A concise view of facts relative grant of the ferry between Boston & Charlestown
By: ca. 1800
Series: Collections of the Harvard University Archives; Harvard in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Published: 1800
Language: eng
Number of pages: 3
Subjects: History; Ferries; Finance; Sources; Administration; Bridges; Transportation; Harvard University; Harvard College (1636-1780)
Description: This printed pamphlet, with pages numbered 1-8, contains financial information related to the Charlestown ferry with calculations of lost income to the College due to the construction of the West Boston Bridge. The text begins, "Grant of ferry between Boston and Charlestown, real, perpetual, and by fair construction necessarily extended to West Boston Bridge." The pamphlet is lacking a title page and imprint information.
Notes: Title transcribed from the handwritten title on verso of the printed first page.

The author of this document was previously cataloged as "F. A. Whitney" but no information on the document explains the attribution.

An additional copy of this item and information about the Charlestown Ferry can be found in the Records relating to Harvard's interest in the Charlestown ferry (UAI 20.707) in the Harvard University Archives.

In 1640, the Massachusetts General Court granted Harvard College the revenue from the Boston-Charlestown ferry to help support the institution. The College managed the Charlestown ferry until 1785 when, despite active lobbying by Harvard, the General Court granted a charter for the Charles River Bridge to be built from Boston to Charlestown "in the place where the ferry was then kept." In compensation for divesting the College of the income from the ferry, the General Court ordered the bridge proprietors to pay the College an annual annuity. In 1793, despite petitions by Harvard, the West Boston Bridge was built. The College continued into the middle of the 19th century to petition the Massachusets General Court for continued annuity payments related to their prior management of the Charlestown Ferry.