USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume III > Part 42
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The State House-From the Common one's eyes turn naturally to the State House, which dominates it from the highest point of this part of the city, Beacon Hill. It is not old, if only the pre-Revolutionary is old, for its cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1795, by Samuel Adams. Bulfinch was its architect, as he was of the Capitol at Washington. The front, now covered with dingy paint, will soon, it is hoped, be restored, as have been other buildings, to its original straightforward red brick. It is a genuine American structure, for its designer had no model of a public building to imitate ; it became a type often copied all through the land. To the Bostonian this is the "Boston State House," the "Hub" of the Commonwealth, if not of the universe. Those who know it best love it the most, but its beauty appeals to a wider circle. John Duke, Lord Coleridge. the Lord Chief Justice of England, has been quoted as saying: "Far the most beautiful city in America, is Boston, and the State House is the most beautiful building in the country. At Wash- ington, at Albany, at Chicago, and elsewhere, you see much grander, and more costly structures ; but this is in perfect taste and proportion ; every interspace the right size, every moulding right, every decoration refined-a sort of Adams architecture of noblest type ... the situation is noble and has been made the best of." Of the treasures within and without the State House, one must go and find for himself.
"Boston Preferred"-Much of the older part of the city clusters around the hill upon which the "beacon" was erected in early days to give warning of danger. Beacon Street (and who has not heard of it?) passes in front of the State House. As someone has remarked, "Next to Boston Common, is Boston Preferred," and while the movement to the estates of the suburbs and the more recent boulevards has taken much of the glory from Beacon Street, it still stands for exclusiveness- the permanence of Boston society. Business has taken one end of the street, and a foreign population is creeping over the hill to smother the principal section, but it still is a way of dignity, and lined with the homes of those whose names mean much in every sphere of human activity. Nothing can rob it of its lovely views, or its own mellow beauty. One may wander from it into Boston's "Bohemia," and not far away is its Italy; art and literature are cheek by jowl with foreign tongues and manners. One may cross easily to the always delightful Charles River Basin.
The Treasures of Back Bay-The better choice is to leave Beacon Street by way of the Public Garden which adjoins the garden, and which seems a part of it but is not. The Charles River and Back Bay came
Met. Bos .- 70
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to the edge of the Common originally, and the Garden is a part of the filled-in Back Bay. It dates from 1857, but is none the less a beauty spot, with its gorgeous flower beds, remarkable trees and artificial pond, though relatively not ancient. The nearby Back Bay section in which many Bostonians live will surely come within any visitor's itinerary, for the bay is not water but the solid seat of many of the city's most famous institutions. One always goes to Copley Square with its hotels, churches and the Boston Public Library. It happens to be the third largest public library in the country, and is of interest to many for its mural paintings by Puvis de Chavannes, Abbey and Sargent. If the time be taken to extend the trip farther in this same direction, it leads past Symphony Hall, the Conservatory of Music, the Opera House, and the Young Men's Christian Association Building, housing its unique uni- versity, until the stroller comes to the "Fens" and the Museum of Fine Arts with its notable collections. While here, particularly if one be of the artistic temperament, a stop, and a long one, must be made at the Isabella Gardiner Venetian Palace, one of the most remarkable homes in America, which Mrs. Gardiner bequeathed to the city with all its rare and costly examples of European art, to be kept just as she had conceived and made it. Of course there are several groups of educational buildings worthy of attention in this region, for this is a part of the student quar- ter of Boston.
Historic Buildings-We have gotten rather far from both the Public Garden and the historic, and before we enter the latter we must pass through Tremont and Washington streets, the bustling crowded center of Boston's mercantile section. It is rather unusual to have a shopping street border a park, as does Tremont Street, and it is quite as unusual to see a very narrow curving street crammed full of depart- ment and specialty stores, theatres, churches, historied shrines, as one finds on Washington Street. On almost any bright day, where Summer and Winter streets meet Washington, is the most crowded square in all New England. Coming to State Street, the financial center, within whose narrow limits one may have his toes trodden upon by the finan- cial giants of Boston, there is at the head, the Old State House, dating from 1713. It was the Province Court House, in the stirring days preced- ing the Revolution ; the Declaration of Independence was read from its balcony ; in it John Hancock was inaugurated as the first Governor of the Commonwealth. The town had its beginnings about its site; the first meetinghouse was where the Brazer Building stands; the market place was originally beneath the State House, and the stocks and pillory stood near. Across the street was the second meetinghouse; and marked on the paving near the corner of Exchange and State streets, is the site of
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the Boston Massacre. Faneuil Hall, "The Cradle of Liberty," is but a short walk from the Old State House. It is changed somewhat from the building which Peter Faneuil gave to the city in 1742 as a market, but is still a market in its lower stories. It is on the upper floor that the inquiring find the many objects which bind it to the glorious past.
