USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 10
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Post-routes were first established in 1711, to Maine and Plymouth once a week, and to New York once a fortnight. In 1829 the Post-Office was located on the corner of Con- gress and Water Streets, and employed eight clerks ; and
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in 1838 in the Old State House, as related. It will soon seek another situation in Water Street, where a splendid edifice is being erected, President Grant having assisted at the laying of the corner-stone.
The Bunch of Grapes Tavern was on the corner of Kilby Street (formerly Mackerel Lane) and State. The New Eng- land Bank replaces the inn. This tavern existed as early as 1712, and was then kept by Francis Holmes ; in 1731 - 33 it was kept by William Coffin ; Joshua Barker kept it in 1749 ; and Colonel Joseph Ingersoll from 1764 to 1772. Captain John Marston was landlord in 1777 - 78, William Foster in 1782, and James Vila, who removed the same year to Concert Hall, in 1789.
The sign of this hostelry was three clusters of grapes. When the building was torn down to give place to the bank, the bunches of grapes were removed to the Commercial Coffee House, in Milk Street, which was, in its turn, removed, and two of the bunches now grace the front of a liquor store in North Market Street .*
Few of the ancient inns have had more notable guests than this. As long ago as 1728 Governor Burnet found a hospitable reception on his arrival in Boston. In 1776, after the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the Lion and Unicorn from the Town House, Court House, Custom House, and all other British emblems that could be found, were collected in front of this hostelry and made a bonfire of. When Lafayette arrived in Boston in October, 1784, he alighted at the Bunch of Grapes. The Society of the Cincinnati held their meetings here in 1787, and heard orations in the " Old Brick."
Recrossing the street, we find that the Custom House was, in 1810, situated on the lower corner of Change Avenue, former- ly Pierce's, and afterwards Flagg Alley. General Henry Dear- born, of Revolutionary fame, succeeded the venerable General Lincoln as Collector in 1809, the latter having resigned on ac- count of the Embargo. It is said that General Lincoln wrote to President Madison, " that he had fought for the liberties of
* E. Paige & Co.'s, 43 and 44 North Market Street. 5 *
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his country, and spent his best years in her service ; and that he was not, in his old age, to be made an instrument to violate what he had assisted to acquire." *
General Dearborn continued to be Collector until appointed by Madison Senior Major-General, and ordered to the Canada frontier in 1812. His long and glorious career of public service extended from Bunker Hill, in 1775, to the capture of York, in 1813. At the latter place, now Toronto, was captured the royal standard of England, the only one that ever fell into our hands. This trophy is in the naval museum at Annapolis. By the in- trigues of his enemies the veteran was displaced from his com- mand, but was refused the court of inquiry he solicited. He was minister to Portugal in 1822. General Dearborn lived in what was afterwards the Sun Tavern, on Batterymarch Street, more recently occupied by a Glass Company. He married James Bowdoin's widow, and was a man of very imposing presence.
H. A. S. Dearborn, son of the old warrior, succeeded to the collectorship. The younger General Dearborn held a number of offices, and is known as an author of several historical works. At the time of the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island he was Ad- jutant-General of Massachusetts, and was removed for loaning the State arms to suppress that affair.
When the Custom House was located on the north side of State Street, the front was ornamented with two figures carved in wood ; one representing Hope leaning on the traditional anchor, the other Justice holding the scales aloft. These me- morials are now preserved in the insurance office occupying the same site.
In 1810 the building in Custom House Street was completed, and occupied in December of that year, but was soon found too contracted for the government business. The United States Custom House had, for short periods, locations in Merchants' Row, on the northeast corner of Corn Court, and in Half-Court Square, now Congress Square. The tablet in the building in Custom House Street is from the old Custom House. .
On this site was established, in 1764, the first circulating
* Miss Quincy's Memoir.
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library in Boston, by John Mein, the most extensive bookseller of the day. His place was called the London Bookstore, and his stock contained, according to his advertisement, ten thousand volumes.
Thomas says Mein came from Glasgow, in 1764, with Robert Sandeman. His shop was first on the north corner of what is now Franklin and Washington Streets, where, in addition to books, he sold Irish linens, etc. The firm at this time was Mein and Sandeman.
