USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 75
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Company E, Thirteenth regiment, Captain Joseph Colburn (promoted to lieut .- colonel).
Company E, Twenty-second regiment, Captain W. L. Cogswell.
Company K, Thirty-fifth regiment, Captain William S. King (promoted to colonel).
Company B, Thirty-ninth regiment, Captain William W. Graham (promoted to major).
Fifty-sixth regiment, Captain G. G. Redding (no distinct company organization).
Fifty-ninth regiment, Captain Lewis F. Munroe (killed Oct. 12, 1864).
Fifty-ninth regiment, Captain Warren S. Potter (no distinct company organization).
Of her officers, Colonels Isaac S. Burrill and W. Raymond Lec were cap- tured at the outset of their periods of service, -the latter at Ball's Bluff. General Nelson A. Miles, well known for his distinguished services in the civil war, and in recent Indian campaigns, went from Roxbury as first lieu- tenant of company E, Twenty-second regiment. Among her brave sons whose lives were frecly given to their country were General T. J. C. Amory, Colonel Lucius M. Sargent, and Major E. G. Park. Tasteful monuments to the memory of her fallen heroes have been erected at Forest Hills, and in front of the Unitarian church at Jamaica Plain.
The project of annexing Roxbury to Boston, broached in the year 1851, was for a long time strenuously opposed. Voted down in 1853 (two hun- dred and sixty-two yeas; nays, three hundred and ninety-nine), it was carried by the people in 1857 (eight hundred and eight to seven hundred and sixty-two) ; but in view of the small majority the city authorities de- clined to act upon it. In 1859 the legislature gave the petitioners leave to withdraw. In 1864 the proposition was rejected in the senate. At length the arguments of those who foresaw the necessity for a common system of streets, sewers, water-supply, and drainage for the two citics, already so
580
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
closely united commercially and geographically, prevailed. Early in 1867 a committee of the legislature unanimously reported that " the benefits to Roxbury, the necessities of Boston, and the interests of the Commonwealth, sanction and require annexation." The commissioners of both cities had previously reported in favor of the measure. It was accordingly adopted by the voters of the two cities on the second Monday of September, and annexation took effect Jan. 6, 1868. The vote of Roxbury was one thou- sand eight hundred and thirty-two to five hundred and ninety-two, -more than three to one in its favor. The majority of votes for it in Boston was also large. West Roxbury followed the example of her elder sister six years later (Jan. 5, 1874). By the annexation of these two districts Boston acquired a territory three times the size of her own, -a much needed acces- sion; increased her valuation $26,551,700, and added forty thousand to her population. The especial benefit to Roxbury was the introduction of Co- chituate water; a remarkable rise in the value of her real estate soon fol- lowed, and a fresh impetus was given to her growth and prosperity. Her history as a separate organization terminates at this point, after an existence of two hundred and thirty-eight years.
