The City Record and Boston News-Letter

Lightning Strikes

From the 1841 Boston Alamanac:

25 August 1840

During a heavy shower, a new unfinished house on the South Cove land, near Front street [soon to be Harrison Avenue], owned by Mr. Nathan Wheeler, was struck by lightning.  The fluid knocked off the top of the chimney, then ran on an iron brace leading from the chimney to the roof, where it entered the house, making a hole about four feet square, and tearing off all the plastering in the attic.  It then ran down a zinc spout, and made a passage about a foot square through the wall into the cellar, without doing any farther damage to the building.  A man at work in the second story of the house, and two others about fifteen rods from the building, were knocked down; all of them recovered in a short time.

How Soon is Now? Or, Where's the South End Subway?

View of Washington Street in 1948 and "soon" from Surging Cities published in 1948 by the Greater Boston Development Committee. (as always, click photo to enlarge)

Attention:  If you really, really hate the Silver Line and wanted to have light rail on Washington Street, either stop reading here or take your blood pressure medication.

Surging Cities is a remarkable document, a textbook published in 1948 for secondary school students which looks at how cities have grown in the past and the prospects for Boston's future. It is filled with maps, charts, and photographs--the I-95 and Inner Beltway make an appearance, the need for urban renewal is discussed (watch out West End!), housing projects are promoted.  Some of it seems quaint now--Filene's helicopter delivery of packages never really took off (no pun intended)--and some of it seems downright crazy, like the plans for South Bay.  What really caught my eye this morning were the projects listed under the heading "Most Urgent Transit Projects" and the photo above of Washington Street. 

From Surging Cities:

"When the Legislature created the M.T.A. [Metropolitan Transit Authority], it specified that the following projects should be given first attention:
    (a) Enlargement and improvement of the Scollay Square, Park Street, and Boylston Street stations and the construction of two additional tracks between Scollay Square and Park Street stations.  At present, there are four tracks between North Station and Scollay Square; and four tracks from park Street to Boylston Street.  As the section between Scollay Square and Park Street has only two tracks, it is now the most serious bottleneck in central Boston.  The above improvements were authorized by the 1948 legislature at an estimate cost of $11,500,000.
    (b)  The removal of the elevated structures and the construction of subways in their place.  The 1948 Legislature authorized $19,000,000 for extension of the Washington Street Tunnel to a point near Cedar Street, Roxbury and for tearing down a long section of the Washington Street El.
    (c)  Extension of rapid transit service service as far as Braintre by the use of the lines of the Old Colony Railroad, which is one of the steam railroad commuting lines that has been losing money.  Notice of suspension of its service has been given.  Various alternate plans to meet this situation are being considered.
    (d) Extension of the Cambridge Subway to a point near Porter Square.  This proposal is described in more detal in the previous section "Plan of the Rapid Transit Commission." [I may try to post this later]

Projects A, C, and D were ultimately completed. [Update:  Ron Newman comments below that Project A wasn't completed and I have no reason to doubt him.  So C and D which serve non-Bostonians get built but the projects within the City of Boston don't get built.  I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist but this is worth further investigation.]  But in 1948 the Legislature authorized $19,000,000 to put a subway under Washington Street through the South End and into Roxbury past Dudley Square.  The only questions that remain are (a) What happened to the money? and (b) Where's our subway?

The map below shows where the elevated line would have gone underground, at approximately the intersection of Cedar Street and Washington Street in Roxbury, before reaching Dudley Square as one headed toward Boston.

Update:  A commenter below asks if this wasn't just a simple planning change.  It wasn't, at least in my reading of it, for a number of reasons. According to Surging Cities, money was appropriated for the project, but was never spent. I find this odd. This tunnel was listed as an "urgent project" and was part of the reason for the creation of the MTA, yet the old elevated didn't come down until almost 40 years later.  No one in 1948 envisioned the Orange Line in its present location--they envisioned a highway.  For one reason or another, the project never got built and now I'm going to have to do the research and figure out why not.  From a purely engineering standpoint, Washington Street was the only logical place to put a subway since it was the only part of that area of Boston which had historically not been underwater.

