USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > Century of town life; a history of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775-1887 > Part 6
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In 1873, the Eastern Railroad Co. bought an extensive tract covering flats, much of the old mill-pond, and a strip on the peninsula from the Prison to near the Square, and on the last built a very extensive station for merchandise. Almost simul-
47
BUSINESS SINCE 1834.
taneously the Lowell Railroad Co. (1870) bought for freight- ing business another large tract at the Point, beyond the Navy Yard and along Mystic River, to which its tracks were ex- tended. It succeeded to the Mystic River road, incorporated in 1853, but long delayed in development. Thus three impor- tant companies came to hold a great deal of the old water front- age of the town, that thus became the seashore terminus of very large traffic extending through northern and central New Eng- land, to the maritime British Provinces, Canada, the Northwest- ern States of the Union, and even as far as California, while daily to all these distant parts go passengers over Charlestown ground. Curious processions of pungs from the upper coun- try long ago ceased to come down Main Street in the winter, as also did the canal boats to Mill Street in the summer ; loads of wood, hay, and produce are seen no more grouped in the Square ; clumsy and ponderous ice-wagons that wore the soft roads badly, the Lowell stage, and other creations familiar in 1834, have not been known to the younger people, but there is a vastly greater traffic, such as would have amazed the men then, and that gives far more employment and income, and, in its way, is quite as picturesque.
Another form of railroad at a later date became known in the larger towns of the country, and, as was apt to be the case with inventions, had a representation in Charlestown. With the increase of population the transportation of passengers through the streets required means very different from those previously used. As early as 1826, A. Studley established a line of " hourlies " from the Neck to Brattle Street, in Boston ; more business soon made the name inapplicable, for a vehicle was wanted every half, then quarter, of an hour, then oftener, and the conveyance for all became, as its newer name has descriptively styled it, an omnibus. No less than three lines at one time made the streets lively. At length the Middleser Horse Railroad Co. was incorporated (1854), traeks were laid to Somerville, Medford, and Malden, all (1887) made parts of the West End Co. A line to Chelsea (afterwards much ex- tended) was also incorporated (1854). The different routes traverse the town and furnish ample accommodation.
48
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
While the town has not been what is called a manufacturing place, several companies have been formed, and have done business in various departments. The Milk Row Bleachery when incorporated (1838) was on Charlestown ground, but since 1842 on that of Somerville, where it has grown a great deal. Other incorporations followed, - of a Lead Co. (1850), and of the Union Sugar Refinery, the building of which be- came part of the freight station of the Eastern R. R. (1873). At least four companies have, since 1854, been engaged in developing business along the bank of Mystic River. The Howard Manufacturing Co. (1885) has a massive brick build- ing six stories high (Medford St.), with valuable machinery, and employs 200 persons in making excellent razor-straps, tooth- brushes, and elastics.
Of other kinds of trade long known in the town, brickmaking ceased at the loss of the requisite ground in 1842; private shipbuilding, begun at Ten Hills (1631), ended about 1850 ; leather-making has almost disappeared; brewing, and on a large scale, has continued at the Neck, and distilling almost on the very site, near the old town dock, where it was prac- tised long before the Revolution. Furniture, doors and finish, and pottery in coarse articles, have been made to quite a large extent, while innkeeping, always known and active here since the sign of the "Three Cranes " was displayed, has been de- veloped almost on a scale like that shown by the railroads ; for directly beside the spot where stood the Puritan ordinary, opens the great front door of the Waverley House, a building large enough to lodge, on a pinch, the whole colony of 1630. A great hotel is one of the prominent evidences of the growth of an American town, and for this example we are indebted to Moses A. Dow, long a resident (Plan 11. 44 A). He selected a site on the Square, the history of which is given on page 124. Inns had long been on or close by the spot, but he surpassed them so that comparison is impossible. Ilis hotel, four and five stories high, built of red brick with brown stone trimmings (except a central block covered with brown mastic), and having a frontage nearly 500 feet long, was inaugurated by one of the most notable dinners ever given in the town, Nov. 21, 1867,
49
BUSINESS SINCE 1834.
when, in the dining-room (80 × 50 ft.), an unusual represen- tation of Charlestown people assembled to do honor to him and his achievement.
