The tour of MA CITY continues! This time, I visited the Old State House, which sits right on State Street in downtown Boston.
The Old State House was originally built as a wooden town house in 1657 - but it burned down in a fire in October of 1711 near the intersection of State and Washington Streets (which is literally just behind the building in the picture below.) This particular structure was subsequently built in 1713 and was the seat of colonial government until 1776, and then State government until the "new" Massachusetts State House was completed in 1798. The new State House was built over on land that was once owned by John Hancock which is now adjacent to Boston Common. We will visit that area in another post!
The Old State House almost hilariously sits among the giants in the heart of Boston. On the façade of the building, you can see a few important features. First, the balcony that you see is the same one that colonial governors would make announcements and proclamations from on behalf of the King of England. The Declaration of Independence was read for first time in Boston from this balcony on July 18, 1776! You can also see the lion and the unicorn which were actually symbols of the King of England. The originals burned in 1776 but replicas were placed here in 1882.
The very small windows on the "first" floor were a result of the 1903-1904 addition of the orange line station to the east side of the building here. It raised the original floor by 19 inches, thereby resulting in shorter windows.
And right out in front of the Old State House sits the marker for the spot where on March 5, 1770, the Boston Massacre occurred. Most people agree that these were the first shots fired in the Revolutionary War. There's a lot of symbology here - the five stars represent the five men who died in the Massacre. The center marks the spot that Crispus Attucks was shot. He was the black sailor who was the first to fall in the Massacre. I think I read somewhere that the 13 spokes coming out of the center were for the 13 colonies - indicating the 13 colonies that existed before this Massacre lead to the start of a nation but now I can't find anything about that - so don't quote me on that!
I went inside of the Old State House to learn a little lunchtime history! Inside there is a copy of the famous painting that is a chromolithograph by John Bufford in 1857 (original drawing by William L. Champney in 1856) known as "The Death of Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre 5th March 1770."
This hat belonged to Major Thomas Melvill, who was the grandfather of Herman Melville (the author of Moby Dick). He was a member of the Sons of Liberty that participated in the Boston Tea Party and he served as a major in the artillery during the Revolution.
When the Tea Party was over, the Sons of Liberty had boarded the British ships and pushed over 46 tons/$1.7 million worth of tea (in todays figures) into Boston Harbor --- AND Melvill's wife happened to find some of that tea in his boot after the affair was over, which they preserved in a little bottle for posterity, I'm sure.
I really liked seeing John Hancock's coat! They also had a letter of congratulations from the people of Boston on his selection as governor of Massachusetts, as well as his ceramic snuffbox.
At the Old State House, you can also visit the Council Chamber that dates back to 1764.
The Royal Governor of Massachusetts used to meet with the members of his council in this (now) very interactive room.
Because the Royal Governor of Massachusetts was working on behalf of the British throne (which at the time was George III), there is a painting of King Charles I from 1636, by Anthony Van Dyck.
There is also a painting of King James I by the first baronet, Sir Godfrey Kneller from 1684. Ironically, James II was overthrown as the last Catholic King of England which led to England becoming a constitutional monarchy rather than an absolute monarchy!
Well, someone left their shoes and coat at the Old State House!
I thought the Old State House comic books and trading cards (not to mention the limited edition Jim Beam bottles) were a nice touch! The Jim Beam bottles were made in 1976 to celebrate the Bicentennial. Interestingly, these are two of the seven that were made, and six of them were featured as Saturday Evening Post cover art by Norman Rockwell. The seventh (on the right), which featured Crispus Attucks, had advertisements that only ran in Ebony and Black Enterprise magazines.
There is a cool and dizzying stairway in the Old State House. These always remind me of snails! This stairway was added around 1830.
Although the Old State House is still the oldest surviving public building in Boston (read: not someone's residence), it has had a lot of work done to it over the years. Don't miss visiting the lower level (where the bathrooms are) because there's a small but very interesting section about the restoration of this building!
The restoration began in 1881 with the goal to restore it to it's original look. The lion and the unicorn, symbols of the British government, had been torn off in 1776. They were replaced (new, not the originals) with the late 1800s restoration of the east gable.
In contrast, they placed an eagle and the Massachusetts state seal on the west gable!
The craziest idea they had was when they decided to run the MBTA orange line underneath the building in 1903-1904 (in fact, State Street station is actually IN the building!)
Behind those two people standing in the foreground, you can see the orange doors to the State Street orange line station. Super weird that they thought THIS was a good place for that! But I read on the Boston History and Architecture website that, "The Old State House's shallow foundation provided an area for the subway stops to be stacked beneath it, without having to dig beneath the far deeper foundations of the surrounding buildings."
I love this picture and I love Boston architecture (well, most of it anyway!)
Until next time, Old State House!
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