The 1948 Highway Plan (a fascinating read) included a number of projects which were never built for a number of reasons--political, financial, etc.  When the I-95 plan was stopped in 1970 or 1971, work had already progressed to clear part of the corridor where the Orange Line now runs (a corridor which was, at least out to Forest Hills, part of a historic rail corridor anyway so putting a train line through there certainly wasn't a new idea).  The elevated line along Washington Street ultimately came down around 1987 or so.

The idea of a highway coming into Boston from the southwest is even older than 1948.  The 1930 Thoroughfare Plan has a highway running parallel to Blue Hill Avenue through Roxbury and then along where Albany Street runs through the South End to the South Station Area. There was also a Roxbury Crosstown road which would have run through North Dorchester, the Dudley Square area, and on through the Fenway.

Visit the City Record and Boston News-Letter Store.

________________

More Cheerful 19th Century News

Nativism? Check.  Drowning? Check. Petty theft? Check.  Skull fractures? Check.  Devastating fire? Check.  Granite mutilation? Check.  All courtesy of the 1838 and 1841 Boston Almanacs.

13 August 1837

A good deal of excitement occasioned by the promulgation of an order that no person should be admitted into the Fire Department but "native citizens".  The Board of Aldermen remedied the difficulty by changing the term to "citizens of the United States."

13 August 1840

A young man named Richard Wilby lost his life by a fall from the rocks on Little Nahant, where he was climbing in an attempt to obtain some minerals.

15 August 1837

A swindler passed a dollar bill altered to a ten, at the box office of the Lion Theatre, received his change and escaped detection.

17 August 1837

Some disorderly persons in Charlestown mutilated several handsome granite posts in front of the block of brick buildings near Dr. Walker's meeting house.

18 August 1837

George W. Kilham, about 37 years old, dropped down dead near Mr. Dearborn's shoe store, in Hanover Street, about 6 o'clock in the afternoon.  His disease upon examination to be an ulcer of the heart.

18 August 1837

James Williams, Jr. of Boston, on bail of $5000 in New York, for obtaining goods on false pretences, left that city without advising his bail, and travelled eastward, swindling tavern keepers, etc. in his progress.  An officer despatched in pursuit finally arrested him in Portsmouth, N.H. where he had established himself as a tailor and dancing master, and returned him into the safe keeping of Bridewell.

19 August 1837

A waggon came in contact with a chaise containing a lady and gentleman, in Charlestown Square, broke both shafts, and let down the lady under the horse's hind feet.  The horse being quiet, she crept out with no other injury than dirtying her dress and jamming her Tuscan.  [ed. note:  what is a Tuscan?]

21 August 1837

Charles Harlow committed to jail for stealing silver spoons at the north part of the city.

21 August 1840

Richard S. Stearns, of Salem, was thrown from a chaise in Salem Street [what are the odds?] and his skull was so badly fractured that he died the next morning.  His horse started at seeing a pile of bricks in the street.

23 August 1840

Gardner Brewer's Distillery in Distill House Street, partially destroyed, with 100 hogsheads of rum and several of molasses.  The fire spread to Edward's carpenter's shop, opposite, where the loss was considerable.  The storehouse of Mr. Brewer, adjoining, was wholly destroyed.  Loss 12 or $15,000, covered by insurance.  It is believed that the distillery was struck by lightning.

Boston Book Blowout!

The City Record and Boston News-Letter is clearing out its library and has found several books which may be of interest to our readers.  If you would like more information, please email me and I can tell you a little more about condition, shipping costs, etc.  The first two people to order three (3) books will receive a free copy of the 1975 edition of "Victorian Boston Today: Ten Walking Tours".  Most of these books are out of print, a few very scarce.  I also have a number of books that I haven't put up online yet.  You can browse my library and if you see something of interest, email me and I will let you know if it is for sale.

Richard Brown, Revolutionary Politics in Massachusetts: The Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Towns, 1772-1774 (1976)  pbk  $5

Alan Lupo et al. Rites of Way: The Politics of Transportation in Boston and the U.S. City (1971) pbk  10.00
The story of the failed attempt to bring I-95 through Boston.