In time more Banks had become wanted ; accordingly, in 1854, the Monument1 was incorporated. Its capital is $150,- 000, its surplus is more than that amount, and its stock com- mands one of the highest prices given for any bank-stock in Boston, - a fact that tells its history. Ten days later, the Five Cent Savings Bank2 was incorporated. An account of its building and of its success is given elsewhere (p. 145).
More and better light at night was also wanted by some, and in 1846 the Charlestown Gas Co.3 was incorporated. There was for a while no ardent desire to subscribe to the stock, so that the company was not organized for active operations until May 24, 1851, when the capital was $50,000. This was in- creased (Feb. 6, 1854) to $81,000, and as the works were enlarged was from time to time made more, until the final amount, $500,000 was reached (1873), making it the largest manufacturing establishment ever in the town. The business has been carefully and economically conducted by a conserva- tive, yet progressive management, recognizing in due time changes and improvements, so that in Sep., 1886, the steam- boilers of the company were supplying power for making sim- ultancously, as then nowhere else in the State, coal and water gas, and electric light. Within a small area the combination was proved to be practicable and efficient.
Supplying water, while done under direction of the City gor- ernment, and hence a municipal work, may, however, be con- sidered in one way a corporate work, and be mentioned in this chapter. After discussion incident to the undertaking, a Legis- lative Act was passed (1861) that resulted in the Mystic Water Works.4 Reports were made (1861-62), including one by Pro-
1 The Presidents have been, Peter Hubbell (1854-71), and Jas. O. Curtis.
2 One President, P. J. Stone, and one Treasurer, Amos Stone, to 1SS7.
8 The Presidents of the Gas. Co. have been, Geo. W. Warren (1851-55), Peter Hubbell (1855-71), Win. Carlton (1871-76), Andrew Sawtell (1876-83), Francis Thompson (1883-85, Sep.). All except the first died in office. Jas. F. Hunnewell, the present writer, has held it since Sep., IS$5.
4 The Chairman of the Water Board before annexation was Edward Lawrence.
4
50
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
fessor Silliman, an aqueduct was planned from Mystic Pond by way of a reservoir on Walnut, or Tufts College, Hill, and ground was broken Sep. 27, 1862. On Nov. 29, 1863, the introduc- tion of water was celebrated, with a procession, speeches, a din- ner in the old Town Hall, and illuminations. By the Reports, that are full and interesting, it appears that the cost of the works (Feb. 28, 1865), was $746,965.44; their length, to the Neck, 5.62 miles ; the water-level of the reservoir, 147 feet above high water ; the extent of service pipes, 18 miles ; and the total number of customers, 2,020. Eight years later (1873) there were 13,946, and the construction account had risen to $1,461,259.41. In 1886, these numbers had increased to 16,110, and $1,657,458.97. While there are no large build- ings, and nothing of the grand Roman style of masonry in the works, the carthen reservoir (560 x 350 ft.) on its high isolated site is quite imposing, and from its banks there is a wide and varied view that is full of scenic and historic interest.
Business in Charlestown to the present day may be said to have its great monument in the huge Hoosac Elevator, stand- ing close to the sites of the old battery and town dock. Where the snug little Provincial trade once centred, on the edge of a wilderness, rises this building (167 × 80), 135 feet high, gray slated, plain yet almost grand, receiving grain from a distant and then hardly known interior, to distribute it through great ocean steamers to lands even farther away, and help feed the people where the fathers of the founders once tilled the fields.
PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.