John Mein is also associated with early printing in Boston, having been connected with John Fleming, in 1767, in the publication of the Boston Chronicle, the first semi-weekly in New England.
The paper fell under the ban of popular censure, and was suspended in 1770, it having espoused the cause of the mother country. Mein was exhibited in effigy on Pope Day, 1769, and in the unique and horrible pageant was carried a lantern with this acrostic : -
" Mean is the man, M-n is his name, Enough he's spread his hellish fame ; Infernal Furies hurl his soul, Nine million times from Pole to Pole."
Mein was afterwards the subject of a personal attack, and took refuge with the soldiery, making a final escape from the profane poetry and hard blows of the wrathful " Bostoneers " soon after, to England.
As we are now among the Insurance Offices, it becomes ap- propriate to state that the first in the town was established by Joseph Marion, in 1724. His office was called "The Sun Fire Office in Boston," and was located near the site of the Globe Bank, 22 State Street.
Where the beautiful marble building numbered 66 now stands was the British Coffee House, an inn kept by Mr. Bal- lard in 1762. It was of some prominence, and divided with its neighbors the patronage of the military and civilians. The repeal of the Stamp Act was celebrated here, and at the Bunch of Grapes in March, 1767. It was also the scene of the un-
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fortunate collision between James Otis and John Robinson, one of the Customs Commissioners referred to in connection with Otis's residence. Otis went to the Coffee House alone, by ap- pointment, and was immediately attacked by Robinson and his friends. A young man who went to the assistance of Otis was roughly handled and put out of the house.
The house seems to have been preferred by British officers ; for we find one of them, Surgeon Bolton, delivering a harangue from the balcony, ridiculing the orations of Warren and Han- cock, and abusive of the Whig patriots, while the main-guard, paraded in front, furnished an audience. Under the new régime this tavern was styled the American Coffee House. It became a place of public vendue, in 1786, by a firm who sold books in the chamber and jackasses in the street. The Massachusetts Bank long occupied its site.
Merchants' Row seems to have retained its original designa- tion, being thus described in 1708. Andrew Faneuil's ware- house was on the lower corner in 1732. This was then the lower end of King Street. The Row followed an irregular, serpentine course to the wharf on the southerly side of the Town Dock.
On the west side of Merchants' Row, about midway from State Street to Faneuil Hall, was the first house of entertain- ment in Boston. It was kept by Samuel Cole in 1634. Gov- ernor Vane, in 1636, invited Miantonimoh, the Narragansett chief, to Boston, and the sachem repaired thither with a con- siderable retinue. The attendants of the chieftain were dined at Mr. Cole's, doubtless with many a grunt of satisfaction, for their landlord bore a good name, as we shall learn, from high authority. In what manner Cole fed his score of painted Nar- ragansetts does not transpire. It must have vexed the spirit of the jolly Boniface full sore to know how to place his guests at table. They did not know the use of chairs, so he may have seated them, according to their custom, in a circle on the floor, with his iron pot of meat in the centre, into which each might plunge his hand until satisfied. However, Indians were no uncommon sight in the town in those days.
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Lord Ley, Earl of Marlborough, who was killed in a naval engagement with the Dutch in 1665, visited Boston in 1637. He lodged at Cole's inn, and when urged by Governor Winthrop to partake of his hospitality declined, saying that the house where he was was so well governed, he could be as private there as elsewhere. Lord Ley accompanied Sir Harry Vane back to England. His lordship's reply was not, it is said, rel- ished by the governor, who considered himself slighted and his hospitality and position neglected.
Kilby Street, which once boasted the euphonious name of Mackerel Lane, extended first only from State Street to what is Liberty Square, the portion beyond being known as Adams Street until 1825. Mackerel Lane was very narrow until the great fire of 1760, and crossed the creek in Liberty Square by a bridge at the foot of Water Street. On the map of 1722 wharves line the east side of Kilby Street, and until about 1800 Oliver's Dock came up to this street. Broad and India Streets had no existence until 1808-09.
