USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 33
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" Selected for the critical task of making the first experiment with a system new to the acquaintance, and, as far as then appearcd, uncongenial in some degree with the habits, of his constituents, to the operation of which indefinite expectations were at- tached and a jealous observation directed, the Mayor exhibited that discretion and sound judgment which so eminently characterized him."
The new city government was organized in Faneuil Hall on May 1, 1822. The chairman of the board of selectmen delivered into the charge of the new authorities the town records and title deeds, and the city charter inclosed in a silver case. The Mayor, after paying " a just tribute to the wisdom of
1 A descendant in the fifth generation from the Rev. George Phillips, the first minister of Watertown. He was born in Boston, Nov. 26, 1770 ; received his early education at the acad- emy in Andover which bears his family name, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1788.
He delivered the Fourth of July oration before the town authorities in 1794; and for many years acted as Town Advocate and Public Prosecutor. He served for twenty years as a member of the State Scnate, and for ten years was President of that body.
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
our ancestors as displayed in the institutions for the government of the town, under which for nearly two centuries so great a degree of prosperity had been attained, and during which the great increase of the population of the place had alone made this change in the administration of its affairs essential," proceeded to remark, in respect of those " who encouraged hopes which could never be realized, and of those who indulged unreasonable ap- prehensions in regard to the city charter, that they would derive benefit from reflecting how much social happiness depended on other causes than the provisions of a charter." The policy of the new administration, to keep things substantially as they were, was thus foreshadowed; and it may be said that that policy was adhered to during the year, but little of impor- tance being done beyond the organization of the several departments of the city government.1
The debt transferred from the town to the city amounted to about $100,000, and was incurred on account of two prisons, then in course of erection, and a new court house. The current expenses for the year 1822 amounted to about $249,000, and the tax levy for that year was $140,000. It was a day of small things as compared with the present time.2 The ap- propriations to meet the current expenses for the financial year beginning May 1, 1880, amounted to $10,190,387 ; and the tax levy was $9,466,896.
The result of the first year's administration under the new charter did not meet the expectations of those who had been instrumental in procuring it. They were eager for a more energetic system, and they charged Mr. Phillips with pursuing a timid and hesitating course for fear of losing his popularity; but when he demitted office Mr. Quincy could say of him : -
" After examining and considering the records and proceedings of the city author- ities for the past year, it is impossible for me to refrain from expressing the sense I entertain of the services of that high and honorable individual who filled the chair of this city, as well as of the wise, prudent, and faithful citizens who composed during
) The city clerk elected at this time - Samuel F. McCleary -continued to hold the office by successive annual elections until his resignation in 1852, when he was succeeded by his son, bear- ing the same name, who holds the office to-day ; so that the city records from the beginning bear the attestation of a single name. A city seal was adopted, the motto for which was suggested by Judge Davis. It was taken from the follow- ing verse of the Scriptures : " Sit Deus nobiscun, sicut fuit cum patribus nostris." - 1. Kegum, viii. 57. As adopted for the seal it stands : "Si. cut patribus, sit Deus nobis." The impression within the motto contains a view of the city from South Boston Point.
2 To show what a small part of the penin- sula of Boston was occupied at the beginning of the present century, I venture to print the fol- lowing, from Wendell Phillips, Esq : -
VOL. III. - 29.
" Every incident that contributes to the life of the pic- ture in valuable, though it may seem trivial ; so I add this as illustrating how small Boston limits were eighty years agn.
" My father, the first mayor, built in 1804-5 the first brick house that was built on Beacon Street. It still stands In the western corner of Walnut and Beacon streets. Above and below there were a few wooden houses, and next the State House stood Hancock's stone house. This street ( l'eacon) was then considered out of town.
