quite recently the homestead in which Paul Revere was born. Within the narrow precincts of the North End lived many of the men who were active in the stirring events preceding the Revolu- tion, the " Sons of Liberty," and the sturdy mechan- ics who joined with those of "laced and ruffled
I See chapter on the New West End, paragraph on Second Church.
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coats" in the "tea party " of 1773. Here was burning of Charlestown during the battle of Bunker Thomas Hutchinson's fine town-house, on Garden hill. court, which was sacked by the mob on the night of August 26, 1765, during the Stamp Act troubles, when the chief justice and his family only escaped personal violence by hurriedly taking refuge in neighboring houses. And next to it, on the corner of the court and Prince street, was that of Sir Charles Henry Frankland, the lover of Agnes Sur- riage, where Lady Agnes, as he made her after she had so heroically saved his life in the Lisbon earth- quake, lived for a while after his death and her return to America.
Though much of its quaintness has disappeared in late years with the demolition of ancient structures and the cutting of new ways through old landmarks, there yet remain in the North End some interesting examples of old-time building, houses of hip-roof variety, or with gambrel roofs and overhanging stories. Several of these are to be seen in Salem street, a number in Prince and neighboring streets, and a few in the vicinity of the old burying-ground. An interesting relic of the quiet style of colonial mansion-house is the well-preserved Dillaway house on Salem street, next to Christ Church, built of brick, with its end to the street and the entrance under a grape-vine trellis reached by a brick walk from the swinging gate. Christ Church, dating from 1723, the second Protestant-Episcopal church in Boston, presents a severely plain brick front with a tower and steeple of the Christopher Wren style (a repro- "duction of the original one which was blown down in a great gale in 1S04), and an interior ambitiously designed for that day. When, in 1884, the interior was renovated, an effort was made to restore it as far as possible to its original appearance. The coloring of the walls and woodwork within the chancel was a return to the ancient fashion, and an old-time style of ornamentation was copied in the covering of the arch with a material resembling hammered gold .. The place is enriched with paint- ings and mural ornaments, among which is the first monument to Washington ever erected in the coun- try. The figures of the cherubim in front of the organ, and the chandeliers, were seized from a French vessel by the privateer "Queen of Hun- gary" in 1746, and presented to the church by Captain Grushea ; the Bible, prayer-books, and communion service were given by George II. in 1733 ; the massive christening-basin was a gift of a parishioner in 1730; and the sweet chime of eight bells hung in the tower, whose melodious tones are still heard, came from England in 1744. From the old steeple Gage witnessed the
Copp's hill is the largest of the three ancient burying-grounds of the town ( King's Chapel, Copp's hill, and Granary), and its situation is the most picturesque. It stands on a steep embankment left when the remainder of the hill was cut down, protected by a high rough-stone wall. It was the second of the burying-grounds established in the town, and occupied the summit of the hill where the old windmill, which gave the place its first name, had stood for twenty years. The ground was first used for interments in 1660, and was long known as the " North Burying Ground." From time to time new cemeteries were established adjoining it, and now the enclosure contains, besides the original Old North, which is that on the north-east side of the entrance gate, the New North and the Charter- street Burying-ground. Among notable graves or tombs here besides those of the Mathers -- Increase, Cotton, and Samuel --- are those of Chief Justice Par- ker; of the father and grandfather of Governor Hutchinson ; of Mrs. Mary Baker, a sister of Paul Revere ; of Rev. Jesse Lee, the early preacher of Methodism in Boston, who organized its first per- manent church ; of Edward Hartt, the builder of the frigate "Constitution ;" and of Captain Thomas Lake, a commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artil- lery in 1662 and 1674, who, his gravestone reads, " was perfidiously slain by ye Indians at Kennebec, Aug. 14, 1676," and it is tradition that the slits deeply sawn in the gravestone were filled with melted bullets taken from his body. These have long since been chipped away by sacrilegious relic hunters. The grounds are pleasantly laid out, and in the summer season the gates are open to the public. At other times visitors obtain admission by application to the superintendent, who lives near by. The redoubt thrown up on the hill by the British, and from which Charlestown was fired by red-hot shot under the direction of Burgoyne during the Bunker-hill fight, was within the en- closure. While occupying the place as a military station during the Siege, the British soldiers made targets of the gravestones, and the marks of their bullets were visible for years after. Copp's hill got its name from an industrious cobbler named William Copp, who lived on its slope, on his own homestead. He, with his family, was buried here.
Years ago the North End fell into disrepute, and was given over to the poorer and rougher classes : but through all the changes a few okl families have clung to it, and their modest, well-kept homesteads, speaking of comfort and even refinement, within, are
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in sharp contrast with the squalid surroundings. The overwhelming majority of the population is now foreign-born. Here many nationalities herd, and there is an Old-World look to the quarter which to many has a peculiar fascination. The Italian colony, now large and steadily increasing, is especially in- teresting. This is found mostly crowded into lower North street and the neighborhood of old North square. It has its own shops, gay with color, its own restaurants and theatre and church (the latter a brand-new structure of brick and stone, known as the Catholic Church of St. Leonard, on Prince, near Hanover street, taking the place of a smaller and more picturesque one which flourished for many years). The small but very busy Jewish quarter is at the upper end of Salem street. Here are many Russian Jews, with the worn, hunted look which has come to be a characteristic of this unhappy people.
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