USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Municipal history of the town and city of Boston during two centuries : from September 17, 1630, to September 17, 1830 > Part 14
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By the negotiations the Mayor had now conditionally effected, it was in the power of the City Council to enlarge the plan of improvement to the greatest extent, which the relations of the land between Ann Street and Butler's Row made possible; and on the twenty-sixth of October following, he laid before the Faneuil Hall Committee the practicability of an enlargement of the present improvement, provided the Long Wharf proprietors could be induced to sell to the city an additional extent of Bray's Wharf; upon which he was authorized to enter into a negotia- tion with those proprietors on that subject, and Messrs. Benjamin, Oliver, and Williams, were united with him to meet any Com- mittee appointed by them on this subject.
On the eighteenth of December, the Mayor laid before the Faneuil Hall Committee plans of an enlargement of South Mar- ket Street, and of extending the plan of improvement so as to include all the estates as far as Butler's Row, and also a street forty feet wide. This representation was referred to a sub-com- mittee, consisting of the Mayor, Mr. Child, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Wil- liams, and Mr. Wright, to examine all the plaus and calculations,
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and improve upon them, if practicable, and to report what further measures may be expedient.
Hitherto all the moneys of the Committee had been subject to the draft of the Mayor, and they stood to his credit in the books of the City Bank. The Mayor stated to the Committee that he thought "the power he had over those moneys was not suffi- ciently restricted and checked, considered as a precedent ; he, therefore, proposed a vote, which was adopted, that all payments should be vouched by the Sub-Committees making the expend- iture and countersigned by the auditor ; " and that all moneys received on account of the Committee should be deposited in bank to the credit of the Mayor, subject to his draft, under the preceding restrictions.
On the twenty-second of December, the Sub-Committee on the proposed extension of the plan of improvement to Butler's Row reported, and the Committee unanimously voted that the propo- sition for such extension of the improvement ought to be em- braced; and the Mayor was requested to call a meeting of the City Council, and state to them that " by the power to apply a sum not exceeding two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, improvements of great importance might be effected, by the pur- chase of land, without any ultimate cost, and with a certain ultimate gain to the city."
On the twenty-fourth of December following, the City Council were specially convened on this subject, and a message transmit- ted by the Mayor, which developed all the views entertained by the Committee, and the motives which induced them to recom- mend the extension of the plan first adopted. As this measure was the occasion of much obloquy at the time, it seems proper that these views should be preserved in the form they were at that time presented to the City Council. That message is there- fore subjoined,1 by which it will be apparent that the motives which actuated the City Council were of the most public and patriotic character ; their object being to avail themselves of a propitious moment to effect in the heart of the city an enlarge- ment of the accommodations of its great central market, from a width of sixty to that of one hundred and two feet. The popu- lation of the city at that time did not make the necessity and
I See Appendix HI.
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importance of this enlargement as apparent to the citizens in general, as it was to the City Council, and as every day's increas- ing experience has since made it. No one can pass through South Market Street at the present day (1851) on high market days, without realizing both the importance, and even necessity, of that measure, and perceiving how greatly the advantages of that improvement would have been diminished, had this enlarge- ment not taken place, and this street had been left of the width of sixty feet, as originally proposed.
In consequence of this message, on the twenty-ninth of Decem- ber, an authority was obtained from the City Council to pur- chase any land to the southward of the street leading to Bray's Wharf, which they may judge expedient, provided the purchases did not exceed two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, three fourths of the Committee concurring in such purchases and sign- ing such concurrence. On the same day, the vote of the City Council was communicated to the Committee, who unanimously executed an authority to the Mayor and a sub-committee to pro- ceed forthwith to make the respective purchases under the above limitation.
