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 2
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Provincial as were the old methods, the fame of her merchants extended far beyond the narrow limits of the Boston of that day, and their transac- tions covered a wide field. In 1830, Boston having absorbed the commerce which up to that time she had shared with Salem, Beverly, Marblehead,
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
Gloucester, and Newburyport, had become the com- mercial capital of New England in fact as well as name; and as the foreign commerce at that time was mainly limited to New England, her supremacy as a commercial power was unquestioned. "Then, with the development of our domestic manufactures dur- ing the decade 1830-1840," says Howard, " we emphatically impressed the markets of the world and successfully competed with England even within her own dominions, as we did a score of years later with our clipper ships when we nearly controlled the freighting commerce of the world." In was in 1844, four years after the establishment of the Cunard line, that Enoch Train started his line of famous packet-ships between Boston and Liverpool to meet the demands of the increasing trade between the two ports, and to supply the freight service which could not be furnished by the steamships then designed chiefly for passen- gers and mail service. Several of the finest ships of the line, remarkable for their excellent sailing qualities, were built at East Boston, and it speedily eclipsed the celebrated New York lines, which here- tofore had monopolized the business.
Then began the building of the magnificent fleet of Boston freighting ships employed in the Southern, South American, and West Indian trade, and in that of California after the discovery of gold ; "a fleet that for twenty years," says Howard, " challenged the admiration and competition of the commercial world." Great ship-building yards were established in East Boston and South Boston, notably those of Donald McKay, Daniel D. Kelley, and E. and H. O. Briggs, and many of the finest and speediest ships ever built were launched from them. During this decade, from 1840 to 1850, "the coast of Africa trade and that of the Western Islands centred here. We had by far the largest trade between America and Russia. . . We monopolized the trade with Manila, the coast of Sumatra, Bombay and Calcutta, Valparaiso and Buenos Ayres, and had only Baltimore as a competitor for the Rio trade. Boston at this time had a large trade direct with Holland and the south of Europe. The salt trade with St. Ubes and Cadiz was very large, but the Mediterranean and Straits trade was the most important of our European commerce. The arrivals from Bordeaux, Marseilles, Trieste, Messina, Palermo, Malaga, and Smyrna were the largest in number next to those of the West Indies, from foreign ports. . . . Except, perhaps, for one or two months in the year, it was almost impossible to find an unoccupied berth at any of the wharves from Charlestown bridge to Fort hill, and in busy months
the vessels would lie three deep at the dock, while in the stream there were hundreds awaiting a berth to discharge at."
Then came the great changes wrought by the rapid development of railroad systems in the West (largely through Boston capital) as well as in the East ; the supplanting of sailing-vessels by steam ; the shifting of leading commission houses, and later much of the foreign trade, from Boston to New York, which had been quicker to recognize the newer facilities for transportation and to adopt them ; and finally the Civil War. With the development of the new systems of transportation newer business methods, in place of those which served so well the merchants of the earlier periods, were demanded ; greater and broader enterprise. After a season of painful hesitation the situation was grasped, and the business abilities of Boston merchants and capital- ists were again displayed in various directions. As a result, in course of time all branches of trade ex- panded, and the area of the city proper was extended to meet the demand for larger accommodation within the business quarters. During the decade from 1860 to 1870 the costly Hoosac Tunnel,1. into the building of which the State was drawn, was pushed towards completion, early in the next decade opening up a new avenue to the West; the consoli- dation of the Boston & Worcester and the western railroads (in 1867) into the present Boston & Albany? directly affected the interests of the city and increased its foreign exports ; and the revival two years later of the Grand Junction Railroad, with its docks at East Boston, -- chartered in 1847, opened in 1851, the year of the great Railroad Jubilee,3 and originally intended to connect the rail- road lines centring in the city, - proved another valuable addition to the facilities of the city for the transaction of its trade and commerce. New steam- ship lines, foreign and coastwise, were also estab- lished and terminal facilities improved. The levelling of Fort hill4 (begun in 1869), and the
1 See chapter on Railroads. 2 See chapter on Railroads.
3 To celebrate the opening of railroad communication between Boston, the Canadas, and the West, and the establishment of steam. ship lines to Liverpool. It continued through three days, - the 17th, 1Sth, and 19th of September, 1Szt. It was attended by Lord Elgin, then the governor-general of Canada, and his suite, President Fill- more and members of his Cabinet, and other men of distinction in Canada as well as the United States. There were receptions, parades, trades processions, a grand dinner under a pavilion on the parade- ground and Charles-street mall of the Common, and a brilliant night illumination of the city.
