USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
In 1876 the total valuation of Boston was $748,996,210
In 1889 do 795,433,744
Ward 11 in 1876, $47,277,000 real ; $30,753,700 personal
11 " 1889, $76,434,100 “ $47,743,800 66
Ward 22 " 1876, $15,544,100 $2,056,900
. 22 " 1889, $27,446,900 66 $2,167,200
Or jointly wards 11 & 22, total in 1889 $153,800,000
" 1876 95,600,000
do a gain of $58,000,000
or more than the total gain throughout the city between these two dates.
Even this does not show all the recent gain in property. In 1879 the valuation of the whole city sank to $613,322,000. Then Ward 11 had $70,100,000, and Ward 22, $15,000,- 000, or a total of $85,000,000, which in ten years has risen to nearly $154,000,000.
We can only add that the end seems still far remote, and that building operations show today no signs of cessation. The dwelling-houses continue to multiply, and the necessi- ties of business have caused stores to encroach upon the limits of former residence. The new bridge to Cambridge, though still un-opened, stands as the sign of the promised course of commerce. The system of electric-cars has doubtless been a powerful agent in recent enterprises, and the next score of years will very possibly see the entire Back Bay territory covered with buildings.
P. 160, line 6. For "Newton, perhaps a part of Cambridge," read " Newtown, the old name of Cambridge."
XX
PREFATORY NOTE.
P. 169. Since Shurtleff wrote, the descendants of Gov. Hutchinson have printed a portion of his Diary and Papers. In vol. 1, pp. 441-444, is the following historical sketch of Fort Hill, which contains facts not elsewhere to be found.
ST. JAMES] S[TREET. ], 18 May, 1775.
" MY LORD,
" Having received your Lordship's commands to lay before you a state of the facts relative to the King's title to the piece of ground within the limits of the town of Boston called Fort Hill, I shall most readily obey them as well as I am able without those materials with which I was furnished when I was in the Province.
" Fort Hill has been known by that name more than an hundred years. It is situated in the south and east part of the town : rises directly from the sea or Harbour to a very considerable heighth : has a large flat of an acre or two on the top : the ascent on every part is steep. At the foot of the Hill towards the sea, there has been a Platform, and a number of cannon - twenty, perhaps, or upwards- for a great number of years, and it has been known by the name of Boston South Battery. I remember that fifty years ago there was a breast-work of earth, and a turffed Glacis, over which the guns were mounted. It is now entirely gone, but the guns remain on carriages ; and there is also a small brick building, which serves as a Magazine or Store House, with a Flagstaff upon it. The King's colours are still hoisted, and the guns are fired upon publick occasions. There are also a Captain, Lieutenant, and other officers under the appointment of the Governor, and commissioned by him, with a Company of 60 men, destined to the service of this Battery, and exempt from other military duties : and I doubt not there has been such a Company, though not always alike in number, ever since, and probably many years before, the present Charter.
" In the year 1672, upon apprehensions of danger from the Dutch, a wall or wharffe was begun, and the greatest part of it finished, which was to extend from two points at the south and north parts of the town, within which sea wall, as it was called, was a large cove or basin, which would contain all their navigation. The south point
xxi
PREFATORY NOTE.
was said to be the Sconce, which was this South Battery, so that it was a known fortification at that time. Edward Randolph, in 1676, in a Narrative to the Lord's Committee for Trade and Planta- tions, says it was a small Brick Fort, with two tier of 6 guns each, without officers or men, and that it was lately built, which I sup- pose was a rebuilding in 1672. I remember about fifty years past, there was; upon the top of the Hill, a parcell of small wooden build- ings, in which poor people lived, and which, as I received it, were ap- pendages to a Fort there : and I have heard the officers who were in the expedition to Canada in 1711, speak of the buildings upon Fort Hill, and I have always received it that the Fort in which Sir Edmund Andros was besieged or surrounded, and which he surrendered to the people, was on the top of the Hill, and that the Battery below was called the Platform, and that they were said to go down from the Fort to the Platform. The surface of the ground upon the top of the Hill still carries with it the marks of an ancient Fort or building; and the four Bastions or angles are plainly to be distinguished.