Oliver's Dock was originally marsh, and through Liberty Square a creek ran up as far west as Spring Lane. This was Governor Winthrop's marsh, and the head of this cove was in the vicinity of the spring mentioned in the Introduction. Shaw states that
" The greater part of Congress Street is made land. An aged gentle- man, who lived near the spot, says that when the foundation of Joy's Buildings (corner of Congress and Water) was preparing, the re- mains of the hull of an old vessel, or large boat, with fragments of canvass and tarred rope, were dug up ; which shows the place had been once used as a graving-yard, or some similar purpose. From a view of the ground, there is reason to believe that the greater part of Congress Street, the whole of Kilby Street and Liberty Square, are built on flats, once covered by salt water."
In noticing the great storm and tide in 1723 the writer says, -
" We could sail in boats from the southern battery (Rowe's Wharf ) to the rise of ground in King Street."
In very high tides the water has flowed up to the corner of
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State Street and Merchants' Row. Sound logs have been dug up at the bottom of this street, which, from the appearance of knots and branches, were supposed to have been felled near at hand.
Oliver's Dock, so named from Peter Oliver, is noted as the scene of an episode of the Stamp Act riots of 1765. A build- ing newly erected on the northeast corner of Kilby Street and Liberty Square was supposed by the people to be intended for a stamp office, and was torn down and thrown into the dock. Liberty Square derives its name from this circumstance. It was so named at the Civic Feast in honor of the French Revolution January 24, 1793, when a liberty-pole sixty feet in length, surmounted by the horns of the ox that had been roasted on Copp's Hill for the feast, was raised, and a salute of fifteen guns fired. The procession, after passing through the principal streets, pausing at Liberty Stump (where Liberty Tree had stood), and at the residences of "Citizens " Hancock and Adams, as they were then styled, then governor and lieu- tenant-governor, halted in State Street, where tables were laid from the Old State House to near Kilby Street. The roasted ox was there dispatched by the crowd amid a scene of con- fusion. In the afternoon an entertainment was provided at Faneuil Hall at which Samuel Adams presided. " Liberty and Equality " were toasted and sung, but as the bloody char- acter of the French Revolution became manifest in the execu- tion of Louis XVI., which had occurred three days before, the Civic Feast was not repeated.
The first directory published in Boston was printed by John Norman, at Oliver's Dock, in 1789. It contained 1,473 names. The directory of 1872 contains 102,117 names.
Broad Street next invites attention. It was built, in 1808, by that great public benefactor, Uriah Cotting, whose improve- ment of Cornhill is already noticed. Until this street was laid out Batterymarch marked the water-line to its junction with Kilby Street. Broad Street was at first occupied for business, but the subsequent building of India Street rendered it una- vailable for this purpose, and it became the headquarters of a
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respectable class of residents ; these were ousted in their turn by the Irish, who swarmed to this country in great numbers after the war of 1812. Among the early residents of Broad Street we find Lieutenant, afterwards Commodore John Downes, who served with distinction in the navy. He was in the attack on Tripoli under Preble, and with David Porter in the Pacific, where, in command of the Essex Junior, -to use the lan- guage of a contemporary, -" he played the devil among the whalers."
Broad Street was, in June, 1837, the scene of a riot between the firemen and Irish. The affair grew out of an attempt of the firemen, while proceeding to a fire, to pass through the ranks of an Irish funeral cortege. This was resented, and led to a regular Donnybrook scrimmage, resulting in many broken heads, but no loss of life. Military force was used to put down the riot, which assumed serious proportions, but no powder was burned. The affray led to the disbandment of the whole fire department.
India Street, flanked by India and Central Wharves, was built, the year after Broad Street, by Mr. Cotting. About mid- way of Central Wharf was formerly an arched passage-way, which presented the singular feature of a building supported by it, but having no land belonging to it, - to use a military phrase, it was in the air. There were formerly a number of these arches, - not the least among the curious objects to be seen in Boston, - and several are yet existing.
Two other taverns remain to be noticed, of which the first is the Admiral Vernon. The name was from Edward Vernon, the admiral, who was known while he lived under the sobriquet of Old Grog. In bad weather he was in the habit of walking the deck in a rough grogram cloak, and thence had obtained the nickname. Whilst in command of the West India Station, and at the height of his popularity on account of his reduction of Porto Bello with six men-of-war, he introduced the use of rum and water by the ship's company." The Admiral Vernon was on the lower corner of State Street and Merchants' Row,
Notes and Queries.
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and was kept by Richard Smith about 1743, and in 1775 by Mary Bean.
