USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 23
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Congress Street has been mentioned as the headquarters of the Anthology Club, the first purely literary society we have an account of since the old war.
In Revolutionary times clubs were quite numerous in Boston,
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and formed the nuclei around which the patriots gathered. One of the earliest of these was the Whig Club, of which James Otis, Dr. Church, Dr. Warren, Dr. Young, Richard Derby of Salem, Benjamin Kent, Nathaniel Barber, William Mackay, Colonel Bigelow of Worcester, and a few others were members. They corresponded with Wilkes, Colonel Barré, Saville, and other leaders of the opposition in Parliament. Civil Rights and the British Constitution were the standing subjects of discussion.
In 1777- 78 there was another club, composed of young men fresh from college, among whom were Rufus King, Chris- topher Gore, William Eustis, Royal Tyler, Thomas Dawes, Aaron Dexter, etc. They met in Colonel Trumbull's rooms at the corner of Court and Brattle Streets, and discussed politics, literature, and war.
The building on the northeast corner of Water and Congress Streets was formerly called Merchants' Hall, and in it were kept the United States Post-Office, and Merchants' Exchange in 1829. The new edifice designed for the former will there- fore be the second location upon the same street. The Post- Office occupied the lower floor. Aaron Hill was the post- master, with eight clerks, and one penny-postman. Topliff's Reading Room shared the lower apartment with the Post-Office, and contained all mercantile intelligence useful to merchants " where they most do congregate."
Upon this same spot once stood an old gambrel-roofed house with diamond-paned windows, a patriarch among its fellows. On the front was a bull's head and horns, from which the house was known as the Bull's Head. Over opposite was Horn Lane, since Bath Street. This was the habitation of George Robert Twelves Hewes, a member of the Tea Party. His father was a glue-maker, soap-boiler, tanner, tallow-chandler, and perhaps filled up his leisure with other employments. Young Hewes was baptized at the Old South, and had a considerable share in the tumults worked up by the Boston mechanics. He lived to be ninety-eight years old, retaining a clear intellect until near the end of his long life-journey.
Robert Hewes's elder brother, Shubael Hewes, was Butcher-
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Master-General in the town while Howe held possession, and at one time during the siege six head of cattle was the entire stock in his hands for troops or inhabitants. His butcher-shop was at the south corner of Washington Street and Harvard Place, opposite the Old South, in an old building with a projecting upper story. A slaughter-house was connected with the estab- lishment. People of wealth and position were glad to obtain the rejected portions of the slaughtered animals during the investment of the town.
JULIEN
. ..
JULIEN HOUSE.
The old Julien House must ever remain an object of interest to all gastronomers. It was called "Julien's Restorator," and was the first establishment noticed with this distinctive title ; all the rest were taverns or boarding-houses. M. Jean Baptiste Julien was the inventor of that agreeable potage which bears his name. He came to this country with the celebrated Dubuque, who was a refugee from the French Revolution. Dubuque occupied for a time the Shirley mansion in Roxbury. The old house with its gables, overhanging upper stories, and huge
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chimney was taken down in 1824, and succeeded by Julien, afterwards Congress, Hall. Its site was once a tanyard. After M. Julien's death in 1805 his widow succeeded him, keeping the house for ten years. It is supposed to have been built about 1760.
That part of Congress Street lying south of Milk was formerly Green Lane, and in 1732 was named Atkinson Street, from an old family whose lands it passed through. The ancient proprietors of the soil, who gave their lands to make our high- ways, did not stipulate that the original names should remain unchanged, like the far-seeing Chief Justice Sewall. One in- stance is mentioned of an individual who had lived on eight different streets within fifty years, but had never moved from his original dwelling. Hence the maps of Boston at various periods bear but little resemblance to each other ; and he who visits only occasionally distant localities finds himself lost. The happy expedient was hit upon of renewing some of the old names in the new part of the city, and we have Newbury and Marlborough, where they may well baffle some future in- quirer. In Green's Barracks-in Atkinson Street were quartered part of the 14th Royal Regiment at the time of the Massacre.
As we are now in the route of the Tea Party, we will con- tinue with it through Pearl Street. Before taking leave of Milk Street, however, we must remark that it had some other residents not unknown to fame. Below us is Oliver Street, named for that family. The quarters of General Howe were in a house at the corner of Oliver and Milk Streets. To him, probably, was confided the immediate charge of the troops and works in and around Fort Hill.
