300px, Scollay Square, Boston, 19th century (after September 1880) 350px, Scollay Square, Decoration Day, 19th century (after September 1880) Scollay Square (c. 1838–1962) was a vibrant city square in downtown

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. It was named for

William Scollay Colonel William Scollay (1756–1809) was an American developer and militia officer from Boston during the American Revolution who gave his name to the infamous Scollay Square. He was the only surviving son of John Scollay, a strong supporter o ...

, a prominent local developer and

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non- professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

officer who bought a landmark four-story merchant building at the intersection of the Cambridge and

Court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and carry out the administration of justice in Civil law (common law), civil, C ...

Streets in the year 1795. Local citizens began to refer to this intersection as Scollay's Square, and, in 1838, the city officially memorialized the intersection as the Scollay Square. Early on, the area was a busy center of commerce, including daguerreotypist (photographer)

Josiah Johnson Hawes 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–18 ...

(1808–1901) and Dr. William Thomas Green Morton, the first

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofacial co ...

to use

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again b ...

as an

anaesthetic An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into ...

. As early as the 1950s city officials had been mulling plans to completely tear the Square down and redevelop the area. Eventually more than 1,000 buildings were demolished and 20,000 residents were displaced. With $40 million in federal funds, the city built an entirely new development there, Government Center.

History

left, 200px, Detail of 1888 map of Boston, showing vicinity of Scollay Square Scollay Square was located "at the junction of Tremont and Court streets, Cornhill and Tremont Row". Initially the city designated it Pemberton Square, but changed the name to "Scollay Square" when Phillips Square changed its own name to " Pemberton Square". The building that gave the area its name, Scollay's Building, was the last remnant of a once-larger group of buildings: "at one time a wedge-shaped row of wooden buildings, extending from the head of Cornhill to opposite the head of Hanover street, separated Tremont row from Court street (see Bonner's map, 1722); at the southeasterly end the second schoolhouse in the town was erected, 1683-84; at various times portions of these buildings were removed, leaving only the Scollay brick building, supposed to have been built by Patrick Jeffrey, who came into possession in 1795; named for William Scollay, an apothecary... removed about 1870."

Culture

250px, Scollay Square, Boston, after September 1880 ; Old Howard Theatre Among the most famous (and infamous) of Scollay Square landmarks was the Old Howard Theatre, a grand theater which began life as the headquarters of a Millerite Adventist Christian sect which believed the world would end in October 1844. After the world failed to end on schedule, the building was sold in 1844 and reopened as a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an venue. Later, in the 1900s and 1910s, it would showcase the popular

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...

s. By around the 1940s the Scollay Square area began to lose its vibrant commercial activity, and the Howard gradually changed its image and began to cater to sailors on leave and college students by including

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

shows, as did other nearby venues such as the Casino Theater and Crawford House. "Always Something Doing" became the Old Howard's advertising slogan. The venue also showcased

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

matches with boxers including Rocky Marciano, and continued to feature

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

vaudeville acts, from likes of The Marx Brothers and

Abbott and Costello Abbott may refer to: People * Abbott (surname) * Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist *Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act Places Argentina * Abbott, Buenos Aires United States * Abbott, Arkansa ...

. But it was the success and prominence of the burlesque shows that brought the Old Howard down. In 1953, vice squad agents sneaked a home movie camera into the Old Howard, and caught Mary Goodneighbor on film doing her

striptease A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a " stripper" or an " ...

for the audience. The film led to the closure of the theater, and it remained closed until it caught fire mysteriously in 1961. The square was also the home of

Austin and Stone's Dime Museum 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. It featured a freak show as well as dancing girls for enter ...

. ; John Winthrop Statue To mark the 250th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the sculptor Richard Saltonstall Greenough was commissioned to create a bronze sculpture of

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led ...

, the first Governor of the state. The statue was installed in September 1880.

Abolitionism

200px, Militia tries to maintain order in Scollay Square during the 1919 Boston Police Strike Scollay Square was also a flashpoint for the early

abolition Abolition refers to the act of putting an end to something by law, and may refer to: * Abolitionism, abolition of slavery * Abolition of the death penalty, also called capital punishment * Abolition of monarchy *Abolition of nuclear weapons *Abol ...

movement. Author

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper ''The Liberator'', which he foun ...

was twice attacked by an angry mob for printing his anti-

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

newspaper ''

The Liberator Liberator or The Liberators or ''variation'', may refer to: Literature * ''Liberators'' (novel), a 2009 novel by James Wesley Rawles * ''The Liberators'' (Suvorov book), a 1981 book by Victor Suvorov * ''The Liberators'' (comic book), a Britis ...

