USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 13
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Following the custom of the times, the painter placed in the front of his house the coat of arms carved in wood now in the Hanover Street front, from which his dwelling was known as the "Painter's Arms." Though it bears the date of 1701, the coat of arms, representing probably the guild of painters, ap- pears in excellent preservation. In 1835 the old " Painter's Arms" was taken down, and the tablet transferred to the build- ing which replaced it.
Opposite to Boston Stone is an antiquated but well-preserved brick building standing quietly aloof from the neighboring and busy street. This building makes the corner - on Creek Lane - of a row of three or four venerable brick structures extend- ing towards Blackstone Street. These were built shortly after the peace by John Hancock, and are to this day called " Han- cock's Row." Times were depressed, and Hancock's bounty gave employment to many deserving and needy artisans. The row at first extended to the creek whose waters have long since ceased to flow.
The building first mentioned was the office of Ebenezer Hancock, brother of the governor, and deputy paymaster-gen- eral of the Continental army. Here, when the town was under the government of Greene and Heath and Gates, a sentinel paced before the door, never, we may believe, deserted by the needy officers of the Continental line. The lower floor has groaned beneath the weight of the French crowns sent us by
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his Most Christian Majesty, our excellent ally, brought over by the fleet of D'Estaing.
How the poor fellows' eyes must have sparkled when they received their long arrears in King Louis's bright silver crowns ! The order of Gates or Heath was now a talisman to unlock the strong-box of the paymaster, and for once it was not empty. Paymaster Hancock occupied the house also as his residence.
William Pierce was a well-known barber at Boston Stone in 1789, and he continued to follow his calling until nearly a hundred years old. His shop was a sort of exchange for the gossip current at the North End, and was frequented by many celebrated residents of that locality. It was Pierce's boast that he had shaved Franklin, and he related that Franklin told him he was born at the corner of Union and Hanover Streets. He had also preserved a tradition that the Hancocks formerly resided in Hatters' Square. John Norman, also known as an engraver of some repute, had his printing-office at Boston Stone in 1784.
At the corner of Marshall and Union Streets lived, in 1798, James Amblard, a tailor. Amblard, a Frenchman by birth, had the honor of being the host of the Duc de Chartres, after- wards Louis Philippe, during his residence in Boston, to which allusion has been made. While awaiting funds from Europe, Louis found himself obliged to resort to teaching the French anguage here, until he and his brothers were relieved by remit- tances from their mother. The Duke returned to London in 1800, and resided at Twickenham. According to Mr. Nason, the future king of France was intimate with the father of Wm. B. Fowle, Esq., the educator, and often played chess with him of an evening, presenting on his departure a set of chessmen still preserved in the family.
Union Street was named from the British Union. Creek Lane reminds us of the mill creek to which it led. Cole Lane, or Cold Lane, has taken the name of Portland Street, and at first extended only as far as the Mill Pond. Elm Street was Wing's Lane. Elm, Hanover, and Salem Streets were all 7 J
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widened under the town government ; before this they were the merest lanes.
Emerging from Union Street into Hanover, we stand on the corner which disputes with Milk Street the honor of being the birthplace of Benjamin Franklin. The student who patiently investigates the claims of the rival localities will be likely at last to exclaim with Mercutio, -
" A plague o' both the houses !"
Franklin's own statement, as given by himself to a person worthy of credit, was that he was born on this now famous corner, while other evidence goes to contradict it. That his early youth was passed here is certain. Here he practised the art of making tallow candles for his father, and employed his leisure in throwing rubbish into the neighboring Mill Pond. From here he wended his way through Hanover and Court Streets to the Latin School, and, after his father's business became distasteful to him, to his brother's printing-office in Queen Street.
The sign of Josias Franklin, father of Benjamin, was a Blue Ball, suspended by an iron rod from the front of his shop, which stood at the southeast corner 1608 of Hanover and Union Streets. Before thestreets were numbered, and while the buildings were scat- tered, it was the universal custom among the inhab- THE BLUE BALL. itants to designate their
shops by some emblem. Thus we find the " Heart and Crown," "Three Nuns and a Comb," and " Brazen Head " in Cornhill, " Three Doves " in Marlborough Street, "Tun and Bacchus " and "Three Sugar Loaves and Canister " in King Street. This last was thus distinguished from the "Two Sugar Loaves " in Cornhill :-
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"Oft the peasant with inquiring face, Bewildered, trudges on from place to place ; He dwells on every sign with stupid gaze, Enters the narrow alley's doubtful maze, Tries every winding court and street in vain, And doubles o'er his weary steps again."
