[Illustration: VIEW OF THE BURNING CITY FROM POWDERHORN HILL]
THE BURNING OF CHELSEA
BY
WALTER MERRIAM PRATT
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
[Illustration]
_BOSTON_
SAMPSON PUBLISHING COMPANY
1908
_Copyright, 1908, by_
SAMPSON PUBLISHING COMPANY
First impression, June, 1908
_Printed by The Sparrell Print
Boston, Massachusetts_
_The author dedicates this book to Captain James H. Smyth, Lieutenant
Olin D. Dickerman, Lieutenant Harry J. Kane, and the enlisted men of
the Eighth Company, Coast Artillery Corps, with whom he served in
Chelsea on Provost Guard during the week following the fire._
PREFACE
This book is intended by its author to be a story of THE BURNING
OF CHELSEA as he saw it,--a contribution to local history based on
personal knowledge and observation. No one man saw, or could see, all
the phases of the conflagration, but the writer saw more than most.
He was actively engaged during the entire course of the fire in the
saving of persons and property, and was able to closely observe the
whole progress of the flames. He served as a volunteer fireman for
many hours and afterward on provost guard, being at work continuously
for forty-eight hours without sleep. As he was thus present during the
entire period of greatest stress, his narration consists of first-hand
facts.
It was thought advisable to add chapters on the history of Chelsea,
and some phases of the period immediately following the fire, for the
information of those not familiar with the city, and also a chapter on
the future of the city.
The illustrations are from photographs, and the author’s thanks
for courteous permission to use them is due to Frank Roy Fraprie,
Robert Buck Jeffers, of Chelsea, Mass., _Leslie’s Weekly_, William J.
McClintock, Frank Thompson, the Utica _Saturday Globe_, and Royal S.
Wentworth.
Mr. Jeffers is maker of the frontispiece, and pictures on pages 56, 78,
and 102.
CONTENTS
I Historical Chelsea 15
II Statistics of the Fire 31
III The Start 39
IV Beyond Control 52
V Under Control 72
VI Night among the Ruins 75
VII Day Dawns upon the Ruins 83
VIII The Firemen 87
IX The Militia 93
X Expressions of Sympathy 104
XI The Relief Work 109
XII Chelsea’s Future 134
ILLUSTRATIONS
View of the Burning City from Powderhorn
Hill _Frontispiece_
The Bellingham-Cary House 16
The Pratt House, built about 1700 18
Broadway before the Fire, looking South from
Bellingham 22
Broadway, a few Weeks after the Fire, looking
South from Bellingham 24
Ruins of the Baptist Church and City Hall 32
The Lynn Engine destroyed by the Flames 34
Start of the Fire near the Everett Line 38
Responding to the First Alarm 42
Granite Block, Dynamited during the Fire 48
A Boston Fire Boat fighting the Fire 56
Brown Stone Houses Fared no Better than
Wooden Tenements 56
Junction of Washington Avenue and Broadway
before the Fire 58
Residence of Ex-Mayor Thomas Strahan before
and after the Fire 62
Boston and Albany Railroad Bridge, with
Wrecked East Boston Bridge and Burning
Oil Tanks in Background 68
The Fitz Public Library before and after the
Fire 70
Where the Fire was stopped on Sixth Street 74
Ruins of the Central Congregational Church 78
A Vast Expanse of Ruins 82
The Highland School before and after the Fire 84
Shurtleff Street before and after the Fire 86
Chief Spencer during the Fire 88
The Eighth Company, Coast Artillery, keeping
back the Crowd in Winnisimmet Square 94
Troop A, First Squadron of Cavalry 96
Granite Crumbled to Gravel under the Heat 102
The Court House, used as City Hall after the
Fire 108
The Bread Line 114
Effect of Fire on Granite Walls and Curbing 120
The Shurtleff School before and after the Fire 128
Map showing Burned District 134
County Road, in the Residential Section 136
The Wentworth Residence, among the Places
not Destroyed 140
Residence of Ex-Mayor Pratt, in the Prattville
District, One of the Many Attractive Places
in Chelsea not Burned 144
CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL CHELSEA
Before relating the story of THE BURNING OF CHELSEA it seems that a
slight sketch of the history of the city may be appropriate. Thousands
of people read, with mingled interest and horror, newspaper accounts
of the burning of Chelsea, who had previously only heard of the city
in a casual way, perhaps in connection with the unfair and time-worn
expression, “Dead as Chelsea.” Few people who have not made a study of
the matter realize how much Chelsea stands for in history. To quote
from a speech made by the late historian, Judge Mellen Chamberlain,
L.L.D., at the laying of the corner-stone of the Prattville
Schoolhouse, the city is associated with more really “first things”
than any other city of this State or continent.