In Milk Street was the residence of Thomas Flucker, Secre- tary of the Province under Hutchinson, whose name is seen appended to the official papers of that interesting period.
Flucker's daughter, Lucy, married General Knox. We have seen her sharing the privations of camp life with her husband wherever his duty called him. She was a lovely and highly accomplished woman, contributing greatly to the little female circle around the American headquarters. Through this mar-
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riage Knox became possessed of a large estate at Thomaston, Me., named for General John Thomas.
Admiral Graves, of the fleet, seems to have preferred snug quarters ashore to the cabin of the flagship, for he took up his residence at the southeast corner of Pearl and High Streets, where he might have ready access to his shipping. The admi- ral, it will be remembered, was exempted, with Gage, from pardon by the Provincial Congress.
The great fire of March 20, 1760, which began at the Brazen Head, in Cornhill, consumed every house on the north side of Milk Street, from Congress Street to the water, and on the opposite side it swept all before it -the dwelling of Secretary Oliver and a few tenements excepted -to Fort Hill. The Battery, or Sconce, took fire and blew up, notwithstanding a large part of the powder was thrown into the harbor, Governor Hutchinson personally assisting in this labor. All the region now known as Liberty Square was burnt over, - shops, ware- houses, and the shipyard that has been noted ; so that from Devonshire Street to the water's edge, from Milk Street to the north side of State Street, scarcely a house remained standing.
Oliver Street was very badly paved with cobble-stones some time before the Revolution, as far as the Wendell and Oliver Houses, beyond which there was no pavement. High, and all the neighboring Streets, were unpaved, as late as 1808. At this time there was a brick sidewalk on the north side of Pearl Street, but none on the other, and some gentlemen caused a plank walk to be laid from High Street up the hill to their residences at the top. The old Revolutionary fort was levelled and converted into a mall since 1797, the ground lying around it remaining in possession of the town until after 1800.
Kilby Street, noticed at its outlet into State, was named for Christopher Kilby, an eminent Boston merchant, on account of his liberality to the sufferers by the great fire of 1760, when the street was newly laid out and widened. Mr. Charles W. Tuttle says a descendant of Christopher Kilby married the seventh Duke of Argyle, grandfather of the Marquis of Lorne, lately married to the Princess Louise of England. Kilby re- sided in Queen Street.
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On the map of 1722 no street is laid down where the present Pearl Street is, but a number of ropewalks extend in its general direction from Cow Lane (High Street) towards Milk. In 1732 the alley along the ropewalks obtained the name of Hutchinson Street, changed in 1800 to Pearl. In 1771 there was but a single house on the east side, - that of Charles Paxton, Esq., an elegant three-story brick, some little distance from Milk Street. Paxton was one of the revenue commissioners, and was not for- gotten by the mob which called at Secretary Oliver's. He had, however, made his escape with his valuables, and the owner of the house saved his property by proposing to broach a barrel of punch at the tavern near by. The mob accepted the alter- native. Paxton was also a mandamus councillor, and proscribed by the Provincial Congress, with Jonathan Sewall and Benja- min Hallowell.
The west side of the street was occupied in its entire length, at the date mentioned, by seven ropewalks ; these were all burnt in 1794, and the street became dotted with the residences of the wealthy and refined.
The first rope-maker in Boston was John Harrison, whose " rope-field " was on Purchase Street, at the foot of Summer ; the former street now occupies the ground. From this circum- stance arises the name Purchase, part of the way having been thus secured. Harrison first exercised this calling here in 1642, and in 1663 appealed to the selectmen not to license a rival artisan in the town. Isaac P Davis, whose middle name is the capital letter only, was the last rope-maker in Boston.
The Grays were the most celebrated rope-makers of Boston. Edward, the senior, first served an apprenticeship with Barton, at Barton's Point, now West Boston. In 1712 he began making ropes on the Pearl Street tract, purchased of Theodore Atkin- son. He was the father of Harrison Gray, treasurer of the province, and of John, who succeeded to the ropewalks, seven hundred and forty-four feet long, warehouse, dwelling, and out- houses, - a snug patrimony.
" In that building long and low, With its windows all a-row, Like the port-holes of a hulk,
19 *
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Human spiders spin and spin, Backward down their threads so thin, Dropping each a hempen bulk."