Until recent years, here, as has been the case in our older towns, these have been built chiefly according to the examples set by the early inhabitants, -that is, on what might be called an indigenous plan, with designs affected by the styles current in England. When the settlers came their first labor was, naturally, to provide shelter for their families, and then a place for public worship. In Charlestown, this place was combined with the residence of the Governor, but soon afterwards a
51
PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.
separate building for the purpose was erected. Limited means and available material had a large influence in shaping the building here, as they had elsewhere. A considerable space was to be enclosed at a necessarily moderate cost. Wood was almost the one possible material. The builders had not only separated from the Church of England and its usages, but they had done so when that church itself had abandoned the archi- tectural forms that had been used for ages, and had adopted a style more or less Italian. Hence it is not strange that the colonists attempted neither nave, chancel, nor arcades, but built a square wooden box, with fully enough windows, relieved by a few mouldings and details similar to those used at the time in the mother country, but yet a house capable of hold- ing all the people expected, and of giving them a full view of the pulpit. The colonial or provincial period of New England corresponded with the period in Old England when ecclesias- tical art was, on the whole, the least precious for the past eight centuries ; and it would be unreasonable to suppose that the peo- ple here, with their limited means, and deriving their scanty ideas of art, or their feeling for it, from a home where it was by no means at its best, would create notable material monu- ments of faith. In justice to them, furthermore, it should be observed that even to their simple buildings they not infre- quently gave quaintness or picturesqueness.
They had cast adrift from an historical sequence in other things, and they ceased to cherish the form of home for wor- ship used in a varying way since the days of Constantine. They built, not a church of the long-recognized character, but a hall, and this, with a few exceptions, became, and continued to our time, the distinguishing shape of the New England meeting-house.
Insubstantial in structure, as was apt to be the case, the third place of worship since the " Great House " was left, was built in 1716, on the Square, but exactly where is now hardly to be determined with absolute precision. It is said to have been a framed building, 72 by 52 feet, and 34 feet (or three stories ?) high, and had a steeple. This was the meeting- house burned June 17, 1775, valued (p. 174) at £3,000.
52
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
There appears no reason to suppose that it differed much from the old meeting-houses in several neighboring towns, that had a steeple at one end, for, if we can infer from dimensions, and judge from a few imperfect views, it was not built like the house of the First Church, Boston, - nearly a square, with a roof sloping four ways, and bearing in the middle a belfry with a little attenuated spire.
In 1783, on the general rebuilding of the town, its meeting- house was erected on the top of the Town Hill (Plan I.), from which a good deal of earth had been removed the year before, thus reducing its height. The grant of the land has already been quoted (p. 17), and some particulars about the house have been given. It was of wood, and was 72 by 52 feet ex- ternally, besides a porch, and a tower, 221 by 20 feet, that fronted Henley Street. Some of the original plans further show that it had two rows of round-topped windows on the four sides, and a gallery around three sides of the interior. An enlargement became necessary in 1804, adding 15 feet on each side, making the building, if the rearrangement of the pews and the way they faced is the basis of description, 82 feet wide and 72 feet long according to the plan, or 84 by 74 feet as measured (J. HI.). The steeple, according to a plan reported at a parish meeting June 8, 1803, was 193 feet high. It, like the interior finish at that time, was designed by Charles Bulfinch. Mr. Frothingham (Hist. C., 161) gives a litho- graphic general view of the exterior. Reproductions from the original plan of the steeple, from an elevation of the side of the interior, and from plans of the pews, with names, before the alteration, are here given.1 It was by far the most impor- tant building in the town, and its crection so soon after the severe trials of the war was strong evidence of enterprise and devotion. Of special gifts, there was from Hon. Thomas Rus- sell a clock that still bears his name and keeps time well in its place on the front of the existing gallery ; a larger one is still doing good service in the present brick tower; and "Champion, Dickason, & Burgis, merchants of London, presented a bell "
1 These plans, and some other papers, saved by the late James Hunnewell, ap- pear to be about the only early Parish relics of the sort extant.