Laurel Ulrich, et al.  A Beginner's Boston (1966) pbk 5.00

Douglass Shand Tucci.  Ashmont: A Historical Guide to Peadbody Square, etc. (1991) 10.00

Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City (1960) 5.00
One of my favorite books.

Douglass Shand Tucci Church Building in Boston, 1720-1970 (1974) 10.00

Langley Keyes The Rehabilitation Planning Game (1969) hc  10.00
A study of urban renewal in Charlestown, the South End, and Roxbury

Kevin Lynch What Time Is This Place (1972) 10.00
Not solely about Boston, but Chapter 6 "Boston Time" is a wonderful photo essay.

Campbell and Vanderwarker, Cityscapes of Boston 10.00

Wendy Snyder, Haymarket (1970) 10.00
oral history and filled with photographs

Boston Society of Architects, Boston Architecture (1970) 10.00

Peter Calthorpe, The Next American Metropolis (1993) 15.00

Richard Saul Wurman, Man-Made Philadelphia: A Guide to Its Physical and Cultural Environment (1972) 7.50
Great maps, photographs, from the man who later started the Access guidebooks series.  A model of graphic design in showing information about urban areas.

Kirker, The Architecture of Charles Bulfinch (1969) 10.00

Michael Holleran  Boston's Changeful Times: Origins of Preservation and Planning in America (1998) 10.00

Cambridge Historical Commission, Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge: Mid-Cambridge(1967) 15.00

Peter Stott, A Guide to the Industrial Archeology of Boston Proper (1984) 20.00

Peter Rowe, Design Thinking (1987) hc 15.00

Rob Krier, Urban Space (1979) 20.00

Charles Royster, A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783 (1979) 5.00

Joseph Rykwert, The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World (1988) 10.00

Deleting History, But What History Are We Actually Deleting?

Today's Boston Globe has a letter to the editor (Deleting history in new street names, 19 August 2006) arguing against renaming a portion of Centre Street in Jamaica Plain.  While I agree that Centre Street should retain its name, the writer of the letter makes several historical errors which should be corrected.

Beacon Hill doesn't recall "ships guided into Boston Harbor"--at least the name doesn't make me think of ships, but it might be a popular misconception about the use of Beacon Hill.  The beacon on Beacon Hill was a warning beacon--a bucket of flammable material on a pole, really--that apparently was never lit between the time of its construction and the reuse of Beacon Hill as the site for the State House in the 1790s.

The name wasn't simply the "harmless pretentiousness of the old city fathers who chose to spell it 'Centre' rather than 'Center'".  As I have noted, Centre Street was, in fact, the center street running from Roxbury to Dedham.  Practicality, not pretension, drove the name.  It was spelled in the English fashion because most of the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were English and Noah Webster hadn't started his push for Americanized spellings when Centre Street received its name, which was confirmed by Roxbury in 1825 and was likely in common use before that time.  Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language was first published in 1828 and in it Webster specifically argued for changing "centre" to "center".  He also wanted to change "women" to "wimmen", so he didn't win all of his lexicographical battles.

The "city fathers" didn't give Centre Street its name.  The name was courtesy of the Town of Roxbury, which was a separate entity from Boston until after the Civil War.  Boston voted to become a city in 1822, Roxbury incorporated as a city in 1846.  Nor did "Germans [brew] world class bear (sic) in still Puritan Boston".  When the Germans started brewing beer along the Stony Brook, Jamaica Plain was part of Roxbury.  Boston itself had embraced the Congregational and Unitarian faiths, leaving the Puritans far behind.

Before we start to worry about "deleting history", we should strive to get the history right in the first place.

Link: Deleting history in new street names - The Boston Globe.

Charter Day Celebration

"The Massachusetts Colony Records, under the date of the twenty-third of August, of the same year, give the following: 'It was ordered, that there should be a Court of Assistants held at the Governor's house on the 7th day of September next, being Tuesday, to begin at 8 of the clock.' [note: spelling modernized] This meeting was held at Charlestown (where it is to be inferred that the Governor dwelt) on the appointed day, and then the ever memorable order was passed which gave to the peninsula the name it now bears.  The exact record which chronicles the naming of the three important towns is: 'It is ordered, that the Trimountaine shalbe called Boston; Mattapan, and Dorchester; & the towne vpon Charles Ryuer, Waterton.'"

