USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Walks & talks about historic Boston > Part 7
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A Royal Officer sent to America by the Government of Charles the Second, said of the Colony of Massachusetts
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Bay: "There are many able to bear arms, between thirty and forty thousand, four thousand alone in the town of Boston. Their trained bandsmen are twelve troop of horse, and six thousand foot; each troop consists of sixty horses besides offi- cers; all are well mounted, completely armed with back, breast and head pieces, buff coats, carbines and pistols; each troop distinguished by their coats. The foot are also well armed with swords, muskets and bandoliers. Three miles from Boston is a castle of stone, lately built and in good re- pair; with four bastions and mounted with 88 guns, 16 whole culvain, commodiously seated upon a rising ground, sixty paces from the water side, under which at high water mark is a stone battery of six guns. There is a small brick fort lately made at the South End of Boston, with two tiers of guns, six in each. One platform on the North side of the town ( North Battery) commanding the river to Charlestown, made of loose stones and turf. Here are mounted five demi- culverin and two small guns. There are in the public stores, commonly, a thousand pounds of powder, with other am- munition and arms, proportionately.
About seven miles away in Dorchester is a powder mill in good repair and well wrought. There is in the country great quantities of ingredients for powder, especially upon islands, where fowls frequent, and in swamps, where pigeons roost. There is a great plenty of iron ore and as good can be made here as any in Sp in.".
From the foregoing account it can be seen that for over 140 years following the settlement, Boston grew rapidly in wealth and population and was the leading city of North America at the outbreak of the Revolution. The Boston Port Bill which closed the harbor and cut off all foreign trade for many months, was a serious interruption and crushing blow to its commercial supremacy, and it took Boston many years to recover from it.
In 1876, at the celebration of the one hundredth anniver- sary of the Evacuation of Boston by the British, the orator of the day, the Rev. George E. Ellis, in his address gave quite a vivid word picture of Boston in Revolutionary Days, from which we quote: "Well to do, forehanded, were the local phrases, by which the general condition of the people would have been described. There was a real wealth, too, in the hands of some, with complacency, luxury and display. There were stately and substantial dwellings, with rich and solid
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furnishings for parlor, dining room, hall and chamber, with plate and tapestry, brocades and laces. There were portraits by foreign and domestic artists, of those who were ancestors and of those who meant to be ancestors. There were formal costumes and manners for gentry, with parade and etiquette, a self respectful decorum in intercourse with their own and other classes, warm hospitality, good appetites and abundant viands, and liquids and solids for all. The buildings were de- tached, none of them in blocks. The houses of many of the merchant princes and high magistrates were, relatively, more palatial than are any in the city today. They stood conspicu- ous and large, surrounded by generous spaces with lawns and trees, with fruit and vegetable gardens, and fields for pasture, and coach and cattle barns. There were fine equip- ments and black coachmen and footmen. There were still wide unfenced spaces, and declivities and thickets, where the barberry bush, the flag and the mullein stalk grew undis- turbed.
"There were many quaint old nooks and corners, taverns and inns, coffee houses, the drinking vessels in which were not especially adapted to that beverage-shops designated by emblems and symbols, loitering places for news and gossip resorts for boys and negroes, for play and roguery and some dark holes in wharf or lane. There were some thousand build- ings, four being of stone, of which King's Chapel was one and that alone remains. Between Beacon Street and the foot of Park Street stood the Work House, the Poor House and the Bridewell, all facing the Common. On the site of Park Street Church stood the Granary, and opposite was a large manufacturing building which was used by the British during their occupation of the town. The jail occupied the site of the Old Court House-King and Queen-now State and Court Streets, were the most completely covered and lined with taverns and dockings, marts and offices of exchange. The house provided for the British Governor was opposite the 'Old South,' standing far back, stately and commodious. with trees and lawns, extending to Washington Street. The Old State House, a dignified looking building, held the halls of the Council and the representatives, with royal portraits and adornings. How little is there now which the patriots and citizens of old days would recognize were they to come back !"
