The City Record and Boston News-Letter

Blue Hill Avenue

Photograph of building during construction. A and V Hollingsworth Store and Office Building. Blue Hill Avenue and Fairway Street, Mattapan, Boston. Mowell and Rand Architects. Charles L Devoe Company Electrical Contractors. September 20, 1930.
This is the Blue Hill Avenue elevation.

Image courtesy of the Dorchester Illustration of the Day email list, not to be reproduced without permission.

Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury and Dorchester, 1870; from 413 Dudley Street to Blue Hills Parkway at Mattapan; formerly Roxbury, Dorchester, and West Roxbury, 1870; from Dudley Street to Milton line; part in Roxbury from present Quincy Street, northwest, as far as junction of present Dennis Street and said avenue named as a part of Dennis Street, May 9, 1825; part from Warren Street to Dudley (formerly Eustis) Street including above part of Dennis Street named as a part of East Street, August 29, 1842; named Grove Hall Avenue, December 9, 1851; part from Warren Street to Milton line being constructed by Brush Hill Turnpike Corporation, location being filed September, 1805, and called Brush Hill Turnpike, sometimes also avenue; this turnpike laid out over a part of Canterbury Street, near Roxbury and Dorchester line; part in Dorchester from Milton line to highway near store of George L. Fisher laid out as a public highway, December, 1849; franchise relinquished by proprietors of the corporation, October 13, 1856; remainder of street as far as Warren Street in Roxbury, not before public, laid out as a public highway, December, 1856; name of Grove Hall Avenue extended over part in Roxbury from Warren Street to West Roxbury line at Seaver Street, January 28, 1867; Grove Hall Avenue (from Dudley Street to Seaver Street) and Brush Hill Avenue (from Seaver Street to Mattapan) named Blue Hill Avenue, October 25, 1870; relocated at a width of 120 feet, from Washington Street at Warren Street to River Street, Mattapan, November 5, 1894; the portion of Blue Hill Avenue from the south-easterly line of River Street to the Milton boundary line included in the taking for Blue Hills Parkway by Metropolitan Park Commission, February 28, 1901.

Corner Dorchester Avenue and Templeton Street, c. 1900

The corner of Dorchester Avenue and Templeton Street, pre-1911.

Image courtesy of the Dorchester Illustration of the Day email list.  Not to be reproduced without permission.

From the Record of Streets, published by the Street Laying-Out Department (Boston, 1910).

Templeton Street, Dorchester; from 569 Adams Street to 1840 Dorchester Avenue; from Adams Street, southwest, for a distance of about 800 feet, in 1884; laid out from Adams Street to Dorchester Avenue Nov. 6 1899.

Dorchester Avenue, Boston, South Boston, and Dorchester, 1854; from 303 Congress Street to junction of Admas Street and 1172 Washington Street at Lower Mills; formerly from Federal Street Bridge to junction Adams Street and Washington Street at Lower Mills; shown as an unnamed avenue on plan dated 1811; formerly called Dorchester Turbpike and sometimes, though improperly, South Boston Turnplike, and the aprt from dividing line between Boston and Dorchester to Federal Street Bridge called Turnpike Street;  Turnpike Street from Federal State Bridge to dividing line between Boston and Dorchester named Dorchester Avenue, March 27, 1854; part in Dorchester laid out and located April, 1854; lines changed in neighborhoods of Crescent Avenue and Pond (now East Cottage) Street, September 8, 1865; name of part formerly Turnpike Street and Dorchester Avenue to dividing line betweetn Boston and Dorchester changed to Federal Street in continuation of that street, Feburary 13, 1866; same renmaed Dorchester Avenue, March 1 1870; relocatedfrom Commercial (now Freeport) Street to Adams Street, August 18, 1881; relocated from Field's Corner to the Lower Mills, May 12, 1884; extended over Federal Street Bridge and over a small portion of the former location of Federal Street (now in the grounds of the Boston Terminal Company along Fort Point Channel and over portions of the same to Summer Street, April 8, 1897, under chapter 516 of the Acts of 1896; portion between Summer Street and Congress Street laid out by decree of the Superior Court, filed March 19, 1897, under authority of Acts of 1896, chapter 535; named Dorchester Avenue, March 1, 1901; grade changed so that the way may be carried under the Shawmut Branch Railroad, Oct 12, 1907, be decree of the Superior Court, acting under authority of chapter 111 of the Revised Statutes and chapter 440, Acts of Legislature of 1902.

Front Street, Boston

Bostonia has been kind enough to direct his readers to The City Record and Boston News-Letter in the quest for information on Boston's first Front Street, although I made my original comment here in response to another blog's observation about Boston's lack of a Front Street.  Confused?  Just another day on the web, with so many people talking amongst themselves it can sometimes be hard to just drop in on the conversation.

Boston has had two Front Streets.  The first Front Street was in the North End along the water, and dates to the earliest days of the town.  It was renamed by the early 18th century, and was in the area of present day North Street.  The second Front Street. the subject of the post I responded to, ran along the waters of South Bay (follow the Fort Point Channel inland) in the 1800s and was quite content being known as Front Street until William Henry Harrison caught pneumonia and died within weeks of being inaugurated President in 1841.  Front Street was renamed in his honor a few weeks after his death.