The Older Churches-Quite naturally the history of Boston is closely connected with its older churches. It will be recalled that the first religious society in the early settlement made for themselves a crude mudded-wall, thatched-roof building in 1632. This, like its successor and several more successors, have long since passed away; the First Church of Boston worships now in a comparatively modern structure in Back Bay. The oldest church building in the city is Christ Church, the "Old North" of Longfellow's poem. This is more than two centuries old, having been built in 1723, and is well worth the trip through "for- eign Boston," if only to gaze up at the steeple from which Paul Revere is said to have arranged the hanging of warning lanterns that started him off on his ride to awaken the farmers of Middlesex. The church con- tains the first peal of bells known in this country, and Paul Revere, as a young man, was one of the guild of eight bell ringers. But the admir- able Paul was many things, his versatility leading him into activities, the results of which may be found in our museums and collections of the historic. The house where he lived from 1770 to 1800, said to be the oldest building in the city, is but a few streets distant from Old North Church. It stands on the site of Increase Mather's parsonage, which was burned in 1676, and probably was built shortly after that "great fire." The immense fireplaces, the quaint little entry, the ancient wall- paper, the "hitching post," all help to make this a charming spot in the very middle of a babel of foreign speaking residents.
The Old South Meetinghouse on the corner of Washington and Milk streets is the second oldest church building in Boston; it dates from 1729, and stands on the site of Governor John Winthrop's home. Being the largest auditorium in the town in the pre-Revolutionary days, Faneuil Hall not excepted, many of the political meetings were held here. When Boston was besieged at the beginning of the war, the beleaguered British used it for a riding school after burning its benches and pulpit for firewood.
King's Chapel-the name was changed for awhile after the Revolu- tion when royalty was non grata in the town-was the first Episcopal church in Boston, and the place where the British officers worshipped while Washington kept them cooped up in the town. When the "siege" was about over the rector and many of his parishioners fled to Halifax,
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taking with them the books, plate and vestments, the most of which have since been restored, and may be seen.
Burying Grounds-If there be a craving for something older than the churches, by the side of King's Chapel is its burying ground, which was established with the Colony. On February 18, 1630, the records read : "Captain Weldon, a hopeful young gente, & an experienced sol- dier died at Charlestown of consumption, and was buryed at Boston with military funeral." The graves of Governor Winthrop and his two distinguished sons; of Reverend John Cotton; of John Davenport, the founder of New Haven; of Roger Clapp, the first settler of Dorchester ; and of many other prominent persons of the colonial period may be found here. Mary Chilton, reputed to have been the first of the May- flower's company to touch American soil, lies buried here. One of the stones has a most remarkable history, having been lost until excavated near the old State House in 1830. It marked the grave of William Paddy (1658). The reverse of the green tombstone has this curious stanza:
HEAR - SLEAPS - THAT BLESSED - ONE - WHOES - LIEF GOD - HELP - VS - ALL - TO - LIVE THAT - SO - WHEN - TIEM - SHALL - BE THAT - WE - THIS - WORLD - MUST - LUE WE - EVER - MAY - BE - HAPPY WITH - BLESSED - PADDY.