The old house was quite small and of two stories, to which a third was added in later times. It was partially destroyed by fire in 1858, and in the same year the city took the build- 1 ing to widen Union Street. When the widening of Hanover Street took place, the old site was partially taken for that street. In the same way, by the plan of cutting off wholly from one side of the street, a number of quite noted landmarks disappeared. It was the intention of the am Blair Town owners to have removed the Franklin building to another location, but it was SIGN OF THREE DOVES. found impracticable. Two relics of it are, however, preserved. The Blue Ball is in the possession of General Ebenezer W. Stone of Boston, and from the original timbers was made a chair which was presented to the Mechanic Charitable Asso- ciation.
There are two original portraits of Franklin in the Public Li- brary, - one by Duplessis, presented by Hon. Edward Brooks ; the other by Greuze, presented by Gardner Brewer.
Corresponding with No. 97 Hanover Street, once stood the church of Dr. Lyman Beecher, the eminent divine, father of Henry Ward Beecher. The church was erected in 1826, and consumed by fire on the night of the 31st December, 1829. Report says, a quantity of liquor was found by the firemen in the cellar. It was built of rough granite, had a central tower, and in general appearance was not unlike the old Brattle Street. After the destruction of their house, the society united in build- ing the church in Bowdoin Street, which was completed in June, 1831. Dr. Beecher was the first pastor, having been set- tled in March, 1826, but in 1832 he removed to Cincinnati.
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The society was originally formed from members of Park Street,. the Old South, and Union Churches.
The Hanover Church stood on the site of Benjamin Hallow- ell's old residence, which was ransacked by the same mob that pillaged Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson's house in August, 1765. Mr. Hallowell was a comptroller of customs, and as such, regarded with special hatred by the populace. The mob destroyed or carried off everything of value, including a small sum of silver. Hallowell then removed to an elegant mansion at Jamaica Plain, which was afterwards confiscated. One of his sons, B. Carew, became a distinguished British admiral. Hon. John Coffin Jones also lived on the Hallowell estate. Captain Henry Prentiss, a Revolutionary soldier and one of the Tea Party, lived also on this spot. He was a distinguished merchant and ship-owner.
The Green Dragon Tavern in Union Street was the greatest. celebrity among all the old Boston hostelries. It stood facing towards the street, on a little alley running from Union Street around by the rear, but by the increased width of the street the site now abuts upon it, and is marked by a freestone tablet- set in the wall with a dragon sculptured upon it in bas-relief .* This was the sign of the old tavern, which was on the west side of Union, a short distance from Hanover Street. In early times it was the property of Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, and was used as a hospital during the Revolution. It was a two-story brick building with pitch roof. From above the en- trance projected an iron rod on which was crouched the fabled monster of antiquity.
William Stoughton, Lieutenant-Governor from 1692 to his. death in 1701, was one of the "Council of Safety " which deposed Andros. As Chief Justice of the Court he has acquired a fearful celebrity in connection with the witchcraft. trials.
We have seen that Warren, John Adams, Revere, and Otis were neighbors. The former was the first Grand Master of the first Grand Lodge of Masons who held their meetings in the
* Many think the tablet incorrectly placed.
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Green Dragon. The rest of the patriots came here to plan or. to confer. How much "treason " was hatched under this roof will never be known, but much was unquestionably concocted within the walls of the masonic lodge. It is upon their record that they adjourned on account of the memorable Tea Party, for which they furnished no inconsiderable number.
Paul Revere says : " In the fall of 1774 and winter of 1775 I was one of upwards of thirty, chiefly mechanics, who formed ourselves into a committee for the purpose of watching the movements of the British soldiers and gaining every intelli- gence of the movements of the tories. We held our meetings at the Green Dragon Tavern. This committee were astonished to find all their secrets known to General Gage, although every time they met, every member swore not to reveal any of their transactions except to Hancock, Adams, Warren, Otis, Church, and one or two more." The traitor proved to be Dr. Church, who was afterwards arrested for treasonable correspondence with the enemy.