" When Dr. Joy was advised to take his invalid wife out of town for the benefit of country air, he built her. eighty years ago. a wooden house, which stood where Mrs. Tu- dar's house now does, - on the western corner of Joy and Beacon streets : the lot went back to Mt. Vernon Street, or near it. I have often seen loada of hay, cul on the square between Joy, Walnut. Mt. Vernon, and Beacon «treets, car- ried in to Dr. Jay's front gate, where Mrs Armstrong's front door stands now. When my father moved into his Beacon-Street house, his uncle. Judge O. Wendell, was asked, in State Street, 'what had induced his nephew to move out of toren.'"
[Sce the view of Beacon Street about this time, given in Mr. Stanwood's chapter. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
that period the city council. . .. Whatever success may attend those who come after them, they will be largely indebted for it to the wisdom and fidelity of their prede- cessors."
And Mr. Otis, in his inaugural address in 1829, said : -
" The novel experiment of city government was commenced by your first lamented mayor, with the circumspection and delicacy which belonged to his character, and which were entirely judicious and opportune. He felt and respected the force of ancient and honest prejudices. His aim was to allure and not to repel ; to reconcile by gentle reform, not to revolt by startling innovation."
Mr. Phillips had no desire for a second term, his health having begun to give way. Josiah Quincy 1 was therefore sought as a candidate by the progressive element in the community. He accepted the position, and was elected, receiving 2,505 votes out of 4,766, - the whole number cast.
Mr. Quincy was at this time fifty-one years of age, -to him the prime of life ; a man of large experience, of kindly disposition, but of most decided will. He left his impress on the government of the city as no other man has done. His administration, covering a period of six years, has formed a standard to which the efforts of his successors are continually referred. It was not a great office to be a mayor with limited power over a city of only forty-five thousand inhabitants ; but he performed the duties in such a way as to give it more than a local importance, and to produce results of a last- ing character. He was like an accomplished actor who takes a small part and makes of it a great one.
In his inaugural address, the Mayor gave prominence to the defects of the ancient town organization, and the remedy provided for them in the powers of the mayor. His object was to bring the responsibility of the chief executive into distinct relief before the citizens, and thereby prepare their minds for the prominent part which he intended to play. In order to put himself in a position to exercise to the full the powers conferred upon him as mayor and as a member of the board of mayor and aldermen, he did not hesitate to make himself chairman of all committees of the board. But such was his tact and his capacity for work, that this extraordinary proceed- ing does not seem to have excited any ill-feeling among his associates in the city council.
He first gave his attention to improving the sanitary condition of the city, and established the system of cleaning the streets and collecting house- offal, which has been followed to the present day, and which has proved a model of economy and efficiency. Under the town government the powers relative to the preservation of the public health had been vested in a board elected by the inhabitants; but the city charter transferred those powers to the city council, " to be carried into execution by the appointment of health
1 Of Mr. Quincy's previous carcer in public life some account will be found in another part of this work.
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
JOSIAH QUINCY.1
commissioners, or in such other manner as the health, cleanliness, comfort, and order of the city might in their judgment require." When the new government was organized, three health commissioners were appointed with
1 [Stuart painted Mr. Quincy twice, -the first time in 1806, a half-length, now belonging to the heirs of Edmund Quincy, of Dedham. In November, 1824, he painted him again, and this picture Miss E. S. Quincy gave to the Museum of Fine Arts in 1876 It is engraved on steel in Edmund Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy, and is followed directly from the canvas in the above cut. (Mason's Gilbert Stuart, p. 243.) There was a third portrait, by Page, in 1842, in his robes as President of llarvard University ; and a fourth, by Wight, about 1852, now in the Historical Society's gallery. A statue of Mr. Quincy, by W. W. Story, which likewise represents him in
an academic gown, stands in Memorial Hall at Cambridge. Another statue, showing him in plain dress, executed by Thomas Ball, stands in front of City Hall, and a photograph of it is given in City Document, No 115, for 1879. The document contains a description of the ceremo- nies of dedication, including a commemorative oration by his llonor F. O. Prince, then mayor of the city. There is a bust of Quincy by Hora- tio Greenough, and another by Crawford, in Me- morial Hall at Cambridge. See E Quincy's Life of J. Quincy, P. 550 ; where is also an engraving from a photograph from life, taken in his eighty- ninth year. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
the general powers of the town board of health. They were unwise enough to stand in the way of certain reforms proposed by the Mayor, and they were speedily swept out of existence. The internal police of the city was placed under the superintendence of the city marshal; and the external police, covering the enforcement of the quarantine regulations, was placed under a single commissioner. The board of surveyors of highways was also abolished, and by legislative enactment the powers were conferred upon the mayor and aldermen, who have continued to exercise them up to the pres- ent day.