The past sixty years have witnessed a striking change in the religious life of Roxbury. The severity of the Puritan Sunday, which prevailed up to the close of the last century, had at the beginning of this period been materially relaxed, and fines for non-attendance at church were no longer exacted. The three churches which then sufficed for its religious wants have grown in number to forty-two ; and the single denomination then in ex- istence has seen springing up within and around it societies representing nearly all shades of religious belief, with full liberty for their exercise. In- stead of the large number of clergymen in Roxbury at the present time, many of whom are little known, the three Roxbury ministers, Porter, Gray, and Bradford, for near half a century had wielded the spiritual destinies of the people, by whom they were universally known and greatly beloved. The old First Church, in Eliot Square, like so many others of the original churches of New England, is now Unitarian in its faith, the change taking place early in this century. Its present edifice, the fifth erected here, dates from 1804. In 1857 the building was repaired, and its interior greatly im- proved. At that time four of its pew-holders of 1804 were yet living, as also were twenty-five of the descendants of the original founders of 1632. It is noteworthy that the term of service of four of its ten pastors, - Eliot, Nehemiah Walter, Porter, and Putnam, - extends over a space of two hundred and nineteen years. With the exception of Welde, who went back to England, and the present pastor, all have begun and ended here their ministerial career, spending their lives in the service of this church. The Rev. Eliphalet Porter, D.D., pastor for more than half a century, was a sound, instructive, and practical, rather than a popular preacher, generally saying the right thing in the right manner, at the right time. His succes-
581
ROXBURY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
sor, the Rev. George Putnam, D.D., pastor for a nearly equal period, was a most thoughtful, interesting, and eloquent preacher. He represented Rox- bury in the State Legislature and in the Constitutional Convention, and rendered efficient service to her schools.1
Next in age to the First Church is that of the Second Parish, also Unitarian, in West Roxbury. Its house of worship, on Centre Street near South, origi- nally a plain, square structure, without a steeple, stood with its side to the road. Given its present form and largely rebuilt in 1821, it was again enlarged and repaired a few years ago. Theodore Parker, who preached here nearly nine years, speaks of his parishioners as " good, quiet, sober, church-going people, and capital listeners." For the first year or two, as he informs us in his volume of Ministerial Experiences, his congregation did not exceed seventy persons, including the children ; yet he took great pains in the com- position of his sermons, which were never out of his mind.
After Rev. Dr. Gordon's return to England, in 1786, the pastorate of the Third Parish Church, at Jamaica Plain, was vacant seven years, and until the settlement of the Rev. Thomas Gray. From a small and poor society Mr. Gray brought it to a highly prosperous condition. Though practical, agree- able, and often effective as a preacher, it was as a pastor, in the faithful and affectionate oversight of his flock, that his chief excellence lay. The pres- ent church edifice, erected about 1852, occupies the site of the first, whichi in 1820 had been enlarged and remodelled. In 1821 a new and larger bell replaced that given in 1783 by John Hancock, and formerly in the New Brick Church, Boston. This Church is also Unitarian Congregational.
A series of meetings held in the autumn of 1817, at the residence of Beza Tucker, continued in what was called "Whitewash Hall," in Guild Row, led to the formation of the Dudley-Street Baptist Church. The thickly-settled portion of the town had then but one religious society, that of the Rev. Dr. Porter. The first Baptist edifice, which was of wood, was raised May 10, 1820, and dedicated November 1; and March 9, 1821, the society, under the name of "The Baptist Church of Roxbury," was formed. Its present name was adopted Feb. 28, 1850; and its present building, erected in 1852, was dedicated July 27, 1853.2
The First Universalist Society in Roxbury originated in 1818, in a course of Sunday-evening lectures at the Town Hall by the Rev. Hosea Ballou, assisted by the Rev. Paul Dean. Beginning its career at about the same time as the Baptist church, it was, like that, made up largely of seceders from the Old First Church.8
St. James's Church, on St. James Street, the first Episcopal church in Roxbury, originated in May, 1832, and was incorporated in 1833. The parish was organized Aug. 9, 1832. Prior to the consecration of its
1 [The succession of pastors of the churches in Roxbury can be found, when not given in this chapter, in those in this volume relating to the several denominations. - ED.]
24), William Leverett (1825-39), Thomas Ford Caldicott (1840-48), Thomas Davis Anderson (1848-61), Henry Melville King (1863-).
8 [Its history is told in Dr. Miner's chapter
2 Its pastors have been : Joseph Elliot (1822- in this volume. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
church building, by Bishop Griswold, Aug. 7, 1834, services were held weekly in the Female High-School house on Bartlett Street. The church was enlarged by the addition of a wing on the west side in 1862; a new chapel was built in 1877-78.1
The Eliot Congregational Church, in Kenilworth Street, an off-shoot of the Old First Church, was organized Sept. 18, 1834. Until the completion and dedication of its edifice, Nov. 25, 1835, services were held at the Town Hall, the Rev. Jacob Abbott officiating.
