[Rarebooks] fs: Pestilential winds in Boston?? (1824)

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

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Apthorp, Jno. T., et al. "Rrport (Report) of The Committee chosen by the
Inhabitants of the City of Boston, to take into consideration the
expediency of authorizing the City Council to make sale of the Upland and
Flats, lying west of Charles Street"

Boston; 1824.

One of the opening salvos in the fight that would eventually lead to the
construction of much of what is today thought of as the Best of Boston-
the Back Bay, bordering the Boston Common and Beacon Hill. In 1824 this
area adjacent to Charles Street and the Common was mud flats, and the city
proposed to sell some of it off to developers to be filled in and built
upon. This raised the ire of some Boston citizens, as this report shows.
Amongst other things, citizen were concerned that-

"At the season of the year most exposed to pestilence, the prevailing
winds blow over the open green fields of the country, directly through the
City, from one extremity to the other. There is over the open space, which
it is now proposed to alienate, a constant current of fresh air, which
revives and purifies the entire atmosphere of the City... diluting the
force of disease and scattering the malaria which are generated by the
hourly avocations of so many thousand beings in so limited a space...".

But that is not all-

"The Committee cannot recommend to their fellow citizens to adopt a plan,
which in their humble apprehension would sacrifice one of the most
splendid Panoramas in the world, to a mean cupidity for money...The
magnificent prospect which is now enjoyed from the Common; the rich and
diversified and luxuriant scenery, which spreads itself before us; the
picturesque hills, that rise majestically, around this beautiful spot...
would, by the proposed buildings, be wholly concealed behind a range of
brick walls".

Of course, today we find the brick walls charming and the lack of green
space was solved by Frederick Law Olmstead and his "Emerald Necklace". A
scarce item- OCLC finds only 4 original copies, including copies at the
Boston Athenaeum, the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library.
Hardcover. 5.5"x9.25", 21 pages, 1 map; pamphlet bound into 19th century
marbled boards with a linen spine. Covers with some soil, pages browned
and with some soil. [05016] $475.00


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