QUINCY MARKET AND FANEUIL HALL.1
The next important measure which Mayor Quincy initiated and carried out, and the one by which he is most generally known, was the establish- ment of a new market-house. The Fancuil Hall market-house was first opened in 1742 ; and at the time of which we are writing the whole space, occupied by stalls in and around the building, did not exceed fourteen hun- dred feet. The accommodations were not only insufficient for the wants of the inhabitants, but they were notoriously unhealthy and extremely incon- venient of access. The scheme proposed by the Mayor for enlarging the
1 [This view follows the engraving in Quincy's Municipal History of Boston, taken by Hammatt Billings (1826), not long after the erection of the market-house. Pemberton Hill is seen in the distance. It was then sixty or more feet higher than now, and on its slope was a tower, built by Lieut .- Governor Phillips, in the garden of the
old Faneuil house. The large trees were on the rear part of the Vassall estate, then occu- pied by Gardiner Groene; and they were a prominent land-mark for ships entering the har- bor. A similar view is given in Snow's Boston, p. 378. See also Dearborn's Boston Notions, p. 115 .- ED.]
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
market was of such magnitude as to invite serious opposition, even from many of the most prominent citizens; and he had not only to win over to his views the members of the city council, but he had to procure the en- dorsement of his scheme by the inhabitants of the city and the Legislature of the Commonwealth. The opposition was bitter and determined, but the Mayor triumphed over every obstacle. What was accomplished can best be stated in his own words: -
" A granite market-house, two stories high, five hundred and thirty-five feet long, fifty feet wide, covering twenty-seven thousand feet of land, including every essential accommodation, was erected at a cost of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Six new streets were opened, and a seventh greatly enlarged, including one hundred and sixty-seven thousand square feet of land ; and flats, docks, and wharf-rights obtained of the extent of one hundred and forty-two thousand square feet. All this was accom- plished in the centre of a populous city, not only without any tax, debt, or burden upon its pecuniary resources, - notwithstanding, in the course of the operations funds to the amount of upwards of eleven hundred thousand dollars had been employed, -- but with large permanent additions to its real and productive property." 1
The corner-stone of the new market-house was laid on April 22, 1825, and the stalls were opened in 1827.2
Among other reforms instituted by Mr. Quincy soon after he came into office was the reorganization of the fire department. Its efficiency at that time depended largely upon the aid of the inhabitants, applied under the authority of the firewards who were elected annually by the citizens in each ward. "They formed lanes of by-standers, who, by their direction, passed
1 Quincy's Municipal History of Boston, p. 74. [This history is reviewed by Francis lowen in the North American Review, vol. Ixxiv. An ac- count of the semi-centennial celebration, Aug. 26, 1876, of the opening of the market, was pub- lished in 1877, by William W. Wheildon .- ED.]
2 It was due to the originator of the enter- prise that his name should have been given officially to the new market ; but the plausible statement that it was merely an enlargement of the old Faneuil Hall Market was sufficient, with the personal feeling against Mr. Quincy engen- dered by his persistence in carrying out his plans, to induce the city council to extend the name of the old market to the new. But the people have taken the matter into their own ' few discontented persons; but repeated investi- hands, and the new house will always be popu- larly known as " Quincy Market."
