HE extension of the limits of Boston and the movement of business and population to the southward has materially changed the meaning attached to the term North End. In the earliest days of the town, the Mill Creek separated apart of the town from the mainland, and all to the north of it was properly called the North End. For our present purpose we include in that division of the city all the territory north of State, Court, and Cambridge Streets. This district is, perhaps, the richest in historical associations of any part of Boston. It was once the most important part of the town, containing not only the largest warehouses and the public buildings, but the most aristocratic quarter for dwelling-houses. But this was a long time ago. All residents except the poorest and most vicious classes have abandoned a large part of the North End proper. Among the important streets may be mentioned Commercial, with its solidly built warehouses, and its great establishments for the sale of grain, ship-chandlery, fish, and other articles; Cornhill, once the headquarters of the book-trade, and a remnant of the business still lingers there; the streets radiating from Dock Square, crowded with stores for the sale of cutlery and hardware, meats, wines, groceries, fruit, tin, copper and iron-ware, and other articles of household use; and Hanover, lately widened, and now as formerly a great market for cheap goods of all descriptions. Elsewhere in this district are factories for the production of a variety of articles, from a match to a tombstone, from a set of furniture to a church bell.

There are but a few relics remaining of the North End of the olden time. The streets have been straightened and widened, and go under different names from those first given them, and most of the ancient buildings have fallen to decay and been removed. Among such as are still left to us, the most conspicuous and the most famous is old Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of Liberty." This building was a gift to the town by Mr. Peter Faneuil. For more than twenty years before its erection the need of a public market had been felt, but the town would never vote to build one. In 1740 Mr. Faneuil offered to build a market at his own expense, and give it to the town, if a vote should be passed to accept it, and keep it open under suitable regulations. The town accepted this noble offer after a hot discussion, by a narrow majority of seven. The building was erected in 1742, and only five years later the opposition to the market-house system was so powerful that a vote was carried to close the market. From that time until 1761 the question whether the market should be open or not was a fruitful source of discord in local politics, each party to the contest scoring several victories. In the last-named year Faneuil Hall was destroyed by fire. This seems to have turned the current of popular opinion in favor of the market, for the town immediately voted to rebuild it. In 1805 it was enlarged to its present size. From the time the Hall was first built until the adoption of the city charter in 1822, all town meetings were held within its walls. In the stirring events that preceded the Revolution it was put to frequent use. The spirited speeches and resolutions uttered and adopted within it were a most potent agency in exciting the patriotism of all the North American colonists. In every succeeding great crisis in our country's history, thousands of citizens have assembled beneath this roof to listen to the patriotic eloquence of their leaders and counselors. The great Hall is peculiarly fitted for popular assemblies. It is seventy-six feet square and twenty-eight feet high, and possesses admirable acoustic properties. The floor is left entirely destitute of seats, by which means the capacity of the hall, if not the comfort of audiences, is greatly increased. Numerous large and valuable portraits adorn the walls. These include an original full-length painting of Washington by Stuart, another of the donor of the building, Peter Faneuil by Colonel Henry Sargent, Healy's great picture of Webster replying to Hayne, excellent portraits of Samuel Adams and the second President Adams, of General Warren and Commodore Preble, of Edward Everett, Abraham Lincoln, and John A. Andrew; and of several others prominent in the history of Massachusetts and the Union. The Hall is never let for money, but it is at the disposal of the people whenever a sufficient number of persons, complying with certain regulations, ask to have it opened. The city charter of Boston, which makes but a very few restrictions upon the right of the city government to govern the city in all local affairs, contains a wise provision forbidding the sale or lease of this Hall.

The new Faneuil Hall Market, popularly known as Quincy Market, originated in a recommendation by Mayor Quincy in 1823. The cornerstone was laid in April 1825, and the structure was completed in 1827. The building is five hundred and thirty-five feet long and fifty feet wide, and is two stories in height. This great market-house was built at a cost of $150,000 upon made land. Its affairs were managed so economically that the improvement, including the opening of six new streets and the enlargement of a seventh, was accomplished without the levying of any tax, and without any increase of the city's debt.

Quite at the other extreme of our North End district is situated the only other building of a public nature within it to be noticed here, -the Massachusetts General Hospital, -a structure of imposing appearance and devoted to most beneficent uses. This institution had its origin in a bequest of $5,000 made in 1799, but it was not until 1811 that the Hospital was incorporated. The State endowed it with a fee simple in the old Province House, which was subsequently leased for a term of ninety- nine years. The Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company was required by its charter to pay one third of its net profits to the Hospital. Large sums of money were raised by private subscription both before the institution had begun operations and every year since. On the 1st of January 1875, the general fund of the Hospital amounted to $935,956, the total of restricted fluids at the same date being $860,594.86. The aggregate of funds not invested in real estate was $941,393.64. During the preceding year the income of the corporation was $251,571.18, and the expenses amounted to $243,033.39. These figures are for the Hospital proper, and for the McLean Asylum for the Insane at Somerville, which is a branch of the institution.