Between the fifth and the eighteenth of January, 1825, pur- chases were accordingly made of land belonging to Benjamin Adams, Josiah Salisbury, James T. Austin, Thomas Barnes, and the Fifty Associates, for $ 113.347
And, after great difficulties and long negotiation,
a final arrangement was made with the Long
Wharf proprietors for the purchase of their interest, at
105.000
$ 218.347
The Committee then proceeded to direct, that South Market Street should be laid out not less than one hundred and two feet wide, and the new street, running from Merchants' Row, thirty- five feet wide; that the Mayor and Aldermen be requested to close the street leading to Bray's Wharf, and to open the new street ; a select committee was appointed to prepare plans of the new store lots to be sold, determine the conditions of sale, and report ; and all the tenants in Parkman's Buildings were ordered to remove in thirty days.
Thus the design of the leading members of the first Commit-
12
£
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
tee on Faneuil Hall Market was extended toward the east far beyond their first published plan. The western side conformed, in all material respects, to that plan, except that the market house, instead of being situated between two streets, each eighty feet in width, had a street sixty-five feet in width on the north, and one of one hundred and two feet on the south side. The cause of this unequal division of the space devoted to these streets has already been intimated.
When, in consequence of the ultimate purchases of the chief estates lying between the street leading to Bray's Wharf and Ann Street, the whole of the estate of Nathan Spear's heirs was taken into South Market Street, great complaints were made and indignation expressed, as though unexampled injustice had been done to the proprietors of the three fourteenths of Na- than Spear's estate, by taking in the whole of their interest for a street. It is not, however, apprehended that there was any just cause for such complaint and feeling. Those proprietors had maintained their rights with exemplary firmness, and had vindicated for themselves all the advantages of the increased value of their estates, derived from this city improvement. Their estate, however, was, like those of other citizens, subject to be taken, on indemnification, by the surveyors of highways for pub- lic exigencies.
In the process for such indemnification, established by law in such cases, they had the full right of receiving damages, accord- ing to the increased value of their estates, as raised by the city; and this principle was acceded to those proprietors, as a matter of law, by the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, in his charge to the jury 1 who had the duty of assessing damages, and who awarded to those proprietors their proportion of the Spec te, valued at seventy thousand dollars, which, previously co the commencement of this project of improvement, had never been valued at more than twenty-five thousand. The assertion, that the land was taken by the city as a speculation, was wholly with- out reasonable ground.
After the extension of the Centre Market, according to the original plan, was thus effected, minor projects were started in connection with it. Some proposed that the new market house
1 See the Boston Daily Advertiser of the twenty-eighth November, 1826.
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should be widened from fifty to eighty feet. Others, that the cellar of the market house, which was now, through its whole length, finished and walled, should be taken up and removed, so as to coincide with the centre of Faneuil Hall. The proprietors of the north block of stores on North Market Street also memo- rialized against the widening of South Market Street, as being injurious to them, and contrary to the faith of the city, pledged to them. Between the eleventh and eighteenth of January, these propositions were considered and rejected by the Commit- tee; the first, unanimously ; the second, by a majority of five out of nine. As the decision of these questions involved great responsibility, the Committee, after declaring their opinion, that there was nothing in the proposed widening of South Market Street contrary to the faith of the city, requested the Mayor to state to the City Council the above votes, and communicate their determination to procced with the market house according to the present location and dimensions, unless the City Council should expressly direct otherwise; and declaring their deliberate judgment, that no other change should be permitted, except that of removing the cellar walls, and erecting it of the present dimensions, with the centre coinciding with the centre of Faneuil Hall, and this only on the condition that the proprietors of the north block of stores consent to pay all expenses consequent on such removal.
The Mayor accordingly communicated to the City Council a very long and elaborate report, showing that the widening of South Market Street was no direct or virtual violation of the faith of the city to the proprietors of the north block of stores; and stating the grounds on which the Committee had seen fit to reject the several projects for an alteration in the existing location and dimensions of the new market.
The City Council concurred in all the views of the Commit- tee, and directed them to proceed in the manner they had before ordered.