Since its establishment the character of the business transacted in it has almost wholly changed. It has ceased to be the place to which the householders of Boston generally resort for their supplies of provisions. It has come to be the great provision exchange for New England. It draws to its stalls food products of the best from all parts of the world, and it distributes them all over the country ; although its principal busi-
ness consists in supplying the hotels and retail dealers in and around Boston, and the great sum- mer resorts on the sea-shore and among the mountains of New England. The market owes much of its success and its popularity to the high character of the men who occupy it. In- stead of disposing of the stalls annually by auc- tion, as is customary in many other cities, it has always been lhe policy in this market to fix a reasonable rent for the use of the stalls, and re- new leases to good tenants This policy has not been without its results in maintaining a high standard in the quality of the articles of- fered for sale. Charges of " forestalling " and " monopolizing " have been often raised by a gations by committees of the council have failed to show that the influence of the market has been used to maintain high prices. The statute provision allowing sales from market-wagons on the streets around the market-houses, introduces an element of competition which effectually pre- vents any monopoly prejudicial to the public interests. The sales from these free street-stands may be said to regulate the prices of provisions in Boston. See City Document 100 of 1865, and City Document 91 of 1870.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
buckets of water from pumps or wells in the vicinity to the engines playing on the fire, and returned them for further supply." The men who worked the engines were formed into companies, and received a small compensa- tion for their services, besides being exempt from militia duty. "To be first, nearest, and most conspicuous at fires was the ambition of the engine- men ; and the use of hose, as it had a tendency to deprive them of this gratifi- cation, was opposed." In 1823 several companies petitioned for additional compensation. It was refused; and in one day all the engines in the city were surrendered by their respective companies ; and on the same day every engine was supplied with a new company by the voluntary association of public-spirited individuals. Application was then made to the Legislature for authority to rcorganize the department; and in 1825 an act was passed giving the mayor and aldermen power to appoint all the engineers, fire- wardens, and firemen. The sense of security which the new organization gave is shown by the fact that the rates of insurance against fire on the real property within the city were reduced twenty per cent.
In the year 1821, just previous to the change in the municipal organiza- tion, Mr. Quincy, having given considerable attention to the subject of pauperism, was appointed chairman of a town committee on the subject of the relief and disposition of the poor of Boston. On his recommenda- tion, and under his supervision, a tract of land was purchased on the north- crly shore of South Boston, and a House of Industry was crected. The overseers of the poor - a body then elected by the town, and subsequently by the inhabitants of the city, and possessing statutory powers which made it largely independent of the city council - resisted the proposed change in the disposition of the paupers; and it was not until Mr. Quincy became mayor, and obtained additional legislation, that the reformation which he had recommended was fully carried into effect.
" The evils attendant on the promiscuous mingling of the honest poor with rogues and vagabonds were mitigated by the establishment of the first House of Correction, properly so called, in Boston during the first year of his mayoralty. A building in the jail-yard was used at first for this purpose, but the establishment was afterward removed to South Boston, near the House of Industry. The separation, more impor- tant yet, of the young convicts from the old in places of penal restraint led to the establishment of a House of Reformation for juvenile offenders, the results of which - both direct, in the large proportion of young persons who were saved to society by its means, and indirect, by the encouragement which its successful experiment has given to the system elsewhere - have been of the happiest nature." 1
As chairman of the school committee, Mr. Quincy took an active in- terest in the public schools. His action upon one question, the mainte- nance of a high school for girls, raised a good deal of feeling against him at the time; and, if repeated at the present day in the face of the more numerous advocates of a higher education for women, the feeling would
i Life of Josiah Quincy, by Edmund Quincy, P. 394.