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weighing 1,300 pounds, also now in the tower. After a curious history,1 it was bought from the Town by the late James Hun- newell, and the Parish has the use of it under certain wise and proper conditions.
A chapel built by the Church, "in the Garden of the par- sonage, by leave of the pastor " (Plan II.), was opened for services Feb. 19, 1809. It was a wooden building, 26 x 21 feet, and "10} feet high in the clear," costing about $400, raised by subscription, - $411 from 65 persons, including $35.50 from several ladies not thus counted.
Extensive repairs were at length needed, and it was decided to rebuild the meeting-house of brick. The walls of the pres- ent edifice, except those of the tower, angle-porches, and chan- cel, were erected closely on the old site (see Plan III.), and the new house was dedicated July 3, 1834. Rev. Dr. Fay, June 23, 1833, preached, from Psalm xliv., 1-3, the last sermon in the old house, giving an account of the settlement of the town, and of the beginning of the church there in 1630. So few exact details remain about the houses of the First Church be- fore the Revolution, that it seems proper to set down here a rather full account of those subsequently built.
On taking down the old house, " some of the timber, joist, and boards of the oldest part were found to be perfectly sound and good ; " but parts were decayed, and some of the wood was " little other than powder post, particularly in the tower, where it was worse than in the body of the house." All the " old foundation and underpinning stone were used in the new cellar wall, ... also all the large timber and part of the joist in the floor and side-galleries of the new house ; the rough board- ing of the lower floor, and all the furring of boards and planks on the new walls are from the old house " (as well as the heavy posts inside the existing piers of the arcade). In addition to the old materials, there were bought of new, 86,788 ft. of boards and plank, 10,798 ft. of joist, 4,490 ft. of ranging tim-
1 Including this, the writer printed, in 1868, an article refuting a charge made against " the Charlestown people" (Hist. Gen. Reg. xxii., 390) that they stole a church bell, which an aged man, who told the story, had seen. It is fully shown that he never could have seen such a bell, and the people were not what he stated.
.
54
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
ber and 45 tons of ton timber, together with 315,000 bricks, " nearly all of which were made in Charlestown," cellar stones from Cape Ann, and aslılar stones (still seen in the basement) from Quincy. These particulars are from the record kept by James Hunnewell, secretary and treasurer of the building committee, who, it should be added, gave very important help in carrying the Parish and ancient Church safely through a trying period.
The edifice, dedicated July 3, 1834, was of the old hall plan, but it was finished in the style of the time. Internally the walls were covered with yellow wash ; the flat ceiling was plain and white, and had a large stucco centre-piece ; the pulpit, of mahogany, was semi-circular and high; the facings of the galleries, on three sides, were panelled ; and two huge Doric pillars in front of the organ supported the inner part of the belfry. Underneath the hall were two " vestries," or lecture- rooms, and a sort of cellar. Externally there was a granite basement from which rose walls of hard brick marked by pilasters that were capped, and that bore a simple entablature. The slated roof remains, but an open cupola of a base and eight Ionic pillars bearing a dome and containing the bell, was removed in 1852. Broad wooden steps led up to a platform and three doors in the front (towards the Square).1
Rev. W. I. Budington was ordained April 22, 1840. He, as he told the writer near the close of his life, came determined with all his young enthusiasm - that never left him -to de- vote himself to the old church. He wrote its history, and on his return from a tour in Europe, for which leave and some- thing more were given, advocated a remodelling and some con- formity to Christian art. A costly but commonplace design, furnished by one then in fashion, was happily discarded, and Alexander R. Esty, a man of ideas and then young, was em- ployed. His design, somewhat in Norman forms, was adopted. The only tower in the town was built, with an unusually pic- turesque belfry story ; round heads were given the windows ; a chancel northward was added; a fine arcade of five arches
1 No exact view is known to the writer. A wood-cut (Hist. of C., p. 133) is imperfect in details, but the general form is shown.