Harrison Gray, treasurer of the colony, and grandfather of Harrison Gray Otis, was proscribed, and had his estates confis- cated after his flight from Boston. It is stated, in Sabine's Loyalists, that in August, 1775, inquiry was made in the House of Representatives concerning the horse and chaise, formerly Harrison Gray's, which was used by the late Dr. (General) Warren, and came into the hands of the committee of supplies after Dr. Warren's death. The horse and chaise appears to have been traced to Dr. William Eustis, afterwards governor, as he was directed the next day to deliver it to the committee named. Mr. Gray went first to Halifax, thence to London, where his house was the resort of the Boston refugees. Of him it was written : -
" What Puritan could ever pray In godlier tones than Treasurer Gray ; Or at town-meetings, speechifying, Could utter more melodious whine, And shut his eyes and vent his moan, Like owl afflicted in the sun !"
At these ropewalks began the conflicts between the soldiers and rope-makers, which culminated in the 5th of March affair. Among the soldiers were a good many mechanics, who were often employed as journeymen. One of these inquired of a negro workman at Mr. Gray's if his master wished to hire a man. The negro answered that "his master wished to have his vault emptied, and that was a proper work for a Lobster." For this insolent remark the soldier gave the negro a severe beating. Mr. Gray came up, parted them, and endeavored to persuade the soldier to return to his barracks, but the latter cursed him, and offered for sixpence to serve him as he had done the negro. Mr. Gray took him at his word, and after a sound thrashing, the soldier rushed off to his barracks at Wheelwright's, now Foster's Wharf, swearing vengeance. But, in the language of Pope, -
" What direful contests rise from trivial things !"
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The soldier returned in half an hour with nearly seventy of his comrades of the 14th, armed with pipe-staves which they had obtained at a cooper's shop. They made a furious attack upon the ropewalk men, who stood firm, and finally repulsed their assailants, pursuing them over the hill. The soldiers, rein- forced to the number of about three hundred, headed by their sergeant-major, returned with redoubled fury to the conflict, but the rope-makers had been joined by the brawny shipwrights, mast and block makers, from Hallowell's shipyard at the foot of Milk Street, armed with their beetles, wedges, and marlin- spikes. The soldiers pulled down the fence in High Street en- closing the field, since Quincy Place, and the ropewalk men levelled that on Pearl Street. A terrific mêlée ensued, but the athletic mechanics of Fort Hill were too much for the soldiery, who were again worsted. This occurred on the 3d of March, 1770 ; the massacre in King Street took place on the 5th.
The northwest corner of Pearl Street is the site of the Pearl Street House, opened in 1836 by Colonel Shepard, formerly of the Indian Queen in Bromfield Street. The house is now standing, devoted to business. It was the first erected on the south side of the street, after the ropewalks, and was built by Mr. Gorham for a residence.
On the opposite corner resided Mr. John Prince, a gentleman of tory proclivities, who, however, did not join the royalist hegira of 1776. His estate, which had a court-yard and gar- dens, was altered by him in about 1812, when he built a block of five buildings, the centre house twice as large as the others, for his own residence. It had a roof with a pediment raised above the others, giving the whole block somewhat the appear- ance of a public edifice. After residing there for a few years, he removed to a beautiful residence at Jamaica Plain, and this Pearl Street mansion became the boarding-house of Mrs. Le Kain.
In this house John Gaspard Spurzheim, the gifted Prussian phrenologist, resided during his visit to Boston, and here, also, he died, in the same year of his arrival in this country. He lies buried at Mount Auburn, his tomb being a conspicuous object in that famed cemetery.
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Attached to the estate of Mr. Prince was a large barn. This was Washington Allston's studio after his return to Boston, and until his removal to Cambridgeport, in consequence of the con- version of the barn into a livery-stable. Here his large picture of Belshazzar's Feast, now in the Atheneum Gallery, was rolled up and laid aside, although he worked at it a little at this time.
Allston was the antipodes of Stuart. He was refined, gentle, and unassuming ; a charming companion, and a great favorite in society. Besides being a painter, he wrote verses, and a vol- ume of his poems was published. Coleridge said he was un- surpassed by any man of his age in poetical and artistic genius. For many years after Allston left Rome every American was questioned by the native artists for news of the American Titian ; it was generally conceded that for two hundred years no artist's coloring had so closely resembled that of the great master.
