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| Massachusetts State House |
As most people know, the Massachusetts State House is located on Beacon Hill, which is an historic neighborhood in the city of Boston. It was named after a wooden beacon that once stood on the hill to warn residents of an attack or a fire. Beacon Hill is approximately one-half to three-quarters of a mile square, has 9,100 residents, and is bounded by Cambridge Street on the north, Somerset Street on the east, Beacon Street on the south, and Storrow Drive on the west. The State House with its gilded dome is Beacon Hill’s most prominent landmark and was built on land that once belonged to John Hancock.
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| Trimount, Boston, Massachusetts |
Beacon Hill was originally one of three hills that existed in an area that was called Trimountain or Trimount; the two other hills were Mount Vernon and Pemberton Hill
–sometimes called Corn Hill. Today’s Tremont Street comes from this original name of Trimount. During the time the State House was being constructed (1795-1798), Harrison Gray Otis, Jonathan Mason and others started The Mount Vernon Proprietors group with the purpose of developing the area around the building; partners of the group also included Charles Bulfinch, Hepzibah Swan, and William Scollay. About 19 acres of land was purchased by the group in 1795, most of it from painter John Singleton Copley; four years later in 1799 the hills were leveled.
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Harrison Otis Gray house
on Mt. Vernon Street, Beacon Hill |
Mansions were built on the newly created Mt. Vernon Street, and the 2nd Harrison Gray Otis House at 85 Mt. Vernon Street is a rare surviving example from this time period.
Another notable place on Beacon Hill is The Museum of African American History, which is located in what was once the first African Meeting House. It was built in 1806 for the congregation of the African Baptist Church and was the first black church in Boston and is the oldest existing African-American church building in the United States. It was a synagogue for the Anshei Lubavitch congregation from 1898–1972 and then was sold to become the Museum.
Naomi Allen
Reference Librarian
