Boston, Massachusetts, USA (East, North, South) (Allston) (Readville) (Roslindale)
1916

Boston, a city of the United States, capital of Massachusetts and of Suffolk co., on a bay called Boston Harbor, which forms the inner bight of Massachusetts Bay, at the mouth of the Charles and Mystic rivers. Lat. 42° 21' 30" N.; Lon. 71° 3' 30" W. The original town stood upon a peninsula called by the Indians Shawmut, and by the settlers Tremont or Trimontaine, from the three sum mits of a conspicuous hill, which, though now much reduced, is still prominent and known as Beacon Hill. The city now includes the island of East Boston (Noddle's Island) and the peninsular suburbs of South Boston and Charlestown, besides the former towns of Dorchester, Roxbury (or Boston Highlands), West Roxbury, and Brighton, with their minor villages of Allston, Jamaica Plain, Neponsct, Mattapan, etc. The cities of Quincy, Newton, Cambridge, Somerville, and Chelsea are near suburbs, and there are many large towns (such as Milton, Dedham, Brookline, Watertown, and Ever ett) in close proximity. Great areas adjoining the original Shawmut have been reclaimed from the harbor and its in lets, so that what was originally the neck of the peninsula is now the widest part of it. These parts are covered with substantial and costly buildings. The city is the terminus of many railroads, of which the principal are the New York, New Haven and Hartford, the Boston and Maine, the Boston and Albany, the Fitchburg, and the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Rs. Numerous bridges over navigable waters, besides the railway bridges, connect the city and suburbs, while East Boston is reached by ferry. Boston is one of the best-built cities in the United States, and has strongly felt the spirit of architectural progress. The streets in the older portion, once singularly irregular in their course, have been somewhat straightened, but are still far from the uniform regularity in many younger towns.

Among the public buildings and institutions are the State-House (greatly enlarged in 1889-98), with its conspicuous gilded dome, fronting on the Common (a small but well-kept park of 48 acres, adjacent to which is the Public Garden, reclaimed from the sea and covering 24 acres') ; the Old State-House (built in 1748) ; Christ Church (1723); Faneuil Hall, the "cradle of American liberty" (1742), rebuilt after a fire in 1761 ; King's Chapel (1754), the custom-house, Music Hall, the new Symphony Hall, the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston Athenaeum (containing the rooms of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences), Lowell Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (one of the best schools of industrial science in the United States), Government Building, Museum ef Natural History, Museum of Fine Arts, Horticultural Hall, the buildings of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the Harvard Medical School (a department of Harvard University), Exchange, and the Public Library, an imposing and sumptuously decorated structure, which was erected in 1888-95 at a cost of nearly $2,500,000. It contains upward of 700,000 volumes, and is the largest free library in the world. Boston stands well in the front of cities with regard to charitable institutions, there being nearly 1000 organizations devoted to charity, relief, beneficence, or mutual aid. Of these the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the Horace Mann School for Deaf Mutes, and the Massachusetts General Hospital have a world-wide reputation. Among the notable churches of the city are Trinity Church (which was fully completed in 1898, and is regarded as one of the finest buildings in America), the Roman Catholic cathedral, and the New Old South Church, in the Italian Gothic style, with a tower 248 feet high, and built in 1874- 75. The Old South Meeting-House, built in 1729 on the site of an earlier church, marks the location of some of the most stirring episodes of the early Revolutionary period. A magnificent system of public parks on a vast scale, sweeping around the whole border of the city, has recently been inaugurated. Franklin Park, in West Roxbury, covers 520 acres. Of the handsome avenues and quarters of the city may be mentioned Commonwealth Avenue, one of the finest residence streets of America, 240 feet in width ; Beacon Street, the strictly aristocratic street of Boston ; the Back Bay, the fashionable west-end, to which the above avenues lead ; and the Bock Bay Fens. Copley Square, flanked by the Public Library, the Museum of Fine Arts, Trinity Church, and the New Old South Church, presents a striking architectural effect. Among the principal business thoroughfares are Washington, Tremont, and State streets. Several of the railroad stations are imposing structures, notably those known as the Providence, the Northern Union, and the Southern Union Stations, the last-named completed in 1898 at a cost of $14,000,000, and ranking as the largest railway station in the world. It is 810 feet in length and 700 feet in width, and gives accommodation to 28 tracks on the main floor, besides a 14-track loop for suburban service on the lower floor. An elevated railway, operated by electricity, extends through Boston from Roxbury to Charlestown. Associated with the railway service of the city is the remarkable engineering work known as the Subway, a subterranean passage-way completed in 1898 and given over to the use of electric cars. The Shaw Monument (erected to the memory of Robert Gould Shaw, who organised the first colored regiment in the North in the Civil War) is a masterpiece of sculpture by Saint Gaudens. In Charlestown stands the famous Bunker Hill Monument, a granite shaft 221 feet high, erected in 1825-12 to commemorate the battle of Bunker or Breed's Hill, June 17, 1775.

