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©a W (DIP IB<D9lP<D»a 
 
 In Common Council, Feb. 14, 1333. 
 
 The Committee to whom was referred the several pa- 
 pers and documents relative to a new Street over 
 the Mill Creek, together icith the petition of P. H. 
 Pierce and others, have had those subjects under 
 consideration, have held several meetings, have 
 viewed the premises where they propose opening 
 and widening the streets, and ask leave to 
 
 REPORT 
 
 That after fully investigating the subjects com- 
 mitted to them, they are of opinion that the public 
 convenience requires that the Mill Creek should be 
 laid in a street, and widened to a breadth not less 
 than forty, nor more than fifty, feet, — that Mer- 
 
2 
 
 chant's Row should be continued across Ann street 
 as nearly in a straight line as it now runs as possi- 
 ble, from Market Square until it intersects the street 
 before recommended over the Mill Creek, of a width 
 not less than forty nor more than fifty feet. 
 
 Your Committee find over the Mill Creek that it 
 is from Fulton to Ann street, - - 260 feet. 
 
 " Ann to Hanover street, - - 432 feet. 
 
 " Hanover to Charlestown street, 440 feet. 
 
 Making the whole length - - 1,132 feet. 
 
 To make this street forty feet wide will require 
 45,280 feet of land. They also find the whole num- 
 ber of feet on the Mill Creek belonging to the city 
 is 27,980 — which being deducted from the quantity 
 necessary to make the street, would require the pur- 
 chase of 17,300 feet of land — and if it should be 
 thought expedient, to make the street 50 feet wide, 
 the quantity to be purchased to complete the same 
 over Mill Creek would be 28,600 feet. 
 
 The whole distance from Ann street to the inter- 
 section of the proposed new T street is 156 feet, and 
 the city must necessarily purchase the whole of this 
 land, (with the exception of a small passage way) as 
 it is wholly the property of individuals ; therefore, 
 the whole quantity to be purchased for the continu- 
 ance of Merchants' Row to make a forty feet street, 
 would be 5,400 feet — and if for a fifty feet street, it 
 ^vould require the purchase of 6,960 feet. 
 
 So that the whole quantity to be purchased for 
 both streets would be for a forty feet street, 22,700 
 feet, for a fifty feet street, 35,580 feet. 
 
 Your Committee further learn, that there are 
 somewhat more than fifty proprietors, whose proper- 
 
9 
 
 tj will be variously affected, and with the exception 
 of the demolition of those estates for the continu- 
 ance of Merchant's Row, and those situated at the 
 corners of the streets over which we pass, most of 
 the estates will be much improved. 
 
 And many of the proprietors have expressed in 
 writing, a readiness to contribute toward the pro- 
 posed improvement, thus evincing a liberality, highly 
 honorable to themselves, and beneficial to the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Your Committee are not unmindful that for the 
 completion of those important avenues, a very im- 
 posing draft must necessarily be made on the Treas- 
 ury — which they consider perfectly warranted, by 
 the importance of the proposed improvement. 
 
 This subject having been so recently committed 
 by a former City Council that your committee for- 
 bear troubling you with a detail of the necessity or 
 convenience to the public. 
 
 The completion of the Lowell Rail Road must 
 add very much to the present inconvenience, there 
 being not a single reasonably wide avenue North of 
 Court street, by which any communication may be 
 had for all the travel, from the great Eastern, North- 
 ern, and Western Routes to the Market, or Eastern 
 section of the city. They therefore recommend to 
 the Council, the passage of the following Resolves : 
 
 Resulted, That 
 
 with such as the Mayor and Aldermen may join, be a commit- 
 tee with full powers to widen Mill Creek so as to form a street, 
 forty feet wide from Clinton to Charlestown streets, with au- 
 thority to extend the width to fifty feet, if they should judge it 
 expedient. 
 
 Resolved, That the same committee be authorised to con- 
 tinue Merchant's Row across Ann street, until it intersects the 
 
4 
 
 street over the Mill Creek, with the same power in regard to 
 the width as over the street first named. 
 