The first house on Long Wharf was the Crown Coffee House, noticed in 1718. It was kept by Widow Anna Swords in 1749, being then owned by Governor Belcher, while Governor William Dummer owned the next estate easterly. Richard Smith, of the Admiral Vernon, kept it in 1749, and Robert Shelcock in 1751. It was, like the Admiral Vernon, a water-side resort, but is not known to possess any associations of marked interest. It stood where the building now is, having a westerly front on State Street, but the street has been widened here. Like the other inns, it was used as a dwelling by the proprietors.
Peter Faneuil's warehouse was, in 1742-43 (the year of his death), below the Admiral Vernon, from which he carried on his large business with the West Indies and Europe. Peter was not averse to a little sharp practice upon the King's revenue, for we find an extract of one of his letters which requests ad- vice, - " also what good French brandy is worth, and if it be possible to cloak it so as to ship it for rum." * Otherwise, Peter seems to have placed a high estimate upon his commercial honor, and his charities were numerous and open-handed.
If you enter the little passage-way just below Merchants' Row, you will find a range of brick buildings, bounded north by Chatham Street and south by the passage-way. This is But- ler's Row, and you may yet see the name cut in stone on the southeast corner of the block. Peter Butler, an old proprietor, had a warehouse and wharf here. Andrew, Peter, and Benjamin Faneuil all had warehouses on, or bounding upon, Butler's Row. These were all merchants of high standing, which marks the locality as one of importance to the mercantile class.
Seventy years ago the space between Batterymarch and State Streets was occupied by a ship-yard and wharves. Where the old Custom House stands, on Custom House Street, large ves- sels have been built and launched.
The massive proportions of the new Custom House, which contains about the same number of cubic feet of stone as Bunker
* Dealings with the Dead.
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Hill Monument, stand on a foundation recovered from the sea. Begun in 1837, it took three years to make a secure foundation. The building is cruciform, of the Grecian Doric order, and has the peculiarity that the roof is covered with granite tiles, ren- dering it completely fire-proof. Its position is not conspicuous, but it is one of the noticeable public edifices in Boston. It was completed in 1849, at a cost of over a million. A. B. Young, M. A., was the architect.
We may now take a retrospective view of State Street. It is the busy mart and exchange of the city, sacred to the worship of Mammon. Bills, stocks, and bonds are its literature, and in its vaults are fifty millions of dollars. Here Shylock meets Antonio, and daily takes his pound of flesh. It is our Rialto, our Bourse, our Royal Exchange. But time was when Perez Morton dwelt where the Union Bank's strong coffers are, and John Coburn took gentlemen boarders just below the Post- Office, - this, too, within the present century.
Since Boston was, State Street has been a favorite theatre of military displays, -the train-bands of the hard-visaged Puri- tans, the solid tramp of the newly arrived British soldiery in 1768, and of the reinforcements in 1774. Through State Street marched the 5th and 38th to embark for Bunker Hill, and the tread of Rochambeau's gallant Frenchmen has wakened the echoes of the old street. Since those more stirring scenes it has been the custom and delight of the citizen soldiery to " march up State Street." The bayonets of many a gallant regiment have glittered in the sunlight here, ere they marched to the front in the late civil war. Here, too, Burns, a poor fugitive was conducted by the whole police and military force of the city to the ship which took him back to slavery. But we have changed all that.
The fire of 1711 left its mark in State Street, destroying all the upper part, the Town House, and the Old Meeting House. An attempt was made to save the bell of the latter, and several sailors ascended the cupola for that purpose ; but the flames cut off their retreat, and they perished in the falling ruins. In 1747 the Town House was again destroyed. In the great fire of
H
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1760 the street was again scourged by the devouring element, scarcely a building being left in the part below Kilby Street.
State Street was also the scene of a fatal affray in August, 1806, between Charles Austin and Thomas Oliver Selfridge, in which the former was killed. This affair made a great noise, and the day was long remembered as " Bloody Monday." James Sullivan was then Attorney-General, while the defence of Self- ridge was conducted by Samuel Dexter and Christopher Gore. The origin of the difficulty was political feud ; but, according to Mr. Sargent, the immediate cause was a dispute between other parties, about seven roast pigs and ten bushels of green peas. Austin was killed between the Old State House and the · Traveller Office.
