The Leverett Street Jail (1822–1851) in Boston , Massachusetts served as the city and county prison for some three decades in the mid-19th century. Inmates included John White Webster . Notorious for its overcrowding, the facility closed in 1851, when inmates were installed in the nearby, newly built Charles Street Jail , also in the West End .
23-542: Begun around 1819, the "new gaol in Leverett-street" opened in 1822. Prior to that time, many had recognized the previous town jail (since the 1630s located off Court Street ) as inadequate. In 1823, "on inspecting the common jails of the city, in Leverett Street, it was found that, of the two stone prisons there situated, one was amply sufficient for all the usual exigencies of the courts of justice. It
46-462: A blanket for each prisoner now confined in Boston gaol, and as much fuel as will be necessary to keep them comfortable during the inclemency of the season." In 1805 "the sons of misfortune and penury, the debtors, now in Boston gaol, partook of the joys of Independence, on the 4th inst. The liberality of several gentlemen afforded them a handsome repast; and a number of appropriate toasts were given on
69-587: A jail in the center of Boston , Massachusetts , located off Court Street , in the block bounded by School , Washington and Tremont Streets. It was rebuilt several times on the same site, before finally moving to the West End in 1822. Prisoners included Quakers , " witches ," pirates, murderers, rebels, debtors, and newspaper editors. "Opened in 1635, the Boston Gaol served as Massachusetts' sole prison for eighteen years. ... As settlers fanned out into
92-454: A very rare feature in non-military architecture, was braced by diagonal struts from the posts and ornamented by corner pendants. A steep stairway, hitched to one end of the building like an inelegant afterthought, clambered to the upper rooms. These consisted of Boston's first public library, a gift of Robert Keayne; a large room "for the courts to meete in both in Winter & Sumer, & so for
115-576: The Bringing of the Timber to the Place, A second Hund. at the raysing, a third Hund. at the inclosure & Covering, a fourth at the finishing and Compleating..." The wood-frame building was completed and occupied in 1658. A sketch drawn in 1930 based on the original specifications shows an open-walled public market (a traditional medieval form) on the ground floor. Three rows of seven stout posts supported
138-528: The Leverett Street Jail ... for the various crimes of piping, fiddling, dancing, drinking, and all their attendant vices." Executions took place at the jail. In 1831, "Joseph Gadett and Thomas Colinett [were hanged] ... for piracy," and in 1834 Henry Joseph also. In 1850, Dr. Webster of the highly publicized George Parkman murder case was executed. The conditions in the jail were widely criticized. Prisoners lived crowded together, regardless of
161-772: The Townsmen & commissioners of the Towne"; a room for an Armory (Keayne had organized the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts and become its first commander); and "a gallery or some other handsome roome for the Elders to meete in". The building also housed the Colonial government, with Governors Endecott , Bellingham , Leverett and Bradstreet presiding under the old charter, then Edmund Andros , followed by Phips , Stoughton , Bellomont and Dudley under
184-539: The courses loose cannon-balls were laid in cavities hollowed out for the purpose." Don Pedro Gibert and his pirate associates on trial in Boston in 1834 were held in the Leverett Street jail. In 1835 abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was held in the jail temporarily for his own protection when a mob turned against him. Others held in the prison included, for instance, people in custody after police raids on Ann Street . One night in 1851, "165 persons of all ages, sexes, nations and colors ... were marched off in pairs to
207-448: The doors covered with iron spikes, the passage-ways like the dark valley of the shadow of death.'" In 1704, a new building replaced the old on the same site. "The prison and its dungeon were considerably repaired after the great fire of 1711, in that neighborhood, which destroyed the town house and first church . The keeper's house was also renovated." "The keys of the building were twelve to eighteen inches long and were expressive of
230-698: The formidable character of the jail, the walls of which were three feet thick." "There is no reason to suppose that Boston Jail was any worse than most other prisons of that period. But that it was a forbidding place is amply attested by Daniel Fowle , the Boston printer, in his "Total Eclipse of Liberty:" ... 'If there is any such thing as a hell upon earth, I think this place is the nearest resemblance of any I can conceive of.'" "A new building designed by Governor Bernard replaced [the old] in 1767." "The Massachusetts Charitable Society, at their quarterly meeting last Monday evening [in December 1797], unanimously voted
253-580: The lunatics and the drunkards; all confined in two buildings at night, and on the Sabbath, in which there can be no separation, and no effectual supervision or restraint, to prevent gambling and falsehood, profane swearing and lascivious conversation, wrath, strife, backbiting and revenge . In 1833 the city built a new House of Correction in South Boston , designed on the Auburn system (an improvement at