 Resolved, That if the said committee should consider it for 
 the interest of the city, to purchase any Estate or Estates, 
 which may be necessary for carrying into effect the foregoing 
 resolves, they are hereby authorized so to do, in behalf of, and 
 for the use of the City of Boston : Provided, That no Estate 
 shall be purchased unless it be determined to do so by the 
 committee, at a meeting held for that purpose, and the opin- 
 ions then expressed shall be by signing their names to a vote, 
 expressive of their approbation of the purchase, the price to be 
 paid, and the terms of payment — which vote or approbation 
 shall be void, unless signed by at least three fourths of the 
 committee. 
 
 Resolved, That the committee hereby appointed are not au- 
 thorized to act in the premises, until a subscription shall be 
 made and placed in their hands, from individuals who may be 
 benefitted by this improvement, payable in lands, or money, 
 amounting in the opinion of the committee, to at least Twenty 
 Thousand Dollars. 
 
 All which is submitted by order, and in behalf of 
 the Committee. 
 
 ELIPHALET WILLIAMS, Chairman. 
 
 The following Resolves and Orders are proposed by Mr. 
 Hastings, of Ward 6, as a substitute for the above Resolves : 
 
 Resolved, That whenever the surveyors of highways deem 
 that the public safety and convenience require that the street 
 from Clinton to Charlestown streets over the Mill Creek should 
 be widened, and also that Merchant's Row should be extended 
 and opened to intersect said street, the City Council will 
 appropriate the money to satisfy any judgments that may be 
 obtained against the city from the owners of any estates that 
 may be taken or injured. 
 
 Resolved, That whenever the surveyors of highways deem 
 that the public safety and convenience require that a street 
 should be opened or widened from Broad street to Sea street, 
 the City Council will appropriate the money to satisfy any 
 judgments that may be obtained against the city from the 
 owners of any Estates that may be taken or injured. 
 
 Resolved, That whenever the surveyors of highways deem 
 that the public safety and convenience require that Commer- 
 cial street should be extended and opened to the Marine Rail- 
 
ways, or any part of said distance, the City Council will 
 appropriate the money to satisfy any judgment that may be 
 obtained against the City from the owners of any estates that 
 may be taken or injured. 
 
 Ordered, That if the powers now possessed by the survey- 
 ors of highways are insufficient to authorize them to lay out 
 the two last named streets, they are hereby authorized to ap- 
 ply to the Legislature for such additional powers as will enable 
 them to lay out said streets. 
 
 Ordered, That the foregoing resolves shall remain in force 
 ^uring the present municipal year, and no longer. 
 
CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 The Joint Committee appointed " to take into consideration 
 so much of t/i* Mayors Inaugural address, as relates to the 
 Opening of a marginal Street from Broad to Sea Street." 
 ask leave respectfully to 
 
 REPORT 
 
 That your committee held a meeting at an early day after 
 their appointment, and many of the gentlemen interested in 
 the proposed improvement attended, and after an interchange 
 of views on the important subject of their commission, your 
 committee suggested to the party present, the expediency of 
 causing a plan to be made of the proposed street, and to as- 
 certain as far as could be done, what number of the abutters 
 on the contemplated line would be willing to relinquish their 
 lands towards making the street ; and that so soon as these 
 preliminary measures were taken, the committee should be 
 again called, further to attend to the subject, and make report 
 to the City Council . 
 
 In pursuance of this arrangement, a survey was made and 
 a plan drawn and presented to your committee, of the pro- 
 posed street, extending from Broad to Sea Street, forty feet in 
 width, but ^accompanied with any documents stipulating for 
 the relinquishment by the abutters of the land necessary to 
 make said street, and the proprietors were given to under- 
 stand, that the width of the street, as laid down on the plan, 
 would not probably be satisfactory to the Council or to the 
 Surveyors of Highways ; and it was also known, that it was 
 not satisfactory to some of the abutters themselves, in fact, 
 that some of the principal proprietors of Estates, through which 
 the proposed street is laid down on the plan to pass, are only 
 willing to relinquish their land on the condition, that the street 
 shall not be made less than fifty feet in width. 
 