The Winthrop-Street Methodist Episcopal Society, incorporated in 1859, had its beginning in 1838, holding its meetings in a hall in Guild Row and at the Town Hall, until the completion, in December, 1840, of their house in Williams Street, now Shawmut Avenue. In August, 1852, they sold this property, and took possession of the house on Warren Street formerly occu- pied by the Baptist society, and which they caused to be removed to the site now occupied by the Warren Block. This house was destroyed by fire early in the morning of March 29, 1868. Services were held in the Uni- versalist church until the completion of their present edifice on Winthrop Street, the first service being held there July 4, 1869. The new building was dedicated Nov. 28, 1869. A division of the society having in the mean- time occurred, ninety members withdrew and formed the Highland Metho- dist Society, whose house of worship is at 160 Warren Street.
The Mount Pleasant Unitarian Church, on Dudley Street, is another off- shoot from the Old First Church in Eliot Square. The society was organ- ized May 6, 1845, and its house, built on the site of the old Welde home- stead, was dedicated in the following year.
St. Joseph's (Roman Catholic) church, on Circuit Street, was built in 1846. Of the forty-two places of worship at present in Roxbury, eight are Methodist Episcopal, seven Trinitarian Congregational, six Baptist, six Roman Catholic, four Unitarian Congregational, three Episcopal, three Uni- versalist, and two Union. There are one each of the Lutheran, Sweden- borgian, and Second Advent denominations.
In 1790 the number of pupils in the five town schools was two hundred and twenty-five. A new school-house was built in 1798 on what is now Palmer Street, and two others were soon afterward established at Canter- bury. Nine school districts were formed in 1807, four of them in the east- erly parish; and the total expenditure for schools increased from $1,000 to $1,500. The yearly cost of education was less than four dollars per scholar. In 1816 the appropriation was increased to $2,000, and uniformity in rules and regulations, and also in text-books, was secured. In 1829 committees were formed for visiting the schools at convenient times and without cere- mony. In 1831 the upper part of the Town House was fitted up for pupils
1 Its pastors have been : M. A. De W. Howe John Wayland (1848-58), George S. Converse (1832-35), William Staunton (1835-37), A. D. (1859-71), Percy Browne (1872 -). See the W. Howe (1837-46), Robert B. Hall (1846-47),
chapter by the Rev. Phillips Brooks, D.D.
583
ROXBURY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
of both sexes above the age of seven years, and the appropriation increased to $3,000, - a little less than sixty cents per capita for each inhabitant. At this time there were eleven primary schools. In 1846, when the city was in- corporated, there were six grammar and thirteen primary schools. The old grammar-school building, erected in 1742 and enlarged in 1820, having become totally inadequate to the requirements of the school, was sold in 1834, and a new one built in Mount-Vernon Place, now Kearsarge Avenue. In 1844, after a five years' experiment of making this a high school, its old organization was restored, such English studies only being required as are compatible with the latter character. Besides primaries, there are now two high schools and ten grammar schools in the Roxbury district. One of the most successful of its private schools was that established at Jamaica Plain by Stephen M. Weld, in 1827, and taught by him for a period of thirty years. Notre Dame Academy, a Roman Catholic institution, is on Washington, opposite Townsend, Street.
On the decease of Benjamin Bussey, in 1842, he bequeathed his valuable estate of three hundred acres to Harvard University, for the establishment of a seminary for "instruction in practical agriculture, useful and orna- mental gardening, botany, and such other branches of natural science as may tend to promote a knowledge of practical agriculture and the various arts subservient thereto." Courses of lectures were also to be given. One half the net income is applied to maintain this institution; the residue is equally divided between the Divinity and Law schools of the University. The Bussey Institution, which includes the Arnold Arboretum, is on South (near Morton) Street, and went into operation in 1871. Its principal build- ing is of Roxbury stone, in the modern Gothic style.