" In the year 1737, and for some years after, I was one of the Se- lect men of the town of Boston : some of the inhabitants had en- croached upon this Hill : had erected buildings on some parts : fenced in or enclosed other parts. I know we then considered it as destined for the King's service as part of the fortification ground : and although the original property was in the town, and the Select men considered themselves as having so far the care and charge of it, as to prevent encroachments upon it, yet a special property in the King for a For- tress was always allowed : and this I take to be the sole reason why the Hill and the environs have not been sold, or built upon by the town, as other parts of Common ground have been : and to the same cause may in some measure be attributed the facility of making en- croachments by particular inhabitants, the town not being so active in preventing or removing them as it would have been if the property might have been conveyed. The Governors have not attempted [?] in a course of law to eject the intruders. They probably imagined that Juries would be very favourably disposed towards the possessors. I know that in the administration of Governor Belcher these encroach- ments were complained of ; and I have reason to think all succeeding
xxii
PREFATORY NOTE.
Governors have considered this Hill as appropriated for the purpose of a Fortress. After I came to the administration of government, I was informed of a design to make sale of the Hill, in order to render more difficult the making use of any part of it for the purpose of forti- fying. I acquainted the Secretary of State with my information, and received directions carefully to observe any motions of this sort, and to do everything in my power to hinder their taking effect. A Com- mittee of the town was afterwards appointed, but they had not made any further progress when I left the Province. Since that, General Gage, as I am informed, encamped one of his Regiments upon the top of this Hill.
" By the Charter of Charles I., the Corporation is authorised, by all fitting ways and means whatsoever, to repel and resist by force of arms, all such persons as shall at any time attempt or enterprise the destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance of the Plantation or inhabitants.
" Under this authority the Fortifications upon or near this Hill, were erected by the Corporation ; and the Hill, during the continuance of this Charter, or at any time since, never became the property of any private person.
" After the Charter of Charles I. was vacated, the Commanders in Chief, under Commissions from the Crown, took the possession of these Fortifications, and of the Hill in particular. Upon the Revolu- tion, the people resumed the form of government, as exercised under that Charter, which by a judgment, the force of which is not denied, had been expressly vacated, and afterwards by an authority under the Sign Manual of King William, the exercise of the powers of govern- ment were tolerated during pleasure.
" Soon after the inhabitants were again incorporated by the Charter of Wm & Mary. By this Charter all Military authority is placed in the Governor, appointed and commissioned by the Crown, and he is expressly authorised to erect Forts, and fortify any place or places within the Province, and to demolish such Forts at his pleasure. The first Governor after this Charter accordingly, became, as I conceive, possessed of the Fortress upon and below the Hill, and all the ground destined or suffered to be, and remain for the use and purpose of for-
xxiii
PREFATORY NOTE.
tification : and all succeeding Governors, for aught I have ever seen to the contrary, had the same right with the first Governor : and having possessed themselves of the Fortress, or of the lands for the purpose of fortifying, I know of no right or title in any other person or per- sons sufficient to dispossess them.
"It is worth observing, that in a plan of the town of Boston, pub- lished between the years of 1730 & 1740, the buildings of the Fort on the top of the Hill are there described : and no doubt were either then in part remaining, or were fresh in the remembrance of the publisher. I have the honour to be, my Lord," &c.
[THOMAS HUTCHINSON.]
It may be added that some years since there was found in the Essex Institute at Salem an engraved certificate for an enlisted soldier to serve in the South Battery, which was evidently made about the middle of the last century. A copy can be seen in Stark's " An- tique Views," together with Paul Revere's similar certificate for soldiers in the North Battery. Each engraving gives a representation of the locality specified.
P. 169. As Shurtleff gives the appropriation for the Fort Hill Im- provement as $1,250,000, I will add that the cost stands on the Auditor's books at $1,584,251.20. The change in the population was even greater than anticipated. The thousands of inhabitants of this section have since found more ample space in South Boston and Roxbury, until less than one hundred voters are to be noted as resident within this territory. The increase of taxable property is no less remarkable, and though checked somewhat by the effect of the fire, it seems certain that the value of land has not yet reached its highest point.
P. 181.
The State House. As a necessary supplement to what Shurtleff says, it should be stated that a set of five col- ored engravings were published by George G. Smith, in 1857-8, from drawings made when the excavations were in progress. These show the old Beacon and give a lively idea of the height of the hill in Colonial days.
xxiv
PREFATORY NOTE.