'', which began publication in 1831. Sarah Parker Remond's first act of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a stat ...

occurred in 1853 at the Old Howard when she was refused the seat she had purchased but was instead seated in the 'black' section. Many of the buildings in the area in and around Scollay Square had hidden spaces where escaped slaves were hidden, as part of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

Destruction and redevelopment

By the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Scollay Square had deteriorated into a shanty town and a

red-light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are parti ...

. The Old Howard had become an increasingly tawdry

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

establishment. As early as the 1950s, city officials had been mulling plans to completely tear down and redevelop the Scollay Square area, in order to remove lower-income residents and troubled businesses from the aging and seedy district. Attempts to reopen the sullied Old Howard by its old performers had been one of the last efforts against redevelopment; but with the theater gutted by fire, a city wrecking ball began the project of demolishing more than 1,000 buildings in the area; 20,000 residents were displaced. The city offered to give any demolished materials to anyone who could load and take away a full dump truck load. The materials included street paving blocks ( Belgian blocks quarried in Quincy), granite, lintels, and bricks. With $40 million in federal funds, the city built an entirely new development on top of old Scollay Square, renaming the area Government Center, and peppering it with city, state, and federal government buildings: Boston City Hall,

City Hall Plaza City Hall Plaza may refer to: * City Hall Plaza (Boston), Massachusetts, USA * City Hall Plaza (Manchester) City Hall Plaza, City Hall Plaza Tower or 900 Elm Street (U.S. Route 3), is a prominent office tower in Manchester, New Hampshire. Sin ...

, Government Service Center, and the

Edward W. Brooke Edward William Brooke III (October 26, 1919 – January 3, 2015) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1967 until 1979. Prior to serving in the Senate, he served as th ...

Courthouse.

References in popular culture

* Pearl Schiff's best-selling 1952 novel, ''Scollay Square'', tells the story of a young woman's affair with a sailor she met in a Scollay Square

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

. The book was considered scandalous at the time. *

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian anc ...

's 1957 novel, ''On the Road'', tells the story of protagonist Sal Paradise's booze-fueled night at a Scollay Square tavern. * In the Kingston Trio song " M.T.A." (written by Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes), Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Square station every day, at a quarter past two, to hand her stranded husband a sandwich through the open window. The same scene is repeated with different characters in scenery set about 40 years later in the Dropkick Murphys song "Skinhead on the MBTA". * Sam Savage's 2006 novel '' Firmin'' , a magical-realist account of a literate rat, takes place in Scollay Square at the time of its destruction. * In "The Bostonian" episode of '' Have Gun, Will Travel'', Paladin states that, in his youth, he was the best dressed bouncer in Scollay Square. * In the game '' Fallout 4'', one of the towns the player can visit is modeled after Scollay Square and is named Goodneighbor after Mary Goodneighbor, who was filmed by local authorities in 1953 doing a striptease at the Old Howard Theatre. Since the Fallout universe is set in a different timeline from ours which diverged in the 1950s, it can be assumed that Scollay Square was not altered during the 1960s in the Fallout world. The square is also referenced by name in an episode of "The Silver Shroud", a radio program in the Fallout universe. * In '' The Perfect Storm'', Billy Tyne (

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

) tells his crew they look like they've had a rough night in Scollay Square. * In ''The Huntress'', a novel by Kate Quinn, several chapters are set in a family home just off of Scollay Square.

References

External links

* http://www.joeandnemo.com The Scollay Square Web Site * https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/2350725919/ Scollay's Building, 19th century * https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/2350724709/ Scollay's building, 19th century * https://web.archive.org/web/20110604061519/http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/dpc/history/billboard1.asp Henry Ford advertisement, c. 1900 * https://www.flickr.com/photos/sargent/249104349/ Aerial photo, 1946 * https://www.flickr.com/photos/mit-libraries/tags/scollaysquarebostonma Photos by Nishan Bichajian, 1950s * http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/04/09/once_a_relic_of_the_past_earthy_art_form_sees_a_revival/ Burlesque revival, 2009 {{Authority control 19th century in Boston Financial District, Boston Former buildings and structures in Boston Government Center, Boston Squares in Boston Underground Railroad locations