USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 3
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" Boston is two miles N. E. of Roxbury. His situation is very pleasant, being a peninsula hemmed in on the south side by the bay of Roxbury, and on the north side with Charles River, the marshes on the back side being not half a quarter of a mile over ; so that a little fencing will secure their cattle from the wolves; it being a neck, and bare of wood, they are not troubled with these great annoyances, wolves, rattlesnakes, and mosquitoes. This neck of land is not above four miles in compass, in form almost square, having on the south side a great broad hill, whereon is planted a fort which can command any ship as she sails into the harbor .* On the north side is another hill equal in bigness, whereon stands a wind- mill.t To the northwest is a high mountain, with three little rising hills on the top of it, wherefore it is called the Tramount.# This town, although it be neither the greatest nor the richest, yet is the most noted and frequented, being the centre of the plantations where the monthly courts are kept."
John Jossleyn arrived at Boston July, 1663. He says : -
" It is in longitude 315 degrees, and 42 degrees 30 minutes of north latitude. The buildings are handsome, joining one to the other as in London, with many large streets, most of them paved with pebble ; in the high street, toward the Common, there are fair buildings, some of stone ; the town is not divided into parishes, yet they have three fair meeting-houses."
Edward Johnson says :-
" The form of this town is like a heart, naturally situated for forti- fications, having two hills on the frontier part thereof next the sea, the one well fortified on the superficies thereof, with store of great artillery well mounted. The other hath a very strong battery built of whole timber, and filled with earth ; betwixt these two strong arms lies a cove or bay, on which the chief part of this town is built, overtopped with a third hill ; all these, like overtopping towers, keep a constant watch to see the approach of foreign dangers, being furnished with a beacon and loud babbling guns to
* Fort Hill. + Copp's Hill. Beacon Hill.
B
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LANDMARKS OF BOSTON.
give notice to all the sister towns. The chief edifice of this city-like town is crowded on the sea-banks, and wharfed out with great labor and cost ; the buildings beautiful and large, some fairly set forth with brick, tile, stone, and slate, and orderly placed with seemly streets, whose continual enlargement presageth some sumptuous city."
M. l'Abbé Robin, who accompanied the army of Count Ro- chambeau, published a small work in 1781, in which a good description of Boston is given. Says M. l'Abbé : -
" The high, regular buildings, intermingled with steeples, appeared to us more like a long-established town of the Continent than a recent colony. A fine mole, or pier, projects into the harbor about ; two thousand feet, and shops and warehouses line its whole length. It communicates at right angles with the principal street of the town, which is long and wide, curving round towards the water ; on this street are many fine houses of two and three stories. The appearance of the buildings seems strange to European eyes ; being built entirely of wood, they have not the dull and heavy appear- ance which belongs to those of our continental cities ; they are regu- lar and well-lighted, with frames well joined, and the outside cov- ered with slight, thinly planed boards, overlapping each other some- what like the tiles upon our roofs. The exterior is painted generally of a grayish color, which gives an agreeable aspect to the view."
M. l'Abbé states that codfish was the principal article of commerce with the Bostonians ; that they preferred Maderia, Malaga, or Oporto to French wines, but their ordinary beverage was rum, distilled from molasses. Some credit attaches to this statement, when we remember that Boston had half a dozen still-houses in 1722, and a score when the Abbé was writing. "Piety," continues the acute Frenchman, "is not the only motive which brings a crowd of ladies into their church. They show themselves there clothed in silk, and sometimes decked with superb feathers. Their hair is raised upon sup- ports, in imitation of those worn by the French ladies some years since. They have less grace, less freedom, than the French ladies, but more dignity."
"Their shoon of velvet, and their muilis ! In kirk they are not content of stuilis, Thc sermon when they sit to heir, But carries cusheons like vain fulis ; And all for newfangleness of geir."
19
INTRODUCTION.
The Abbé, alluding to the strict observance of the Sabbath, naively says : "A countryman of mine, lodging at the same inn with me, took it into his head one Sunday to play a little upon his flute ; but the neighborhood became so incensed that our landlord was obliged to acquaint him of their, uneasiness." Another French writer remarked of Newport, which he thought Boston resembled, " This is the only place I ever visited where they build old houses." M. le Compte Segur and the Mar- quis Chastellux have written about Boston, but there is little to add to what is already given.