The first public library of Roxbury, established in 1805, reorganized as the " Social Library " in 1831, and as the " Roxbury Athenaeum" in 1848, was incorporated in 1851, and is in Bradley's Building. Caleb Fellowes, founder of the Fellowes Athenaeum, died in 1852, leaving $40,000 to be laid out for a suitable lot of ground, and in erecting thereon an edifice for an institution similar in plan to the Philadelphia Athenaeum, while the income of a further bequest was to be applied to the purchase of books. It was incorporated in 1866, and having been joined by a covenant with the Rox- bury Branch of the Boston Public Library, the united libraries were dedi- cated July 9, and opened for public use July 16, 1873.1 A branch of the Public Library has also been established at Jamaica Plain. At Roslindale and at West Roxbury it has other less important dependencies.
The Norfolk Gazette, the first newspaper in Roxbury, was published weekly, by Allen & Weeks, from Dec. 15, 1824, to Feb. 6, 1827, when it
! A sufficient account of Mr. Fellowes and the Atheneum will be found in a pamphlet com- memorating the dedication in IS73.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
was discontinued. The Norfolk County Fournal, now the Home Fournal, also a weekly, was established in 1849, and was edited for two years by William A. Crafts. The Roxbury City Gazette was established by William H. Hutchinson in 1861. The Suburban News, a weekly, issued at Jamaica Plain, is now in its ninth year.
The old almshouse on Centre Street was abandoned in 1831, and a much larger one built on Marcella Street. In 1849 the Brook-Farm property was bought for a poor-farm by the city, but it was soon afterward sold. The Marcella-Street property is now a home for Boston's vagrant boys, while a portion of the city poor are kept at the Austin Farm Alms-house, in West Roxbury. There is a small-pox hospital at Canterbury.
In March, 1784, the Roxbury Artillery Company was formed, and John Jones Spooner, afterward an Episcopal clergyman, was chosen captain. This corps, which did good service in Shays's Rebellion, became an infantry company in 1857, taking its present name, -" The Roxbury City Guard." Its first parade was on July 5, 1784. The Norfolk Guards were organ- ized Jan. 27, 1818, Alexander H. Gibbs commander; reorganized in 1838, and disbanded in 1855. This company, composed of prominent citizens, was highly distinguished for its bearing and efficiency. The Roxbury Horse Guards, Captain A. D. Hodges, organized May 16, 1861, re-organ- ized in 1864, now forms a part of the active volunteer militia of the State.
The Fire Department of Roxbury has always been remarkable for its promptitude, skill, and efficiency. In 1784 its first fire-engine was located in Roxbury Street, opposite Vernon, the site of the Greyhound Tavern. Danicl Munroe was its captain; William Bosson, Jr., clerk and treasurer. Its members were John Swift, David Swift, John Williams, Jr., Elijah Weld, Joseph Weld, Joseph Richardson, William Dorr, Joshua Felton, Amos Smith, Aaron Willard, Abel Hutchins, Captain Samuel Mellish, Ensign R. H. Greaton, Jeremiah Gore, Jesse Doggett, and William Blaney. Fire wards were also chosen. A new fire-engine was established in 1787 near the Punch-Bowl Tavern. The members of this company were John Ward, Isaac Davis, Joseph Davenport, Joseph Crehore, James Pierce, Samuel Barry, Captain Belcher Hancock, and Lieutenant William Bosson. In 1802 the " Torrent" No. 2 was accepted, and its company of twenty-one men appointed. A new engine was purchased by subscription in 1819 for No. I, and the town was asked for land on the northerly corner of the burying- ground on which to build its house. In 1831 Roxbury had seven fire- engines, with four hose-reels attached, -No. I, Dudley Street (new house) ; No. 2, Centre Street, by Poor-House ; Nos. 3 and 4, Jamaica Plain ; No. 5, Spring Street; No. 6, Eustis Street (new house) ; No. 7, " Norfolk," at Punch-Bowl Village.
