USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity > Part 7
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
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so doing, gave a proof of that elevated genuine courage, which ennobles hu- man nature. For leaders on the patriotic side, the attempt, while the pub- lic were in a state of such high exasperation, to defend an officer who was accused of murdering their fellow-citizens, required an effort of no ordi. nary mind : it was made successfully, and will ever hold a distinguished rank among those causes that adorn the profession of the law; in which a magnanimous, fearless advocate boldly espouses the side of the unfor. tunate, against the passions of the people, and hazards his own safety or fortune in the exertion." Captain Preston was acquitted, as were also six of the soldiers. A verdict of manslaughter was brought against the other two, who were slightly branded and discharged. The anniversary of the Boston massacre was commemorated the following year, and the first of the " Boston Orations" was delivered by Master James Lovell In November, 1772, the following proceedings took place at a town- meeting : -
'. It was then moved by Mr. Samuel Adams, that a Committee of Cor- respondence be appointed, to consist of twenty-one persons, - to state the Right of these Colonists, and of this Province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects : to communicate and publish the same to the several towns in this province and to the world, as the sense of this town, with the infringements and violations thereof, that have been, or from time to time may be, made. Also requesting of each town a free com- inunication of their sentiments on this subject ; and the question being accordingly put, passed in the affirmative, nem. con.
". Also voted, that James Otis, S. Adams, Joseph Warren, Dr. B. Church, Wm. Dennie, Wm. Greenleaf, Jos. Greenleaf, Thomas Young, Wm. Pow- ell, Nath. Appleton, Oliver Wendell, John Sweetser, Josiah Quincy, Jr., John Bradford, Richard Boynton, Wm. Mackay, Nath. Barber, Caleb Davis, Alex. Hill, Wm. Molineux, and Robert Pierpont, be, and hereby are, appointed a Committee for the purpose aforesaid, and that they be desired to report to the town as soon as may be."
The English East India Company, having obtained a license to export a quantity of tea to America, free from the payment of any customs or duties whatsoever, despatched the ship Dartmouth, which arrived in Bos- ton on the 23th of November, 1773, with one hundred and twelve chests of tea. Information of the intention of the company had been received long before the arrival of this ship, and caucuses were held in various parts of the town, to induce the consignees to make a public resignation of their commissions. The day after the arrival of the Dartinouth, the following notice was circulated in Boston and the neighboring towns : -
" Friends, Brethren, Countrymen !
"That worst of plagues, the detested TEA, shipped for this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in this harbor. The hour of de-
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struction, or manly opposition to the machinations of Tyranny, stares you in the face. Every friend to his country, to himself, and to posterity, is now called upon to meet at Faneuil Hall, at nine o'clock, this day (at which time the bells will ring), to make a united and successful resistance to this last, worst, and most destructive measure of administration.
" Boston, Nov. 29, 1773."
The number of people brought together by this notice was immense, and the meetings were continued by adjournment during this and the following day. A watch was appointed to prevent the landing of the tea, and it was " Voted, that it is the determination of this body to carry their votes and resolutions into execution at the risk of their lives and property." Another ship arrived on the Ist of December, and a brig about the same time. No preparation having been made by the owners and consignees for the departure of the vessels, another and fuller meeting was held on Thursday, the 16th of December, which remained in session, with a short recess, until five o'clock in the afternoon. A refusal having been received at that time from the Governor of a permit for the vessels to pass the Castle, the meeting broke up with most admired disorder, and the multitude rushed to Griffin's wharf. Thirty men, disguised as In. dians, went on board the ships with the tea. In less than two hours, two hundred and forty chests and one hundred half-chests were staved and emptied into the dock. The affair was conducted without tumult, and no injury was done to the vessels, or the remaining cargo. No opposition was made to this adventure by the ships of war or the troops. The names of the adventurers have never been made known. This act led to the determination to subdue America by force of arms. On the 31st of March, 1774, the king gave his assent to the Boston Port Bill. On the 13th of May, the town passed the following vote : -
" Voted, That it is the opinion of this town that if the other colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importations from G. B. and ex- portations to G. B. the same will prove the salvation of N. America and her liberties. On the other hand, if they continue their exports and im- ports, there is high reason to fear that fraud, power, and the mnost odious oppression will rise triumphant over right, justice, social happiness, and freedom. And ordered, That this vote be transmitted by the Moderator to all our sister colonies in the name and behalf of this town."