His Dead Man won the first prize of two hundred guineas from the British Institution, and the artist could have disposed of it for a large sum on the spot, but he preferred to sell it for less than its value to the Pennsylvania Academy, through Messrs. McMurtie and Sully. Allston employed his leisure hours at Harvard in drawing figures and landscapes. The pic- tures of Pine, in the Columbian Museum, Boston, were his first masters in coloring ; but, most of all, he admired a head of Cardinal Bentivoglio, by Smibert, in the College library, while a student. This was a copy from Vandyke, and seemed perfec- tion to the young artist until he saw works of greater merit.
Allston continued to paint industriously and successfully until his death, which occurred at Cambridge, July 9, 1843. He had painted all day, and during the evening conversed with unusual cheerfulness. His wife left the room for a few moments, and when she returned he was dying. Allston was liberally patronized, and no American painter of his day received such prices. His first wife was a sister of William Ellery Channing ; a sister of Richard H. Dana was the Mrs. Allston who survived him. De Tocqueville went to Cambridgeport on purpose to see the artist ; and the first inquiry of Lord Morpeth, when he
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landed in Boston, was, " Where does Allston live ?" A num- ber of his pictures are preserved in the Atheneum Gallery, including several unfinished works. The late S. F. B. Morse was a pupil of Allston.
The house next beyond that of Mr. Prince was that in which Theophilus Parsons, LL. D., lived after his removal to Boston in 1800, and in which he died. Judge Parsons, as chief of the Massachusetts Bench, as one of the framers of the State Consti- tution, or as a zealous advocate for the adoption of the Federal Constitution, ranks high in the estimation of his countrymen.
An instance of Judge Parsons's address is given in connection with the convention in Federal Street. One of the delegates, Rev. Mr. Perley. of Maine, refused to vote for an instrument which did not acknowledge the Supreme Being. The lawyer undertook to argue him out of his position. " I suppose," said Mr. Parsons, "that in the course of your ministerial labors you have preached from texts in every book of the Old Testament." " Yes," said Mr. Perley, "I probably have." "You have preached from texts in the Book of Esther ?" "Doubtless I have," said Mr. Perley. " Do you know that in the Book of Esther," said Mr. Parsons, " there is not a single allusion to the Supreme Being ?" " It is not possible," said Mr. Perley. "Look !" said Mr. Parsons. The search was made. "You are right," said Mr. Perley, and the clergyman confessed his scruples removed.
Theophilus Parsons, the younger, is best known by excellent works on commercial law, and for other labors in the literary field. He studied law with Judge Prescott, father of the his- torian, and son of the commander at Bunker Hill.
Next the house of Judge Parsons was that of Paxton, or . Palmer. This house was divided, and became the residence of James Lovell, the naval officer, and of Thomas Handasyd Per- kins, so well remembered for his munificent contribution in aid of a blind asylum. Between this mansion and the Quincy estate a field intervened.
Colonel Perkins was one of the most eminent of Boston merchants, and, with his brother James, engaged largely in the
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China and Java trade. Amassing great wealth, both brothers contributed freely to benevolent or literary objects. The atten- tion of Colonel T. H. Perkins was probably first drawn to the blind by the partial loss of his own sight. The Quincy Rail- way, and the Washington and Bunker Hill Monuments were each objects of his interest and efforts. He laid the corner-stone of the Merchants' Exchange in State Street, and liberally aided the Mercantile Library. He was, in common with some of his neighbors, an ardent opponent of the war policy of Mr. Madison.
When Colonel Perkins was in Paris, during a period of ap- prehended revolution, Lafayette confided his son, George Wash- ington, to his care, and the latter lived for some time in his family in Boston.
Immediately behind the mansion of Mr. Perkins was the residence of Andrew Oliver, lieutenant-governor under Hutch- inson's régime, distributor of stamps, etc. The house stood near Oliver Street, though it did not appear to have fronted upon it. Its condition was so dilapidated in 1808 as to afford little idea of its former appearance. It was in good repair after the Revolution, and occupied by families of respectability.