From A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston (1891) by Nathaniel Shurtleff.

In honor of the naming and chartering of Boston on 7 September 1630, a variety of organizations have joined forces to create a program of events celebrating Boston's founding.  The link below, to the website for the Partnership of Historic Bostons, will provide you with the full schedule of events.  I am particularly looking forward to the panel discussion on "Boston's Cultural Continuities and Changes Since 1630", which will be held Thursday, 7 September starting at 6 P.M. at the Rabb Lecture Hall at the Boston Public Library, Copley Square and to the Charter Day Sabbath Gathering at First Church in Boston at the corner of Berkeley and Marlborough Streets on Sunday, 10 September at 11 A.M.

Link: PARTNERSHIP OF THE HISTORIC BOSTONS.

Centre Streets in Boston and a Modest Proposal

I wrote up a few preliminary thoughts about the call to change the name of a portion of Centre Street "Avenue de las Americas" and argued that using "Avenue" as part of the proposed name just didn't sound right from a historical perspective.  After re-reading the history of Centre Street in Roxbury and West Roxbury, I'm now convinced that renaming Centre Street is a bad idea not only in terms of the history, but for planning and wayfinding purposes as well.

The Centre Street in Roxbury/Jamaica Plain is part of the historic road which stretched from the Roxbury meeting house (First Church in Eliot Square) to Dedham and on to Connecticut.  It survives almost intact: the missing piece is where Columbus Avenue breaks it, as seen in the map below:

Other than the one break, it continues all the way down to the Dedham Mall, where the name changes as it crosses into Dedham, close to where it intersects with Washington Street, the colonial era highway running out of Boston. 

Centre Street's current name helps with navigation through Boston.  Losing a street only to have to find it again is frustrating.  The current break in Centre Street is about six hundred feet long, so people can presumably pick up Centre Street again fairly easily by going down Columbus Avenue.  Renaming Centre Street in Jackson Square would make it almost impossible for one to find Centre Street in Jamaica Plain again. 

The name Centre Street also serves history by reminding us of the importance of First Church in Roxbury and of the historic colonial road pattern.  I also think Centre Street is a good name because the current stretch of Centre Street between Jackson and Hyde Square is, after all, one of the most important centers for Boston's Latin community.  Rename that stretch of Centre Street "Centro Street" and give Jackson and Hyde Square new names to provide emphasis at either end of the renamed section.  There should be a Park de Las Americas and a statue of Simon Bolivar as well.

I look forward to seeing the flags of many nations along the street.  The image I have in my head is of Childe Hassam's flag paintings.  Hassam, a Dorchester native, painted dozens of pictures of flags lining the avenues of New York City during World War I and its aftermath.  Below is Avenue of the Allies, Great Britain, 1918 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Note:  I should add that Boston being Boston, people might simply believe "Centro Street" to be a typographical error (or worse, just a misspelling) given the number of street signs in Boston which are incorrect.

Centre Streets in Boston

Streets named "Centre" have long been popular in Boston and the towns which were eventually annexed by the city.  Several of the Centre Streets have disappeared: the one in Boston's North End which ran between North and Hanover Streets has been lost, another Boston Centre Street which opened into Cambridge Street was renamed Anderson Street in 1861.  East Boston's Centre Street became Haynes Street in 1868 (the annexation of Roxbury spurred street name changes throughout Boston) and South Boston's Centre Street was renamed Ward Street in 1855.  Brighton had a Centre Street, at least on paper, in the mid-19th Century.

The three remaining Centre Streets are in Dorchester, Roxbury/Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury.

Centre Street, Dorchester, 1837; from 608 Washington Street, opposite Norfolk Street, to 411 Adams Street; mistake in locatoin (road from Plymouth to Lower Road) rectified, April, 1804; named from Upper Road (now Washington Street) to Lower Road (now Adams Street), March 11, 1840.