" The second of the three " great hills " of Boston, originally about eighty feet in height, with rugged bluffs on its north and east sides, and easy slopes on the town side. Here the first fortifications were erected by the colonists, hence its name. Here in April, 1689, Sir Edmund Andros, " governor of New England." sought shelter from the incensed colonists whose rights he had usurped, and forced to
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
building of Atlantic and Eastern avenues along the water-front, an enterprise that was at first much op- posed, changed materially that section of the city, and furnished one of the finest commercial thorough- fares in the country.
The marked impetus to the business of Boston given by all these enterprises and changes was sharply checked by the disastrous fire of 1872, and the long period of business depression which the country at large suffered from 1873 to 1877. The " Great Fire of 1872," - as the event of the night of Saturday the 9th of November that year is to be known in our local history, - which burned over about 65 acres in the heart of the business quarter comprising 30 streets, swept through the great wholesale domestic and foreign dry-goods district, that of the wool trade, of the hides, leather, and shoe, of the ready-made clothing, and of the hardware ; burned out 960 firms, a third of this number in the dry-goods trade alone ; destroyed 776 buildings, in- wharf; the Wholesale Grocers' Association, No.
cluding several of the finest business blocks in the city, and the picturesque old stone church of Trin- . No. 55 Kilby street. Meanwhile the number of ity on Summer-street ; and caused a property loss clubs of merchants increased; and the Mer- conservatively estimated at $75,000,000. This was one of the most trying periods of the commercial history of Boston. During the depression there was an almost unprecedented shrinkage in values ; money was scarce, rates of interest ranged exceptionally high. It was a severe test, but it was bravely met. Within a year the " Burnt District " was largely re- built with finer, safer, and more substantial struct- ures than those which had been swept away, and great street improvements in the quarter were ad- vanced - Washington, Summer, Congress, Federal, Milk, Hawley, Arch, and Water streets were widened ; Arch was also extended ; Pearl, Franklin, and Oliver were extended ; and Post-office square was laid out ; the city expending in the entire undertaking more than three and a quarter millions. With the revival of business succeeding the long depression, a period of great prosperity and development began. New life was given to the organizations of merchants. The Shoe and Leather Exchange, reorganized and strengthened, established itself in new rooms on Bed- ford street. In 1879 the Furniture Exchange was established and brought into direct communication with furniture exchanges of other cities. With the
rapid advancement of building operations the Master Builders' Association, now established in its own building, No. 164 Devonshire street, was formed ; and the Mechanics' Exchange was enlarged and ex- tended. In 1885 the great Chamber of Commerce was organized by the union of the Commercial and Produce Exchanges ; and at the same time the Fruit and Produce Exchange, with quarters in the Quincy Market-house. In 1890 the Real Estate Exchange was organized. Other organizations which have grown in strength and importance in recent years are the Coal Exchange, with quarters at No. 70 Kilby street ; the New England Metal Association, No. 110 North street ; the Oil Trade Association, No. 149 Broad street ; the Druggists' Association, No. 307 Washington street ; the Earthenware Association, No. 51 Federal street ; the Paper Trade Association, No. 11 Otis street ; the Stationers' Association, No. 122 State street ; the Fish Bureau, No. 3 Long 200 State street ; the Board of Fire Underwriters,
chants' Association, representing different lines of trade, with its committees on arbitration, on trans- portation, on debts and debtors, and to investigate failures, was formed from members of many leading firms. While in some branches of business Boston has lost through natural and unavoidable causes the supremacy it once had, in others-such as the wool, in which its trade exceeds that of any other city, the leather, boot and shoe, clothing and cloth- ing manufacture, furniture, metal and metallic . goods, machines and machinery, produce, food prep- arations, and printing and publishing - it still leads and is likely to maintain its position. The number of manufacturing and mechanical establish- ments in the city, shown by the latest State census, that of 1885, was 5,199, the total amount of capital invested in them, $73,346,258, and the value of the goods made and work done, $144,376,206 ; since that time the growth and expansion has been steady, and the figures of to-day must show a very marked increase. The combined cost of the new buildings erected in 1891 was $10,568,800, which has been exceeded but twice, in 1873 and 1874, the years immediately following the Great Fire.