General Gage arrived the same day, and on the Ist of June the Custom- House was closed. The solemnity of these sad times was increased by the occurrence of a fire, on the 10th of August, In which several persons perished. The new charter made it unlawful to hold any town-meetings, but the people of the country assembled at Dedham, and afterwards at Milton. At the close of the year 1774, Governor Gage had under his command at Boston eleven regiments, besides four companies of artillery.
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In the year 1775, an association was formed in Boston, of upwards of thirty persons, chiefly mechanics, for the purpose of watching the move- ments of the British, the members of which watched the soldiers by patrolling the streets all night. It was this association that gave notice of the expedition to destroy the stores at Concord, preparations for which had been made in profound secrecy. Towards the end of May, consider- able reinforcements arrived at Boston from England, accompanied by Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne. On the 17th of June, the battle of Bunker Hill was fought. After which, Boston was effectually guarded and brought into a state of siege. No provisions were allowed to enter, the troops and inhabitants were reduced to great necessities, and the breaking out of the small-pox added to the general wretchedness. On the 2d of July, General Washington took command of the American Army. Such was the scarcity of fuel during the following winter, that the Old North Meeting-house and above one hundred other large wooden build- ings were taken down and distributed for firewood. The Old South Church was transformed into a riding school; Hollis street, Brattle street, the West and the First Baptist Meeting-houses, were occupied as hospitals or barracks for the troops.
On the 18th of March, 1776, the British troops embarked and aban- doned the town. The inhabitants of Boston speedily returned to their homes, and on the 29th of March, a regular meeting was held for the choice of town-officers.
At the meeting for the choice of Representatives, in the ensuing May, it was unanimously resolved, to advise their Representatives "that, if the honorable Continental Congress should, for the safety of the colonies, declare thein independent of the kingdom of Great Britain, they, the in- habitants, would solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes, to sup- port them in the measure."
The Declaration of Independence was made public at Boston on the 18th of July, with great parade and exultation. Although Boston con- tributed its full proportion of men and means to support the cause of the Revolution, it ceased from this time to be the seat of war. It remained firm in its determination to make no ternis with Great Britain, unaccom- panied with an acknowledgment of independence. But the intelligence of peace, which was received on the 23d of April, 1783, called forth the most lively demonstrations of joy and satisfaction. The adoption of the Federal Constitution was equally an occasion of rejoicing, and was cele- brated by a numerous procession, composed of all classes and trades, with appropriate badges.
The beacon upon Beacon Hill was blown down in the autumn of 1789, and the monument commemorating the principal events of the Revolu- tionary War was commenced the next year, and completed in the spring of 1791. It was a plain colunin, of the Doric order, built of brick and
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stone, and encrusted with a white cement; the top surmounted by a gilt eagle, supporting the American Arms. The height of the column, to the top of the eagle, was sixty feet. The east side of the monument bore an inscription, the sentiment of which should ever be freshly remembered, -
" AMERICANS :
WHILE FROM THIS EMINENCE, SCENES OF LUXURIANT FERTILITY, OF FLOURISHING COMMERCE, AND THE ABODES OF SOCIAL HAPPINESS MEET YOUR VIEW, FORGET NOT THOSE, WHO BY THEIR EXERTIONS HAVE SECURED TO YOU THESE BLESSINGS."
Our history of those events which, in Boston, preceded and led to the national independence, illustrates in an honorable manner the fidelity of its inhabitants to those principles of conduct which always directed their fathers in the settlement of this province. It requires no common sagacity to perceive, upon retrospection, the wisdom and nobleness of those principles, or to estimate the abundant reward of those virtues ; neither will it be difficult to understand, from the few pages yet before us, how well they were suited, under the blessing of God, to constitute the permanent basis of the soundest social polity, and of general and indi- vidual happiness. While we are inspired with sentiments of devout grati- tude to those who have preceded us, for the works they have left behind them, of which we are reaping the mighty benefits, we cannot but enter- tain an equally devout hope that we may be so guided and governed by their great examples, as to preserve a state of constant progress, and con- tinue faithful to that honor.