The early meetings of the Massachusetts Charitable Associa- tion, organized in 1795, were held here and at Concert Hall. It was always a favorite resort for the mechanics of the North End. When the convention was sitting which was to consider the adoption of the Federal Constitution, a great mass meeting of Boston mechanics assembled in the Green Dragon, which gave so emphatic an expression in favor of its acceptance that Samuel Adams said, "If they want it, they must have it."
One of the old customs long observed in Boston was the celebration of Pope Day, as November 5th, the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, was called. A bitter animosity existed between the North and South Enders, whose line of demarca- tion was the Mill Bridge on Hanover Street. Each section had its procession and its pope, and when the rival parties met, a battle ensued with fists, sticks, and stones, and one or the other of the popes was captured. The North End pope was never, it is said, taken but once.
Pope Day was a saturnalia. A stage was erected on wheels, on which was placed a figure of the pope seated in a chair.
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Behind this was a female scarecrow called Nancy Dawson, with effigies of Admiral Byng and the Devil hanging from a gallows. Much ill-blood arose from these conflicts, the effects of which remained until the anniversary came round again. Governor Hancock, considering this foolish rivalry prejudicial to the pa- triot cause, used every effort to subdue it, but without effect. He at last gave a supper at the Green Dragon Tavern, which cost him $ 1,000, to which he invited all the leading men of both parties, and invoked them in an eloquent speech to lay aside their animosity for their country's sake. The appeal was successful, and the rival parties shook hands before they sepa- rated. From that time Pope Day ceased to agitate the warring factions. *
The Green Dragon, also known as the "Freemason's Arms," is specially noted in the annals of Masonry in Boston. It was purchased by St. Andrew's Lodge before the Revolution, and remained in their possession more than a century. The lodge was organized under a charter from the Grand Lodge of Scot- land in 1756, and was chiefly composed of residents of the North End. There were several lodges in the British regi- ments that landed in Boston in 1768 and 1774, and St. An- drew's Lodge united with them in organizing a Grand Lodge. The first Lodge of Freemasons met in Boston July 30, 1733. It was the first in the Colonies, receiving authority from Lord Montague, Grand Master of England. Daniel Webster styled the Green Dragon the Headquarters of the Revolution, a name to which it has an undoubted claim. In the Green Dragon the Sandemanians held their first meetings in America. In later times it was kept by Daniel Simpson, the veteran musician. On the corner where now stands the Baptist Church building was formerly a brewery.
The Mill Pond, or Cove, mentioned in the Introduction, once covered all the tract embraced within North and South Margin Streets, being divided from the sea on the northwest by the Causeway, now Causeway Street. The station-house of the Boston and Maine Railway stands in the midst of this Mill
* General Sumner's Reminiscences.
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Pond, while the Lowell, Eastern, and Fitchburg occupy sites beyond the Causeway rescued from the sea. The high ground sloping away from Green and Leverett Streets once marked the boundary of the Cove in that direction, whilst the eastern mar- gin, reaching to Distill-house Square, included all of Haymar- ket Square. On the northern shore the water covered Endicott Street, reaching to Prince, below Thacher, and penetrated to the rear of Baldwin Place, almost to Salem Street. When the Second Baptist Church was situated in Baldwin Place, candidates for baptism were immersed in the rear of the church. Before En- dicott Street was laid out, about 1836, over a part of what was FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1853. known as the "Old Way," Prince Street was the thoroughfare to Charlestown. The Mill Pond thus embraced an area as large as the Common.
The origin of the Causeway was in a footpath of the Indians over a more elevated part of the marsh. One Mr. Crabtree raised and widened this primitive path into a dam to retain the waters of the pond.
In 1643 the town granted Henry Simons and others a tract, including the Mill Pond and flats west of the Causeway, on condition of their building one or more corn-mills, and bridging the Mill Creek at Hanover and North Streets. Mills were ac- cordingly erected at the west end of the creek called the South Mills, and at either end of the Causeway. The North Mills stood very near the junction of Thacher and Endicott Streets. These were a grist-mill and a saw-mill ; a chocolate-mill stood at a little distance beyond in after times.