The public school system of Boston is one of the largest and most elaborate to be found anywhere, and embraces institutions of every grade. Special attention is given to art studies in these schools. The higher educational institutions are the Boston University, with various affiliations, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, already referred to. Although located in its principal seat in Cam bridge, Harvard University can justly be claimed to be a part of the educational activity of the city, and probably no other educational institution of the country has done more to uphold a high standard of scholarship and general efficiency in learning. (See Cambridge.) Boston has long been noted for the interest taken by its citizens in literature, science, and art, and in questions of social and humanitarian bearing. No other city of the Union has exerted so marked an influence in shaping the literature of the new nation, and with no other city are the names of so many men eminent in the arts, letters, and sciences associated.

Boston has varied and extensive manufactures, including machinery, furniture, fertilizers, farm-implements, general hardware, boots and shoes, type, castings, rubber, chemicals, musical instruments, etc, but it is as a trade- and money-centre that she won and has maintained her eminence, ranking next to New York as the most important commercial port of the United States. The value of the foreign trade was, in 1900, about $200,000,000, of which the exports amounted to about $125,000,000. The shoe and leather, wool, fish, ice, publishing, and domestic dry-goods trades, and the refining of sugar are leading interests. Boston takes place immediately after London as the leading wool-market of the world. The harbor of the city is excellent, and the wharves, warehouses, and other shipping facilities are not surpassed. Steamers ply hence to Europe and to the principal ports of the United States, Canada, the West Indies, the Orient, etc. The inner harbor is completely sheltered, not difficult of access, and seldom encumbered with ice. Several large works have been constructed for its defence, Forts Independence, Warren, and Winthrop being of ancient importance. More modern defences have recently been established, and with these have been constructed massive protecting sea-walls on some of the out lying islands. The harbor is about 20 miles long from N. to 8., and 8 miles wide from E. to W., and covers 75 sq. m. Among its several arms are the South Bay, Dorchester Bay, and Back Bay, the last of which is an expansion of the Charles River, the principal stream flowing into the harbor. The Mystic and Neponset Rivers also flow into the harbor. The insular suburb of East Boston has extensive manufactories, but is especially important for its docks, wharves, and elevators. Charlestown is the seal of a large United States navy-yard.

Boston was founded by colonists under John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1630. It was named after the town of Boston, in England. It early be came the seat of a large and profitable commerce, and took an active part in the events which led to the War of Independence. Prominent events in its history have been the expulsion of Governor Ahdros, 1689; the witchcraft troubles, 1692; the great fires of 1676, 1679, and 1711; the Boston massacre, 1770; the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor, 1 773, and the consequent passage of the Boston Port Bill by the British parliament, 1774; the battle of Bunker Hill within the present city limits, 1775 ; the siege of the town W Washington and the evacuation by the British, 1775-76; the granting of the city charter, 1822 ; the absorption of the surrounding towns and cities by annexation in 1868 and later; and the great fire of 1872, which covered about 65 acres and destroyed property valued at over $80,000,000. This conflagration led to great changes in the straightening and widening of streets, and the burnt district was rebuilt in greatly improved style.

Few American cities hare suburbs with finer natural advantages, and most of the suburban towns are handsomely and substantially built, with pleasant and well-shaded streets. The cemeteries of Mount Auburn and Forest Hills are near the city, and are noted for their beauty and ex tent. The outer harbor is filled with islands, and the coast of the mainland near the city is gently elevated and rocky, with many picturesque localities, much resorted to in summer. The most-favored pleasure-resort is probably Nantasket Beach, forming the southeastern wall of the harbor. Of the immediate suburban neighbors of the city the most beautiful is Brookline, on the SW.

The population of Boston in 1790 was 18,320 ; in 1800, 24,937 ; in 1810, 33,787; in 1820, 43,298; in 1830, 61,392; in 1840, 93,383 ; in 1850, 136,881 ; in 1860, 177,840 ; in 1870, 250,526 ; in 1880, 362,839 (the gain having been in part due to the annexation of adjacent suburbs) ; in 1890, 448,477 ; and in 1900, 560,892.

Lippincotts New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns, Resorts, Islands, Rivers, Mountains, Seas, Lakes, Etc., in Every Portion of the Globe, Part 1 Angelo Heilprin Louis Heilprin - January 1, 1916 J.B. Lippincott - Publisher

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