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#1732772510039276-405: The mildness (e.g. minor debt) or severity of their crime. "The new, costly, and elegant prison ... is so constructed as not to admit of a proper separation of its inmates." By 1831, "the true character of this place is beginning to be understood:" The crowded night rooms; the 1,000 debtors annually, and the 1,000 criminals and vagrants; the men and the women; the old men and black boys; the idiots,
299-469: The new charter. It was the focal point of Boston's civil and political life: receptions held by governors and prominent citizens; assemblies of the Legislature; meetings of the colony and town officers; the marketplace with its stalls and stores all made it so. In his diary, Samuel Sewall recorded many stirring scenes inside and near the town-house. There the revolt against Governor Andros was centered;
322-488: The occasion." By 1807 the "county gaol" appeared as "a plain stone building of considerable strength," located "in the rear of the court-house ." "The jail [was] a three story building with corridors on the outside of the upper stories, in which were the prisoners confined for debt." In December 1819, there were "now confined in this gaol, poor debtors and poor criminals, as follows: 95 men, 29 women—total: 124. Of whom are destitute of clothing 19 men and 20 women." Through
345-472: The opposite." In other words, conditions improved for inmates in the new South Boston prison, but remained objectionable for inmates remaining at Leverett Street. In 1851, amid continued criticism of the prison, it was replaced by the Charles Street Jail. The old jail building on Leverett Street stood until at least 1856. Boston Gaol (Massachusetts) The Boston Gaol (1635–1822) was
368-675: The same year the first Episcopalian service in Boston was held in the deputies' room. Captain Kidd was there examined by the governor in 1699; the captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company was elected in the large room in 1701, and the Company exercised there in June 1702. In 1704 Captain Quelch and five other pirates were tried there. The building was destroyed in the great fire on
391-519: The time). After 1833 "as the city and county lock-up the Leverett Street Jail held inmates who were awaiting trial and also those who had been sentenced to the [South Boston] House of Correction and were waiting for transport there. " " De Beaumont and de Tocqueville declared the House of Correction in South Boston to be a model for similar establishments, and the county jail in Leverett Street just
414-482: The upper stories, which were walled by broad planks three inches (76 mm) thick, "well grooved into one another" and planed smooth on both sides. The roof was of the meeting-house type: hipped, with a "walke upon the top fourteen or 15 foote wide with two turrets, & turned Balasters and railes, round about the walke". The second story was ten feet high, and the third half-story rooms were lighted by three cross gables on each side. The three-foot overhang "everie way",
437-429: The wilderness, organizing new townships as they went, local facilities for incarceration sprang up elsewhere." The Boston Gaol sat on Prison Lane (1634–1708), which became later known as Queen Street (1708–1788), and then Court Street (from 1788). Around 1689, "the old stone gaol on Prison Lane [had] ... outer walls ... of stone three feet thick, its unglazed windows barred with iron, 'the cells partitioned off with plank,
460-738: The years, gaol keepers included Mr. Salter (c. 1662); Richard Brackett (c. 1665); Seth Smith (c. 1711); William Young (c. 1740); Oliver Hartshorn (c. 1796). The Leverett-street jail opened in 1822, replacing the old prison off Court Street. "In 1823 the old gaol was taken down, and its materials were partly used in constructing the gun house and ward room on Thacher Street" in the North End . 42°21′31.96″N 71°3′29.2″W / 42.3588778°N 71.058111°W / 42.3588778; -71.058111 First Town-House, Boston The First Town-House in Boston , Massachusetts Bay Colony ,
483-408: Was determined, therefore, to convert the other into a house of correction, and employ the inmates in the adjoining jail-yard in hammering stone and like materials." Thus "there were two separate prisons within the same enclosure." Architecturally, "the Leverett Street jail was considered very secure, walls and floors being composed of large blocks of hewn stone clamped together with iron, while between
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#1732772510039506-429: Was located on the site of today's Old State House and served as Boston's first purpose-built town hall and colonial government seat. Robert Keayne left £ 300 in his will for the construction of a marketplace and town-house; this was more than doubled by subscriptions from 104 "Townesmen", and on August 1, 1657, a contract was signed with Messrs. Thomas Joy and Bartholomew Bernad for the construction. The initial price
529-641: Was £400 but the final bill came out to £680. The contract was for "a very substantial and comely Building...sixty six foot in Length, and thirty six foot in Breadth from outside to outside, set upon twenty one Pillers of full ten foot high ... the wholl Building to Jetty over three foot without the Pillers everie way...according to A modell or draught presented to us, by the sd. Tho. Joy & Barth. Bernad. The time w Payment shall be as followeth viz: one Hund. Pound at
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