In 1804 the grant came into possession of the Mill Pond Corporation. The town in 1807 released the original obliga- tion to maintain the mills and bridges forever, and the work of
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filling commenced, Copp's and Beacon Hills furnishing the ma- terial for this purpose. The process of filling occupied twenty- five years before it was fully completed, and during that time the Mill Pond was the receptacle for all the rubbish from the streets.
The Mill Creek, whose outlet into the Town Dock has been traced, was doubtless in some form an original feature of the peninsula. The want of an early map is keenly felt in any effort to establish the structure of the original surface. Win- throp says, the north part of the town " was separated from the rest by a narrow stream which was cut through a neck of land by industry." Hanover Street was this neck, and all north of the creek was an island known in times past as the " Island of Boston." An order of the court in 1631, levying £ 30 on the several plantations for clearing a creek and opening a passage to the new town, supports the view that a small water-course existed here which finally became a means of communication between the Town Dock and Mill Cove.
The creek, at first furnishing a supply of water for the tide mills, became in process of time a canal, with walls of stone, wide and deep enough to permit the passage of boats and even sloops from the harbor on the east to the river on the west. As such, it was an extension of the Middlesex Canal, incorporated in 1793, and of which Loammi Baldwin was engineer. The boats entered the canal at Chelmsford on the Merrimack, and passed on to the wharves on the east side of Boston, a distance of thirty miles. Blackstone Street, named from the founder of Boston, is built upon the bed of the canal.
The old Mill Bridge thrown over Hanover Street was rebuilt in 1686 ; was taken up in 1793 and replaced by a stone arch over which the pavement was continued. At North Street where the creek crossed was a drawbridge, from which this street was sometimes called Drawbridge Street. The passage of vessels being discontinued, the creek, which had an average width of twenty feet, was planked over here.
The North End was but three streets wide in older times. These were North, Hanover, and Salem Streets. The former,
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besides a number of aliases already given, was known along its course first as the Fore, or Front Street, and also as Anne, Fish, and Ship Street. Hanover was Middle Street from the Mill Creek to Bennet Street, beyond which it was North Street. Salem was called Back Street as far as Prince, and at one period Green Lane. . All these retain their original names in part, except North, which has ever enjoyed a reputation not inferior to the Seven Dials of London or Five Points of New York. Crowded at one time through its entire length with brothels and low dram-shops, Anne Street took a new name before its character was improved.
" And on the broken pavement here and there, Doth many a stinking sprat and herring lie ; A brandy and tobacco shop is near, And hens, and dogs, and hogs are feeding by, And here a sailor's jacket hangs to dry.
At every door are sunburnt matrons seen, Mending old nets to catch the scaly fry ; Now singing shrill, and scolding eft between ;
Scolds answer foul-mouthed scolds ; bad neighborhood, I ween."
Laid out along the original water-front, wharves extended from Anne Street into the harbor. Over these Commercial Street is now built. In colonial times Anne Street bore a better reputation, and many of the magnates of the town found their residence in it. It was widened in 1859 and greatly im- proved, and is now for some extent devoted to business pur- poses.
At the lower corner of North and Centre Streets, formerly called Paddy's Alley, stands an old two-story brick house. The front wall has apparently been rebuilt, but the remainder of the structure bears the genuine stamp of antiquity. This was the home of Sir David Ochterlony, Bart., son of a royal- ist, and a Bostonian by birth.
It was not those alone who served under their country's flag that gained celebrity during the Revolutionary War. Among those who entered the British service were seven young Bosto- nians, who arrayed themselves against their native land, and finally became generals or admirals in that service. Their
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names are General John Coffin, Thomas Aston Coffin, Bart., Roger Hale Sheaffe, Bart., Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, General Hugh Mckay Gordon, B. Hallowell, and Sir David Ochterlony.
The latter, before whose home we are pausing, was a Latin- School boy, went to India at eighteen, served in the Indian wars, and was at the great conflict of Dethi. For his services in India Ochterlony was made a major-general in 1814 and baronet in the year following. The name indicates his Scotch origin. Unlike his famous companions, Sir David did not find himself compelled to serve against his countrymen.