1
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
doubtless be intensified ; but the principle which he stated at the time, as governing his opposition to the establishment of a high school which would be used almost wholly by the daughters of wealthy parents, was a sound one. "The standard of public education," he said, " should be raised to the greatest desirable and practicable height; but it should be effected by raising the standard of the common schools." 1
During Mr. Quincy's second term he had the honor of receiving and entertaining General Lafayette, who was made the guest of the city. The building at the corner of Park and Beacon streets was given up to the city by the club which occupied it, and, having been completely furnished and provided with servants, was made the home of the distinguished visitor during his stay.2
There were many other events of interest in the municipal history of the city during Mr. Quincy's administration ; but as they were of a tem- porary character the limits of this work preclude any description of them. It was hardly possible for any man to do what Mr. Quincy did during those years without raising an opposition which must sooner or later de- prive him of an office held by the frail tenure of an annual election. As his sixth term drew to a close, the opposition combined and assumed a tone of bitterness and malignancy which has seldom been equalled even on a much larger political field. The reorganization of the fire depart- ment provoked the hostility of a class of voters who were active and some- what unscrupulous. Then there were those whose private interests had suffered in the establishment of the new market-house and the penal and reformatory institutions, and in the enforcement of the laws relating to gambling, prostitution, and the sale of intoxicating liquors. In carrying out the street improvements and the enlargement of the market, a city debt, amounting to $637,000, had been created; and this excited consider-
1 [See the chapters by Mr. Dillaway and Mrs. Cheney, in Vol. IV. - ED.]
2 [ There is an account by General W. H. Sum- ner of Lafayette's visit, with the entertainment given him, in the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, 1859. (Sce Drake's Landmarks, P. 354.) The editor has been favored with the use of a serap-book, filled with newspaper clippings, broadsides, etc., collected by Miss E. S. Quincy during Lafayette's stay in America. A manu- script note in it says : "On Commencement day, Mayor Quincy called for Lafayette at his lodg- ings, and while the barouche waited for the Gov- ernor's carriage to precede, a crowd gathered. ' Have you ever been in Europe, Mr. Quincy ?' asked the guest. 'No, never.' 'Then you can have no idea of what a crowd is in Europe. 1 declare, in comparison the people of Boston seem to me like a picked population out of the whole human race.'" (See also Edmund Quincy's Life of Josiah Quincy, 404.) An arch, which was erected on the Neck, just above
Dover Street, bore this inscription, written by Charles Sprague : -
WELCOME, LAFAYETTE!
The fathers in glory shall sleep, That gathered with thee to the fight ; But the sons will eternally keep The tablet of gratitude bright. W'e bow not the neck ; we bend not the knee : But our hearts, Lafayette, we surrender to thee l
In a recent account of this visit, by Ella R. Church, in the Mag. of Amer. Hist., May, ISSI, it is stated, in testimony of Lafayette's happy memory, that at the reception at the State House he recognized an elderly colored man who, as a servant of Hancock, had waited upon the Mar- quis when a guest of his master forty years be- fore. The descendants of Major Judah Alden also preserve by tradition a remark which he made to that old soldier when he first saw him on this visit, - " Alden, how are you ? I know you by your nose !" See also Dearborn's Boston Notions, p. 282. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
able discontent among the taxpayers, although the Mayor was able to show that in carrying out these improvements the city had become pos- sessed of real estate exceeding in value $700,000.1 He could never have
K 'LBURN
PARK STREET.2
maintained his position as long as he did, had he not been a man of the strictest integrity, - a man against whom even an unscrupulous opposition
1 The average rate of taxation during the last seven years under the town government was $8.15 on a thousand. During the first seven years, under the city government, it was $7.27.
2 [The house on the left of the picture is the one occupied by Lafayette. It was built about 1804, by Thomas Amory, but with its extension was afterward converted into four dwellings.
Malbone the painter, Samuel Dexter the lawyer, and Governor Christopher Gore have all lived in it. It is also seen in the heliotype of the Common, 1804-1810, given in another chapter. The portion above and beyond the main entrance became the residence of George Ticknor, the historian of Spanish literature, and in it he died. The window above the front door, and the two
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BOSTON UNDER THE MAYORS.
found it impossible to frame a charge of dishonesty, - and had he not, moreover, constantly used his tongue and his pen to explain and defend his measures before the people.
At the municipal election in December, 1828, Mr. Quincy failed on the first ballot to receive a majority of all the votes cast. Another ballot was then taken with substantially the same result.1 Thereupon the Mayor sent a note to the press, stating that " no consideration would induce him to again accept the office."
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