Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-07-09
q AT G az LII N2zA2E

and Milk streets, where is now the old South
Meeting house, and this was early called Corn
hill. Soon, however further advance was made
to Summer, this extension later being called
Marlborough street. in commemoration of the VIC
tory of Blenheim. In few years third street
was added toward Essex and Boylston streets'
named Newbury. The sea- then came up IN the
Great cove from the harbor fairly close TO the
present square OF State street, for high-water
mark was at the present Kilby street on the
South side and Merchants row on the North slae'
The Great cove swept inside OF these streets'
Merchants row followed the shore northward 10
a smaller cove. stretching from where is nv"
North Market street and the Quincy market ttne
first Mayor Quincy's monumenD and over the
site of Faneuil hall to Dock square. which De-
came the Town dock. Other pioneer hish"ays .
were the nucleus of the present fremont street.
originally running along the northeastern spurs
of the then broad.spreadng Beacon hill ana pass
ing through the Common; Hanover street. at Hrst
a narrow lane from what is now Scollay square
and Ann, afterward North street. from Doch
square both leading to the ferries by Copp NIL
where tradition says the Indians had the,i '. e.,
Court street was first Prison lane. from the mar
Lot n,ace to the prison. a gruesome dungeon
early set up, where now stands the modern oi'y
Hall annex. In its day 1t harbored pirates anu
Ouakers and Hawthorne fancied 1t FOR the open-
Ing scenes of his scarlet Letter" School street
took its name from the first schoolhouse ana tne
first school, whence sprang the Boston Ea.ih
school, which felcitates itself that II anteoa.es
the university at Cambridge and dahdieo nai
yard college on its knee" Milk street. first "fort
lane" was the first way to Fort NIL on the mar
front summer street. first "Mylne lane" led TO
..Nyidow Tuthilrs Windmill" near where was
f,burcb Green up to which the water came
Cow lane" now High street, leo from onufoi
Green or Mill lane. to the foot OF Fort NIL ESSEX
street was originally at it's eastern end part OF
,ho srst cartway to the Neck and Roxbury, a
beach road that ran along the south shore Oh the
South cove, another expansive indentauon, eA.
tending from the harbor on the south sue VI
Fort hill to the Neck Boylston street, originally
Frog lane" and holding fast to this bucoilc ap'
pellation into the nineteenth century was
swampy way running westward along the south
side of Boston Common toward the open BACK oay
the back basin of the Charles-then flowing up
to a pebbly beach at the Commons western euse
and to the present Park square
Here then. the levels about the Great cove,
in the form of a crescent, facing the sea and
backed by the three-peaked hill. the town was
established.
The first occupation was within the scant ter.
ritory bounded, generally speaking. on the east
side by State street at the high-water line OF
the Great cove; northerly by Merchants row
around TO near the site of Faneuil hall; north
westerly by Dock square and Hanover street,
westerly by the great hill and fremont street;
southerly by School and Milk streets; and MIR
street again to the water, then working up toward
the present Liberty square at the junction oil
Kilby water and Batterymarch streets. Soon
however the limits expanded reaching southward
to Summer street, and not long after to Essex
and Boylston streets; eastward, to the harbor
front at and around Fort HILL westward and
northwestward about another broad cove-this
the North cove, later the Mill cove" with busy
mills about it, ndentaton on the north oi
Beacon hill by the widening of the Charles river
at its mouth, and covering the space now Hay
market square; and northward, the pc
ninsulas north end, which early became the seat
of gentty.
No further expansion of moment was made
through the colony period, and the extension was
slight during the Province period. Beacon hill
except its slopes, remained till after the Revolu
ton in its primitive state, its long western reach
a place of pastures over which the COWS roamed
and the barberry and the wild grew.
The foot of the Common the margin of this
glinng Back ba, was the towns west boundar,
till after the Revolution and into the nineteenth
century Till then the tide of the Back bay
flowed up the present Beacon street, some 20t
feet above the present Charles street. The towns
southern limit except few houses toward the
Neck on the fourth link of the highway to Rox
bury (called Orange street in honor of the house
or Orange), was still Essex and Boylston streets
The one landway to the mainland, till after the
second decade of the nineteenth century, remained
the long lean Neck to Roxbury. The only water
way at the beginning of the town. was by meani
of ships boats, afterward by scows No bridg,
from Boston was built till the Revolution was two
years past
So the "storied town" remained till the clos,
of the historic chapter, little one the built-uI
territory of which could easily be covered in
stroll of day or two.
From its establishment as the capital Boston,
history was interviewer with that of the Colon,
that in England the Colony came early to be desig
mated the "Bostoneers." and the charter which
the founders brought with them, and for til,
retention of which the colonlsts were in al
almost constant struggle, was tern ed the "Bos
ton Charter"