At a little distance from this corner we find in Centre Street the old brick stable of the Eastern Stage-House, the headquar- ters for many years of stages bound to Portland and the east- ward. It was kept by Colonel Ephraim Wildes, and ranked with Earl's, Doolittle's, and other principal rendezvous of this kind.
The entrance on North Street was by a large arch, through which you passed into a court-yard of large area. Descending from the coach you entered the main building by a flight of steps, where good cheer and hearty welcome always awaited the tired traveller.
Cross Street, in 1708, extended from the Mill Pond to the sea. At the corner of Anne was the Cross Tavern ; its name was, like Middle and Back, descriptive. It was an important thoroughfare in former times, but is chiefly interesting to the antiquarian on account of the Old Stone House that stood be- tween Hanover and North, about midway on the east side. The interest which attached to it was chiefly on account of its age, though conjecture has assigned to it the uses of a jail and gar- rison house under the old colony. It was built of rough stone, with the large brick chimneys on the outside, and stood for about two hundred years. It was very early described as the " Stone House of Deacon John Phillips in the cross street." Tradition has ascribed to it the first place of meeting of the town overseers, and Pemberton vouches for the finding of loop- holes in the walls while it was under repair. None of these garrison houses, so commonly erected in the scattered villages
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for defence against the Indian foe, are known to have been built in Boston. The Old Stone House was removed in 1864, and a part went to make the foundation of an East Boston church. Savage's Police Record gives the following description of the Old Stone House, which he says, "at first consisted of two wings of uniform size joining each other and forming a right angle. Each wing was forty feet long, twenty feet wide, and two stories high, the wings fronting the south and west. There was one door in the end of each wing on the first story, and a single circular window in the second story over the doors ; there were also two circular windows in each story of each wing in front, but neither door nor window in either wing in the rear. The foundation walls were four feet thick or more ; the walls above ground were two feet in thickness, and built entirely of small quarried stones, unlike anything to be seen in this neigh- borhood, and were probably brought as ballast from some part of Europe."
Passing the Old Hancock School, now a police-station, and Board Alley, so narrow a drunken man could not fall to the right or left, we arrive at Richmond Street, formerly Bridge Lane, and according to some authorities the old Beer Lane.
The "New Brick " or " Cockerel " Church was first built on this spot in 1721, and originally came out of the New North Church. The figure of the cock was placed upon the first vane in derision of Rev. Mr. Thacher, whose Christian name was Peter. A fierce controversy at the ordination of Mr. Thacher as pastor of the New North Church caused the division which led to the formation of the society of the New Brick. Dr. Eliot says, " that when the cock was placed upon the spindle, a merry fellow straddled over it and crowed three times to com- plete the ceremony." This church went by the name of the " Revenge Church," until Dr. Lathrop took charge and healed the breach with the parent church.
The New Brick, a name given to distinguish it from the Old Brick in Cornhill, originally fronted upon Hanover Street, but now stands sidewise upon that street and facing towards Rich- mond. It is one of the very few Boston churches occupying
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their original sites. In 1845 it was rebuilt of brown stone, and pulled down in 1871 during the widening of Hanover Street. The historic rooster is seen on Paul Revere's picture of 1768. It is now, after having breasted the stormns of a century and a half, safely deposited within the new church.
Passing through Richmond to North Street, we find ourselves in a region where even that veteran antiquary, Jonathan Old- buck, would have felt at home ;
" Where winding alleys lead the doubtful way ; The silent court and opening square explore, And long perplexing lanes untrod before."
At our left hand the ground rises towards the triangular en- closure known as North Square. In front of us, on the north- east corner of North and Rich- mond, is a brick building to which tradition has long attached the im- portance of standing on the site of the first Colonial Custom House, . under Edward Randolph and his successors. Evidence is wanted to support this statement, - an im- portant one in the investigation of the old landmarks ; but the tra- dition is firmly fixed in the minds of old residents of the North End, AN DEL and is generally credited. When NEW BRICK CHURCH. the old building was taken down, about twenty years ago, many a pilgrimage was made to it and the wish expressed that its walls could speak.
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