The handsome granite building west of Blossom Street was erected in. 1818, and enlarged by the addition of two extensive wings in 1846. The stone of the original building was hammered and fitted by the convicts at the State Prison. The system on which this noble institution is managed is admirable, in that it is so designed as to combine the principles of gratuitous treatment and the payment of their expenses by those who are able to do so. The hospital turns none away who come within the scope of its operations, while it has room to receive them, however poor they may be. It has been greatly aided in its work by the generous contributions and bequests of wealthy people. The fund permanently invested to furnish free beds amounts to more than $600,000 and the annual contributions for free beds during the year support about one hundred of them at $100 each. To those who are able to pay for their board and for medical treatment the charges are in all cases moderate, never exceeding the actual expense. During the last year eighteen hundred patients were treated for a longer or a shorter time, of whom more than two thirds were treated free. This number, however, represents only such as were admitted into the hospital; nearly sixteen thousand outpatients also received advice, medicine, or surgical or dental treatment. It will show more clearly how great good is done precisely where it is most needed if we say that out of 1053 male patients admitted to the wards during the year, 741 were classed as mechanics, laborers, seamen, teamsters, and servants. Of 586 female patients, 311 were classed as domestics, seamstresses, and operatives. Statistics sometimes tell a story of good work well done more graphically than pages of eloquent praise, and this is true of this noble institution.

Four of the eight railroads terminating in Boston have their stations in this part of the city, - three of them within a stone's throw of each other, on Causeway Street. Our view represents the stations of the Eastern and Fitchburg Railroads, with a section of the new Lowell station in the foreground. The former is an unpretentious building of brick, erected in 1863, after the destruction by fire of the former station. It is small and inadequate to do the immense business that the eastern road has built up, but there is at present little prospect of the erection of a larger and better station. The Eastern Railroad, by arrangement with the Maine Central Railroad, now runs its cars through to Bangor, Me., there making close connection with the railroad to St. John, New Brunswick. In addition to the extensive through-travel thus secured, it performs an exceedingly large amount of local business for the cities and towns along the coast to Portsmouth. In 1847 the total number of passengers carried on this line was but 651,408. The number carried during the year ending September 30, 1874 was 6,019,990.

The station of the Fitchburg Railroad is represented at the extreme right hand of our sketch. It was built in 1847, the terminus of the road having previously been in Charlestown. In a great hall in the upper part of this structure, Jenny Lind gave two grand concerts in October, 1850, to audiences numbering on each occasion more than four thousand people. The agents of Mr. Barnum, who was at that time paying her $1,000 for each concert, sold, for the second concert, tickets to a thousand more people than could be accommodated. The manager was accordingly obliged to refund the money the next day, to his own chagrin and to the infinite disgust of those who had failed to hear the great Swedish singer. Even with the disappointed thousand excluded, the hall was so densely packed that very many ladies fainted, and there was at times serious danger of a panic. The newspapers of the day remarked with admiration upon the magical effect of Jenny Lind's voice in calming and restoring to order the crowded multitude. The Fitchburg Railroad passes through several important suburban towns, and transacts an extensive local and through business. It will probably take the lion's share of the business through the Hoosac Tunnel, now finished, -whether happily or not is not yet determinable.

The Lowell Railroad possesses one of the finest passenger-stations in the country, as well as one of the largest. It is seven hundred feet long, and has a front of two hundred and five feeton Causeway Street; the material is face brick with trimmings of Nova Scotia freestone. The engraving shows the elegance of the building; but it cannot display the great arch of the train-house, which has a clear span of one hundred and twenty feet without any central support. The head-house contains the offices of the company and very large and convenient waiting and other rooms for the accommodation of passengers. The station was built with a view to a much more extensive business than the Boston and Lowell Railroad, only twenty-six miles long, could hope to gather, and in it other roads doubtless will be ultimately accommodated. The projected Massachusetts Central Railroad has already made a contract with the managers of the Lowell road, and it has been suggested that the Eastern Railroad might here find much needed train accommodation.