Long Wharf and State Street are so firmly united that they may be considered one to all intents and purposes. Before the wharf was built the lower part of State Street terminated at the Governor's Dock. The subject of building a wharf at the bottom of King Street was mooted, as early as 1707, by Oliver Noyes and others. In 1709-10 the town voted to accept the proposals of Noyes and his associates to build a wharf, with a sufficient common sewer, from Andrew Faneuil's corner to low- water mark, to be of the width of King Street. As originally projected, the wharf was to have a public way on one of its sides, thirty feet wide, for the use of the inhabitants and others forever. At about the middle a gap, sixteen feet wide, was to be left for the passage of boats ; the end was to be left free for the town to plant guns on, if occasion required. The name of the wharf was, first, Boston Pier. M. l'Abbé Robin describes the pier as "a superb wharf, advancing nearly two thousand feet into the sea, wide enough along its whole length for stores and shops." On the map of 1722 there appears almost a continuous row of buildings on the north side ; on Price's plan of 1743 the end of the wharf is fortified.
The "T" of Long Wharf, formerly known as Minott's T (from Stephen Minott), is a part of the ancient structure known as the Barricado, or Old Wharf, which was a line of defence connecting Scarlett's Wharf, at the foot of Copp's Hill, with the
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South Battery at the foot of Fort Hill. It enclosed the Town Cove, in which the shipping lay. The Barricado extended in straight lines from the wharf to the terminal points, making an angle at the junction with Long Wharf, with the point towards the town. It was built of wood, and had openings on each side of Long Wharf for vessels to pass through. Apprehensions of invasion from the Dutch or French caused its construction. Atlantic Avenue now follows, substantially, the line of the Barricado. It crossed Long Wharf on the neck of the T, and two little islands to the north and south of the wharf furnished points of appui. Central Wharf was laid out over one of these islands, and large trees and stones, which had been used in building the Barricado, were found when excavations were making for the wharf. The other island was removed. The Old Wharf, being for defence only, was only wide enough to work guns upon. It fell into gradual decay, and the last ves-
tiges disappeared long ago. " T" Wharf, which name has sometimes erroneously been connected with the Tea Party, has always been noted for an excellent old well of water, from which ships were supplied. Minott and Andrew Faneuil owned it in 1718.
When, in November, 1745, after that extraordinary and successful expedition, which resulted in the reduction of Louis- burg, Governor Shirley returned home in the Massachusetts Frigate, a splendid reception awaited him. He first landed at the " Castle," where he passed the night, coming up to Boston in the morning in the Castle barge. About noon he landed, with his retinue, at Long Wharf, under salutes from all the shipping in the port and the acclamations of the people. Here they were received by the dignitaries of the province and town, and by Colonel Wendell's regiment of militia, a Chelsea com- pany, the Troop of Guards, and another Troop of Horse, with the Cadets under Colonel Benjamin Pollard. The ringing of bells, illuminations, and fireworks prolonged the joyful occasion.
General Thomas Gage landed at Long Wharf in May, 1774, and was received by the Troop of Guards, a regiment of militia, and the Cadets, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
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Coffin. The reception was in the midst of a drenching rain, but was, nevertheless, attended by a great concourse of people. Six years before this umbrellas - or " umbrilloes," as they were called - were first used in Boston, and were, doubtless, put in requisition on this occasion. Nearly all the British troops that set foot in Boston landed at this wharf. It was also the scene of the embarkation of the 5th and 38th for Breed's Hill, who left so many of their number on its green slope.
The stores on the wharf, deserted by most of their owners, were used during the siege for the storage of military and naval stores, of which a considerable quantity was recovered by Quartermaster-General Mifflin, - besides General Gage's char- iot, which was taken out of the dock broken, -when our forces- entered the town. After the evacuation, the British fleet re- mained for some time anchored at Nantasket, and was a source of continual alarm to the people. General Benjamin Lincoln
organized a force which embarked from Long Wharf and took positions at Long and Pettick's Islands, Hull, Point Alderton, and elsewhere. The battery on Long Island sent a shot through the upper works of Commodore Banks's ship, when he signalled the fleet to get under way, blew up the lighthouse, and vexed the waters of Boston harbor no more.
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