The first settler, Samuel Maverick, landed on the shore of what are
now the United States Naval Hospital grounds in 1624. In 1625 he built
a fortified house near the water’s edge, which, according to the
historical tablet, erected near Chelsea Bridge, was the first house in
the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Here Governor Winthrop was entertained in
1630. In 1631 the first ferry in the country was established here, the
landing being near the present pier on the government grounds, where
the first county road in the colony, ending at Salem, began. There is a
story to the effect that Maverick’s house was attacked by the Indians,
but being completely repulsed, they never attacked again. Maverick
traded with the Indians, and in this way acquired some five thousand
acres of land, comprising what is now Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop, and
Saugus, then known as Winnisimmet.
[Illustration: THE BELLINGHAM-CARY HOUSE]
In 1630 Noddle’s Island, now East Boston, was sold to him. About 1632
Maverick sold Winnisimmet to Richard Bellingham, afterward governor,
after whom Mount Bellingham was named. Bellingham built the Cary house,
which is still standing, and used it as a shooting lodge, his home
being in Boston. Later it was bought by the Carys and greatly altered.
Tradition says that British troops were quartered in the house and an
officer committed suicide there. There is a secret chamber in the top
of the house, reached only by a peculiar passage, which winds about the
chimney from the cellar. Although the house is two hundred years old,
it is still used as a dwelling, and fortunately escaped the fire.
Until January 10, 1739, Chelsea was a part of Boston. On that date, by
the terms of an act passed by the Great and General Court, that part of
Boston known as Winnisimmet Village, Rumney Marsh, and Pullin’s Point,
including what is now known as Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop, and Saugus
was, “in consideration that they had long since built a meeting-house
and supported the same,” set off as a town, to be known by the name of
Chelsea.
The first naval battle in the history of the United States occurred
in Chelsea Creek on May 27, 1775. The conflict occurred between the
Provincials and the British troops. Its outcome was that the armed
schooner “Diana” was captured by the former and burned on the Chelsea
shore.
During the siege of Boston, in 1776, revolutionary troops under command
of Colonel Gerrish were stationed in that part of Chelsea known as
Prattville, and General George Washington on a tour of inspection took
dinner at the Pratt homestead. This house was demolished in 1855. Its
doorstep was built into the wall of Washington Park, where it may still
be seen. The other old Pratt house which is still standing belonged
to the same family. It is the second oldest house in Chelsea to-day,
having been built about 1700. It was in this house that Increase Mather
(president of Harvard College from 1684 to 1701) took refuge from the
persecution of Governor Andros.
[Illustration: THE PRATT HOUSE, BUILT ABOUT 1700]
In 1802 The Chelsea Bridge and Salem Turnpike Company received a
charter, and during that year and the next built a toll bridge between
Chelsea and Charlestown. Up to this time the only way to reach Boston
with a loaded team was through Malden, Medford, Cambridge, Roxbury, and
over Boston Neck, the trip usually requiring a whole day.
On February 28, 1828, the State ceded to the General Government the
property now used for the Naval and Marine hospitals.
In 1831 an act was passed giving Boston the exclusive control of county
buildings and relieving Chelsea from all expense attached to them.
If at any time Chelsea should wish to be set off to another county,
Boston has no power to appear in opposition.
In 1831 Francis B. Fay and others, acting for a proposed ferry company,
purchased of Thomas Williams his farm and ferry for the sum of $22,500.
The company, which still exists, was incorporated in 1833.
In 1832 the first store in the village was built at the corner of
Broadway and Everett Avenue, by John Low, and he was ridiculed by his
friends for locating a store so far out of the way, as they said there
would be few or no dwellings near him for twenty years. In this store
were kept dry goods, groceries, medicine, the post-office, and baiting
for horses. This being the only public place in the village, it was a
general resort for the few early inhabitants, and records show that
many pleasant evenings were spent there by Major Chase, Squire Knapp,
Samuel Batchelder, Thomas Pratt, Dr. Stedman, Colonel Fay, Joseph and
Charles Hanscom, and the “Ferry hands.”