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In 1784, after the close of the Revolutionary War, a Lon- don newspaper noted the arrival of two ships from Boston, both in ballast, being unable to obtain cargoes of any sort. At that time nothing but American products could be carried in American vessels to England. It was about this time that Boston merchants began to look for trade in far distant coun- tries and to increased facilities for handling the trade.
Boston in 1825, as Seen from Dover Street Bridge
The filling in and making of new land began at a very early date and much of it in those days was done by individuals. The town, as one has said, "was pretty near all water front," Those who lived on the water front, filled in to increase their wharfage facilities and those who lived on the hillsides dug into the hills to make their land level. Where Faneuil Hall now stands was once the Town Dock, and as early as 1710 the town filled in this dock, and in 1826 the town pushed still farther into the bay and captured 167,000 feet of land, as we describe in the account of Mayor Quincy's administration.
The first great and systematic undertaking for enlarging the area of Boston was begun by a Corporation chartered in 1804 called the Front Street Improvement. Washington Street was the only thoroughfare running from the heart of the city across the Neck to Roxbury. A new street, Harrison
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Avenue, was made running nearly parallel with Washington Street. The filling in of the flats thus enclosed added nearly nine acres of valuable building property. In 1805, Uriah Cotting, James Lloyd, Francis Cabot Lowell and Harrison Gray Ottis, formed a corporation called the India Wharf proprietors and built India Wharf, completing it three years later. For fifty years it was the headquarters of the trade with the Orient and many valuable cargoes from Can- ton, Calcutta, Russia and the Mediterranean ports were dis- charged there.
The cut shows the long line of warehouses on the wharf as they appeared prior to the building of Atlantic Avenue. The stores were sold to private individuals, save a few, which were reserved for the proprietors themselves. There were 30 stores in the block. Many Bostonians of today can recall the time when several large square riggers were moored at the wharf, unloading their cargoes of tea, coffee, spices and fruit. At the same time this India Wharf im- provement was going on private enterprise was at work on the region west of Beacon Hill, and Charles Street was built and from this many years later the Back Bay improvement was to develop. Beacon Hill was being dug down at about the same time and the gravel was used to fill in the Mill Pond. Before it was dug down the hill was as high as the top rail at the base of the State House dome. A large por- tion of the work was done in the years 1824-1825.
The North Cove land is now occupied by the Boston and Maine Terminals and by officers and ware rooms of the iron and steel industries and other large manufacturing plants and stores. From the foot of the Common to the uplands of Brookline there was a broad expanse of marsh and tidal river. The distance was about two miles and the only means of communication in early days was by a very cir- cuitous route. Uriah Cotting, who was a far sighted and public spirited citizen, originated the plan of using the rise and fall of the tides for industrial labor, which resulted in the formation of the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation, which was authorized to build a dam from the end of Bea- con Street at Charles Street to Sewall's Point at Brook- line, together with a crossdam from a point in Roxbury to the main causeway, each dam was to be used as a highway, on which the company was empowered to collect tolls. Parker Hill Quarry, Roxbury, furnished the stone for this
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dam. This enterprise was undertaken and prosecuted against the wishes of many citizens. In July 1821, a State Commission gave the coporation permission to fill in the land for residential purposes. About the middle of the last century the commonwealth came into possession of a large portion of the unfilled territory. In 1864 the land was rap- idly filled in, streets were laid out, and as a result we have today the beautiful Back Bay district, a section unsurpassed by any city in the land. Many will recall the old Mill Dam road, especially in the winter season, when the sleighing was good and the road filled with elegant turnouts, in which
Block of Stores, Old India Wharf
were the elite of the city, watching the fast trotters. driven by their wealthy owners. Certainly no auto parade can compare in point of beauty or attractiveness with those old time winter days on the Mill Dam.
The filling in of the Back Bay was followed by the laying out and building of Atlantic Avenue, a broad water front street, extending from Summer Street to Commercial Wharf, absorbing that portion of Broad Street from Sum- mer Street to Rowe's Wharf.