The first volume of the Town Records begins September, 1634, and the first entries are said to be in the handwriting of Governor Winthrop. An unknown number of leaves have been torn out or destroyed, and, as the first business of the town was the allotment of land to the inhabitants, the loss is ir- reparable, and has proved such to those who have had occasion to trace the titles of property. The city authorities should see that this volume, the sole repository of many facts in the early history of Boston, should be printed at once, and thus pre- served from destruction. Several later volumes of the records are missing, and for many years, while William Cooper was Town Clerk, no record exists of the births or deaths. A man- uscript volume called the "Book of Possessions," is in the City Clerk's office, compiled, it is thought, as early as 1634, by order of the General Court. There are two hundred and forty- five names in this "Doomsday Book," as it has been termed, but all of them were not original settlers.
The general growth and progress of the New England metropolis has been steady and remarkable. The early settlers having built wholly of wood, were not long exempt from de- structive fires. In 1654 occurred what was known as "the great fire," but its locality is not given. This was succeeded by another in 1676, at the North End, which consumed forty- five dwellings, the North Church, and several warehouses, within the space enclosed by Richmond, Hanover, and Clark Streets. After this fire a fire-engine was imported from Eng- land, but another great fire in 1678, near the Town Dock,
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LANDMARKS OF BOSTON.
destroyed eighty dwelling-houses and seventy warehouses, en- tailing a loss of £ 200,000.
With extraordinary energy these losses were repaired, and the townspeople, admonished by their disasters, built their houses with more regard to safety, - many building of stone and brick, - while more efficient means were obtained for con- trolling the devouring element. The town was divided into four quarters, patroled by a watch detailed from the foot-com- panies. Six hand-engines, four barrels of powder, and two crooks were assigned each quarter. This appears to have been the beginning of a fire department.
The first fire-engine made in Boston was built by David Wheeler, a blacksmith in Newbury, now Washington Street. It was tried at a fire August 21, 1765, and found to perform extremely well.
The data from which to estimate the population of the town in the first decade of its settlement is very meagre. In 1639 the Bay mustered a thousand soldiers in Boston, but they were of course drawn from all the towns. For the first seventy years after its settlement Boston did not probably contain over seven thousand people. In 1717 it was reckoned at only twelve thousand. A hundred years after the settlement it con- tained fifteen thousand, with seventeen hundred dwellings ; in 1752 there were seventeen thousand five hundred, - a decrease of five hundred in the previous ten years, accounted for by the wars with the Indians and French, in which Boston sus- tained severe losses. In 1765 the number of people had fallen below sixteen thousand, with sixteen hundred and seventy-six houses. During the siege in 1775-76 the town was nearly depopulated, but few remaining who could get away. An enumeration made in July, 1775, before the last permission was given to leave the town, showed only six thou- sand five hundred and seventy-three inhabitants, the troops with their women and children numbering thirteen thousand six hundred. At the peace of 1783 there were only about twelve thousand inhabitants. By the first census of 1791 the number of people was a little over eighteen thousand, with two thousand three hundred and seventy-six houses.
21
INTRODUCTION.
From this period the increase has been steady and rapid. In 1800 there were twenty-five thousand; 1820, forty-three thousand ; 1840, eighty-five thousand ; 1860, one hundred and seventy-seven thousand, and in 1870, the latest census, two hundred and fifty thousand.
The division of the town into eight wards is mentioned as early as the great fire of 1678-79. In 1715 these wards were named North, Fleet, Bridge, Creek, King's, Change, Pond, and South. In 1735 the number of wards was increased to twelve, corresponding with the number of companies in the Boston regiment, one of which was attached to each ward for service at fires. Besides the military there was also a civil division, an overseer of the poor, a fireward, a constable, and a scavenger, belonging to each ward. In 1792 the number of military wards was nine, the regiment having been reduced to that num- ber of companies ; the civil division continued to be twelve. The first four of these wards, and the greater part of the fifth, were in the North End; the seventh was at the West End ; while the rest, with a part of the fifth, were in the South End, as it was then bounded. The present number is sixteen, just double the original number.