Mr. Oliver was visited by the mob who overthrew the stamp- office at the dock, not far distant. Governor Bernard recites in his proclamation that the secretary's house was entered with force and violence, his furniture damaged, windows broken, and fences pulled down, to the great terror of his Majesty's liege subjects. The secretary, apprehensive of a second visit from his fellow-citizens, thought it prudent to resign his office forth- with. Mr. Hutchinson was present at Oliver's house when the mob attacked it ; he used his endeavors to suppress the riot with force, but neither the sheriff nor the colonel of the Boston Regiment thought proper to interfere. Peter Oliver, brother of Andrew, was chief justice in 1771, adhered to the royal cause, and left Boston with the king's troops.
Secretary Oliver died in Boston in 1774. He was one of the most affluent of the Old Bostonians, and had a private estab- lishment rivalling that of any in the province. Coaches, chariot, negro slaves, and good sterling plate in abundance attested his
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wealth. He was a generous patron of Smibert, who painted all the family portraits, including one in which the secretary and his two brothers were represented. Andrew Oliver wished to stand well with his countrymen, and at the same time enjoy the emoluments of an officer of the crown. He soon found the two were incompatible, and passed from the stage soon after the events occurred that have given notoriety to his name. On the opposite side of Oliver Street was the residence of Judge Oliver Wendell. It fronted towards the east, with grounds adjoining.
Quincy Block marks the site of the Quincy estate, which extended to High Street. Here Mr. Quincy passed the earlier years of his married life, until elected to Congress in 1805, when the mansion was occupied by Christopher Gore. It is described by Miss Quincy as
" A handsome edifice of three stories, the front ornamented with Corinthian pilasters ; and pillars of the same order supported a porch, from which three flights of red sandstone steps, and a broad walk of the same material, descended to Pearl Street. Honeysuckles were twined around the porch, and high damask rose-bushes grew beneath the windows ; at the corner of Pearl and High Streets stood the stable and coach-house. The grounds ascending towards Oliver Street were formed into a glacis, and were adorned with four English elms of full size and beauty, the resort of numerous birds, especially of the oriole, or golden robin."
Christopher Gore was a Bostonian by birth, and an eminent lawyer. It was in his office that Daniel Webster read law, and by his advice that the latter continued steadfast in the profes- sion when beguiled by some offer of place which might have terminated his great career. Mr. Gore was the first district attorney appointed by Washington over the Massachusetts dis- trict ; he was also a commissioner under Jay's treaty, and a United States senator. In 1809 he was elected governor of Massachusetts. This was the period of the embargo of Mr. Jefferson, and of the stirring scenes preceding the war of 1812. The temper of the Bostonians was decidedly adverse to the measure ; the mercantile class, whose interests were most nearly
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affected, were bitter in their comments upon the administration. Colonel Boyd, commanding at Fort Independence, received orders to fire upon any vessel attempting to violate the embargo, upon which the colors on the shipping were placed at half-mast. The Wasp, afterwards conqueror of the Frolic, lay in the stream watching the idle vessels, and threats were freely made to burn her.
William Sullivan says, Governor Gore was tall, a little in- clined to corpulency in middle age, and erect, but began to bend at an earlier age than common. He became bald at an unusually early period. His hair was tied behind and dressed with powder. His face was round and florid, his eyes black ; his manners courteous and amiable. Gore Hall, at Harvard, com- memorates a magnificent bequest to the University in his will.
On the site of the Atheneum one sees the block of that name ; we wish the custom prevailed more generally of thus distinguishing localities. In the hall of the Atheneum the disciples of Baron Swedenborg held their worship ; the society has existed in Boston since 1818, receiving legislative sanction in 1823. It has been mentioned that the Atheneum owed their building to the munificence of James Perkins. Quincy Place and Perkins Street are visible memorials of two distin- guished families.
High Street has ceased to be high, and, to keep pace with the custom of the times, should receive a more appropriate title. Of yore it mounted the height to the esplanade of Fort Hill ; now it has sunk to a monotonous level. Sister Street rejoices in the name as well as the smell of Leather, while Wil- liams Street, named for John Foster Williams, is metamorphosed into Matthews. Pearl Street is the acknowledged shoe and leather mart of the country, and has furnished the State with at least one chief magistrate. The Hutchinsons, Atkinsons, Grays, Perkinses, Quincys, Parsonses, Gridleys, and the rest, have shed a lustre round the ancient hillside, though granite now usurps the terraced gardens, and drays instead of chariots stand at the doors.
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