Beacon Hill, so called, remained for a long time unoccupied in the centre, being enclosed by house-lots fronting on Mt. Vernon, Temple, Derne and Hancock streets. In 1848 this territory, excepting the houses on Mt. Vernon street, was appropriated for the Reservoir and used in connection with the Water system. The building, of granite, was a basin 15 feet deep, supported on arches, 40 to 58 feet high. The top was 124 feet above tide level ; the ground area 200 by 185 feet, or 37,000 square feet. The basin area was 28,000 feet, and the capacity 2,700,000 gallons. Changes consequent on the growth of the city made the Reservoir useless, and in 1881 an order was passed to remove it. The stone was mostly used in public works and several years were required to complete the demolition. The public sentiment favored a reservation of the land for a public use, and finally by chap. 349 of Acts of 1888, the land was taken for a pro- posed addition to the State House. In addition thereto the block of houses on Mount Vernon street was taken, and Temple street from Derne street to Mount Vernon street was relocated and widened. The new building is now (1890) in process of construction, and promises to be an ornament to the city.
P. 231. The name of Lindall street, known as Lindall's Lane in 1733, was changed in 1873 to Exchange Place, to the regret of all antiquaries at least. A good account of the Lindall family is given in the N. E. Historical and Gen- ealogical Register, vii, 15-24. The street was named for Timothy Lindall who died in 1763.
P. 233.
The printing office on Congress street, long occupied by the Transcript has been removed and the site occupied by Monks' Building. Milton place was destroyed by the Great Fire and is now covered by great warehouses. A pretty view of the Friends' Meeting House in that place is given in the Boston Almanac for 1843.
P. 243. The South Burying-Ground on Washington street has
XXV
PREFATORY NOTE.
suffered changes since Shurtleff wrote. He mentions an encroachment in its limits by the erection of the St. James Hotel. This hotel passed into the hands of the New England Conservatory of Music, and was altered to meet its requirements. May 1, 1884, the City Council voted to sell to this corporation another slice of the grave- yard, viz. 11,000 feet for $3,080. (See Proceedings, p. 257.) Upon this lot it is authorized to erect a wooden building for temporary storage of the great organ formerly in the Music Hall, and there the matter has since stood.
P. 247.
Trinity Church Cemetery. The Church was destroyed at the time of the Great Fire, but fortunately by chap. 221 of Acts of 1871, the church had been authorized to sell its lands and to remove the tombs. This removal was in progress, but no interruption occurred by the fire, and all the remains not taken care of by relatives were duly deposited at Mount Auburn.
P. 263. Dr. Shurtleff states that the first prayer made at a funeral in Boston was in July, 1766. Dr. Samuel A. Green com- municated to the Massachusetts Historical Society, in Feb., 1890, a much earlier instance. It is recorded in the Boston Weekly News Letter for Dec. 31, 1730, and reads as follows : -
"Yesterday were buried here the remains of the truly honorable and devout gentlewoman; Mrs. Sarah Byfield, amidst the affec- tionate Respects and Lamentations of a numerous Concourse. Be_ fore carrying out the corpse, a Funeral Prayer was made by one of the Pastors of the Old Church, to whose Communion she belong'd : Which, tho' a Custom in the Country Towns, is a singular Instance in this place, but it is wish'd may prove a leading Example to the general Practice of so Christian and decent a Custom."
P. 278. Warren Cemetery, Roxbury, has been of late years known as Kearsarge Cemetery. For several years attempts have been made to devote this land to the use of the public schools as a play-ground, especially for the benefit of the Roxbury Latin School whose land adjoins it. (See City
xxvi
PREFATORY NOTE.
Doc. No. 81 of 1890.) An order to this effect was passed the present year, and such remains as are not re- moved from the graves will be covered under a sub- stantial covering of soil. A list of all inscriptions, &c., has been printed as a City document. The tombs are not included in the order, and are to be protected by a fence. P. 313. The Deer-park, mentioned by Shurtleff, remained for several years ; but in October 1882 an order was passed to dis- pose of all the deer, and the space was given to the City Forester for green-houses, &c.
P. 319.
Iron fence. In 1873 the iron fence to the Common on Tre- mont street was removed and set up at Mount Hope Cem- etery. A short trial however proved that public safety was thereby endangered, and in 1875 it was voted to build the present curb and low fence. By this change the old sidewalk was abolished and the space added to the road-way.
P. 337.
The Great Elm was finally blown down by the storm of Feb. 15, 1876. The off-shoot mentioned by Dr. Shurtleff is still growing vigorously ; but for security has been re- moved to another part of the Common. The iron fence after passing through various stages of injury, was finally removed in August, 1890. A flourishing elm planted some ten years ago now grows very near the old site.
In 1855, Dr. John C. Warren printed an account of the Great Tree ; his pamphlet contained a picture of the tree, and a reduced copy of Bonner's Map of Boston.
