Merchants Row in
Boston,
Massachusetts is a short street extending from
State Street State Street may refer to:
Streets and locations
*State Street (Chicago), Illinois
* State Street (Portland, Maine)
*State Street (Boston), Massachusetts
*State Street (Ann Arbor), Michigan
* State Street (Albany), New York
*State Street (Manhatta ...
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
Dock Square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, is a public square adjacent to Faneuil Hall, bounded by Congress Street, North Street, and the steps of the 60 State Street office tower. Its name derives from its original (17th-century) location a ...
, 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.
History
17th century
"On the west side of Merchants' Row, about midway from State Street to Faneuil Hall, was the first house of entertainment in Boston. It was kept by Samuel Cole in 1634."
18th century
In the 18th century, "many of Boston's best-connected importers set up shop" on Merchants Row.
Andrew Faneuil (uncle of
Peter Faneuil) owned a warehouse there around 1732;."
and in the 1730s merchant
Charles Apthorp had a "prime storefront location."
took place on Merchants Row, as it did elsewhere in the town.
For example, in 1731 Charles Apthorp advertised "a parcel of likely negroes of both sexes, just imported in the sloop Speedwell, William Dickinson master, lying and the upper end of the Long Wharffe ... to be sold by Charles Apthorp at his warehouse in Merchants Row."
The Golden Ball Tavern stood on Merchants Row; proprietors included John Marston (c. 1752-1775). The Admiral Vernon Tavern stood at the corner of King Street.
From 1700 through 1824, a building known as the "triangular warehouse" dominated the street.
Nathaniel Dearborn speculates it was built "probably by Dutch tea merchants, as they had been in the habit of supplying the inhabitants with teas, at a less price since 1660, than could be afforded by the London
East India Company, as most of the teas from Holland were smuggled into this market." The warehouse was "taken down in 1824, to make room for the City Market improvements."
Around 1774, businesses on Merchants Row included:
factor James Anderson; and merchant James Perkins. Around 1789: auctioneers Adams & Molineux; hatter Joseph Eaton; hatter and furrier Russel Sturges; hair-dresser Abraham Haywood; the inn at the "sign of the Golden-ball"; grocer Daniel Oliver; and merchants Samuel Bradford, John Erving Jr., Charles Miller, Samuel Parkman, William Phillips, James Tisdale, William White, Peter Wainwright, Ebenezer Wild, and Daniel Wild. Samuel Sumner kept a crockery shop at the corner of State Street (c. 1798-1805), in the building formerly occupied by the Admiral Vernon Tavern.
Future founder of the
Old Farmer's Almanac, Robert Bailey Thomas, studied with mathematician Osgood Carleton in 1792, "in an unfinished building in Merchant's Row."
19th century
"The narrow entrance from State-street into Merchants' Row, must, we think, be widened. ... On certain business days the jam is intolerable."
Around the 1830s Charles Savage Homer, hardware seller (and father of
Winslow Homer) "conducted his affairs in various stores near Dock Square and Merchants' Row." Boston mayor
Samuel C. Cobb
Samuel Crocker Cobb (May 22, 1826 – February 18, 1891) was a businessman and politician who served on the city councils of the cities Roxbury, Massachusetts and Boston, Massachusetts and who served three consecutive terms as the mayor of Bos ...
was also in the shipping trade, and around 1873 worked from Merchants Row. He "engaged principally in the
Sicily trade, and with the
Cape de Verde Islands, and ...
Senegal and
Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
."
Images
Image:1768 Leigh MerchantsRow BostonNewsLetter Oct13.png, Leigh's Intelligence Office, 1768. "To be sold cheap ... a negro woman, and a negro man: a complete billiard table, 300 barrels of tar, a second-hand suit of sails for a schooner..."
Image:TriangularWarehouse MerchantsRow Boston DearbornReminiscences.png, Triangular Warehouse, Merchants Row (1700-1824)
Image:TriangularWarehouse2 MerchantsRow Boston DearbornReminiscences.png, Map showing position of the Triangular Warehouse on Merchants Row
Image:1835 AmericanGardnersMagazine v1 Hovey MerchantsRow Boston.png, ''American Gardener's Magazine'', v.1, 1835; published by Hovey & Co.
Image:Wilder MerchantsRow BostonDirectory 1850.png, Advertisement for Wilder's Patent Salamander Safes, Merchants Row, Boston, 1850.
Image:HorseCollar MerchantsRow BostonDirectory 1868.png, Advertisement for American Horse-Collar Co., 1868
Image:ParkerGannett MerchantsRow BostonDirectory 1868.png, Advertisement for agricultural warehouse and seed store, 1868
Image:1883 MerchantsRow map Boston byWalker detail.png, Detail of 1883 map of Boston, showing Merchants Row and vicinity
Image:MerchantsRow ca1900 StateSt BostonianSociety.png, Corner of State St. and Merchants Row, c. 1900 ( Old State House at lower left)
Image:2010 MerchantsRow StateSt Boston 22 .jpg, Merchants Row, Boston, 2010 (at State Street, looking towards Quincy Market)
Image:2010 MerchantsRow Boston 20.jpg, Merchants Row, Boston, 2010; looking towards State Street
References
External links
*
Bostonian Societyhas materials related to the street.
* Flickr
View of Fort Sumter L. Prang & Co. Lith./ 34 Merchants Row Boston, 19th century
* Flickr
Photo 2006
{{coord, 42, 21, 34.18, N, 71, 3, 20.55, W, type:landmark_region:US-MA, display=title
Streets in Boston
Financial District, Boston
History of Boston
Economic history of Boston