" The jewel of our house, Bequeathed down from many ancestors ; Which were the greatest obloquy in the world In us to lose."
In writing the history of Boston up to this period, we have been record- ing events that belonged to the history of the province, and of the whole country. This was owing to the prominent position occupied by Boston in the affairs of the colony, and to the spirit of her citizens. But the successful issue of the Revolution having secured that independence and stability for which Boston had contended from its first foundation, and removed all apprehensions of their being again disturbed, the energies of the people were hereafter chiefly devoted to the labors of peace, to the improvement of those advantages of situation and government, which held out to them the highest prospects. Accordingly, our attention here- after will be principally given to subjects of merely local interest.
The first great undertaking after the peace, the greatest at that time that had ever been projected in America, was the construction of a bridge over Charles River, between Boston and Charlestown. The wisdom of this project was doubted at the time by many persons, who thought it
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would be unable to withstand the ice. An act of incorporation, however, was granted, on the 9th of March, 1785, to the stockholders, and the work was prosecuted with such vigor, that the bridge was open for pas- sengers on the 17th of June, 1756. This occasion was celebrated with appropriate festivities; salutes of thirteen guns were fired at sunrise from Bunker and Copps's hills, the sounds of which contrasted joy fully in the public mind, with those, which on the same day, eleven years be- fore, had awakened the same echoes. The procession consisted of almost every respectable character in public and private life, and included both branches of the Legislature. The number of spectators was estimated at twenty thousand, and eight hundred persons sat down to a dinner pro- vided for their accommodation on Breed's Hill. The Town Records show that this bridge had been discussed as early as 1720. The cost of it is said to have been £ 15,000, lawful money.
The next great undertaking was the bridge and causeway from the west end of Cambridge street to the opposite shore in Cambridge. The causeway was begun on the 15th of July, 1792, and that and the bridge were open for passengers on the 23d of November, 1793. The cost of the two was estimated at £23,000, lawful money.
Old South Boston Bridge was opened for passengers in the summer of 1805, and Canal or Craigie's Bridge in the summer of 1809.
The Western Avenue, or Mill-Dam, making a sixth Avenue into the city (five of which are artificial), was fairly begun in 1818, and com- pleted in the summer of 1821.
On the 20th of April, 1787, a disastrous fire occurred, which destroyed the Hollis Street Church, and one hundred other buildings, of which sixty were dwelling-houses.
In the year 1793, the foundation was laid of the present range of build- ings in Franklin street ; the spot on which they stand had been up to this time neglected, and a slough or quagmire existed in the lower part of it.
In July, 1794, another distressing fire occurred, which laid waste the square from Pearl street to the water. Six or seven ropewalks were de- stroyed, and one hundred stores and dwelling-houses. The ropewalks were afterwards removed to the bottom of the Common, and were twice destroyed by fire; once in the winter of 1805- 6, and again in the autumn of 1819. In 1821, they were removed to the Neck and Mill-Dam.
In the month of May, 1795, the town purchased of Governor Hancock's heirs the land on which the State-House stands, and transferred it to the commonwealth. The corner-stone of this edifice was laid with great ceremony on the 4th of July, by the Governor, assisted by the Grand Masters of the Masonic Lodges. A silver plate bearing the name of the depositors, and many pieces of current money, were placed beneath the stone. On it was inscribed, - " This Corner-Stone of a building, intended
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for the use of the Legislative and Executive branches of Government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was laid by His Excellency, Samuel Adams, Esq., Governor of said Commonwealth, assisted by the Most Wor- shipful Paul Revere, Grand Master, and the Right Worshipful William Sedley, Deputy Grand Master, the Grand Wardens and brethren of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, on the fourth day of July, An. Dom. 1795. A. L. 5795 being the XXth anniversary of American Independence."