The paving of the public thoroughfares seems to have begun at a very early period. Jossleyn, describing Boston in 1663, says most of the streets "are paved with pebble," meaning the smooth round stones from the beach. It was not the practice at first to pave the whole width of a street, but only a strip in the middle ; the Neck was so paved. In the same manner the sidewalks were paved with cobble-stones, bricks, or flags, of only width enough for a single passenger ; in some instances, where flag-stones were used, the remaining space was filled with cobble-stones. It is probable that the first paving was done in a fragmentary way before 1700, but in 1703-04 the town voted £ 100 for this purpose, "as the selectmen shall judge most needful, having particular regard to the highway nigh old Mrs. Stoddard's house." An order for paving 42 rods of Orange Street was made in 1715. From this time sums were regu- larly voted,and the foundation laid for the most cleanly city in America.
22
LANDMARKS OF BOSTON.
As to sidewalks, a lady who came to Boston in 1795 from New York, and was much struck with the quaint appearance of the town, writes : -
"There were no brick sidewalks, except in a part of the Main Street (Washington) near the Old South, then called Cornhill. The streets were paved with pebbles ; and, except when driven on one side by carts and carriages, every one walked in the middle of the street, where the pavement was the smoothest." *
It is not believed that there was a sidewalk in Boston until after the Revolution. At this time State Street was without any, the pavement reaching across the street from house to house.
It is probable that those inhabitants whose business or pleasure took them from home after dark must for a long time have lighted their own way through the devious lanes and by- ways of the town. We can imagine the feelings of a pair of fond lovers who, taking an evening stroll, are bid by the cap- tain of the watch to "Stand !" while he throws the rays of a dark lantern upon the faces of the shrinking swain and his mis- tress. Yet, although street-lamps were said to have been used as early as 1774, until 1792 there seems to have been no action on the town's part towards lighting the streets, when we read that the "gentlemen selectmen propose to light the town," early in January of that year, " and to continue the same until the sum subscribed is expended." Those gentlemen that pro- posed to furnish lamps were requested to have them "fixed " by a certain day, so that the lamplighter may have time to prepare them for lighting. To the public spirit of the citizens, then, is due the first shedding of light upon the gloomy ways of the town. Gas was not used to illuminate the streets until 1834, though the works at Copp's Hill were erected in 1828. In December of that year gas was first used in the city.
The springs which supplied the older inhabitants gave place to wells, and these in their turn gave way to the de- mand for an abundant supply of pure water for the whole town.
* Quincy Memoir.
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INTRODUCTION.
Wells had to be sunk a depth varying from fifteen feet on the low ground to one hundred and twenty feet on the elevated portions, and the water was usually brackish and more or less impregnated with salt. Water was therefore introduced from Jamaica Pond, in West Roxbury, by a company incorporated in 1795. The pipes used were logs, of which about forty miles were laid. The trenches were only three to three and a half feet in depth, which did not prevent freezing in severe weather, while the smallness of the pipe, - four-inch mains, - rendered the supply limited.
Under the administration of Mayor Quincy the subject of a new supply of water was agitated. In 1825 a great fire occurred in Kilby Street, destroying fifty stores, and the want of water as a means for the subduing of fires became evident. Twenty years were spent in controversy before action was taken, but in August, 1846, ground was broken at Lake Cochit- uate by John Quincy Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr. In Octo- ber, 1848, the work was completed, but the growth of Boston has rendered this source insufficient in less than twenty years, and the waters of Sudbury River are to be made tributary.
Boston has enlarged her territory by the annexation of Dor- chester Neck (South Boston), in 1804; Washington Village in 1855 ; Roxbury, in 1868 ; and Dorchester, in 1870. East Bos- ton (Noddle's Island), though forming a part of Boston since 1637, had neither streets nor local regulations until the incor- poration of the East Boston Company ; public officers first set foot upon the island in 1833. There was then but one house in the whole of that now populous ward, comprising six hun- dred and sixty acres. South Boston, when annexed, had only ten families on an area of five hundred and seventy acres, and
but nineteen voters. There being at this time no bridge, the inhabitants were obliged to come to Boston via the Neck. The building of a bridge was the condition of annexation. South Boston was taken from the territory of Dorchester. Roxbury, itself a city, brought a large accession to Boston, to which it had long been joined in fact. Dorchester, settled a few months earlier than Boston, has become a ward of the
24
LANDMARKS OF BOSTON.
metropolis. These two towns brought an increase to the popu- lation of about forty thousand, and a territory of nearly seven thousand acres.