There are several other "burying grounds" to reward the interested, such as the one on Copp's Hill overlooking the harbor, the Granary Burying Ground alongside the Park Street Church, and the old Central Burying Ground in the Common. The latter was established in 1756, and is notable for having the unmarked grave of Gilbert Stuart, the artist, and perhaps because the inventor of a famous soup, Julien, was buried here. The old-fashioned graveyard is almost hidden in spite of its proximity to the brilliant shops and theatres of Tremont Street from which it stands aloof. The principal memory one takes away from it is of the tablet to Stuart hanging on the fence because some Bostonian mislaid the body of this truly great American. The Italian boys who crowd around the visitor to Copp's Hill are the most interesting guides to the age-worn cemetery. Their tale of how the British soldiers camped upon the hill and used the gravestones for targets is full of the proper thrills. There are worse places than this from which to view Charlestown, opposite, with its lofty monument. Where the town gran- ary stood, and near where the distinctive Park Street church now does, is the burying ground established shortly after the one by King's Chapel, and contains the most notable collection of names on its tombstones. True. they sometimes fail to tell the truth, for there seem to have been
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some careless people who had the care of Boston's ancient cemeteries, and the markers are not always where they should be. It is enough to know that here are buried many of those revered for their Revolutionary activities, and also Sewell, the diarist, and Hull of "Pine Tree shilling" fame, and "Mother Goose." It is one of the most impressive of grave- yards, hemmed in as it is by tall modern office buildings, the Athenaeum and the church, its fine trees and grassy grounds all lifted up from the common level of the street three feet or more, as though it were striv- ing to catch the attention of the busy throngs which pass it on their rounds of labor or pleasure.
Neighboring Shrines and Interesting Places-One might ramble on at length about the old and the historic in Boston. There are a hundred places to be considered; there are a hundred tablets marking where something of importance and interest has been. But all of the historic is not in Boston proper, nor are all the oldest places here. After all, Boston is but an introductory step to the study of New England history. Plymouth or Salem are older; Charlestown is, for that matter. The Revolution was fought mainly outside the city, even that part of it which transpired in Massachusetts. The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought elsewhere and one must go to Charlestown to see the monument commemorating it. Cambridge was the place where Washington took command of the Revolutionary forces and was, with Somerville, his headquarters. Over in Dorchester are the "Heights" which he took and forced the withdrawal of the British. Boston secured its prominence in colonial and Revolutionary history because it was the principal settle- ment in the colonies, the seat of the Royal governors, the headquarters of the Revolutionary propagandists. Cambridge might well have been the seat of government in Massachusetts had not the Puritans had an unnecessary fear of Indian invasion. They established a college here within a few years after the founding of Boston, but carefully erected a tall paling fence to keep the Indians away from the school in which there were being prepared missionaries to lead the aborigine from his evil ways.
Thus, in an ever-widening circle from Boston, the vacationist can find the historic, or the modern, whatever be his bent. Lexington, Concord, who would miss them? Lynn, with its manufactures; Revere, Nahant, Swampscott and other shore resorts; Gloucester and fisheries; Marble- head, "birthplace of the American Navy," Salem and the House of Seven Gables ; the North Shore, has a thousand attractions for the tourist. The South Shore, from Dorchester, through Milton, Quincy, Cohasset, Scituate-their very names interest-to Plymouth with its relics of an illustrious past, whether they be Elder Brewster's Spring-or the
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Plymouth Rock. And then on to the Cape-one seldoms hear the "Cod" affixed-through pine forests, by silvery lakes, with a glimpse of the ocean here and cranberry bogs everywhere. Town after town one sees, some of which recall the lessons learned in school, others make one think of the stories all have read of the Cape Codder and his ways; until at the tip of the cape, there is Provincetown, the first landing place of the Pilgrims, and in the quiet harbor of which was signed the "Com- pact," the first charter of a democratic government in the world's history.