The first postmaster was Rev. Horatio Alger, followed by Abel Bowen and
then Benjamin Dodge.
In 1835 the town house was built. The town appropriated $3000. The
building committee expended $3036.33, and for this excess “asked the
indulgence of the town.”
The first fire in Chelsea of which there is any record occurred in
1834, in Winnisimmet Square. There was no engine in Chelsea at the
time, but No. 15 came over from Boston. After this fire the town bought
an engine, and in 1835 the original Chelsea No. 1 was bought, and a
house built for it in the square. In 1837 a second engine was bought
for $150, and a company organized under the name Volunteers No. 2, with
quarters on Park Street.
On February 22, 1841, a narrow strip of land extending from Malden,
Melrose, and well into Wakefield, known as the Panhandle, was set off
to the town of Saugus.
On March 19, 1846, North Chelsea, now Revere and Winthrop, was set
off, reducing the town to its present size, which is about two and one
quarter square miles or fourteen hundred and forty-one acres.
In February, 1849, the Grand Junction Railroad was granted a charter
to run from East Boston through Chelsea to Boston, thus giving Chelsea
railroad connection with the outside world.
In February, 1857, as the population was in excess of twelve thousand,
the town petitioned the Legislature for a city charter, and on March 13
it was granted. On March 23 the charter was presented to the town and
accepted by a vote of seven hundred and thirty-three to one hundred and
seven. In the same year the Boston and Chelsea Horse Railroad received
a charter to run from Revere along Broadway to Boston, and at the same
time the Winnisimmet Railroad got a charter to run from Prattville
through Washington Avenue, Park and Winnisimmet streets, to and across
the ferry.
[Illustration: BROADWAY BEFORE THE FIRE, LOOKING SOUTH FROM BELLINGHAM]
When the Civil War broke out Chelsea was among the first to send men to
the front, and during the war over one thousand men were forwarded.
Hon. Frank B. Fay, who was mayor at the time, was made chief of the
United States Sanitary Commission, and spent nearly two years at the
front.
On June 5, 1868, tolls were abolished on Chelsea Bridge and the Salem
Turnpike, and they were made free public highways.
Many famous people in all walks of life, both living and dead, came
originally from or live at present in the city of Chelsea.
Among them are Benjamin P. Shillaber, better known in the literary
world as Mrs. Partington; Lieutenant William B. Cushing, who became
famous by his heroic work in blowing up the “Albemarle” during the
Civil War; Mellen Chamberlain, L.L.D. and L.L.B., lawyer, judge,
statesman, and historian; Hon. Frank B. Fay, chief of the United
States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War; Hon. Rufus S. Frost,
congressman and ex-president of the National Association of Woolen
Manufacturers; John F. Low, inventor of the famous Low Art Tiles;
Herman Atkins MacNeil, the sculptor; Rear Admiral John E. Pillsbury,
United States Navy, assistant chief of the Bureau of Navigation;
Captain J. B. Briggs, United States Navy; Miss Ellen M. Stone, the
famous missionary; Congressman Ernest W. Roberts; Ex-Governor John
L. Bates; David and Levi Slade, known by their famous spices; Henry
Mitchell, the foremost engraver in this country; Fred L. Cutting, late
insurance commissioner of Massachusetts; Colonel William Grantman of
the Civil War; Mr. Frank Roy Fraprie, the author; Hendricks A. Hallet,
the well-known artist; Jabez K. Montgomery, the ship builder; Samuel
Orcutt, inventor of the first rapid printing-press ever patented in
the United States; Hon. Eustis C. Fitz, trustee of Brown and Wellesley
colleges and ex-president of the Boston Board of Trade; William E.
McClintock, chairman of the Massachusetts State Highway Commission;
Dr. William G. Wheeler, associated with Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
as examining physician for the Federal Government during the war;
Mr. Joseph Lincoln, the author; Miss Laura Lee, the artist; Thomas
and William Martin, manufacturers and exporters of elastic webbing;
Miss Helen Fitz, president of the National Daughters of the American
Revolution. There is practically no city of any size in the United
States that does not contain former Chelsea people.
