North Street
Ann Street, Boston, 1881
|
Location
| Boston
|
---|
South end
| Congress Street
|
---|
Major
junctions
| I-93
|
---|
North end
| Commercial Street
|
---|
North Street
in the
North End
of
Boston
,
Massachusetts
, extends from
Congress Street
to Commercial Street. It runs past
Dock Square
,
Faneuil Hall
,
Quincy Market
, the
Rose Kennedy Greenway
, and
North Square
. It was first named in 1852, and consists of segments of streets formerly named
Ann
,
Fish
,
Ship
,
Drawbridge
, and
Conduit
Streets.
[1]
[2]
Ann Street in the 19th century
[
edit
]
Ann Street
, also known as the "
Black Sea
", was an infamous neighborhood in the 19th century. The main street and its side alleys formed a
red-light district
where
brothels
,
inns
, "
jilt shops
", and
taverns
[3]
could be segregated from the rest of the city.
[4]
Over half of Boston's brothels were located there.
[4]
The establishments in the area relied heavily on custom from sailors, who had come ashore at
Dock Square
nearby, and working men, who used the taverns as meeting places in the winter. The area was one of the few places in Boston where
African Americans
and whites intermingled.
[5]
Ann Street was the main thoroughfare through the neighborhood. It ran from
Faneuil Market
, spanned an old drawbridge, and led into the rest of the Boston's North End, terminating at the wharves. On 4 December 1834, Ann Street was widened to connect
Merchant's Row
and Blackstone Street. The area lay about ten minutes by foot from Boston's banking and commercial center.
Police raids
[
edit
]
The Ann Street area was occasionally subject to police raids, generally superficial affairs that left the brothels alone.
[4]
In 1851 Ann Street had reached the height of its notoriety. Police who patrolled the area (now known as the "Black Sea") estimated that it was home to 227 brothels, 26 gambling dens, and 1,500 establishments that sold liquor.
[6]
The Boston government responded by organizing a raid. The first, on 8 March 1851, nabbed 86 gamblers. A second on 14 March took many more. Officer
Edward H. Savage
described the final phase of this
Great Descent
: "On the eve of the 23rd of April, this year, we made the great Police descent in Ann Street, capturing some one hundred and sixty bipeds, who were punished for piping, fiddling, dancing, drinking, and attending crimes."
[7]
This raid involved some 50 officers (the whole day force's contingent) and 50 night officers. In all, 60 men, including 35 brothel keepers, and 95 women, mostly prostitutes, were arrested.
[6]
Name change: North Street
[
edit
]
At the behest of residents eager to improve the area's image, Boston rechristened Ann Street "North Street" in 1852. The change made little difference. In 1866, some Protestant missionaries described the area as "squealing of fiddles" and the "disorderly shuffle of many feet", populated by criminals of every kind.
[8]
In 1896,
Benjamin Orange Flower
described a similar scene in his book
Civilization's Inferno
.
[5]
Over time, the area did improve, but this was more likely the result of economic and community changes.
[3]
Present day
[
edit
]
Today's North Street is part of a rejuvenated
North End
and all of Boston's red-light district is limited to a few bookstores and two strip clubs on Lagrange Street, part of the now defunct
"Combat Zone"
.
See also
[
edit
]
Image gallery
[
edit
]
-
Ochtorlony house, built before 1695; bought by David Ochtorlony in 1762.
-
Advertisement for Samuel Sturgis, hatmaker, 1790
-
Detail of 1852 map of Boston, showing North St., Ann St., and vicinity
-
Advertisement for C. Blake, manufacturer of
what-nots
and hat-trees, 1868
-
Advertisement for Dighton Furnace Co., 1868
-
Tremere house ca.1898 (built prior to 1674 by William Paine)
-
House on North Street (built 1901)
-
Intersection of
Union Street
and North Street, adjacent to Dock Square, 2010
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Bergen, Philip.
Old Boston in Early Photographs, 1850-1918: 174 Prints from the Collection of the Boston Society
. Dover Publications.
- Duis, Perry R. (1999).
The Saloon: Public Drinking in Chicago and Boston, 1880-1920
. University of Illinois Press.
- Hobson, Barbara Meil (1987).
Uneasy Virtue: The Politics of Prostitution and the American Reform Tradition
. Chicago University Press.
- Savage, Edward H. (1865).
A Chronological History of the Boston Watch and Police, from 1631 to 1865: Together with Recollections of a Boston Police Officer, or Boston by Daylight and Gaslight.: From the Diary of an Officer Fifteen Years in the Service
. Boston.
External links
[
edit
]
42°21′46.68″N
71°03′15.10″W
/
42.3629667°N 71.0541944°W
/
42.3629667; -71.0541944
|
---|
East?west streets
| | |
---|
North?south streets
| |
---|
Intersections
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Areas
| |
---|
Brothels
| |
---|
Law
| |
---|
Media
| |
---|
Organizations
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Red-light districts
|
- Barbary Coast, San Francisco
- The Block, Baltimore
- Broadway (San Francisco)
- Bucktown, Davenport
- Burnt District, Omaha
- Cheshire Bridge Road
- Chinatown, Honolulu
- Columbus Avenue (San Francisco)
- Combat Zone, Boston
- Creek Street (Ketchikan, Alaska)
- Fremont Street
- Hell's Half Acre (Fort Worth)
- Hunts Point, Bronx
- Kensington, Philadelphia
- Las Vegas Strip
- The Levee, Chicago
- Liberty Avenue (Pittsburgh)
- Minnesota Strip
- Murrell's Row
- Nevada State Route 582
- North Street (Boston)
- Northern Liberties, Philadelphia
- San Antonio Sporting District
- Sepulveda Boulevard
- Slabtown (Atlanta)
- SoHo, Manhattan
- Sporting District, Omaha
- Stingaree, San Diego
- Storyville, New Orleans
- Sunset Boulevard
- Tenderloin, Manhattan
- Tenderloin, San Francisco
- Times Square
- Venus Alley, Butte
- Western Avenue (Los Angeles)
|
---|
Violence
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|