Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-11-21

dry gods trade, and the wool trade, to over
step the bounds to which they were formerly
| confined, and to establish themselves on
| these streets, once the favorite dwelling
places of the citizens. 1t is but six years
| since Summer street was changed from a
| street ofquiet homes to one of the most active
wholesale business streets. AS late as 1865,
| Gov. Everett, Rev. Mr.. rockingham, and
other gentlemen of quiet literary tastes,
| resided in Summer street, but for the past
two or three years there has not been a single
dwelling house in that street. It has been
wholly rebuilt with the most substantial
granite warehouses. Trinity Church still
| stood in Summer street, but arrangements
| had been made fer its reconstruction in an
other part of the town.
The destruction of Pearl and High streets
| has wiped out the largest boot and shoe
| mart in the world, for this industry in this
| country was centred there. very large
| part of the leather trade, of the trade in
| shoe-6ndings, and other trades connected
with the boot shoe trade, also found their
centre in the same locality. The great estab-
| lishments of the New England cotton and
| woolen manufactures are all swept away.
| Within few years new Devonshire street
| was laid out through the district burned,
| and this thoreughfare seems to be the very
| centre of the periphery of the fire. The
noble warehouses on both sides of it, as well
| as those in Otis street and Winthrop place,
have persisted.
The principal wool warehouses were on
Congress and Federal streets, and part of
these streets is also in ruins. At this mo-
| ment it would seem. that the fire has been
| checked on the eastern side of Washington
street, and, although it has consumed the
| rear of some of the warehouses on that street,
| it has not broken through into the street. In
| Broad street, Kirby street, and nearer the
| water, are large stores containing stocks of
| iron and imported goods, but the fire has not
yet reached them.
Old reiidents of Boston, who have not been
| here for five years, should understand that
| the whole of Fort Hill has recently been dug
| down and carried away, and in its place is
now level plain not covered with buildings.
| The crowded pauper population, which, till
lately, filled every tenement on Fort Hill,
| has been removed to other and, at present,
| safer homes. The swarm of the poor, which,
| till recently, crowded the cellars of Broad
street, have nearly all given room to the
| gr, with Of trade, and that street is no longer
to be regarded as one of the lairs of this de-
| graded population. To these two facts is it
due that so few people are left houseless by
| this disaster.
Not more than Eve hundred families have
been unhodsed. The real sufferers are the
| most active business men of Boston. They
| represent mainly that younger class of mer-
| chants, and to whom, in the last fifteen
years, the city owes its remarkable CONNER
| cial development, q development which, not
| perhaps so noticeable to outsiders, has been
| a marked feature of Boston growth. These
| men, conscious of the immense advantages
l. which the CITY nad Tor trader had awaited
| themselves of large resources to construct q
| system of warehouses which had no superior
| in this country, perhaps none abroad, and
| to open new streets which should answer
| their needs. The old byways in the more
northern part of the city had become crowd
ed and inadequate. They looked with pride
| u son Pearl street, Franklin street, New Dew
onshire street and Summer street, as business
| thoroug ghfares nowhere excelled. Every new
| year the development of the manufactures
4 of H. ,frrv av,I fhofe vrrv1
city had shown that they built on no false
| hopes in constructing such solid and expen-
/ sive storehouses.
| Ofthis city, more than any other in this
| country, it is true that the different ranches
| of industry liked to remain together and
| work side by side. To speak of Boston
| man of Milk street and Franklin street, was
to call to mind the large Wholesale and job
| bing establishments of the dry goods manu-
| facturers of New England. Pearl street and
| High street wore to him the centers of the
| boot and shoe industries of New England /;
| Summer street was that of the latest advances
| of domestic dry goods. These streets were
| occupied almost distinctively for these re-
| spective purposes.
THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FIRE.
| To strangers, the consolidation of these
| different interests cannot be better explained
than by saying that here, in the region
bounded on the water side, two-thirds of q
| mile, on Washington street nearly half q
mile, and on the northern side and southern
side nearly half mile each, lay the very
| richest part of Boston.
| 1t was, perhaps, the wealthiest section in
| the country. In this district there were few
| dwelling houses, no hotel of Importance, no
| theater, no church, except Trinity and the
old South Church, which has as yet escaped
the flames. The Cathedral Block, which is
| destroyed, was a magnificent collection oi
by the Roman Catholic Cathedral the ground
having been purchased few years ago fol
$21 square foot.
No banks have been destroyed except the
Revere, North America, and Continental
The North Bank and the Bank of Redemp'
ton were in peril, but have not yet suffered
| 1t is rumored that the old South Church il
destroyed, but I have no reliable informa
ton of the fact at this moment. The name
of the church indicates a period when Bos
ton was confined wholly to what is now
known as the North End, when this church
the third built in Boston, was regarded al
the most southerly of the three. 1t was es
tablished about the year 1860. The presen
edifice was erected in the early part of th'
last century. With the advance of th'
growth of Boston, the old South Church lont
since found itself in the northern part of thu
city, and it is a melancholy reminder of th'
origin of its name, if it be spared to-day
that it is at the southern point of that par
of old Boston which remains. Opposite thu
old South Church, in the time of the ReVo
luton, was the Province House, which wa
used by the Engllsh GoVernors as tnelr resl
dence of state. When the English army
took possession of Boston, finding, in thu
winter, no other building large enough fo
! the training of cavalry, they seized the olt
South Church, and used it as ariding school
This insult to the people was one of tn
most bitter inflicted BY that army upon tn
Colonists. The congregation own a grea
deal of real estate in the neghborhood, and
like that of the Trinity Church of New
| York, are very wealthy. They maintain
other churches throughout the city, AM
were contemplating the erection of a yer,
fine church in the region known as Bacl
Bay. AS landmark of the old times, ther
is no building in Boston the loss of whicl
= would be more regretted by its older citi
zens.
Immediately opposite the old South Churc
/ was a building,insthe rear of the ,IrGnscrir
:, office, which was built on the scene of tn
E birthplace of Benja jamin Franklin. FroI
' this house, it is known that he was carried
' | on the day of his birth, to be baptised in tn
3 | old South Church. Recent visitors to Bosto
Q | will recollect that that there was an inscriE
q ton on the granite warehouse erected ther'
v to show that it was the spot where Frankli
!, | was born.
r The new postofice, which has been, SO fa
!, | a barrier to the flames on the north, is
Y magnificent structure of granite and irol
a the corner. atona of which WAS laid littl