Centre Street, Roxbury and West Roxbury, 1825; from Eliot Square to Dedham line; that part of this street lying in Roxbury, and to South Street in West Roxbury [ed. note: the boundary  between Roxbury and West Roxbury ran across Centre Street in Jamaica Plain] laid out, January 19, 1662; called the Middlepost Road from Boston to Hartford; altered from Colonel Draper's through Dedham to Dover line, May, 1795; called "Old road to Dedham" 1823; "Road from the parting stone by J. Riley's store, by Rev. Mr. Gray's meeting house, by Captain Winchester's to Rev. Mr. Flagg's meeting house, and on to Dedham line"; named Centre Street, May 9, 1825; called Boston Road, 1833; name of part in West Roxbury changed to Austin Street, May 3, 1852; name of Austin Street changed to original name of Centre Street, Dec. 2, 1861.

Preliminary Thoughts on Avenue de las Americas

I've been asked for my thoughts on renaming a portion of Centre Street in Jamaica Plain to Avenue de las Americas.  I should note that I'm on vacation and away from my library, so some of the dates I use below may be a bit off.  I don't mind renaming streets (and getting rid of a little more of Centre Street in JP to lessen confusion with the other Centre Streets in Boston might be a good thing) but the proposed name, Avenue de las Americas, strikes me as being all wrong. 

First and foremost, Boston is a city of streets--for the first two hundred years or so of Boston's history there weren't avenues--just streets, lanes, paths, alleys, passages, etc.  The major streets in Boston today graced with the surname "Avenue" are primarily old highways/toll roads/turnpikes which were created very early in the 19th century, like Dorchester Avenue, Blue Hill Avenue; a major street running through a development, like Commonwealth Avenue (all of the other Back Bay Streets  in the grid are "streets"); or are a product of late 19th century planning, like Huntington Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, and Avenue Louis Pasteur. 

This isn't to say that there weren't streets named "Avenue" in the mid-19th century in Dorchester and Roxbury--Savin Hill Avenue is an example--just that they were far outnumbered by "Streets".  "Avenue" begins to become more popular in Boston about the same time as "Road", which starts to appear in fashionable Brighton neighborhoods in the late 19th century.  Jones Hill in Dorchester, which began to be subdivided in the 1870s, has Sawyer Avenue, Everett Avenue, Cushing Avenue, and Downer Avenue.  True antiquarians will note that "road" appears in Dorchester in the 17th Century, with the Upper (Washington Street) Road and Lower (Adams Street) Road.  In other words, "Avenue" just doesn't sound right when applied to Centre Street, a name which indicates its importance as a colonial road.

Avenue of the Arts, which has been applied to Huntington Avenue makes sense, given both the cultural institutions along it and width of the street--it feels like an avenue, or even a boulevard, a word mostly absent from Boston, with Seaport Boulevard being a noteworthy exception.  On the other hand, "Avenue de las Americas" gives one certain expectations of grandeur which Centre Street can't hope to fulfill.  I'm all for a statue of Simon Bolivar, who deserves to be more widely known, and I think a Park de las Americas is a great idea. 

Perhaps there is another Spanish word that conveys the sense of a marketplace/community meeting place/neighborhood which would sound more lively than Avenue De Las Americas, which makes me think of New York City.  Las Ramblas in Barcelona gives me a sense of action and activity and life--what word describes the neighborhood that is the pulse of Boston's Latin community?  Why not rename Hyde and Jackson Squares, instead of the street connecting them?

+++++++++

Update:  I've seen it written in a couple of places that I think it is a bad idea to rename Centre Street.  To be clear:  I don't think renaming is a bad idea.  I think incorporating "Avenue" into the new name is a bad idea, for the reasons I've mentioned above.

Catching Up On The News: 4-7 August 1837

From the Boston Almanac for 1838

4 August 1837 

Mr. Jacob Hill, of this city, attacked with an apoplectic fit, while at the Old Colony House, Hingham, and expired in a few hours.

6 August 1837

About one o'clock Sunday morning, fire was discovered in the basement of the house corner of Suffolk Place and Washington Street.  It originated in a back china closet, between the kitchen and dining room.  The lower story was burnt out, with all the furniture, papers, &c., and the second story much injured.  The building was insured.  This was the first serious fire to which the new department was called.