P. 345.
Shurtleff mentions that in 1866 an abortive attempt was made to erect a Soldiers' Monument. At that time a de- sign by Hammatt Billings was accepted, and $100,000 ap- . propriated. The foundation was put in, but as tenders for the monument were $160,000, the work was stopped. In 1870 a new competition was tried, the cost of the mon- ument being fixed at $75,000, and the design of Martin Milmore was accepted. The corner-stone was laid on Monday, Sept. 18, 1871. Mr. Milmore went to Rome
xxvii
PREFATORY NOTE.
and there spent five years in completing his work. The dedication of the finished monument took place Sept. 17, 1877, with imposing ceremonies, the address being deliv- ered by Gen. Charles Devens. A memorial volume, giving a full description of the monument, was issued by the City.
P. 349.
Shurtleff mentions, p. 215, the Brewer Fountain on the Com- mon, but some further notice seems proper. It appears in the printed Journal of the Common Council (1868, p. 179,) that May 11, 1867, Gardner Brewer, Esq., tendered to the City a fountain for the Common, and was voted thanks. June 2, 1868, he wrote enlarging his gift by making it one of a bronze fountain. "It was cast at the foundry of Messrs. Fourment, Houille & Co., Val d'Osne, France. The design is by Lienard, and the statuary from the chisel of Mathurin Moreau. The four large figures at the base represent Neptune, Amphitrite, Acis and Galatea." The fountain still remains, an ornament to the grounds.
It should be noted that by Chap. 53 of Acts of 1887 the Governor and Council were authorized to erect a memo- rial to Crispus Attucks and the other four persons killed at the "Boston Massacre," March 5th, 1770. The ex- pense was limited to $10,000, and the location was to be " some public place in the City of Boston." The site se- lected is on Tremont-street Mall, nearly opposite to Ma- son street ; and the City paid the cost of the foundation, &c. The design offered by Robert Kraus was accepted, and the monument was dedicated November 14th, 1888. The formal celebration took place on the same day at Faneuil Hall, John Boyle O'Reilly being the poet and John Fiske the orator. An account of the proceedings was published by the City in a memorial volume.
P. 354. The position of Boston Common, in conjunction with the fact that Beacon Hill rises along one side of it, has ren- dered it the subject of repeated attempts to curtail its
xxviii
PREFATORY NOTE.
size, or to divide it by road-ways. One of the most plau- sible and most nearly successful attempts to divert the use of the Common to a new object took place in 1877. In that year the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' As- sociation applied to the City Council for leave to erect a large building on the Parade-Ground, in which to hold a periodic exhibition. It was assumed that once conceded, the privilege would be renewed every third year. Public sentiment was however aroused, and a committee of citi- zens protested so vigorously that the permission was finally refused. Moreover, in consequence of this attempt, an Act was obtained, Chap. 223 of Acts of 1877, prohibiting the erection of any building of more than 600 square feet area in any public common or park, without the consent of the Legislature. The evidence at the hear- ings, together with some historical notes, was published in a pamphlet entitled "The Public Rights in Boston Common."
P. 361.
The Public Garden. Chap. 210 of Acts of 1859, § 3, pro- vides that " no building shall hereafter be erected be- tween Arlington and Charles streets, except such as are expedient for horticultural purposes ; provided, that nothing herein contained shall render it unlawful to erect a city hall on the public garden."
P. 367.
Shurtleff advised that other statues of the distinguished sons of Boston be placed on the Public Garden. Two have been added, but some that would doubtless have been placed there, under the old condition of affairs, are located elsewhere. On Commonwealth Avenue, the statue of Alexander Hamilton, by Dr. Rimmer, was erected in 1865; that of Gen. John Glover, by Milmore, was erected in 1875; and that of William Lloyd Gar- rison, by Olin L. Warner, was placed in position May 13, 1886.
The last-named statue was the gift of citizens, and a me- morial volume was printed by the City.
xxix
PREFATORY NOTE.
The statue of Samuel Adams, by Miss Anne Whitney, was erected in Adams Square in 1880, and that of John Win- throp, by Richard S. Greenough, in Scollay Square, in the same year. The statue of Josiah Quincy, the first mayor of the name, by Thomas Ball, was placed in front of City Hall in 1879.
William W. Story's statue of Col. Oliver Prescott was placed in 1881 in the grounds adjacent to Bunker Hill Monument.