At this period, arrangements were commenced for taking down all the buildings purchased to the northward of Bray's Wharf, and for clearing the entire space, preparatory to the sale of the south block of store lots. And, in the course of the month of Febru- ary, 1825, deeds were received from the proprietors of Long Wharf, and the purchase money for them paid; the claims of
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tenants who had been removed were settled, and the south lots prepared for sale. The Committee also avowed their intention to recommend to the City Council to make no more purchases of estates in the vicinity of Butler's Row; declaring, at the same time, their opinion, that it would be for the interest of the city if the Mayor could induce private individuals to purchase lands in that vicinity, for further extending the improvement in that direction, This declaration was made with reference to, and in aid of, a plan of David Greenough, which had for its object the entire closing of Butler's Row.
On the seventh of this month, the Committee were deprived of one of its most active and talented members, by the resigna- tion of Mr. Alderman Benjamin, whose practical skill, scientific acquirements, experience, and great judgment, as an architect, had largely contributed to the success and extensiveness of this important improvement, as he had been, in every stage of the building of the new market house, joined in council with Alex- ander Parris, the employed architect, in devising and improving its original plan.
Mr. Alderman Eddy was elected successor to Mr. Benjamin on the Special Committee.
In the month of March, the Committee purchased the estate of D. Tucker, on the Long Wharf, for the purpose of opening what is now called Commercial Street to the Long Wharf; and, after obtaining the sanction of the City Council, they also pur- chased, at the cost of thirty-six thousand dollars, the estates of William Welsh, Henry Lienow, and of the heirs of Mrs. Hoff- man; the object being to open a thirty-five feet street in the direction of, and including, the Roebuck Passage.
On the thirty-first of this month, the twenty-two store lots, constituting the south block, including thirty-three thousand eight hundred and sixty-five square feet of land, were sold for four hundred and three thousand eight hundred and fifty-three dollars, it being eleven dollars and thirty-two cents the square foot.
On the twenty-fifth of April, the Faneuil Hall Committee made a report to the Common Council, stating the amount paid for land purchased, and for the streets laid out, for the accommo- dation of the new market house, with the amount received for store lots; and, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1825, in con-
.
£
---
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CITY GOVERNMENT.
formity with previous arrangements, the corner stone of the new market house was laid 1 in the presence of the City Council and a large concourse of citizens, there having been deposited under it, inclosed in a leaden case, a specimen of all the coins of the United States, a map of the city, all the newspapers of the city published on that day, and a silver plate, containing the names of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, of the Presi- dent of the United States, and of the Executive of the Com- monwealth.
1 See Appendix I ..
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CHAPTER X.
CITY GOVERNMENT. 1821-1825.
JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Proceedings relative to the House of Industry - Opposition of the Overseers of the Poor to the Measures of the City Council - Sale of the Almshouse in Leverett Street - The Paupers transferred to the House of Industry -- The question of applying to the Legislature for a Modification of the Powers claimed by the Overseers of the Poor, submitted to a General Meeting of the Citizens - Its Result - Death of Alderman Hooper - Claims of Political Parties for the use of Faneuil Hall - Difficulties relative to the Board of Health - Change in that Department - Visit and Reception of General Lafayette.
IMMEDIATELY after the organization of the city government, in May, 1824, a committee, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Child, Benjamin, and Eddy, with Messrs. E. Williams, Shaw, Frothingham, Otis, Barry, Upham, and Davis, of the Common Council, were appointed to consider the best mode of disposing of the Almshouse, with authority to sell it, at a sum not less than one hundred thousand dollars.