7 August 1837

Mr. Boyden of the Tremont House retires from that establishment.  It is now under the management of Messrs. Leverett & Tucker, both well known to all how have visited the house, as keepers of the books and bar.

The Tremont Theatre, under Manager Barry, opened for the season.  The National opened about the 1st inst. and also the Lion.

A daring attempt made to fire the building in Cornhill Court, occupied by  M. W. Hopkins.  Much damage was done.  The fire was extinguished without a general alarm.  The same thing had been attempted about a week before.

A book thief detected in Cornhill; he had been stealing books from Burnham's Antiquarian Bookstore.  He made free to bolt out the back way, and up Franklin Avenue, not stopping long enough to have it ascertained who he was.

Death and Misadventure in Boston, July and August 1837, 1845

The Boston Police Deparment Crime Blog covers present day Boston, but when you need historic crime information, who are you going to come to? 

From the Boston Almanac for 1838:

26 July 1837

Lauriat made another ascension [balloon] from East Boston.  He descended on Point Shirley.  He did not reach a very great height.

Daniel J. Barnard arrested for forging a check on the Merchant's Bank for $493.  He sent a little boy to the bank with the check, and waited in the street for the boy to return.  The boy did return, but instead of bringing the dollars, brought a constable and the teller of the bank down upon him.

29 July 1837

The workmen resume their labors on the South Cove Hotel, near the Worcester Rail Road Depot [near present day South Station].  The work had been suspended since last fall.

30 July 1837

An alarm of fire to-day; the first since the dissolution of the old Fire Department, July 20.

31 July 1837

Three or four young men arrested for endeavoring to create a disturbance while the new fire companies were proceeding to the fire.  One named Winship was fined $10 and costs, and committed for want of sureties in the sum of $50, to keep the peace.

A lad of 10 years old, son of Mr. Timothy D. Stearns of Hanover Street resuscitated from drowning after he had been under water over 4 minutes.  He was rescued by a young man named James Dolliver.

From the Boston Almanac for 1846:

28 July 1845

Orders were issued by the Mayor and Aldermen, forbidding the sale of intoxicating drinks on the Sabbath.

30 July 1845 

The Cambria arrived--having left Liverpool at 45 minutes past 11 o'lcok, on the 19th, and got into dock at 5 this morning,--making the shortest western passage acros the Atlantic ever known, about 11 days.  This is 20 hours shorter than the quickest passage of the Hibernia, which arrived Sept. 1, 1844.

On Wednesday night last, watchmen were attracted to an entry of a house on Commercial Street, opposite Lewis' Wharf, by groans.  They discovered a man of between 55 and 60, who had been badly wounded on the head.--Being taken to Chelsea Hospital, he died.  It was ascertained by the Coroner that his name was John Peterson, recently returned from sea.  He had two sever wounds on the head and a fracture of the skull.  He had been robbed also, it was subsequently ascertained, of about $20.

Edward Dillon, a boy of 11 years, was killed at the Providence Depot, by being run over by a train of freight cars.   He was running by the side of them, as they were slowly moving, and finally jumped for the purpose of getting on to ride, but fell off. and the wheels passed over his hands and head, which were shockingly crushed.

1 August 1845

Capt. Hewitt left yesterday in the Brittania, with a full mail and 42 passengers.

A lady standing at the corner of Tremont Street and Pemberton Square, waiting for a carriage, had her foot smashed and two toes completely crushed off, by the wheel of  a carriage striking the curb-stone, with her foot between.

The Weymouth Stage was standing near the track of the Worcester Railroad depot, and as the locomotive passed, the horses becoming restless, backed upon the rails, and being struck by the engine, was upset.  Mr. Lewis Holmes, of Weymouth, on the driver's seat was thrown off and instantly killed.  One or two ladies, inside, escaped injury almost miraculously.

Judge Sprague sentenced Capt. Flowery, convicted of having fitted out the Spitfire, with an intention of employing her in the slave strade, to five years imprisonment in the Salem jail, and a fine of $2000.