Cornhill, Downtown Boston

Cornhill, Boston, 1829; from Washington Street to Court Street; laid out from Tremont Street at Scollay's Building across Court Street to Cornhill (now Washington Street) , near Brattle Alley including Belknap's Yard and named Cheapside, March 5, 1816; named Market Street, June 11, 1817; part between arch leading to Brattle Street and Dock Square named Market Row, October 1, 1817; from Court Street to Washington Street named Cornhill, May 6, 1829; sometimes called New Cornhill; part between Tremont Street and Court Street named Pemberton Square, February 19, 1838, and Scollay Square, June 25, 1838.

From the Annual Report of the Street Laying Out Department for the Year 1894 (Boston, 1895).

Samuel Drake, in Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston, mentions that the Market Street noted in the description above became the second street to bear the name Cornhill. Laid out by Uriah Cotting (also responsible for the Mill Dam that separated the Back Bay from the Charles River), the stores along Cornhill were of note for being the first in Boston built on granite pillars.

How Do I Get to the Punch Bowl Tavern?

Over the weekend I attended a wedding here in Boston at the New England College of Optometry. While a college of optometry might strike one as an odd location for a wedding, it begins to make more sense when one learns that the college is headquartered in the former Sears Mansion on Beacon Street. Institutions often have a poor track record with historic facilities, however the New England College of Optometry has done a stellar job in restoring the home.

Driving back to Brookline through the raging snowstorm that night [this was last December--this is a repost, ed.] I followed the arrow straight route of Beacon Street to Kenmore Square and turned left onto Brookline Avenue to Route 9. While this may not seem important, I was in fact tracing one of the most neglected historic routes in the city. Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue pay tribute to the legacy of Boston's forgotten real estate development genius of the early 19th century, Uriah Cotting. Cotting, whose other developments included Cornhill, Broad Street, and India Wharf, died young and hence is relatively unknown. The Mill Dam attempted to harness the tidal power of the Charles River to provide the energy for grain mills which would be constructed along the mill dam. The Mill Dam stretched from the roughly what is now the corner of Beacon and Charles to Sewall's Point (Kenmore Square). A second road (Brookline Avenue) connected to the Worcester Turnpike (Route 9) at the site of the Punch Bowl Tavern.

Mill Dam/Beacon Street

From the Annual Report of the Street Laying Out Department for the Year 1894:

Mill Dam, Boston; from Charles Street to Sewall's Point in Brookline; projected in 1819; Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation incorporated and authorized to build same in 1814; begun in 1818; completed and opened to travel, July 2, 1821, the road over same being called Western Ave; shown from Charles Street to Side Mill Road on plan dated 1832; land covered by the Mill Dam released by the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation to the Commonwealth by indenture of June 9, 1854, "to be forever kept open as a public highway:" parts laid out as Western Ave at different times and later (1865) all included in Beacon Street.

Cowpaths and Streets

I've long stopped trying to correct people who claim that Boston's first streets were created by following cow paths. While a romantic notion, cows generally didn't walk the streets of Boston. Boston Common served as the town's cow pasture for many years and the penalty for having a pig or cow wander off encouraged owners to keep an eye on their animals. In some New England towns one can still find the remains of "piggeries," which functioned as holding pens for errant livestock. Upon payment of a fine to the town warden, an animal could be redeemed by its rightful owner. There is a certain irony that the path known as Cow Lane, now High Street, is a relatively straight downtown street with a curve that can be ascribed to the shoreline rather than a wandering cow.

I have in my possession a document dated Boston, June 5, 1804: Received of Mr. Nye 75 Cents, in full of the Tax for his Cow, for the present year.  John Gammell. This would appear to be a charge for the use of Boston Common for cow grazing. Boston banned cows on the Common in 1830, a few years after incorporating as a City in 1822. It is unclear whether this decision had something to do with the bicentennial of Boston's founding in 1630, the City's self image, or some combination thereof. Soon after Boston annexed Dorchester in 1869, a decision was made not to allow Dorchester cows to graze on the Town Field, which is just past Fields Corner on Dorchester Avenue. A friend recently informed me that cattle used to be driven through Dorchester on their way to the stockyards in Brighton. Cattle grazed in fields down along the Neponset and were driven to market up Adams Street in Dorchester, over Meetinghouse Hill, down Hancock Street along the back side of Jones Hill, and then through Roxbury. The practice apparently continued into at least the 1870s, if not the 1880s. We tend to forget that the economy of towns around Boston in the pre-Civil War era was generally based on agriculture, with Boston as a ready market.

Snow Hill Street

Boston Street of the Day

From the Annual Report of the Street Laying Out Department for the Year 1894:

Snow Hill Street, Boston; from Prince Street to Charter Street; from Prince Street to the end of Ferry-way by Hudson's Point, 1708; called Snow Street in 1722, 1732, 1738; from Charlestown Bridge up to the burying-ground on Copp's Hill, 1800; from Prince Street across Copp's Hill to Charter Street, 1817; laid out between Hull Street and Charter Street, April 10, 1837.

Notes:  The Annual Report of the Street Laying Out Department also mentions Snow Hill, Boston; at the northern extremity of the town; later called Copp's Hill. So Snow Hill did get its name from being one of the most likely spots in Boston to be snowy. Our forebearers were very practical in that respect and future entries will look at streets which bear names related to topographical features no longer extant.