The gravel for this improvement was obtained from Fort Hill which was thus brought down to a level and a large and valuable and much needed area was added to the busi- ness district of the city. The South Cove was filled with earth brought from Roxbury and Dorchester. On this land is the South Terminal Station, the headquarters of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company. There are also city buildings, a large and fine modern hotel, mills, business blocks and lumber yards. All these improvements
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have increased the city's tax lands by millions of dollars, besides adding to the appearance of the city in the eyes of strangers and contributing to the convenience of all her citizens.
The latest reclamation and improvement is the Charles River Embankment and Charles River Basin. Here a broad esplanade, one and a half miles long, borders a permanent basin.
The growth of Boston by reclamation, has been mar- velous, showing man's endeavor and ability to overcome natural and formidable obstacles. In former days, Boston was practically an island. She is now inseparably a part of the mainland.
The Dlo State house
This ancient building, erected in 1748, stands on the site of the earliest market place of the town. The first Town House was built of wood in 1657, from funds bequeathed to the town for that purpose by Capt. Robert Keayne, the first commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- pany. That building went down in the great fire of 1711 which destroyed many other buildings in that vicinity.
In our article on the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, we give a short sketch of Captain Keayne and of his being summoned before the Magistrates of the town, tried, found guilty, and punished by imprisonment, for mak- ing too much money in his business. At his death in 1658, he left three hundred pounds to Boston for the erection of a Town House, which, as one writer has remarked, "was heaping coals of fire upon the heads of his townsmen." He outlined that the Town House should contain a market place, room for the courts, room for the Townsmen, Com- missioners, for a library, a gallery for the Elders a room for an armory, and rooms for merchants and masters of vessels. After the matter was duly considered by the selectmen, the town chose a committee to prepare plans for the Town House. This committee was given full power in August. 1658, to erect a building to bind the town for the payment of the contract price. The building was sixty-six feet long, thirty-six feet wide, set upon twenty-one pillars ten feet high. The second story was partitioned off, making the rooms de- sired. There was a walk on top, fifteen feet wide, with two turrets, and balusters and rails around the walk.
The building cost six hundred and eighty pounds, and the balance required in addition to the legacy of Captain Keayne was contributed by one hundred and four citizens. The fire that burned this Town House in 1711, burned all the houses from School Street to Dock Square, all the upper part of King Street, and the old Meeting House. The "News Let- ter" ascribed the source of the fire to an old Scotch woman who lived in a tenement at the head of the street. A fire she
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was using spread to some chips and other combustibles near by, and thence to the tenement in which she lived. A new Town House was immediately erected, one-half of the ex- penses being met by the Province, and one-quarter by the
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The Old State House
Town of Boston, and one-quarter by the County of Suffolk. The new building was of brick, one hundred and ten feet long, thirty-eight feet wide, and provided accommodations for the Governor, the Courts, the Secretary of the Province, and for the Register of Deeds. This building was partially burned in another great fire in 1747, and the present struc-
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ture built in 1748, has an exterior practically the same. Pre- vious to the Revolution this building was the official head- quarters of the Royal Governors and the Provincial Council, and the legislature of the Colony held its sessions there.
When the new State House on Beacon Hill was completed in 1798, the Great and General Court moved into it, and all the State Officers were transferred to the new building. Some events of great historical moment have occurred in and around the old building. Here occurred the Revolution of 1689, when the Colony rebelled against the administration of Sir Edmund Andros. Here in 1699 was held the trial of that great and famous pirate, Captain Kidd, who after his conviction was confined until his execution in the damp and gloomy prison on Court Street. That building was the pre- decessor of the Court House recently demolished to make way for the annex to Boston City Hall.
The Boston Massacre March, 1770, occurred just in front of the balcony of the building, and when Boston was in the wildest excitement over the odious Stamp Act, her citizens burned stamped Clearances in front of its doors. From the balcony looking down State Street was read the news of the death of George the Second, and the accession of George the Third to the throne. In this old State House in the words of Samuel Adams, "Independence was born." In the mind of every American patriot it will ever be associated with Samuel Adams' memorable interview with Governor Hutchinson, after the Boston Massacre, when, representing the outraged citizens assembled at the Old South Meeting House, he de- manded the removal of all the British troops in Boston to Castle William in the harbor. In this Old State House in 1778, the Count D'Estaing, Commander of the French fleet, was received by Governor Hancock. In it Generals Howe, Clinton and Gage held a Council of War before the battle of Bunker Hill. On July 18th, 1776, from the famous East win- dow, Colonel Crafts read to the assembled multitude the Declaration of Independence.