On the nineteenth of July, the Directors of the House of In- dustry reported to the City Council their receipts and expendi- tures on account of that institution, its prosperous state, and the necessity of a stockade fence around it; and a committee, con- sisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Patterson and Eddy, with Messrs. Wales, Russell, William Wright, and Goddard, were appointed, with full authority to transfer to the House of Industry all the inmates of the Almshouse, with the concurrence of the Overseers of the Poor. This Committee, in repeated interviews with those Overseers, stated the completion and success of the House of Industry ; its special adaptation to the class of poor then in the Almshouse, its chief design being to supply them with a varied succession of healthful employment, on the land and in the House, according to the season of the year, their age, sex, and capacity, thus enabling them to do something for their own sup-
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CITY GOVERNMENT.
port, and adding to the comfort of the respectable poor, by a pure atmosphere, a wider space for exercise, and scenes more congenial to the human mind, than an almshouse in the midst of a populous city could afford; that those who had been trans- ferred to the House of Industry the last year with reluctance, were not only satisfied, but grateful and happy in the change.
The Committee requested the Overseers to examine for them- selves the correctness of these assertions; and, after stating that the experiment already made had convinced the City Council of the economy, humanity, and acceptableness to the poor of the House of Industry, pressed the expediency of immediately trans- ferring the inmates of the Almshouse to the new, dry, and clean edifice at South Boston, where they might enjoy the comfort and advantage of a residence in the country during the ensuing summer.
The Committee stated that the interest of the city required that the transfer should not be delayed; as a negotiation then proceeding for the sale of the house in Leverett Street would be embarrassed by an opposition to the views of the City Council. They, therefore, proposed an immediate removal of all the poor to the House of Industry, except the sick and the maniacs ; for whom suitable attendants would be provided by the city, in the Almshouse in Leverett Street, under the superintendence of the Overseers of the Poor, until that institution could be entirely closed.
They stated that it was not the object of the City Council to deprive the Overseers of their guardianship of the poor, but to render their labors more easy and efficient, by adopting a system of measures suited to the increasing population of the city. From that cause, the office of overseer had become so burden- some, that in one ward three citizens had been recently succes- sively chosen and successively declined. These objections would be lessened when those officers were released from responsibili- ties relative to the place appointed for the residence of the poor; except those included in their visitatorial power.
The Committee stated that, after the transfer of the poor to South Boston, it was the intention of the City Council that all the poor "in the House of Industry and House of Correction should be under the superintendence of the Directors of the House of Industry ; that all other poor within the limit of the
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
city, in the hospital and in families, to be under the care of the Overseers of the Poor, who were to have the exclusive manage- ment and distribution of all eleemosynary funds, and of all such as the City Council may provide for the poor out of the house;" considering these services of the Overseers to include an appli- cation of time and labor sufficient for any city to claim gratui- tously of any individual.
These views were not only repeated by the Committee at several interviews, but were set forth at large by them in a letter to the Overseers, dated the twenty-fifth of June, 1824, and signed by the Mayor, David W. Child, James Savage, and Eliphalet Williams, without any other effect than that which will here- after be stated.
While the preceding controversy was pending, the Overseers of the Poor raised another difficulty, relative to their accounta- bility to the City Council for the expenditure of public moneys. By the ordinance "establishing a system of accountability in the expenditures of the city," passed on the twenty-second of August, 1824, no moneys could be paid out of the city treasury, unless vouched by the Chairman of the Committee of the Board, under whose authority the expenditure had been made, and unless passed by the joint Committee of accounts of the City Council. The Overseers having drawn an order on the City 'Treasurer, without regarding the provisions of the city ordinance, which, not being accepted, the Overseers of the Poor on the twenty-fifth of September, 1824, addressed a remonstrance to the City Coun- cil, stating that, " under the town, the subscription of the Over- seers to the grants and allowances, contained in their draft book, was deemed a sufficient voucher for the Treasurer;" that the delivery of the original bills and instruments, authenticating the claims of the Overseers, " would be a hinderance in the discharge of their official duties, and endanger a loss by the city ; " that many of them related to adjustments and transactions between them and the Overseers of the Poor or Selectmen of other towns, and ought to be retained in their hands ; that in cases of disburse- ments made by the Overseers, in their respective wards, to poor persons at their dwellings occasionally, according to their imne- diate exigencies, many inconveniences were suggested ; and mea- sures of the City Council were requested, relieving them from the operation of the ordinance relative to accountability.
