Cornhill (Government Center, Boston)

This article is about the Boston street named in 1829. For the Cornhill section of Washington Street, see Washington Street (Boston).

42°21′34.58″N 71°3′27.81″W / 42.3596056°N 71.0577250°W / 42.3596056; -71.0577250

Cornhill was a street that existed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, between the 18th and 20th centuries. It was located on the site of the current City Hall Plaza in Government Center. It was named in 1829; previously it was known as Market Street (1807–1828).[1][2] In its time, it comprised a busy part of the city near Brattle Street, Court Street and Scollay Square. In the 19th century, it was the home of many bookstores and publishing companies.[3] As of 1969, Cornhill exists as 144 feet along the edge of City Hall Plaza.[4]

  • Detail of 1826 map of Boston, showing Market Street (renamed Cornhill in 1828)
  • Detail of 1832 map of Boston, showing Cornhill and vicinity
  • Cornhill, c. 1836. Shows shops of Light & Horton; Gerry & Burt; George W. Light; Peck & Co.; William Peirce; etc.
  • Advertising for the Prisoner's Friend published on Cornhill, c. 1840s. "Devoted to the abolition of capitol punishment, and the improvement of prison discipline"
  • Advertisement for George C. Rand & Co. printers, 1849
  • Advertisement for Stephen Smith's Desk Warehouse, 1854
  • Whig Headquarters, 1856
  • Ad for James Campbell, antiquarian bookshop, c. 1860s[5]
  • c. 1897
  • Cornhill, Boston, c. 1905
  • Overview of Brattle St. (left), Cornhill (right), and Faneuil Hall (upper right), c. 1920


See also

Previous tenants of Cornhill

References

  1. ^ Edward Hartwell Savage (1886), Boston events, Boston: Mutual News Co.
  2. ^ From 1708 to 1824, a portion of Washington Street was known as "Cornhill;" cf. Boston (Mass.). Street laying-out Dept. (1910), A record of the streets, alleys, places, etc. in the city of Boston (2 ed.), Boston: City of Boston Printing Dept., OL 16574538M
  3. ^ "Cornhill – Once Boston's Literary Center, Today Replaced by Government Center". Forgotten New England. June 5, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  4. ^ "Public way. Open from Franklin Ave to approximately 144 feet easterly." cf. "Street Book". City of Boston. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
  5. ^ Boston Directory. 1861
  6. ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places". U.S. Dept. of the Interior. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
  7. ^ a b Susan Southworth; Michael Southworth (2008), AIA guide to Boston (3 ed.), Guilford, Conn: Globe Pequot, OCLC 175057014, OL 22549621M
  8. ^ Boston Directory. 1832
  9. ^ Boston Directory. 1857
  10. ^ American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 5153

Further reading

  • "Old Boston Booksellers: The Three Burnham Brothers and Their Antecedents". The New York Times, July 21, 1893. p. 6, col. 3. (Mentions Samuel B. Drake and Burnham Brothers, booksellers.)
  • "Booksellers of Cornhill: 1828–1865" by Alan Seaburg. Published by The Anne Miniver Press (2017). On-line Dropbox edition can be accessed at: anneminiverpress.com
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cornhill (Boston, Massachusetts).
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.