The total value of imports at the port of Boston in 1891 was about $70,000,000, and of exports, $81,- 400,000. The ocean steamship lines now running regularly are the Cunard, the Leyland, and the Warren, to Liverpool ; the Anchor and the Furness, to London ; the Anchor and the Allan, to Glasgow ; the Wilson, to Hull ; and the White Star, to Antwerp.
surrender was sent back to England upon the news of the accession of William and Mary to the throne. The hill was used for military purposes until the close of the Revolution. Its slopes were early oc- cupied by'dwellings, and when this section in turn became the " court end " of the town, fine mansion houses with beautiful gardens were here. For years after the Revolution a circular plot of ground on the summit surrounded by trees was known as Independence square. A small square surrounded by great warehouses now marks the site ot the hill.
BOSTON HARBOR, SHOWING THE "ATLANTA," OF THE WHITE SQUADRON.
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
III. TRADE CENTRES.
RETAIL, WHOLESALE, AND FINANCIAL QUARTERS, PAST AND PRESENT.
O NE result of the " Great Fire of 1872," and of the growth of the various branches of trade during the prosperous period succeeding the busi- ness depression of 1873-7, was a shifting of busi- ness centres. A generation ago the dry-goods merchants, both wholesale and retail, were mostly established in the lower part of Washington street, Tremont row, Court and Hanover streets. Boston was at one time the chief dry-goods market of the country, and as the mills grew in number more territory was required, and the wholesale trade moved into large granite stores on Milk, Kilby, and Atkinson (that part of the present Congress street south of Milk) streets, and Liberty square. Subsequently Pearl street was occupied until it was crowded out by the leather trade; and then its present quarters on Devonshire, Summer, and Franklin streets, Winthrop square, Chauncy, Kingston, and Bedford streets, were established.
The retail dry-goods trade for many years cen- tred on Hanover street when that thoroughfare was nearest the residential parts of the town. Then it worked southward, until to-day it extends from Scollay square to Boylston street, the greater estab- lishments occupying choice positions on Washing- ton, Winter, and neighboring streets. With other retail shops it has invaded the quarters long re- served for the best dwellings, - Tremont street fac- ing the Common, Beacon street at one end and Boylston street at another. The popular retail shopping district now embraces, besides Washing- ton and Tremont streets between the points above named, Park, Winter, and parts of Summer streets, Temple place and West street, and is pushing down Boylston street into the sacred precincts of the Back Bay district, cutting into the fine sweep of comfortable dwellings on the slope of Beacon hill opposite the Common, and crowding residences from Beacon street opposite the Public Garden.
The ready-made clothing trade, an immense in- dustry to-day, is the outgrowth through various stages of sailors' outfitting establishments. Origi- nally it was confined to the North End, but when John Simmons, of Quincy Market hall, and George W. Simmons, we are told, first advanced the char- acter of the trade to a mercantile standard, it fol- lowed the dry-goods trade, and is now established in the quarter which that in part occupies.
The shoe and leather industry, for which Boston has been from the beginning the market centre, began to assume large proportions as far back as 1830. For many years the American House, built in 1835, was the headquarters of the trade, and Fulton street was the business centre. In 1849 the trade began to move southward into Pearl street, then mainly occupied by wholesale dry- goods houses ; and within a short time this section became its new centre. Then block after block of dwellings on High street were levelled to make room for warehouses. After the fire of 1872, which wiped out the district, it was rebuilt, and for several years the trade continued to cling to it. Then a tendency towards Summer street about and beyond old "Church green" was taken; and later the trade spread into Lincoln and South streets, where a number of fine building blocks have been in re- cent years erected. This section, which is now the centre of the trade, is within easy reach of four large railroad lines, and near by is the Shoe and Leather Exchange, where trade reports are regularly bulle- tined during business hours, established in one of a group of buildings remarkable for their solidity and architectural finish.