The Boston and Maine Railroad, alone of all the lines entering the city on the north side, enjoys the privilege of penetrating within the outer street. Its station is in Haymarket Square, and the open space in front of it gives prominence to the structure. The station has within two or three years been greatly enlarged and improved, so that it is now, internally, one of the lightest and pleasantest edifices of the kind in the city. The Maine road has a very large local business, serving the towns of Malden, Melrose, Reading, Wakefield, and Andover, and the cities of Haverhill and Lawrence. It is also a favorite line to Portland and beyond, as it passes along the Maine coast near the seaside hotels of Saco, and enjoys close connection at Portland with the Maine Central and Grand Trunk roads.

The old North Burying-ground, on Copp's Hill, was the second established in the town. Its original limits, when first used for interments in 1660, were much smaller than now, and the enclosure did not reach its present size until about forty years ago. Like most of the remaining relics of the early times, this burial-ground bears traces of the Revolutionary contest. The British soldiers occupied it as a military station, and used to amuse themselves by firing bullets st the gravestones. The marks made in this sacrilegious sport may still be discovered by careful examination of the stones. One of these most defaced is that above the grave of Captain Daniel Malcom, which bears an inscription speaking of him as "A TRUE SON OF LIBERTY A FRIEND TO THE PUBLICK AN ENEMY TO OPPRESSION AND ONE OF THE FOREMOST IN OPPOSING THE REVENUE ACTS ON AMERICA."

This refers to a bold act of Captain Malcom, in landing a valuable cargo of wines, in 1768, without paying the duty upon it. This was done in the night under the guard of bands of men armed with clubs. It would be called smuggling at the present day, but when committed it was deemed a laudable and patriotic act, because the tax was regarded as unjust, oppressive, and illegal. The most noted persons whose bodies repose within this enclosure were undoubtedly the three Reverend Doctors Mather, - Increase, Cotton, and Samuel; but there are many curious and interesting inscriptions to read, which would well repay a visit. The burying-ground is even now a favorite place of resort in the warmer months, and the gates stand hospitably open to callers, though they have long been closed against the admission of new inhabitants. It is to the credit of the city, that, when it became necessary in the improvement of that section of the city to cut down the hill to some extent, the burying-ground was left untouched, and the embankment protected by a high stone wall.

Two of the leading hotels of Boston are in this district of the city. The American House, on Hanover St., is the largest public house in New England, and one of the best. Its external appearance has been very greatly improved by the recent widening of Hanover Street. It covers the sites of four former hotels,--Earle's, the Merchants', the Hanover, and the old American Houses. It was rebuilt in 1851, and numerous additions have been made since. The interior has also been completely remodeled within a few years, and many of the rooms are exceedingly elegant, while the furniture of the house is throughout handsome and substantial. A splendid passenger elevator was added to the house when it was refitted, and as the furnishing of the rooms is uniform on all the floors, the highest rooms are as desirable as those on the second story. The grand dining room is an immense ball, capable of seating at one time more than three hundred people; when lighted at night it is one of the most brilliant halls in Boston, having at either end mammoth mirrors reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The American has long been a favorite resort for strangers in the city on business, and it is practically the headquarters of the shoe and leather trade. It has been under one management for thirty-five years.

The Revere House is not strictly within the limits of the district we have drawn, but it is separated from that district only by the width of a single street. It is a building of fine appearance, as will be seen from our sketch. It was erected by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, and was for a long time under the management of the veteran Paran Stevens. It was, of course, named in memory of Paul Revere, the patriotic mechanic of Boston before and during the Revolution, and the first president of the Charitable Mechanic Association. Colonel Revere was a companion and fellow-worker with Samuel Adams, James Otis, Joseph Warren, and others of the leaders of opinion in the days of Stamp and Tea Acts. He helped the cause in various ways, - by engraving with friendly but unskillful band the portraits of Adams and others; by casting church bells to be rung and cannon to be fired; by printing paper money, which was, however, neither a valuable currency nor a commendable work of art; by words and deeds of patriotism that entitle him to grateful remembrance by all Americans. The versatile colonel appears in the first Directory of Boston, for 1789, as a goldsmith doing business at No. 50 Cornhill, - now Washington Street. The hotel that bears his name has entertained more distinguished men than any other in Boston. The Prince of Wales occupied apartments in the Revere on his visit to the city twelve years ago. President Grant has been several times a guest of the house, and in the winter of 1871 it was the headquarters of the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. The Revere is situated in Bowdoin Square.