In the Public Garden two additions have been made. The statue of Charles Sumner, who died March 11th, 1874, was placed in position April 29th, 1878, and is the work of Thomas Ball. On the occasion a eulogy was delivered by Hon. Carl Schurz, and a memorial volume printed. In 1889, a statue, by O'Kelley, of Col. Thomas Cass, was erected ; a memorial volume was ordered, but has not yet appeared.
In 1879, Hon. Moses Kimball presented to the City a bronze group, by Thomas Ball, " emblematical of Eman- cipation, the central figure of which is a representation of the late President Lincoln," on condition that it be placed upon the triangular lot at the junction of Columbus Ave- nue, Park Square and Pleasant Street. The gift was ac- cepted with thanks, and a suitable fence and curb pro- vided. The statue was dedicated December 6th, 1879, and thereafter an oration was delivered at Faneuil Hall, by the Mayor, F. O. Prince, and a poem by John G. Whittier was read. The City issued the customary me- morial volume.
P. 377. The Paddock Elms. Dr. Shurtleff in writing about these trees seems to have had a foreboding that they were doomed. In 1871 and 1872 petitions were presented for their removal. In 1874 the attack was renewed and vigorously pushed. The Board of Aldermen gave a public hearing, when the cause of the trees was eloquently defended by Gen. Samuel M. Quincy, E. S. Rand, jr., W.
XXX
PREFATORY NOTE.
C. Strong, George B. Emerson, John D. Bryant, Marshall P. Wilder, Rev. C. A. Bartol and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes ; but the Board, by a vote of eight to four, Feb. 24, 1874, directed the removal of the trees. The order was carried into effect with great promptitude.
P. 381. Church Green, since the fire, and in consequence of the con- version of all that neighborhood to business purposes, has become a vanishing tradition. It is now but an unnotice- able street-corner. Milton place, since the fire, has been opened through to Summer street at this point.
P. 383.
Franklin place. The stone warehouses of which Shurtleff speaks, and which were considered a very noticeable advance in the construction of stores, were all destroyed by the Great Fire. In 1861, there was published a book entitled " Sketches and Business Directory of Boston and its Vicinity in 1860 and 1861." It contains a full descrip- tion of the Franklin Street Improvement, with views and plans. At this time it seems that the enclosed space formerly in the middle of Franklin street, was thrown into the general highway. These wood-cuts, and most of the others in the book, had been used in the Boston Almanac, and were all lost in the fire.
P. 396. Pumps. The one which stood in front of the Old State House, in State street, appears in the picture in Snow's Geography, dated 1830, but is not visible in that view in Hale's Survey of 1821.
P. 399.
Capt. Robert Keayne. His will is printed in full in the Tenth Report of the Boston Record Commissioners.
P. 409.
Church of the Savior. Rev. R. C. Waterston was minister from 1845 to 1851. In or about 1852 this society seems to have consolidated with that of the Second Church, (the Mathers' Church of Hanover street), then under Dr. Chandler Robbins. On the west corner of Bedford and Chauncy streets, a large building was erected in 1857 by the Charitable Mechanics' Association ; here from Jan'y 12, 1863, to September 16, 1865, the City Government
xxxi
PREFATORY NOTE.
was located, during the building of the present City Hall. A picture of this building is in the "Sketches of Boston and Vicinity, 1861," p. 87. It stands on the ground for- merly occupied by the garden of Judge Charles Jackson, whose house was on the west side of Bedford place. On the east side of Bedford place lived Dr. J. B. S. Jackson, son of Capt. Henry Jackson ; and, for a time, a third brother of Charles and Henry, Dr. James Jackson, lived on the corner of Chauncy place and Summer street. George Higginson, Henry Lee and F. C. Lowell, with other related families lived in Bedford place and Chauncy place. These two courts were separated by a brick wall, (supplanted about 1847 by an iron fence) which allowed transit to foot passengers only. In Chauncy place, west side, stood Chauncy Hall School, founded by Gideon F. Thayer ; next stood the First Church, from 1808 to 1868, and on the corner of Summer street was a large house and garden. In 1858, Nahum Capen, post-master, removed the Post-Office to a building on this corner. The Post-Office was opened March 5, 1859, and moved back to the Exchange on State street, December 14, 1861. It is hardly necessary to say that the change to Summer street produced much complaint. A picture of this Post-Office building will be found in the Boston Almanac for 1859. It was destroyed in the Great Fire. In 1856 the fence between the two places was removed, and the street was named Chauncey ; but the official spelling of the name seems indeterminate.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.