A narrow point or tongue of land projected into the cove between the Town Dock (then near Faneuil Hall) and Mill Creek, and upon this land stood the celebrated triangular warehouse,--a remarkable building for the time. It stood opposite the Swing Bridge, and a little north of the dock, measuring forty-one feet on Roebuck Passage (named after the tavern near it), and fifty feet on the back side. Near this place, in the small square formed by the junction of Ann, Union, and Elm Streets, was the Flat Conduit, so called. Ann Street was originally Conduit Street as far as Cross Street; and Union Street, in 1732, lead from the conduit to the Mill Pond.
Around the South Cove, as has been said, in the early time the chiefest part of the town was built; and from thence it gradually expanded along the shore[Pg 19] to the south and to the west. John Josselyn, in 1638, visited Boston, and wrote a volume entitled "New England Rarities," in which he says, "It was then rather a village than a town, there being not above twenty or thirty houses."
THE NORTH COVE.
The Cove on the north side of the peninsula, Charles River, commenced near the Charlestown Ferry, curving inwardly nearly to Prince Street, Baldwin Place, Haymarket Square, nearly on the line of Leverett Street, to Barton's Point, where the almshouse formerly stood. "The Mill Pond," as it was afterwards called, says Shurtleff, "was bounded by portions of Prince and Endicott Streets on the east, and Leverett Street, Tucker's pasture, and Bowling Green on the west; and on the south it covered the whole space of Haymarket Square. Most of the estates on what is now Salem Street, ... and on the west on Hawkins Street and Green Street, extended to the Mill Pond Cove." The margin of the cove, it is said by another, "passed across Union, Friend, and Portland Streets, to the bottom of Hawkins Street; thence westerly, across Pitts and Gouch Streets, to Leverett Street, which at one time was called Mill
Alley. The descent of the land here was very steep. A street was laid out on the line of Temple Street [Staniford] from Leverett Street to Beacon Hill, where steps led to the top of the hill, a hundred and thirty-eight feet above the sea."
[Pg 20]
THE MILL CREEK.
The Creek, or the Mill Creek, as it was afterwards called, was undoubtedly prior to the formation of the Mill Pond; and it is doubtful if it was ever included in it, although Shaw conveys the idea that the North Cove was simply a piece of salt marsh, and that the creek was used for the purpose of covering it with water at flood-tide, and thus forming a mill-pond. As early as the 5th of July,
1631, an order was passed by the Court of Assistants, "that PS30 be levied on the several plantations for clearing a creek, and opening a passage to the new town,"--the town at this time being the settlement around the South Cove; so that the "clearing of a creek"
was "a work of industry" on a small scale for such an enterprise. It was made across the narrow neck of land between the two great coves, and while it united the waters of Charles River with the harbor, divided the peninsula into two islands or sections. The creek, whatever its relations may have been to the Mill Pond in the later years of its existence, was used by the boats coming from the Mid-dlesex Canal, which terminated at Charlestown Neck, and furnished to them a shorter way to the harbor with their freights of wood, lumber, &c. A few extracts from the town records will afford some further insight into the character and uses of the creek.
In 1648, in describing the property of Thomas Marshall, who owned some land near the Water Mill, Mill Creek, it is stated, "with liberty of egress and regress in said creek with boats, lighters, and other[Pg 21] vessels;" and it is added, "Thomas Marshall shall not build any nearer the creek than the now dwelling-house of said Milom, and that he shall not hinder the mills going by any vessel in the creek."
7
1656, Aug. 25.--Butchers may throw their "garbidge" into the Mill Creek over the drawbridge, and in no other place. [The drawbridge was in Ann Street.]
1659, Oct. 20.--As the people were returning from the execution of Robinson and Stevenson [Quakers], the draw of the drawbridge fell upon a crowd of them, mortally wounding a woman, and severely hurting several others.
1691, August.--A fire broke out on Saturday evening, "consuming about fourteen houses, besides warehouses and brue houses from
the Mill Bridgh down half way to the Draw Bridgh."
1698, Nov. 6.--Mr. James Russell of Charlestown and Mr. John Ballentine of Boston, or "whoever else may be concerned, or own-ers of the bridge over the Mill Creek, are ordered forthwith to repair the pavement on each side of the bridge, and to move the gutters beside it, that it might be passable for horse and cart, according to the grant of the Town, or pay 20s. a week till it should be done."
1712, March 10.--Ordered to make the drawbridge (so called) in Ann Street a fast, firm bridge the width of the street. A committee
was appointed to inquire if any damage be sustained by anybody in making the bridge in question a "fast bridge."
THE MILL POND.
The Mill Pond was formed by the building of a causeway across the head of the cove, as the street now runs, where there was, it would seem, a sort of Indian causeway, or pathway, at some prior time. It is represented by writers on the subject to have been built from Leverett Street to the Charlestown[Pg 22] Ferry; but as this would include the creek, built some ten or twelve years before, this seems to be impossible; for if the creek was connected with the pond, without a gate to shut it off, there could be no mill-power. The creek, therefore, must have been separated from the pond by a gate, while there was a gate from the pond into Charles River.
However, the causeway was built, and the mill-pond and the water-power it furnished, used for more than a hundred years without any special publicity or inquiry concerning them. In fact, it would seem as if the subject, and the large piece of territory involved, had been pretty much forgotten; so that in 1765, in March, a committee was appointed to inquire "by what terms the mill-owners held the mill-pond mills." In May following, this committee reported, that on the 31st of July, 1643, there was granted to Henry Simons, George Burden, John Hill, and their partners, all the cove on the north-west side of the causeway leading towards Charlestown, with all the salt marsh bordering thereupon, not formerly granted, on these conditions: that within three years they erect thereon one or more corn-mills, "and maintain the same forever; also make a gate ten feet wide to open with the flood for the passage of boats into the cove," &c. This gate was also to be "maintained forever."
The Mill Pond, it is said, included about fifty acres,--nearly as large as the north end island,--and, of course, must have furnished during the time it was available--from an hour or two after full tide until an hour or two before the next tide, night and[Pg 23] day-- a very large and extensive water-power, and was, no doubt, though probably not half used, a very valuable property.
It is stated by Drake, as if it were a consequence of the action of the committee, that, "four years after the above report, a committee took possession of the premises, as having reverted to the town." These proceedings, it will be noticed, all refer to the "mill-pond mills," but may be presumed to include the pond and the whole grant made in 1643; so that in 1769 the property was in the hands of the town, as appears from these statements.
After this time, by some means or other, the Mill Pond Company, or Corporation, came into possession of the property, as Shaw says, "for the consideration of five dollars;" and in 1807, the town became a partner in the matter of tilling it up, the town to have the streets, we presume, and one-eighth of the lots filled within twenty years. Permission was also given to use the gravel of Beacon Hill for the purpose. The filling was completed more than fifty years ago, and the entire space has long been covered with buildings, and in 1832 included a theatre. The Boston and Maine Railroad Station stands over the creek; and the large depot buildings of the Fitchburg, Eastern, and Lowell Railroads are all on land taken from the river outside the ancient causeway: so that no one of the great railroad depots in the city stands upon the original land of the town.
[Pg 24] CONCLUSION.