The Nineteenth Century.
The new Alins-house, in Leverett street, which stood till 1825, was built in the year 1800. The old Alms-honse, Work -house, and Bridewell, together with the Granary, were situated on Park street. The Granary was a storehouse for grain for the accommodation of the poor, and was under the direction of a committee. It may be mentioned here, that the first Alms-house appears to have been open for the reception of patients in 1665; and this being destroyed by fire in 1682, another was erected in 1656.
About 1S03 or 1804, the ground on which these buildings stood was sold, and the block of four houses in Park street adjoining the church was put up. This was one of the earliest improvements near the State-House and Common.
In 1804, houses were erected on Beacon street, at the upper corner of Park street.
Hamilton Place was finished in 1806, and Bumstead Place shortly after. Pinckney street, Myrtle street, Hancock street, and the whole ex- Lent of Mount Vernon, which, at the end of the last century, were a dreary waste, began to exhibit signs of improvement, and by the year 1506, some of the handsomest houses in the town were built in this neigh- borhood. Beacon hill and the hills west of it were cut down, and the materials were used to fill up the Mill-pond; the proprietors of which had been incorporated by the name of the Boston Mill Corporation, as early as 1804. One of the first improvements on the Mill-poud (as it was called), was a street from the Boston side of Charles River and bridge, which shortened the distance between Charlestown and the centre of Bos- ton. The filling up of the pond gradually progressed subsequently to that time, by which the area of the peninsula was increased about forty- three acres.
In December, 1801, another destructive fire occurred, and about a year afterwards the law was passed prohibiting the erection of wooden build- ings more than ten feet high. The improvements of the city were car- ried rapidly forward.
In 180G, the digging away of Copps Hill, and the erection of brick buildings in Lynn street, was commenced.
Broad street, India Wharf, and India street, extending from the head of
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the latter to the head of Long Wharf, were the next improvements, and the stores and houses on them were ready to be occupied in the course of 1807 - 1809. To these great improvements we must add in the same quarter that of Central Wharf, one hundred and fifty feet in width, with a line of fifty-four stores in the centre, four stories high. As a place of commer- cial business, combining every possible convenience, Central Wharf is probably not surpassed by any in the world. The projector of these great enterprises, Mr. Cotting, originated at the same time the plans of Market and Brattle streets, with their fine buildings, the first which were made to rest on granite pillars. The houses on the east side of Market street were built the next year, and enjoy the distinction of being the first stone block in the town.
The changes above enumerated were chiefly for the purposes of busi- ness and trade, but the means of accommodation for a population rapidly increasing in wealth and numbers, kept equal pace with the improved facilities of commerce.
Fort Hill was repaired, and the adjacent lot was sold to individuals, who raised the brick block called Washington Place. The neighborhood of the Massachusetts Hospital, formerly marsh and pasture ground, or used for ropewalks only, was covered with handsome houses. Beacon street, on the west side of the Common, and Tremont street on the east (mostly built in 1811), were adorned with elegant dwellings, and before the year 1822, many courts, rows, squares, and places, added to the beauty and convenience of the city. In the mean time, the old Custom- House had been built, and the Boston Exchange Coffee-House, an im- mense pile, seven stories in height, and covering twelve thousand seven hundred and fifty three square feet of ground, was completed. It stood with its front on Congress street, and took in the site of the present Ex- change Coffee-House. It was destroyed by fire in 1818.
The stone Court-House, in Court Square, now City Hall, built in 1810, Boylston Hall in the same year, and the City Market, so called, at the foot of Brattle street, next to Dock Square, built in 1819, bring to a close, for the present, our list of improvements, - dry, perhaps, to the indifferent reader, but replete with interest for the Bostonian, who is thus made familiar with the mode of growth of his native city.