Communication between Boston and the surrounding towns was at first wholly by the Neck. The people of Chelsea thus had a circuit of at least a dozen miles, and a day's journey before them, to go to town and return. There was a ferry es- tablished at Charlestown and Winnisimmet (Chelsea) as early as 1635, - five years after the settlement of Boston. We find by the records that Thomas Marshall "was chosen by generall consent for ye keeping of a Ferry from ye Mylne Point vnto Charlestown and Wynneseemitt, for a single p'son sixpence, and for two, sixpence ; and for every one above ye number of two, two pence apiece." Ships' boats were first used, then scows, and this continued to be the only means of transit until 1786. Four years previous to this the Marquis Chastellux states that he was one hour making the voyage from Winnisimmet in a scow filled with cattle, sheep, etc. Seven tacks were required to bring them safely to land.
A bridge to Cambridge was agitated as long ago as 1739. The obstruction to the passage of ferry-boats by ice was a serious inconvenience. Charles River Bridge, from the Old Ferry landing to Charlestown, was the first constructed. The first pier was laid on the 14th June, 1785, and the bridge thrown open for travel in little more than a year. This was considered at the time the greatest enterprise ever undertaken in America, and its successful completion was celebrated by a public procession, consisting of both branches of the Legislature, the proprietors and artisans of the bridge, military and civic so- cieties. Salutes were fired from the Castle, Copp's and Breed's Hill. This was only eleven years after the battle of Bunker Hill. Thomas Russell was first president of the corporation.
West Boston Bridge, to Cambridge, was opened in November, 1793. Dover Street, or Boston South Bridge, was next opened in the summer of 1805. Cragie's, or, as it used to be called, Canal Bridge, from the Middlesex Canal, was next completed in August, 1809, from what was then known as Barton's Point,
25
INTRODUCTION.
on the Boston side, to Lechmere's Point in Cambridge. By a bridge thrown across from Lechmere's Point to Charlestown, the long detour around Charlestown Neck was avoided. The Western Avenue, or Mill Dam, as it was long called, was opened with great ceremony July, 1821. The South Boston Bridge, from what was respectively Windmill and Wheeler's Point, at the foot of Federal Street, to South Boston, was com- pleted in 1828, and shortened the journey into Boston, by way of the Neck, about a mile. Warren Bridge met with great opposition from the proprietors of Charles River Bridge, but was opened as a public highway December, 1828. This completes the list of the older avenues of tra- vel to the mainland ; but we have now a magnificent iron structure to South Boston, recently erected, while the numerous railway bridges spanning the river enable the city to stretch its Briareus-like arms in every direction for traffic.
Coaches are first mentioned as being in use in Boston in 1668-69. Captain Anthony Howard appears to have owned one in 1687, for he was fined twenty shillings that year " for setting a coach-house two feet WINTHROP FORDING THE RIVER. into ye streete at ye N. End of ye Towne." " In 1798 there were 98 chaises and 47 coaches, chariots, phaetons, &c. in all Boston. In October, 1631, Governor Winthrop went on foot to Lynn and Salem, and until there were roads it is obvious there was little use for wheeled vehicles, even for such as could afford them. In 1750 there were only a few carriages, and these, chariots and coaches. Four-wheeled chaises were in use in families of distinction. The first public coach or hack used in Boston was set up in 1712 by Jonathan Wardell, at the sign of the Orange Tree, head of Hanover Street. One
* Town Records.
2
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LANDMARKS OF BOSTON.
was also set up by Adino Paddock, in 1762, who called it the " Burling Coach," from its London prototype. Paddock was a coachmaker by trade ; we shall have occasion to notice him in these pages. The next public vehicle was a small post- chaise, drawn by a pair of gray horses, and stood at the head of State Street, about 1790. Gentlemen and ladies who at- tended balls and parties in those times had to walk, unless they could get a cast in a friend's carriage.