General Washington in 1789 as he stood upon the bal- cony received a great ovation from the citizens, and reviewed a long procession in his honor. Here John Hancock was inaugurated First Governor of the Commonwealth. The plans for the capture of Louisburg-a great event in the provincial history of Massachusetts-were conceived and completed within the walls of the Old State House. In its
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Court Room, James Otis made his great plea against the Writs of Assistance, and four years later, in the same Court Room, was held the trial of Captain Preston and his soldiers, who took part in the "Boston Massacre." Governor Gage was sworn into office in the hall of the "Old State House in 1774. From 1692 until 1774-75, when the Province con- cluded to dispense with its Governors, eleven such Chief Magistrates had received the Royal Commission, and had been proclaimed to the people from the State House."
The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts was planned in this building. Originally the steeple was much higher than at present, and where the clock now is, was once a great sun dial. When the British evacuated Boston, March 17, 1776, they took with them from the Council Chamber of the Old Town House, the "Royal Coat of Arms" to St. John, New Brunswick, and set it up in Trinity Church in that town. It was in this church that the Rev. Mathew Byles, who after his banishment from Boston on account of his pronounced Tory sentiments, served as Rector for twenty-five years, where his remains now repose. When the great fire swept over St. John over thirty years ago, and Trinity Church went down, this Coat of Arms (Lion and Unicorn) was the only relic saved, and is now set up in the new Trinity Church. History has handed down the story of a little event which occurred under the shadow of this old building. It was a Festival to celebrate the triumph of the French Revolution, and was held January 23, 1793. A long table was set out in the middle of State Street, extending from the Old State House to Kilby Street. The feature of the banquet was an ox which weighed 1000 pounds, roasted whole, and drawn in triumphal procession, by 16 horses through the principal streets, before gracing the festal board. Two great hogsheads of punch followed on a second cart. and a third was heaped high with bread. State Street was then a largely residential district, and roofs and balconies were crowded with spectators. They did not remain long, for the diners, prompted perhaps by the liberality of the punch, began to hurl pieces of the ox into the air. It was not a welcome substitute for confetti, and the dinner finally broke up in disorder. A repetition of this out of door feast, in the same location, today would cause more confusion than the greatest financial panic."
In the 17th century the public whipping post and the
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stocks were in the immediate vicinity of the building. Up to within a few years, a large part of the building had been given over to mercantile purposes, yielding a revenue to the city, but it is now renovated and will be preserved and cared for as an historical relic. The upper stories are occu- pied by the Bostonian Society. This Society was incor- porated in 1881, and its object is "promoting the study of the history of Boston, and the preservation of its contigui- ties, and the collection by gift, loan or purchase, books, man- uscripts and pictures of an historical nature." Already the Society has a valuable collection which is open daily to the inspection of the public during the business hours of the day. In the main hall is a very large round table around which Governors of the State and their Councillors have sat, in the last century and discussed many matters affecting the weal or woe of the Commonwealth. It was formerly in the Council Chamber of the present State House, but during Governor Benjamin F. Butler's administration, it was sent to the Old State House, as he believed it came from there and should be carefully preserved as an historical relic. There is also in this hall a table that was used in the Han- cock House, and a chair that belonged to Madam Dorothy Hancock. A desk of John Hancock's is still doing good service in the room of the Secretary. Over the registry desk hangs a picture of one of the famous Boston Tea Party. A Lantern which hung on the Liberty Tree at the illumination celebrating the repeal of the Stamp Act hangs in the main hall. One room of the Society's is called the "Commission Room," and here framed and hung upon the walls are Commissions given by Royal and State Govern- ment to various persons, for various offices, mostly military.