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CITY GOVERNMENT.
This memorial was referred to a committee of the City Coun- cil, consisting of the Mayor and Alderman Odiorne, and Messrs. Coolidge, Prouty, and Morse, of the Common Council, who, on the eighteenth of October, 1824, reported that they had an inter- view with the Overseers of the Poor, and heard and considered all their suggestions, and that they cannot perceive why the par- ticular provisions of that ordinance are not as equally applicable to the expenditures of the Overseers of the Poor as to those of other boards and individuals intrusted with the disbursement of public moneys, and that they see no practical difficulty or inconvenience that will result from the applicability of the ordinance in question to their expenditure ; but, on the contrary, in their judgment, it would be productive of great satisfaction. The Committee then proceeded to state the expenditures of the Overseers, during the last current year, to have been upwards of thirty thousand dol- lars, arranged under four general heads : - 1. Salaries and sums paid for professional services. 2. Payments made to insane hospitals and other towns. 3. Payments of out of door grants and pensions. 4. Payments for articles and provisions purchased for the house. As to the first, amounting to near four thousand dollars, the Overseers could not be subjected to greater inconve- nience than that to which other salaried officers were, who are paid by bills certified by the chairman of the committee of the board making the contract. It was obviously expedient that a similar principle should be applied to all accounts for salaries. Indeed the chief objection of the Overseers to the requisition seemed to be the trouble it would occasion them. As to the second head, amounting to upwards of twenty-five hun- dred dollars, the Committee apprehended no great inconve- nience could arise after an account was liquidated and the balance struck, for the account to be certified by the chair- man of the board that passed it. 'The objection made was, that the Overseers would be subjected to unnecessary trouble to go to the office of the auditor, in case of any necessity of recur- rence to those accounts. This inconvenience, the Committee apprehended, would be counterbalanced by the great publie con- venience and security, from having all the public accounts of all the expending individuals and boards deposited in one office, in one systematie arrangement, under the direct superintendence of a committee of the City Council. As to the third head of pay-
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
ments, amounting to upwards of eight thousand dollars, all that would be required was, that a list of the names of all the pen- sioners, or those to whom grants were made, should be transmit- ted, certified by the Chairman of the Overseers, that they have been allowed by vote of the Board. And as to weekly distribu- tions of the Overseers in the wards, all that would be required was, a statement of an account by the expending overseer, speci- fying the names of the person relieved, and a certificate of the Chairman of the Overseers, that the account had been passed by the Board. It was objected by the Overseers, that giving publi- city to the name of the person relieved, might sometimes occa- sion pain to such person. The Committee, however, were of opinion, that it was the right of society to know how the public moneys are in such cases applied. Poverty, when it is not the consequence of vice or crime, is no disgrace; when it is the con- sequence of either, it is not entitled to the consideration which the objection implies. As to the fourth head, amounting to nearly fifteen thousand dollars, the payments made under it are, in every respect, precisely similar to those of other city expendi- tures, and there can be no reason why they should not be subject
to the same system of accountability. The Directors of the House of Industry, whose relations to the city and responsibili- ties are altogether similar to those of the Overseers (except only that they have no discretionary power to disburse money out of the house) find no embarrassment from the provisions of the ordinance, and the Committee declared their opinion that the experiment in its effects would result in being a great satisfac- tion to the Overseers of the Poor, instead of an annoyance.
The reluctance thus exhibited by the Overseers of the Poor to be subjected to the same principles of accountability which the City Council had established, with regard to all boards and individu- als who had the expenditures of public moneys, made a deep impression upon the minds of the Committee. This was strength- ened by their unyielding opposition to the removal of the poor to the institution at South Boston, after the urgent solicitation of the Committee for such removal, expressed in their letter of · the twenty-fifth of June preceding; although there were only eighty in the class of sick and maniacs out of more than three hundred imnates then in the Almshouse. The great majority of these they alleged were not capable of labor and not suited to
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