[Illustration: BROADWAY, A FEW WEEKS AFTER THE FIRE, LOOKING SOUTH FROM
BELLINGHAM]
In Chelsea there are located many manufacturing concerns, famous not
only locally but all over America, and in many cases throughout the
civilized world. Among them are The Magee Furnace Company; George D.
Emery, the largest mahogany works in the United States, which maintains
a line of steamers between Chelsea and South American ports; The Revere
Rubber Company; the Low Art Tile Works; the D. & L. Slade Company,
spices; Thomas Strahan & Company, whose wall paper is considered the
finest made in America; T. Martin & Brothers, elastic fiber; Atwood &
McManus, box manufacturers; and many large shoe factories.
There are three prominent hills in Chelsea, Mount Bellingham, already
mentioned, which was burned over in the recent fire; Sagamore Hill in
Prattville, where lived the tribe of Sagamore Indians, and where up to
recent years it was a common thing for Indian graves and relics to be
found, better known as Mount Washington, after the visit of General
George Washington; and Powderhorn Hill, which tradition says was once
sold for a horn of powder. The top of this hill, which was purchased
by the city in 1897, is set aside to be enjoyed forever as a public
park. From the top of this hill during the Revolution signals were
made to the people in Roxbury and Cambridge, giving the news of any
movements of the British army in Boston. During the winter of 1775-6
three companies of Colonial troops had their quarters on the south side
of this hill.
In addition to the park on Powderhorn Hill, Chelsea has Union Park in
the heart of the city, adjoined by two smaller parks at the railroad
station, Washington Park in Prattville, and two playgrounds, one in
the Highland district, and the other in the extreme western end and
adjoining the boulevard. The latter contains a quarter-mile cinder
track, a football field, and two baseball diamonds. The Revere
Beach Parkway passes through the northern end of Chelsea and adds
twenty-one and one fifth acres of boulevard and parks to its open
spaces. It connects the city directly with the beautiful Middlesex
Fells Reservation of eighteen hundred and eighty-five acres, and the
wonderful five-mile Ocean Drive just completed from Winthrop to Revere
and Lynn.
Chelsea is the easiest to reach of all the suburbs of Boston, being
connected with it by the Winnisimmet Ferry, the Boston Elevated by the
East Boston Tunnel, the Boston and Northern Electric line, and the
Boston and Maine Railroad. From Chelsea Square to Scollay Square, in
Boston, the running time is but thirteen minutes. Chelsea has the same
postal service as Boston. It has the advantage of the Metropolitan
water system and the Metropolitan sewerage system, both acknowledged
unexcelled. Its schools are considered by the best colleges as of very
high standing, and up to April 12, 1908, it had many miles of beautiful
shaded streets and many natural advantages over other cities.
Why is it, then, that during the few years previous to the fire Chelsea
had lost so many desirable citizens? Why was it that in less than
fifty years it had entirely lost its standing as the most aristocratic
suburb of Boston, a place where people came to spend their summers, as
they go to-day to Clifton, Magnolia, and Manchester, with a fashionable
hotel on Powderhorn Hill, now the “Soldiers’ Home,” and beautiful
country places leading down to the water along Marginal Street? How was
it possible for a city of wealth, with a population of ten to fifteen
thousand, to change in so short a time to a business and manufacturing
community with a population of forty thousand, including ten thousand
Hebrews?
This is what happened. In 1846 North Chelsea was set off, leaving an
area of only two and one fourth square miles, including the United
States Naval and Marine Hospital grounds and the United States Magazine
Reservation. As the population increased business crowded the people
back, until those who wished large estates migrated one by one to
Brookline, Newton, Malden, and other places. The Winnisimmet Ferry
Company reduced its fare to three cents, and the crowded North End of
Boston overflowed into Chelsea. Fire restrictions were placed on North
End property in Boston and more Hebrews landed in Chelsea and set up
their rag shops. It was gradual,--so gradual that old residents did
not realize the number that were locating in the city. The water front
properties were too valuable to lie idle, and large manufacturers
secured them and located their factories there. With them naturally
came a poorer class, and every two that came drove one old resident
away. Young people married and moved away and the old people gradually
died. This is why on April 12 this change had taken place, and Chelsea
had become the most thickly populated city in the United States in
proportion to its size, having forty thousand population in less than
two square miles.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH AND CITY HALL]