Cornhill was a street in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, located on the site of the current
City Hall Plaza in
Government Center. It was named in 1829; previously it was known as Market Street (1807–1828). In its time, it comprised a busy part of the city near
Brattle Street,
Court Street and
Scollay Square. In the 19th century, it was the home of many bookstores and publishing companies. As of 1969, Cornhill exists as 144 feet along the edge of City Hall Plaza.
Image:1826 CourtSt map Boston byStephenPFuller detail BPL10344.png, Detail of 1826 map of Boston, showing Market Street (renamed Cornhill in 1828)
Image:1832 ElmSt map Boston Stimpson BPL10944.png, Detail of 1832 map of Boston, showing Cornhill and vicinity
Image:1836 Cornhill Boston2 Harvard.png, Cornhill, . Shows shops of Light & Horton; Gerry & Burt; George W. Light; Peck & Co.; William Peirce; etc.
Image:1846 PrisonersFriend Cornhill Boston.png, Advertising for the ''Prisoner's Friend'' published on Cornhill, c. 1840s. "Devoted to the abolition of capitol punishment, and the improvement of prison discipline"
Image:Rand Cornhill BostonDirectory1849.png, Advertisement for George C. Rand & Co. printers, 1849
Image:1854 StephenSmith Cornhill Boston.png, Advertisement for Stephen Smith's Desk Warehouse, 1854
Image:1856 Whigs Cornhill Boston.png, Whig Headquarters, 1856
Image:1860 Campbell Cornhill Boston.png, Ad for James Campbell, antiquarian bookshop, c. 1860s
Image:Crosswalk on Cornhill and Maplewood streetcar, April 1897.jpg, c. 1897
Image:Cornhill ca1905 Boston BPL 08 02 001023.png, Cornhill, Boston, c. 1905
Image:BrattleSt ca1920 Boston BPL 08 02 001024.jpg, Overview of Brattle St. (left), Cornhill (right), and Faneuil Hall (upper right), c. 1920
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See also
*
City Hall Plaza
*
Sears' Crescent building (built 1816) 100 City Hall Plaza; formerly 38–68 Cornhill)
*
Sears' Block (built 1848) corner Court + Washington St., formerly 70–72 Cornhill
Previous tenants of Cornhill
*
Annin & Smith, 19th-century engravers
* Iver Johnson Sporting Goods Company, located in the Iver Johnson Building, corner of Washington Street and Cornhill
*
Daniel Clement Colesworthy, bookseller, c. 1850s
*
Frost & Adams, art supplies
*
The Liberator (anti-slavery newspaper)
''The Liberator'' (1831–1865) was a weekly abolitionist newspaper, printed and published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison and, through 1839, by Isaac Knapp. Religious rather than political, it appealed to the moral conscience of its readers ...
, published by
Isaac Knapp, Cornhill, c. 1837
[American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1, no. 5153]
*
Bela Marsh, 19th-century publisher
*
F. T. Somerby, painter
References
Further reading
* "Old Boston Booksellers: The Three Burnham Brothers and Their Antecedents". ''The New York Times'', July 21, 1893. p. 6, col. 3. (Mentions Samuel B. Drake and Burnham Brothers, booksellers.)
* "Booksellers of Cornhill: 1828-1865" by Alan Seaburg. Published by The Anne Miniver Press (2017). On-line Dropbox edition can be accessed at
anneminiverpress.com
External links
{{commons category, Cornhill (Boston, Massachusetts)
Bostonian Societyhas materials related to the street.
G. Kepes Photo of Scollay Square from
Pemberton Square Looking Across to Cornhill Street, 1957.
* Flickr
Sears Crescent 1999
* Flickr
Sears Crescent 2008
* Flickr
Photo 2009
1829 establishments in Massachusetts
19th century in Boston
20th century in Boston
Former buildings and structures in Boston
Government Center, Boston
Streets in Boston