The New England Playground-We have gone somewhat far afield, and yet not so much so, for the charm of the historic pervades all New England, and Boston is the entrepôt to it. It has come to be realized that New England is the playground of the eastern part of the United States. Tourist by the thousands come to this vast vacation land, and Boston is literally the "Hub" of this tourist and vacation travel. By reason of its manifold attractions, of which history is but one, the New England metropolis is the natural clearing house for vacationists, receiv- ing and sending on a vast army of transients coming from all parts of the Nation and foreign shores, to the six New England States, Quebec, the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland. It has been only during the last three or four decades that New England has publicly recognized the value of her domain in figures unrelated to water-power, agriculture or industries. As an editor said recently : "The South may challenge the supremacy of New England in cotton textiles, the Middle West may assail the primacy of New England in the production of footwear, and competition with New England in other industrial fields may be far more keen than once it was; but New England is fostering and develop- ing one industry which leaps upward every year and defies all prospec- tive usurpers-the recreation industry." Maine has long realized the unmatched marvels of her coast and lakes; New Hampshire has for many years been appreciated for the beauty of her White Mountains; Vermont is blessed even more highly in this respect, for her mountain country covers an area larger than the White Mountains, the Adiron- dacks and the Catskills combined; Massachusetts with her North and South Shores, the "Cape," the rolling Berkshires, its picturesque Con- necticut and Deerfield River valleys, not to mention that most lovely Middlesex and other countries close to Boston, have long been the haunts of the summer visitor, and in more recent years, of the winter pleasure seeker. It would be hard to find a territory of similar area con- taining such a variety of physical attractions; and it is strange that the New Englander has been so slow in finding this out, or at least to tell others about it.
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The Publicity Movement-A great change has taken place, however, and New England is going in for a publicity campaign which has led already to an enormous increase in the number of visitors within her borders. What is best about this "boosting"of itself, is that it has been organized, and such competition as there is between parts is the friendly competition to tell better than the other just what each place has to offer the transient. In 1927, four of the six states had official publicity bureaus to finance, to which Maine appropriated $50,000; New Hamp- shire, $35,000 ; Vermont, $15,000; and Rhode Island, $7,500. Massachu- setts authorized such a bureau but forgot to vote any money to sustain it. The county organizations, community groups, chambers of com- merce and similar organizations, have expended $500,000 to advertise the recreational, agricultural, and industrial assets of the states indi- cated. With this sum there has not been included what the railroads have done, or individual owners of resorts and hotels. And all this has paid. Maine figured that in 1926 its income from tourists was above $100,000,000; New Hampshire and Vermont estimated the amount accruing to them at $150,000,000; while Massachusetts and Rhode Island are supposed to have received a like sum; or a total, exclusive of Connecticut, of $400,000,000. These figures sound large, but there seems to be substantial evidence to support the statements.
The Charm of New England-New England sent to all the United States her sons with their wealth of ability and money. The vast vaca- tion tide is bringing many of them back. That these bring also their wealth with them is only as it should be. The charm that is New Eng- land's, whether it be physical or spiritual, works its spell over all, the resident, the expatriate, the descendant, or those who unfortunately failed to choose the right parents. It may be the lure of the mountains, the forests, the rivers, the lakes, the ocean, the climate that draws folk to New England; certainly the beauty of nature is a leading asset of the northeastern country. It may be the historic charm, which is so potent, which wins so many and holds them to herself. Perhaps it is New England culture, the New England character, New England com- pleteness which appeals. One falls into a slough of verbiage and flounders in a pit of vain effort, when one tries to dissect the charm that is New England's. George French is an exception when he explains it thuswise: "The charm of New England lies in the fact that New Eng- land continues to be New England. Sentiment, romance, the halo of youthful memories, the sacred aspirations of patriotism, the roots of innumerable families, the tremulous first breath of universal political freedom, the motherings of a new continent, the adolescence of America, the nourishing of the Nation, all of these sentiments and memories come
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and clamor when New England gets into the minds and hearts of the people of America, and it is then that we know that New England is a section of the land that is not to be permitted to live for and unto itself, but that it belongs to all the land and all the people of the land, and will always live in the hearts of the people." A decade and more ago, some- one wrote what was termed "The New England Credo." A tourist prowling around the attic of one of the oldest bookstores found it among some dusty tomes, and treasured it. Here it is, as he found and adopted it :
I BELIEVE in New England 1 In the preeminence of her location as the gateway to Europe " In the beauty and healthfulness of her hills and lakes [ In the undeveloped, unlimited power of her rivers, and the ocean commerce of her seaports " In the variety and marvelous efficiency of her industries [In the skill and inventive genius of her workmen, the public spirit of her business men, and the resulting prosperity of her people.