 It would be almost superfluous for your committee to make 
 any remarks touching the importance of the enterprize in ques- 
 tion. Every member of the Council is undoubtedly familiar 
 with the premises, and will recollect, that it is an improvement 
 which has been for many years in agitation, but that after all, 
 it is a measure which recommends itself first, to the action of 
 the abutters themselves, as proposed in the present Report and, 
 if in the prosecution of the necessary steps for its- accomplish- 
 ment on their part, any obstacles arise, such for instance, as 
 not being able to obtain the relinquishment of land in all in- 
 stances, that the action of the City Council, or that of the 
 Surveyors of Highways, might then be brought into aid and 
 facilitate the accomplishment of the desired object. 
 
7 
 
 Believing, from the lateness of the season, anil the short 
 time which will elapse before the organization of a new coun- 
 cil that nothing further will be done the present year touching 
 the premises, vour Committee report, that the iurthcr con- 
 sideration of this subject be referred to the next City Council. 
 All which is respectfully submitted. ^ 
 For the Joint Committee, 
 
 HENRY J. OLIVER, Chairman 
 
 In Common Council, Dec. 8, 1831. 
 
 Read and accepted. 
 
 Sent up for concurrence, 
 
 B. T. PIC KM AN, President. 
 
 In the Board of Aldermen, Dec. 19, 1831 • 
 Read and Concurred. 
 
 H. G. OTIS, Mayou. 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 In Common Council, May 10, 1832. 
 
 The Committee of the City Council to whom was referred the 
 petition of the Hon. John Welles and others, praying that 
 " a spacious Street may be opened upon the easterly margin 
 of the City ; extending from the North End to the South 
 End," have had the subject under consideration, aad ask 
 leave to 
 
 REPORT 
 
 That two Committees of the petitioners appeared before 
 your Committee, one of whom represented the interest of the 
 petitioners between Foster's Wharf and Sea Street ; and the 
 other, the interest of those between Sea Street and the new 
 Street now making by the Land Commissioner, near the City 
 land East of Washington Street. Both of said committees 
 urged the expediency of commencing the work immediately, 
 and exhibited plans and estimates, showing the direction of 
 part of the proposed Street, and the probable expenses of 
 completing the work, which plans and estimates accompany 
 and make a part of this report. 
 
8 
 
 One Committee of the petitioners oropose to continue Broad 
 Street f rom tester's Wharf to Sea Street, near the bottom of 
 Summer Street, a distance of about two thousand feet ; and 
 Fifty Feet in width, as marked on the plan. The estimated 
 cost of making- this part of the St/eet, exclusive of paying for 
 land taken, amounts to the sum of twelve thousand six hun- 
 dred and thirty-six dollars. 
 
 After thorough examination of the premises and mature de- 
 liberation, your Committee are of opinion, that the time has 
 arrived when this long desired public improvement should be 
 made, the necessity and convenience of which must be ap- 
 parent to a very large portion of our fellow citizens. Many 
 of the owners of the land, over which the Street is to pass, 
 are ready to relinquish all claims for damages, and some are 
 willing to aid in making the Street ; but after all that can be 
 done by the individuals immediately concerned, there will be 
 required, to insure its completion, an appropriation by the go- 
 vernment of ten thousand dollars. Your Committee there- 
 fore recommend, that when said Street shall be completely 
 made from Foster's Wharf to Sea Street, fifty feet in width, 
 fitted for paving and to the acceptance of the Surveyors of 
 Highways, that the sum of ten thousand dollars be paid by the 
 City to defray the expenses thereof; and that whenever (in 
 the opinion of the Surveyors of Highways) said Street shall be 
 sufficiently settled ; the curb stones set and the sidewalks laid, 
 said Street be paved at the public charge. 
 
 Your committee further state, that it is also proposed by the 
 other committee of the petitioners, to make a new Street from 
 said Sea Street to Front Street, thence to the City lands East 
 of Washington Street ; making a continuous Street from Broad 
 Street to the new Street now making by the Land Commis- 
 sioner, near the Dyke, east of Washington Street. The im- 
 portance of which, to the best interest of the City, will appear 
 obvious to all, who look to the proceeds of the sale of this land 
 to pay the public debt ; for should this project succeed there 
 can be no doubt that the Neck lands will greatly rise in value. 
 