585
ROXBURY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
The Roxbury Charitable Society, formed in September, 1794, principally by members of the Roxbury Fire Society, was incorporated in 1799, and still continues its career of active beneficence. Judge Lowell was its first presi- dent. Among its promoters were Governor Sumner, Hon. John Lowell, Hon. John Read, William Lambert, the Rev. Eliphalet l'orter, Hon. Sherman Leland, and Charles Davis. Imposing ceremonies in times past attended its anniversaries, such as a procession with military escort, and a discourse at the First Church. Among its anniversary orators were Judge Lowell, the Rev. Horace Holley, Edward Everett, Rev. Henry Ware, Dr. John Bartlett, and the Rev. E. D. Griffin. Prominent among the other charitable associa- tions of Roxbury are the Consumptive's Home, Grove Hall; the Roxbury Home for Aged Women and Children, Copeland Street; the House of the Angel Guardian, Vernon Street; the House of the Good Shepherd, Tre- mont Street ; Little Sisters of the Poor, Dudley Street; the Martin Luther Orphans' Home, Baker Street; St. Luke's Home for Convalescents, Rox- bury Street; and the New England Hospital for Women and Children, on Codman Avenue.
The Washington Lodge of Freemasons, the thirteenth lodge chartered in Massachusetts, was instituted March 14, 1796, and Worshipful Master Ebenezer Seaver, Senior Deacon Simeon Pratt, and Junior Deacon John Ward were publicly installed by the Grand Master, Paul Revere, October 16. Its founders were Simeon Pratt, John Ward, Moses Harriman, Ebenezer Seaver, Timothy Healy, Joseph Ruggles, Stephen Davis, and James Howe. Among its past-masters were Simcon Pratt, Nathaniel Ruggles, Nathaniel S. Prentiss, Samuel Barry, Samuel J. Gardiner, John Howe, Charles Wild, and George Frost. The Mount Vernon Royal Arch Chapter, Lafayette Lodge, and the Joseph Warren Commandery of Knights Templars have since been organized in Roxbury. Odd Fellowship is represented here by the Warren Lodge, Highland Encampment, and Quinoboquin Lodge.
Brook Farm, one of the most celebrated of the former institutions of Roxbury, was purchased in 1841 by George Ripley and others, who as-, sociated themselves together as "The Brook-Farm Institute of Education and Agriculture," and were afterward incorporated as " The Brook-Farm Phalanx."1 After occupying it for five or six years, they sold it to the city for a poor-farm. It is now " The Martin Luther Orphans' Home."
Apart from the old mansions and cemeteries of Roxbury, described in a former chapter, there are few memorials of her past in existence. Durable monuments of the beneficence of Judge Paul Dudley are yet visible in numerous mile-stones erected by him on the different roads leading from the town. One of the most prominent and interesting of these is a large stone at the corner of Centre Street, the old Dedham road; upon its front is in- scribed, " The | Parting | Stone | 1744 | P. Dudley ; " on its northerly side it directs to Cambridge and Watertown, and on its southerly side to Ded-
1 '[This social experiment will be described in a later chapter of Vol. IV .- ED.] VOL. 111. - 74.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
ham and Rhode Island. Lord Percy's soldiers read its inscription as they passed it on their way to Lexington, one hot April forenoon; and it has since afforded rest and information to many a tired wayfarer. Not far from this, on the other side of the street, opposite the residence of Mr. Prang, is a still older stone, inscribed, " Boston 3 miles, 1729." At the corner of Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, is another, inscribed, " Five miles to Boston Town House, 1735." Among the old houses not previously mentioned is the Crafts homestead on Tremont Street, near Parker-Hill Avenue, whose chimney bears date 1709. The Warren House, with its memorial inscrip- tions, and the Cochituate stand-pipe, and the adjacent monument, standing as they do on consecrated ground, call to mind the martyrs and patriots of '75. Among the landmarks still remembered, but which have disap- peared, are the "Rocking-Stone," a natural curiosity situated on the Mun- roe Farm; and the tall chimney of the chemical works, near Hog Bridge, pronounced unsafe and taken down, after remaining a conspicuous landmark for over thirty years.