55
PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.
supporting a groined ceiling, and three arches before the chan- cel, were constructed inside ; and new pews, organ, and pulpit were added. Jan. 6, 1853, the new, and existing, house was dedicated.
In 1868 Miss Charlotte Harris gave a chime of sixteen bells, commemorative of her ancestors and family, Devens and Harris, who were long connected with the Church and Parish, as some of her relatives have been to the present time.
In 1870, repairs and renewals becoming needed, they were quite extensively made, and Oct. 2d the house was reopened. By vote of the Parish, the matter of coloring was left with the writer, and polychrome was used, not to the extent he might wish, but to an extent then novel in this region, and according to available funds ; for the Parish, suiting his advice for many years, considered a file of bills paid a better offering to the Lord than a nice little list of notes payable. If the design of the interior, good as it is, must perforce be carried out in the vicious American fashion of lath and plaster, there is not much bad art in the simple, expressive coloring. No rubbish of sham panels, pilasters, and scrolls, dishonors the walls, and instead of a sham Bible or cross daubed back of the pulpit, as some folks like, there is, in bright gold, the emblem of heavenly glory, a great monogram of the name before which every knee shall bow, expressed in letters such as the Apostles used in their writing, and the early confessors put on the tombs of the martyrs.
In the basement there are neatly finished lecture and com- mittee rooms ; the exterior of the building is painted dark brown; and the whole (1887) was never in better order. A good iron fence encloses the premises, that are wholly inso- lated, and contain grass-ground, together with some trees and shrubs, - the only example in town of an English church-green.
May 12, 1801, the Baptists dedicated their house, the second in the town, a wooden one, 75 by 50 feet, with a two-storied cupola at the west end, placed at the head of Salem Street on land given by O. Holden. A considerable number of members withdrew in 1809, but kept the house, and, in 1810, the older body built a brick house, 60 by 46 feet, " and only about 16
56
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
feet in height," on Austin Street. This building was enlarged in 1830, and in 1843 was replaced by a new one of brick, built nearly on the same site but fronting Lawrence Street. Its exterior is covered with brown mastic, and there is a tall wooden steeple without a tower. Internally, it has been re- modelled, and now something of the Basilica form and style appears, without side galleries and with two rows of pillars bearing a low, arched ceiling. The edifice is bounded on three sides by streets, and at the rear by houses.
In 1810, says Dr. Bartlett, " A Universal meeting-house, 62 feet long, 62 feet wide, and 34 feet high, was built with brick. It is commodious and handsomely finished." Feb. 27th of the next year, the " First Universalist Society" was incorporated. It was the third prominent Religious Society in the town, and was destined to become one of the most important of its de- nomination. Its original house, of the old hall form, redeco- rated on the inside, painted a pale olive color on the outside, and surmounted by a large and high square belfry at the west- erly end, is still its place of worship, standing detached on the Society's ground near Thompson Square (Plan IV.).
The Unitarian, or Second Congregational Society, incorpo- rated Feb. 9, 1816, has been called the Harvard Church since 1837. Its house, built of brick, dedicated Feb. 10, 1819, still in good order, measures 71 by 67 feet on the inside, and has in front a square tower bearing a handsome steeple of wood. Except in the latter, that follows the school of Wren -the favorite when it was designed - and that has two stories with Corinthian and Composite pillars and entablatures surmounted by the spire, the exterior is plain and without architectural features. The interior shows the hall plan, with galleries on three sides, a flat ceiling with an elaborate centre-piece of stucco, and two rows of square-headed windows. While in it there is nothing ecclesiastical, as the word has meant for over a dozen centuries, this interior, although changed (1859) still gives some valuable evidence of the taste and habits of the time when it was built. The extensive alterations, not all of which were improvements, that were made, included new pews, and a pulpit in a recess within a plain and not beautiful addition made to
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