It has been the fashion of our day to listen with too much patience to sneers upon the severity of the life and manners of our Puritan fathers. It is apt (very naturally) to escape the unreflecting, that the work they had to perform, - that of raising amid the gloom of ignorance, bigotry, and licentiousness, and in a distant wilderness, a social structure resting upon the broad and secure basis of religious and civil freedom, - was not to be accomplished with laughter and revelry, " the brood of folly, without father bred," - but with seriousness, with grave meditations, and the awful persuasions of an exalted faith, - the walls of their new city of
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refuge were not to be built with music, or if with music, not of that profane sort to the idle sounds of which the stones of the heathen capital danced into their places, but with the sage and solemn tunes of peni. tential psalms, of hymns of joyful thanksgiving, - the music of the full- voiced choir heard
" In service high and anthems clear,"
which brought all heaven before the eyes of him who listened with faith and love.
The present state of the fine arts in the city of Boston affords the best possible evidence that the sterner qualities of the Puritan character were by no means inconsistent with the higher graces of the mind. Indeed, the former, like the hardest materials in inanimate nature, seem capable of receiving the most exquisite polish. And when we allude to the in- troduction of a taste for art, and for the more refined enjoyments of social life, we do not mean to speak or think of it as something contradictory to the sentiments of the original founders of this colony, - for that, in- deed, would discover ignorance of their wealth, their education, and social position at home, -but as something necessarily wanting until the struggle for existence and for safety had ceased, - as the adornments of the edifice, not the less comprised in the original plan, because they do not appear until the pillars on which they repose are standing upon their firm bases. Moreover, the highest refinements of social life have always followed in the path of commerce, which is not more the constant friend of liberty, than of knowledge and art.
The first building especially appropriated to public amusements was erected in the year 1756. This was Concert Hall, at the head of Hanover street. It was designed for concerts, dancing, and other entertainments. It was subsequently enlarged and improved at a great expense, and was the place in which the British officers conducted their amusements while in possession of the town. A law of the province passed about the year 1750, prohibited theatrical exhibitions under severe penalties. An effort to obtain a repeal of this law in 1792, failed. Notwithstanding which, plays were performed under the title of moral lectures, in the " new ex- hibition room in Board Alley," now Hawley street. A majority of the town regarded the prohibitory laws as "unconstitutional, inexpedient, and absurd," and in obedience to the public wishes, the theatre in Fed- eral street was built, and opened in 1794. To this was added the Hay- market Theatre, in 1796, which stood near the foot of the mall, on the spot now occupied by the three story buildings south of Colonnade Row. Various other places of public entertainment, including several museums, Were opened subsequently to the year 1790. Institutions of a more elevated character preceded and accompanied these provisions for the mere enjoyment of the people. The American Academy of Arts and
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Sciences was incorporated in the year 1780. The design of this institu. tion was " to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people." The Memoirs of this Academy have done, and are now doing, much to enlarge the bounds of human knowledge. It is now in a state of great activity and usefulness, and enrolls among its fellows and honorary members the most eminent names in science and literature in this country and in Europe.
In 1794, was incorporated the Massachusetts Historical Society, which had for its object the collection, preservation, and communication of materials for a complete history of the country. In the same year the Boston Library Society came into existence, and very soon filled its shelves with valuable works of science and general literature, particularly those which, on account of their cost, are not commonly accessible.
The present fine institution of the Atheneum originated in the year 1806, by the establishment of a reading room, containing valuable foreign and domestic periodicals, publications, and books of general reference. The proprietors of this institution were incorporated in 1807, and through the untiring spirit and inexhaustible liberality of private individuals, it has risen to its present state of usefulness and honor; its building is one of the chief architectural ornaments of the city, and Its library and rooms of statuary and painting are the habitual resort of the lovers of knowl- edge and art.
Passing over many minor literary associations, we must make a hasty enumeration of those charitable institutions which, if a selection were made, must be designated as the most prominent characteristic of Boston. There is no general sentiment, not even the love of liberty, which, from the early foundation of the colony, has displayed itself with more force and harmony. Its objects are numerous, and upon some of them "all sorts of persons, rich and poor, orthodox and heretics, strong and weak, influential and influenced, male and female, young and old, educated and uneducated, unite their efforts, and the result is such a combination of charities as has never before been found in any city of its size." The tardy self-reproach of Lear
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