In 1846 General H. A. S. Dearborn and others petitioned the newly established city government of Roxbury for a rural cemetery. The pur- chase of the Joel Seaverns farm of fifty-five acres, in Canterbury, was the result; and to this the addition of other pieces of land adjoining have ·in- creased its area to two hundred and twenty-six acres. The work of laying out the grounds of this "Garden of the Dead" was assigned to Gencral Dearborn, whose skill and taste had already been successfully exerted at Mount Auburn. The original wooden gateway, with its Egyptian designs, gave place in 1865 to the present tasteful structure of Roxbury stone and Caledonia freestone, in the modern Gothic style. At the left of the entrance is an elegant marble receiving-tomb, built in 1870. Three avenues diverge towards different parts of the cemetery from the main entrance, opposite which, on Snow-flake Hill, is a stone bell-tower and observatory one hun- dred feet in height, completed in 1876. The eminences which gave the cemetery its name are the Eliot Hills, a range of four heights in its south- western part; Consecration Hill, at its north-eastern angle; Chapel Hill, north of Lake Dell; the large hill south of Consecration Hill, named for the illustrious Warren; and Cypress Hill. Lake Hibiscus is near the centre of the cemetery, and is approached by avenues from its different parts. One of the most attractive spots at Forest Hills is the grotto on Dearborn Hill.
Mount Hope Cemetery, on Canterbury Street, a little south of Forest Hills, lies partly in Dorchester, and contains over one hundred acres. It was consecrated June 24, 1852, and July 31, 1857, its proprietors transferred it to the city of Boston. Other cemeteries in Roxbury are Mount Calvary, on Mount Hope Street; Gethsemane, Baker Street; Warren, Kearsarge Avenue; Hand-in-Hand (Jewish), Grove Street; Mount Benedict, Arnold Street ; and St. Joseph's, Circuit Street.
Roxbury has several parks. Washington Park, the largest of these, lics between Bainbridge and Dale streets; Highland Park, on Fort Avenue, the
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ROXBURY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
site of a Revolutionary fort, contains the Cochituate stand-pipe; Fountain Square, Orchard Park, and Madison Square are also parks of respectable dimensions. Cedar Square, on Cedar Street, was the gift of Alvah Kitt- redge, Esq., to the town. Other smaller breathing-spaces are Walnut, Wal- den, Bromley, and Lewis parks. Forest and Oakland gardens are popular and attractive summer resorts.
Salt was in the early days made at the " Salt Pans," near the town land- ing. Not far from this place General Joseph Palmer, conspicuous in the Revolutionary annals of the State, erected salt works, which were in suc- cessful operation when his sudden death, in 1788, brought the enterprise to a premature close. A fulling mill was established by John Pierpont on Stony River, near the site of Day's cordage factory, in 1658. The manufac- ture of leather was for a long time the principal one in Roxbury. Early in the present century, John Doggett founded the well-known looking-glass and carpet works on Roxbury Street. The Willards, celebrated clock and watch-makers for over a century, established themselves here in 1773.
In 1792 there were near the town landing-place, at Parker Street, several establishments, one of them owned by Ralph Smith, for the packing of provisions and the manufacture of soap and candles ; and vessels were laden with these commodities here. Where Arlington Street now is the channel of approach was then, having nine feet of water at low tide. The Back Bay was at that time an expansive and beautiful sheet of water. The large es- tablishment of the brothers Aaron and Charles Davis for packing pro- visions, and their distillery and tannery, were near the town wharf, now the junction of Albany and Northampton streets. In 1845 the value of Roxbury's manufactures, in which one thousand six hundred and sixty-eight persons were employed, was $2,247,684. The largest items embraced were four cordage manufactories, sixteen tanneries, three rolling, slitting, and nail mills, one carpet manufactory, nine bakeries, three chemical works, three starch mills, one distillery, five soap and tallow manufactories, and one lead manu- factory. The manufacture of boots and shoes was a large item. The most notable of the varied industries of Roxbury at the present day is the chromo- lithographic manufactory of L. Prang & Co., on Roxbury Street, established in 1856. The Roxbury Carpet Company, and the Howard Watch and Clock Company are also well known for the excellence of their productions. There are seven large breweries in Roxbury.
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