The Bostonian Society was a non-profit organization that was founded in 1881 for the purpose of preventing the Old State House (built in 1713) from being "moved brick by brick" [1] from Boston, Massachusetts to Chicago, Illinois. [2] [3] Determined to save the historic building that was the site of the Boston Massacre and the place for the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence in Massachusetts, a group of citizens banded together to form "Boston's first successful historic preservation movement". [4] [5] [6] [7] The Bostonian Society no longer exists as a separate entity; on January 1, 2020, it merged with the Old South Association in Boston to form Revolutionary Spaces. [8]
Stewardship of the Old State House—"one of the most important public buildings in U.S. history" [9] and the oldest surviving public building in Boston—became the society's primary purpose. Today the 18th-century building stands above the underground State Street MBTA Station in a busy area of Boston situated between Downtown Crossing and South Station. [2] [5]
The city of Boston still owns the structure, and it is within the Boston National Historical Park and a major site on the Freedom Trail, but day-to-day management of the site was in the hands of the Bostonian Society, [1] which maintained a museum in the building and a research library across the street. [10] Materials in the collection date back to 1630s Massachusetts Bay Colony and include 7,500 books, 350 maps, 30,000 photographs, and other primary source materials. [11] Exhibits at the museum focus on the American Revolution and the American Revolutionary War, the neighborhoods of Boston, and similar local themes. [2] [5] [6] Some of the artifacts on display on the walls and in glass cases are antique rifles and other weapons, old nautical instruments from the Age of Sail, images from 18th century London newspapers expressing how Britons viewed the war, and an original Paul Revere political cartoon that was passed down through the family of Josiah Quincy I until it was donated it to the Bostonian Society in the 1880s. There is also a model showing what Boston looked like during Colonial America.
According to the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, "The Bostonian Society is the first stop for anyone interested in the city's history" and "the Society brings Boston history to life". [2] The Bostonian Society had various programs and educational resources for children and adults and had been called "a comprehensive historical and educational resource". [7] For several years, The Society oversaw a historic marker program across the city of Boston [12] and ran a teacher training program called "Teaching Boston History Workshops", bringing together leading experts on various subjects, community-based organizations, teachers and museum educators, and the Society's "unequalled collections of primary sources". [11] The Society oversaw the annual Boston Massacre reenactment which occurs every year in March and has other historic programs with costumed interpreters. The Society also made the Old State House available for various events from private events. [13]
The Bostonian Society operated three gift shops: one inside the Old State House, a shop in Faneuil Hall and, close by, a shop at Quincy Market. All three, plus a fourth in the Old South Meeting House, are currently managed by Revolutionary Spaces. [14]
The Boston Massacre was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which nine British soldiers shot several of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. The event was heavily publicized as "a massacre" by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation.
Faneuil Hall is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain. It is now part of Boston National Historical Park and a well-known stop on the Freedom Trail. It is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty", though the building and location have ties to slavery.
The Old South Meeting House is a historic Congregational church building located at the corner of Milk and Washington Streets in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston, Massachusetts, built in 1729. It gained fame as the organizing point for the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. Five thousand or more colonists gathered at the Meeting House, the largest building in Boston at the time.
Quincy Market is a historic building near Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was constructed between 1824 and 1826 and named in honor of mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt. The market is a designated National Historic Landmark and a designated Boston Landmark in 1996, significant as one of the largest market complexes built in the United States in the first half of the 19th century. According to the National Park Service, some of Boston's early slave auctions took place near what is now Quincy Market.
The Old State House, also known as the Old Provincial State House, is a historic building in Boston, Massachusetts, built in 1713. It was the seat of the Massachusetts General Court until 1798. It is located at the intersection of Washington and State Streets and is one of the oldest public buildings in the United States.
The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The institution was founded in 1807 by the Anthology Club of Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at 10½ Beacon Street on Beacon Hill.
The African Meeting House, also known variously as First African Baptist Church, First Independent Baptist Church and the Belknap Street Church, was built in 1806 and is now the oldest black church edifice still standing in the United States. The church also established a school, at first holding classes in its basement. After serving most of the nineteenth century as a church, it then served as a synagogue until 1972 when it was purchased for the Museum of African American History. It is located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to the historically Black American Abiel Smith School, now also part of the museum. It is a National Historic Landmark.
The Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that showcase Boston's role in the American Revolution and other parts of history. It was designated a national park on October 1, 1974. Seven of the eight sites are connected by the Freedom Trail, a walking tour of downtown Boston. All eight properties are National Historic Landmarks.
The Boston African American National Historic Site, in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts's Beacon Hill neighborhood, interprets 15 pre-Civil War structures relating to the history of Boston's 19th-century African-American community, connected by the Black Heritage Trail. These include the 1806 African Meeting House, the oldest standing black church in the United States.
Josiah Quincy VI was an American politician from Massachusetts who served as mayor of Boston from 1896 to 1900. A member of the Quincy political family, his grandfather Josiah Quincy IV and great-grandfather Josiah Quincy III also had served as mayors of Boston.
The Gibson House Museum is a historic house museum located at 137 Beacon Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It preserves the 1860 Victorian rowhouse occupied by three generations of the Gibson family. The house was one of the first to be built in Back Bay, and has an unparalleled state of preservation that includes wallpaper, textiles, furnishings, and family artifacts and collections. Both the public and service areas of the house exhibit a high degree of preservation, and are viewable on tours. The property was designated a Boston Landmark in 1992 by the Boston Landmarks Commission and a National Historic Landmark in 2001.
The Old Corner Bookstore is a historic commercial building located at 283 Washington Street at the corner of School Street in the historic core of Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 1718 as a residence and apothecary shop, and first became a bookstore in 1828. The building is a designated site on Boston's Freedom Trail, Literary Trail, and Women's Heritage Trail.
State Street is one of the oldest and most historic streets in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Located in the financial district, it is the site of some historic landmarks, such as Long Wharf, the Old State House and the Boston Custom House.
Boylston Market (1810-1887), designed by architect Charles Bulfinch, was located in Boston, Massachusetts, on the corner of Boylston and Washington Streets. Boylston Hall occupied the third floor of the building, and functioned as a performance and meeting space.
The Custom House in Boston, Massachusetts, was established in the 17th century and stood near the waterfront in several successive locations through the years. In 1849 the U.S. federal government constructed a neoclassical building on State Street; it remains the "Custom House" known to Bostonians today. A tower was added in 1915; the building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1986.
Merchants Row in Boston, Massachusetts, is a short street extending from State Street to Faneuil Hall Square in the Financial District. Since the 17th century, it has been a place of commercial activity. It sits close to Long Wharf and Dock Square, hubs of shipping and trade through the 19th century. Portions of the street were formerly known as Swing-Bridge Lane, Fish Lane, and Roebuck Passage.
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.
The following is a list of works about Boston, Massachusetts.