Austin and Stone's Dime Museum

Last updated

Austin and Stone's Dime Museum (ca.1880s-1900s) of Boston, Massachusetts, was an entertainment emporium in Scollay Square (no.4 Tremont Row), established by William Austin and Frank Stone. [1] [2] It featured a freak show as well as dancing girls for entertainment. The freak show and other exhibits such as two-headed animals cost ten cents, while admission to the girlie show cost an additional dime. Performers included William S. Hutchings, the "lightning calculator." [3] Comedian Fred Allen wrote about the Museum in his memoir, Much Ado About Me.

Contents

Related Research Articles

Scollay Square Former public square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts

Scollay Square was a vibrant city square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was named for William Scollay, a prominent local developer and militia officer who bought a landmark four-story merchant building at the intersection of Cambridge and Court Streets in 1795. Local citizens began to refer to the intersection as Scollay's Square, and, in 1838, the city officially memorialized the intersection as Scollay Square. Early on, the area was a busy center of commerce, including daguerreotypist (photographer) Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901) and Dr. William Thomas Green Morton, the first dentist to use ether as an anaesthetic.

Southworth & Hawes American photographic studio

Southworth & Hawes was an early photographic firm in Boston, 1843–1863. Its partners, Albert Sands Southworth (1811–1894) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901), have been hailed as the first great American masters of photography, whose work elevated photographic portraits to the level of fine art. Their images are prominent in every major book and collection of early American photography.

Tremont Theatre, Boston former theater (1827–1843) in Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The Tremont Theatre (1827–1843) on 88 Tremont Street was a playhouse in Boston. A group of wealthy Boston residents financed the building's construction. Architect Isaiah Rogers designed the original Theatre structure in 1827 in the Greek Revival style. The playhouse opened on 24 September 1827.

William Street Hutchings, also known as Professor Hutchings and the Lightning Calculator, was a 19th-century math prodigy and mental calculator who P. T. Barnum first billed as the "Boy Lightning Calculator". He later worked as a sideshow barker and wrote a book called The Lightning Calculator.

Clarence H. Blackall American architect

Clarence Howard Blackall was an American architect who is estimated to have designed 300 theatres.

Boston Museum (theatre) theatre, wax museum, natural history museum, zoo, and art museum in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts

The Boston Museum (1841–1903), also called the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, was a theatre, wax museum, natural history museum, zoo, and art museum in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts. Moses Kimball established the enterprise in 1841.

Josiah Johnson Hawes American photographer

Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901) was a photographer in Boston, Massachusetts. He and Albert Southworth established the photography studio of Southworth & Hawes, which produced numerous portraits of exceptional quality in the 1840s–1860s.

Court Street (Boston) street in Boston

Court Street is located in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to 1788, it was called Prison Lane (1634–1708) and then Queen Street (1708–1788). In the 19th century it extended beyond its current length, to Bowdoin Square. In the 1960s most of Court Street was demolished to make way for the construction of Government Center. The remaining street extends a few blocks, near the Old State House on State Street.

Provident Institution for Savings in the Town of Boston

The Provident Institution for Savings (est.1816) in Boston, Massachusetts, was the first chartered savings bank in the United States. James Savage and others founded the bank on the belief that "savings banks would enable the less fortunate classes of society to better themselves in a manner which would avoid the dangers of moral corruption traditionally associated with outright charitable institutions."

Pemberton Square

Pemberton Square in the Government Center area of Boston, Massachusetts, was developed by P.T. Jackson in the 1830s as an architecturally uniform mixed-use enclave surrounding a small park. In the mid-19th century both private residences and businesses dwelt there. The construction in 1885 of the massive John Adams Courthouse changed the scale and character of the square, as did the Center Plaza building in the 1960s.

Studio Building (Boston, Massachusetts) building in Boston, Massachusetts

The Studio Building (1861–1906) on Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts, housed artists' studios, theater companies and other businesses in the 19th century. It "held the true Bohemia of Boston, where artists and literati delighted to gather." Among the tenants were portraitist E.T. Billings, architect George Snell, sculptor Martin Milmore, artists William Morris Hunt, William Rimmer, Phoebe Jenks; gallerist Seth Morton Vose, and many others.