The great wool trade is to-day mostly concen- trated on Federal, Pearl, and High streets; the paper trade, which has developed extensively dur- ing the past forty years, on Federal street and its vicinity ; in the same neighborhood, principally on Federal and Franklin streets, is the crockery trade, which imports large quantities of goods for inland distribution ; on Milk street and its vicinity the whole- sale drug trade; and on Fort Hill square and its neighborhood the iron trade and the hardware trade, which before the fire of 1872 was confined chiefly to Dock square (now lost in Adams square) and its vicinity.
The wholesale grocery, fish, salt, and the flour and grain interests still hold fast to their old quarter, including Commercial, India, Broad, and adjacent streets near the water-front; the produce trade is mainly on South Market, Chatham, and Commercial streets ; the headquarters of the provision trade are in Commerce street and the streets about Faneuil- Hall Market; the jobbing foreign fruit trade is on Merchants row, Chatham, and South Market streets and their neighborhood ; and the great tea, coffee, and sugar interests are on Broad street and its im- mediate vicinity.
The financial centre, as in the early days, is still State street, although the banks are scattered over the business sections of the city. But within the compact territory bounded by State, Washington,
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RICHARDS BUILDING.
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
Milk, and Broad streets, or its immediate neighbor- fashion, and operated by horse-power, it was the hood, the greater number of leading banks are found; and the private banking-houses, the trust companies, the safety-vaults, the offices of the stock- brokers, the insurance agencies, the real-estate brokers and agents, the financial offices of the great Western railroad companies which are estab- lished here in Boston, and the Stock Exchange.
IV. RAILROADS.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREAT LINES CENTRING IN space between the rails to be graded for a horse- BOSTON - THE STREET-CAR SYSTEM. path. At length, in 1830, petitions for the incor- poration of private railroad companies were filed in the Legislature, and that year the first charter was granted, that of the Boston & Lowell; and the next year the Boston & Worcester and the Boston & Providence were chartered. Thus the State happily was kept out of the railroad business into which it had been in danger of drifting.
T 'HE great railroad industry which in the past two decades has assumed such vast proportions and has accomplished so much in the development of the country and its resources, vastly increasing its prosperity and binding sections together, had its origin here in Boston. It seems almost incredible that within the memory of men yet in active life, there was not a single railroad in all the United States, and that all means of transportation for both passengers and freight were by the stage-coach, baggage-wagon, the packet-ship, the coaster, or the canal-boat. New York City and Albany were dis- tant from Boston by a three days' journey, and the trip was attended by much discomfort and not a little danger.
The project of establishing a canal from Boston westward through the State to the Connecticut river and thence to the Hudson, to overcome the effect of the canal enterprises of New York which in the twenties were drawing trade, both domestic and ex- port, in that direction and away from this port, had long been talked of, and in 1825 a State commis- sion was established to ascertain the practicability of making such a canal. This commission made a
voluminous report the following year, presenting the results of surveys and estimates of cost, but no action was taken; and the same year the idea of the rail- road was substituted for that of the canal, one result of the enterprise of Gridley Bryant, aided by the financial support and public spirit of Col. T. H. Perkins, both Boston men. This was the construc- tion and opening of the "Granite Railway " for the purpose of conveying granite from the Quincy quar- ries to the water. Although this pioneer railroad, the first built in the country, was, with its branches, but four miles long, constructed in a primitive
germ from which the perfected systems sprung. Petitions from Boston now appeared in the Legisla- ture for surveys on the part of the State for a railway to the Hudson, and with much hesitation were finally granted. But although surveys were speedily begun, it was not until after four years of discussion that anything practical was accomplished. Two entire routes were surveyed, one, the southern, fol- lowing nearly the line of the present Boston & Albany, and the other much the same route as the present Fitchburg Railroad. The commissioners reporting upon them invariably proposed a railroad operated only by animal-power, the final report, that of 1829, recommending a double-track line, the