We give in this place a view of one of the old churches of the city, lately demolished. The church in Brattle Square was long known as the Manifesto Church, the original members having put forth in 1699, just before their church was dedicated, a document declaring their aims and purposes. While themselves adopting the belief that was then universal among the Congregational churches of the time, they conceded the right of difference of belief among the members. What Congregational churches were to those ruled by ecclesiastical superiors, or by convocations, the individual member of the Manifesto Church was to be to the members of other Congregational churches, and the distinction between church and congregation was abolished. Expecting a difficulty in getting ordained in Boston, their first minister was ordained in London. The modest church edifice built in 1699 was taken down in 1772, and the building just demolished, erected on the same spot, was dedicated on the 25th of July 1773. During the Revolution the pastor, who was a patriot, was obliged to leave Boston, services were suspended, and the British soldiery used the building as a barrack. A cannonball from a battery in Cambridge or from a ship of war in Charles River struck the church, and this memento of the glorious contest was afterwards built into the external wall of the church, above the porch. Among the long line of eminent clergymen who have been pastors of this church, may be mentioned the late Edward Everett, who is so much better known as a statesman than as a minister that the fact of his having been a clergyman is frequently forgotten. The old church was sold in 1871, and the last service was held in it July 30 of that year, a memorial sermon being preached on that occasion by the pastor, the Rev. Dr. S. K. Lothrop. The ancient pulpit, the old bell, the organ, the historic cannonball, and some other mementos were reserved at the sale. A large business warehouse is at present in course of erection upon the site of the church. The society has built a fine house of worship on the Back Bay, which is noticed in the proper place.

The oldest church in the city is Christ Church, Episcopal, on Salem Street. The Episcopalian denomination was for a long time of slow growth in Boston. Notwithstanding King's Chapel, then a society of the Church of England, which had been enlarged in 1710, the number of Church people was so large in the year 1723 that it was necessary to found a new society. This is the first and only building ever occupied by the society. During the Revolution, the rector of Christ Church, the Rev. Mather Byles, Jr., left the town on account of his sympathy with the royal cause. The steeple of this church is a very prominent landmark, and is one of the most noticeable features in approaching the city from the harbor. It is, however, but a copy, as accurate as could be made, of the original steeple, from which the warning lights were hung on the night of April 18, 1775, which was blown down in the great gale of October 1804. The tower contains a fine chime of eight bells, upon which have been rung joyful and mournful peals for more than a century and a quarter.

Only one of the great daily newspapers of the city is published within the North End district, - the Daily Advertiser. The Advertiser is the oldest daily paper in Boston, having nearly reached the sixtieth year of continuous publication. It is a little curious that the site now occupied by the Advertiser as a permanent home, after a protracted period of migration, is that from which James Franklin issued the first number of the New England Courant, in 1721. The same spot was again occupied as a printing office in 1776, by the Independent Chronicle, which was suspended during the Revolution. The Advertiser has succeeded to the rights of the Chronicle, and therefore claims that when it took possession of its present building in 1867, a building, by the way, admirably suited to its purpose, it merely returned to its first home. The first number of the Daily Advertiser ever published thus announced the character of the paper: "The predominant feature of the Daily Advertiser will be commercial, -yet it will be by no means destitute of a political character." This announcement, changed to the present tense, has always been a true description of the paper. It has maintained during its comparatively long life an excellent reputation for ability and accuracy, and is accounted one of the leading journals of New England.

Two of the most noticeable, though not the most extensive, of the street improvements of recent years, have taken place in this district. The first was the removal of an uninteresting old structure, a landmark and meeting-place in the Boston of ten years ago, known as Scollay's Building, and the creation thereby of what is now called Scollay Square. The history of the building is not worth telling, and everybody rejoiced when the city bought it for two or three times its real value and tore it down. The improvement had one funny result, and New York would make sport of us if she only knew the facts. Scollay Square is the most irregular of triangles. Court Street empties into it in the most curious way possible, and for a time the left side of the street is lost. It is Tremont Row where it ought to be Court Street. Then the right side is similarly lost, Court Street and Sudbury Street being separated by as invisible a line as is the equator. But finally both parts of the street resume their course after a space where there is no Court Street, until the wonderful avenue loses itself at last in Bowdoin.

The other improvement is the extension of Washington Street to Haymarket Square and the Boston and Maine Railroad Station. This extension was projected and urged long ago, but was opposed strenuously on account of the expense involved. There were two lines proposed, and the advocates of each resisted the other project. At last, however, the Haymarket Square line was decided upon, and the scheme was carried out. The full accounts of the improvement are not yet published, but the land damages alone had caused an outlay of more than $1,100,000 a year ago, that is, in May, 1874.

Send anything and everything to
[email protected]

(c) 1999 Steven G. Levine

Click on the Image below to go to SoLongAgo Home