Tremont Row street in Massachusetts, United States of America

Tremont Row (1830s-1920s) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a short street that flourished in the 19th and early-20th centuries. It was located near the intersection of Court, Tremont, and Cambridge streets, in today's Government Center area. It existed until the 1920s, when it became known as Scollay Square. In 1859 the Barre Gazette newspaper described Tremont Row as "the great Dry Goods Street of Boston."

Tremont Theatre, Boston (1889) former theater (1889-) in Boston, Massachusetts, United States

The Tremont Theatre was a playhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry E. Abbey and John B. Schoeffel established the enterprise and oversaw construction of its building at no.176 Tremont Street in the Boston Theater District area. Managers included Abbey, Schoeffel and Grau, Klaw & Erlanger, Thos. B. Lothan and Albert M. Sheehan.

Keiths Theatre (Boston) former vaudeville theater and movie theater in Boston, Massachusetts, United States

B.F. Keith's Theatre (1894–1928) in Boston, Massachusetts, was a vaudeville playhouse run by B.F. Keith. It sat across from Boston Common in the city's theatre district, with an entrance on Tremont Street and another on Washington Street. Personnel included Keith, E.F. Albee and H.E. Gustin. Virgilio Tojetti painted some of the interior decorations. In 1939, the theater was converted to a movie theater named the Normandie.

Chickering Hall (est.1883) was a concert auditorium in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th century. It occupied the second floor of Chickering and Sons showrooms on Tremont Street, near the corner of West Street. "Bradlee, Winslow and Wetherell were the architects, and Mr. E.P. Treadwell, the decorator. The hall [was] lighted by the Edison electric light." By 1895: "Tremont St., towards Boylston, for some years has been called Piano Row, for a long row of piano agencies occupied a good portion of the block; but of late most of these have migrated to Boylston St. Chickering Hall, at 152 Tremont St., was for many years a favorite place for fashionable musicales, and the headquarters of the musical profession."

The Palace Theatre (ca.1891-1931) of Boston, Massachusetts was a variety theatre on Court Street in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Acts which performed there included Rose Hill Folly Co., Clifford & Dixon, Murry & Murry, Behler & Stone, and the Adamless Eden Burlesquers. It also showed photo-plays such as The Exploits of Elaine, The Master Key, and "Charles Chaplin comedies." Among its managers and proprietors were William Austin, F. J. Pilling, George Milbank, and Dunn & Waldron. The Palace occupied the building of the former Nickelodeon. It existed until 1931, when it was demolished.

The National Theatre (1911-1978) of Boston, Massachusetts, was a 3,500-seat multipurpose auditorium on Tremont Street in the South End. It functioned as a cinema, lecture hall, and stage. Performers included Jehovah's Witness founder Joseph F. Rutherford and "big-name entertainers like Duke Ellington and Ray Bolger." Movie screenings included The Battle of Gettysburg in 1913. The English High School held graduation exercises in the National. Around 1919 it was known as the "Waldorf Theater." in 1992, it was purchased by Philip Smith.

Steinert Hall

Steinert Hall of Boston, Massachusetts, stands at 162 Boylston Street on what was called Boston's "piano row", opposite the Common in the Boston Theater District.

<i>Boston Evening Traveller</i> newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts

The Boston Evening Traveller (1845–1967) was a newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts. It came out daily, with weekly and semi-weekly editions, under a variety of Traveller titles. It was absorbed by the Boston Herald in 1912, and ceased publication in 1967.

Adams Square (Boston) Boston, Massachusetts

Adams Square (1879–1963) was a square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Now demolished, it was formerly located on the site of the current Boston City Hall in Government Center.

References

  1. Andrea Stulman Dennett. Weird and wonderful: the dime museum in America. NY: NYU Press, 1997
  2. Boston Almanac and Business Directory. 1885, 1887, 1889, 1894
  3. William S. Hutchings (1832-1911). New York Times, August 26, 1911

Images

Coordinates: 42°21′31″N71°03′40″W / 42.3586°N 71.0612°W / 42.3586; -71.0612