Of the great systems now centring in Boston, the Boston & Albany is entitled to first mention, as it includes the line first opened. The charter of the Boston & Worcester became law on June 23, 1831. The corporation was empowered to construct a railroad in or near Boston and thence to any part of Worcester. The capital stock was 10,000 shares, at par value of $100 each. On the Ist of May, 1832, the corporation was formally organized. The length of the road according to surveys was about 4372 miles, and the estimated cost, including equipment (the road-bed to be graded for a double track), was $883,000. On the 15th of March, 1833, the di- rectors of the Worcester line were individually incor- porated as the Western Railroad Corporation, with authority to locate and construct a railroad from the Worcester terminus to the Connecticut river in Springfield, and thence across the river to the western boundary of the State in a direction towards the Hudson. The capital stock was to consist of not less than 10,000 or more than 20,000 shares of Stoo par value. Thus from the first the Boston & Worcester controlled the charter of the Western. In the meantime the New York Legislature incorpo- rated the Castleton & West Stockbridge Railroad Company to construct a road from Castleton, N.Y., nine miles below Albany, to the State line at West Stockbridge. Two years later the name was changed to the Albany & West Stockbridge, with authority to extend the line to Greenbush, across the Hudson
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STATION OF BOSTON & ALBANY RAILROAD.
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
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STATION OF BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD - WESTERN DIVISION.
from Albany. In May, 1834, the Boston & Worces- ter was partially opened for travel (to Newton only), the cars drawn by English-built locomotives, thus having the distinction of heing the first steam rail- road operated in New England. The line was com- pleted to Worcester on the 4th of July the follow- ing year, and the event was duly celebrated on the 6th with a dinner and speeches. The road was con- structed by engineers who had never seen any of the English roads, and many original devices were followed. Not only were the earlier locomotives imported from England, but the men to run them. American locomotive works, however, were soon es- tablished, and during the very first year of the oper- ation of the Worcester road an American-made loco- motive was placed upon its tracks and performed efficient service. . In 1841, on the 4th of October, the Western road was completed from Worcester to the New York line, the Connecticut-river bridge having been finished on July 4th ; and on the 21st of December following the connecting link in New York to Albany was completed, and on that day
trains were run, thus opening a direct rail line from Boston to Albany. This important event was com- memorated in March, 1842, by a meeting of the executive officers of the States of Massachusetts and New York and other prominent men at the Town Hall in Springfield. At the banquet notable speeches were made, and one toast, which has gone into history, was that offered by General Root, of New York, who gave : "The happy union of the sturgeon and the codfish ; may their joyous nuptials efface the melancholy recollection of the departure of the Connecticut-river salmon." The Boston & Worcester and the Western railroads were operated as two distinct corporations until 1869, when they were consolidated under the present title of the Boston & Albany Railroad Company. This corpo- ration now owns and operates 375.70 miles of track, and also the Grand Junction Railroad and its finely equipped wharves at East Boston, thus securing a deep-water connection. It has here a substantial grain elevator with a capacity of 1,000,000 bushels, and another in the city proper, on Chandler and
BOSTON . OF TO-DAY.
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Berkeley streets, with a capacity of 500,000 bushels. Its main passenger station on Kneeland street has a comfortable head-house and well-arranged train- house 444 feet long and 1181% wide. Its line to New York City is one of the most popular ; four fast trains to that city are daily sent out, the 4 o'clock P.M. train making the run in six hours ; and its Western business is very extensive. On all the express trains and road equipment are the most approved devices for the comfort and safety of its passengers. The president of the Boston & Albany is William Bliss; the general-manager, W. H. Barnes, and general superintendent, H. T. Gallup.
The Boston & Maine Railroad - formed in 1842 by the consolidation of the Boston & Port- land, chartered in Massachusetts in 1833, the Boston & Maine, chartered in New Hampshire in 1835, and the Maine, New Hampshire, & Massachusetts, chartered in Maine in 1836, and opened to the junction of the Portland, Saco, & Portsmouth at South Berwick, Me., in 1843 - is entitled to second
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