Coaches for public conveyance were first established in 1763, when one was put on the route between Boston and Ports- mouth, N. H. Bartholemew Stavers was the "undertaker," and his head-quarters were at the sign of the Lighthouse, at the North End. The "Portsmouth Flying Stage Coach," as he styled his carriage, carried six inside passengers, each paying thirteen shillings and sixpence sterling, to Portsmouth. The stage and horses were kept at Charlestown, to save the trouble of ferriage, and set out every Friday morning, putting up at the inns along the road. Returning, the stage left Portsmouth every Tuesday morning. Stavers gave notice "that as this was a convenient and genteel way of travelling, and greatly cheaper than hiring carriages or horses, he hoped ladies and gentlemen would encourage the same." *. A stage was put on the route to Marblehead in 1769, by Edward Wade. His car- riage was a post-chaise, suited for ladies and gentlemen, and he himself might be "spoken with at the widow Trefry's in Fish (North) Street."
Railways were early under discussion by the people of Boston, but no decisive steps were taken until 1825. The first road chartered in the State was the Experiment Railroad at Quincy. Next came the Lowell, incorporated in 1830, fol- lowed by the Worcester, Providence, and others. The Lowell was the first opened for public travel, in June, 1835, closely followed by the Worcester in July of the same year ; the Prov- idence was also opened in 1835, with a single track. The Maine was opened from Wilmington to Andover in 1836 ; to South Berwick, 1843. The Eastern comes next, in 1838, in
* Drake, p. 664.
27
INTRODUCTION.
which year it was opened to Salem. George Peabody was the first president. The Old Colony began operating in November, 1845, the Fitchburg in 1845, and the Hartford and Erie in 1849, under the name of the Norfolk County Road. It is a curious fact, that every one of the eight railway stations in Boston stands on ground reclaimed from the sea.
We have taken the reader through the settlement, physical features, and successive phases of the growth of the Old Town, and now that we are about to commence our rambles together, we warn him to be prepared for changes that will make it diffi- cult and often impossible to fix localities accurately. For fifty years our men of progress have been pulling down the old and building up the new city. Few of its original features are left except, in the North End.
CHAPTER I.
KING'S CHAPEL AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
History of the Chapel. - Establishment of the Church of England. - Chapel Burial-Ground. - Boston Athenæum. - Academy of Arts and Sciences. - Historical Society. - The Museum. - The Old Corner. - Royal Custom House. - Washington. - H. G. Otis. - Daniel Webster. - Tremont Street. - Howard Street. - Pemberton Hill. - Endicott. - Captain Southack. - Theodore Lyman, Senior. - John Cotton. - Sir Henry Vane. - Samuel Sewall. - Gardiner Greene. - Earl Percy. - Bellingham. - Faneuil. - Phillips. - Davenport. - Oxenbridge. - Beacon Street. - School Street. - Latin School. - Franklin Statue. - City Hall. - Otis. - Warren. - Mas- carene. - Cromwell's Head. - The Old Corner Bookstore. - Anne Hutchin- son. - The French Church. - Catholic Church. - Second Universalist. - Province Street. - Chapman Place. - James Lovell. - Wendell.
W E choose King's Chapel for our point of departure, as well from its central position as from the fact that its vicinage is probably the oldest ground built upon in Bos- ton, Blackstone's lot alone excepted.
The exterior of King's Chapel does not present any remarkable architectural features. It has an air of solidity and massiveness that seems to bespeak the inten- tion of its builders that it should remain where it was placed. This purpose is likely to be set at naught by the proposed re- moval of the Chapel northward- ly, to widen School Street. So VILBURN & MALLORY improbable an idea never entered the heads of the founders ; but GOVERNOR SHIRLEY. we make nothing nowadays of taking up blocks of brick or stone bodily, and moving them whither we list.
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KING'S CHAPEL AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
King's Chapel is the fifth in the order of Boston churches. The architect was Peter Harrison, of Newport, R. I., and the plan embraced a steeple, which Mr. Harrison thought essential to his general design, and would have a " beautiful effect." For want.
KING'S CHAPEL AS IT APPEARS IN 1872.
of funds, however, the steeple was never built. Governor Shirley laid the corner-stone on the 11th of August, 1749, and after giving the workmen £ 20 (old tenor) to drink his health, went into the old church, which was still standing, where a. service appropriate to the occasion was held by Rev. Mr. Caner, the rector.
Mr. Harrison had been requested to present drawings with both a double and single tier of windows. Two rows were adopted, the lower ones giving that prince of punsters, Mather Byles, an opportunity of saying that he had heard of the canons of the church, but had never seen the port-holes before.
The stone for the chapel came from Braintree, and was taken
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