In the cases around the front hall are many exceedingly interesting relics. Plates and Sugar Bowls used by Gov- ernor Hutchinson, a cup and saucer used by the officers of the United States frigate "Constitution." One case is known as the "Hancock Case" and contains many things that once belonged to John Hancock and his family. There is a red velvet coat, blue figured silk waistcoat, and drab trunks, which doubtless were worn by him at social functions or on gala occasions; a long wallet with his name stamped on it; shoe buckles, keys of the rooms of his house, most ponder- ous affairs; pitcher and punch bowl, books from his church pew, probably Brattle Street Church, his large Family Bible
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and a Book of Common Prayer large enough for a pulpit desk; a bill head from his counting house, which is a fine specimen of the engraver's art. There are two pairs of kid slippers that were worn by Dorothy Q.
Around these rooms are many portraits of men who helped build this Nation. There are Samuel Adams, James Otis, Daniel Webster and others. The swing sign, bearing a roughly executed portrait of John Hancock, now quietly re- poses in a corner of the Hall. It swung for many years in front of the old Hancock Tavern. If it could only speak, what reminiscences it could relate!
The Trumpeters on the Balcony of the Old State House
The Society in its Library Room has a wealth of papers. manuscripts and books of great interest to the student of local and of national history, and to this the public has free access.
The City Government of Boston is to be congratulated on its action in restoring this building to its old time simple grandeur, and making it, like the Old South and Faneuil Hall, an object lesson to all the citizens, native and foreign born, emphasizing the fact that character towers far above the mere accumulation of riches.
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In the building are the following tablets, viz :-
1634 Site of Public Market Place 1657 First Town House Burnt 17II. Rebuilt 1713 Occupied by The Great and General Court and The Royal Governor Under George I, II, III.
1780 JOHN HANCOCK Signer of The Declaration of Independence was here inaugurated First Governor of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1780-1793 Occupied by The General Court 1830-1839 By the City Governor.
EXTERIOR TABLETS.
At the West End is the following Tablet:
OLD STATE HOUSE. Site of the Ancient Market House Site of the First Town House Erected 1658-Burned 171I. This Building Erected 1712. "Here the Child Independence was born." Sam. Adams. Washington here received the tribute of an enfranchised people-1789. In Use as a City Hall 1830-1839.
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At the East End :-
OLD STATE HOUSE. From the Balcony was proclaimed The Repeal of the Stamp Act 1766 The Declaration of Independence 1776 Peace with England 1783 On the South side of the Old State House. OLD STATE HOUSE. Gov. Andrew's tyranny-here overthrown. 1689 James Otis here made his speech against the Writs of Assistance. 1766
On the North Side:
OLD STATE HOUSE Captain Preston and his soldiers Here tried for killing three citizens in the Boston Massacre-1770 Demand here made for removal of British troops from Boston-1778 State Constitution here proclaimed 1780
Peter Faneuil
Faneuil Dall The huguenots and the Faneuil Family
There is no hall in America so rich in historical memories and associations as this old Cradle of Liberty. "Its name calls to mind that Boston group of French Huguenots who were such zealous and active patriots in the days of the Revolution : Paul Revere. a leader of the Boston Tea Party, and the hero of the famous midnight ride; Richard Dana, the people's champion in their fight against the Stamp Act; and James Bowdoin, who proved himself a thorn in the flesh of the royal governors." These exiles from France, driven hither by a bitter religious persecution, were, numerically, comparatively insignificant among the founders of the re- public, but "they entered with earnestness and vigour into all the hopes and plans of the new nation. They gave property and life in behalf of the principles they had so eagerly cham- pioned in France. They faced danger and had their full share of suffering in the struggle for independence." Of these refugees as a whole body, Henry Cabot Lodge speaks as follows: "I believe that in proportion to their numbers, the Huguenots produced and gave to the American Republic more men of ability than any other race." In making this statement he had in mind the long roll of illustrious names- all Huguenots, or of Huguenot descent, in all the walks of life who have adorned the pages of American history.
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