I believe in New England's mission " In the glory of her past and the greatness of her future-and I believe that the same spirit of the Boston Tea Party, of Lexington, and the Civil War-the spirit that lavishly gave its blood, brawn, brains and money to the upbuilding of the country-still lives in New England's sons and daughters, and waits only the word to call all New England to the still greater things which are before us.
I believe in the tremendous, transforming power of optimism; I believe that it is lack of faith which checks the development of individuals, associations and sections T That skepticism is the only thing which stands between New England and her great destiny T And that when pessimism is transformed to optimism, New England will again take her rightful place in the vanguard of industrial progress.
Therefore I am resolved that I will avoid, and help others to escape from, the dead- ening, demoralizing rut of criticism, skepticism and inertia [[ That I will be a booster, not a knocker [ And that I will neglect no opportunity to show my faith in the future of New England and to labor unceasingly for its fulfilment.
Copyright, 1910, by Pilgrim Publicity Association, Boston, Mass.
INDEX
INDEX
Aberthaw Construction Library, 892. Aborigines, plans for the conversion of, I13.
Academic influence of Harvard, 198. Academy of Music, 868.
Acceptance of the city charter, 215. Adams, John, 190.
Adams, Charles Francis, Jr., on the influ- ence of the rail systems on Boston, 1066.
Adams, Samuel, 187.
Agricultural chemical library, 892.
Aid given negro fugitives, 138
Air Board, Boston Municipal, 1090.
Allen and Daggett Library, 892.
Almshouse of Early Boston, 962.
Altitudes in the metropolis, 27.
Amended charter, 217
American Expeditionary Forces, 774. American Woolen Company, 620.
Anabaptists, 85 Anaesthesia, etherial, introduction of, 304. Ancient shore line, 19-20.
Andros comes to Boston, 53; and the Church of England, 88; driven from the colony, 122.
Anne Hutchinson, 84; trial of, 168, 169.
Annexation, Boston's growth by, 23. Animosities, political, 720.
Antinomian Controversy, 84, 167. Anti-Subway opposition to Mayor's under- ground route, 1081.
Appalachian Mountain Club, 883.
Aprémont Day in the State House, 799.
Armstrong, Mayor Samuel T., 228.
Architects, scientists and benefactors, 207. Arminianism-Unitarianism versus Con- gregationalism, 105.
Arrival of new notables, 164.
Art and music, 199.
Art of electricity, developing the, 653.
Art organizations, 1034.
Art School, 872. Artists, early Boston, 872.
Auctioning paupers, 961. Auditorium, plans for municipal, 1100. Authors, 209.
Back Bay, church movement to, 905.
Back Bay, reclamation of, 20-21; some objections made to its filling, 22; treas- ures of the, 1105.
Banking in Boston, a history of, 331-443; the early history, 332-346; Boston's Na- tional Banks, 346; list of, dividends, in- corporation, absorption, present day, 347- 361; National Bank, the First, 362-363;
National Shawmut Bank, 364; Atlantic National Bank, 365-366; Merchants' Na- tional Bank, 367; Webster and Atlas National Bank, 368; National Rockland Bank, 369; Citizens' National Bank, 370; Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 370- 380; Boston Clearing House, 380-382; Boston's Trust Companies, 383-398; Old Colony Trust Company, 399; State Street Trust Company, 401 ; American Trust Company, 403; United States Trust Company, 405; New England Trust Company, 406; Boston Safe De- posit and Trust Company, 406; Boston's Savings Banks, 407-412; Provident In- stitution for Savings, 412-414; Boston Five Cent Savings Bank, 415-418; Home Savings Bank, 419-422; Institution for Savings in Roxbury, 422-424; North End Savings Bank, 424; Eliot Savings Bank, 425; Boston's Cooperative banks, 425- 427; Boston's Credit Unions, 427-428; Boston's Investment banking houses, 429- 432; Lee, Higginson & Company, 433- 436; Kidder, Peabody & Company, 436- 438; Hornblower & Weeks, 438; Brown Brothers & Company, 439; Estabrook & Company, 440-441 ; E. H. Rollins & Sons, 442.
Banking Institution libraries, 890-891.
Baker Chocolate works, 656. Baptist Church, first, 85, 922.
Bar association movement, 273. Bar, other leaders of, 271, 272.
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