 It was stated to your Committee, that that part of said Street, 
 from Sea Street to Front Street, will be made by the owners 
 of the flats over which it will pass; and, if the City will appro- 
 priate eight thousand dollars towards the expense of continu- 
 ing Front Street from its present termination at the South 
 Bridge, to the new Street near the Dyke, that said petitioners 
 will complete the same to the acceptance of the Surveyors of 
 Highways ; affording to the public a direct and commodious 
 Street from Northampton Street to State Street, and all the 
 Wharves intervening. It will be perceived that to accomplish 
 this whole line of Street will cost the City eighteen thousand 
 dollars. We are aware, that so large a sum ought not to be 
 expended for one object without great deliberation and urgent 
 necessity. But after due consideration of the magnitude of 
 
9 
 
 the undertaking, and the beneficial effects that must result to 
 the public on its completion ; and the subsequent advantages 
 that will be produced by the improvement, your Committee re- 
 commend, as an assurance to the petitioners of the Co-opera- 
 tion of the City Government, that the following resolves be 
 passed . 
 
 For the Committee. 
 
 C. WELLS, Chairman. 
 
 Resolved, That as soon as a Street fifty feet wide, from Fos- 
 ter's Wharf to Sea Street, shall be completed by any of the 
 abutters on said Street, fitted for paving, and the curb stones 
 set, and the side walks laid to the acceptance of the Sur- 
 veyors of Highways, the City Government will apply the sum 
 of ten thousand dollars towards the expenses of the same, 
 and will cause said Street to be paved at the public charge. 
 
 Resolved, That whenever a Street shall be made from Sea 
 Street to Front Street (over the Flats) and from the present 
 termination of Front Street, near the South Bridge, to the 
 Street commenced near the Dyke, [by the Land Commissioner] 
 to the acceptance of the Surveyors of Highways, the City 
 Council will pay the sum of eight thousand dollars towards 
 defraying the expences thereof. 
 
 In Common Council, May 17, 1832. 
 
 Read and the Resolves, having been twice read, passed, 
 Yeas, 35 ; Nays, none. 
 
 Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 JOHN P. BIGELOW, President. 
 
 In the board of Aldermen, May 21, 1832. 
 Read — and concurred, — Yeas, 6 ; Nays, none. 
 
 CHARLES WELLS, Mayor, 
 
10 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 City Council, Sept, 2§j 1831. 
 
 The Joint Committee to whom ivas referred the petition of 
 Daniel Sargent and others, as also the petition of William 
 Parsons and 1,400 others, as taken from the files, for an 
 extension of Commercial Street to Lynn Street, have at- 
 tended to the duty assigned them, and ask leave respectfully 
 to 
 
 REPORT 
 
 That they have met the parties at two several times, and 
 received from them a plan, drawn by S. P. Fuller, Esq. of the 
 continuation of Commercial Street, as proposed by them, to- 
 gether with the conditional relinquishment to the City by the 
 principal abutters on the contemplated line of so much oftheir 
 land as may be required to make said street (see paper num- 
 bered 3,) together with sundry other documents, all which ac- 
 company and make part of this Report. By recurrence to the 
 Plan, it will be perceived that the Petitioners contemplate con- 
 tinuing Commercial Street from its present termination at 
 Lewis' Wharf, as far round as the Marine Railway, in Ann 
 Street, the whole expense of which is estimated at $ 16,500, 
 exclusive of the relinquishment oftheir lands and the removal 
 of buildings as aforesaid (see paper Xo. 1.) leaving the widen- 
 ing of Ann Street as far as Lynn Street, to future operations, 
 as private enterprise may render expedient and the public ne- 
 cessity or convenience may require, it being in the views of 
 this Committee all important, that the section of Ann Street, 
 from the Marine Railway, should be continued of the same 
 width as Commercial Street, and which can probably be done 
 at no very considerable expense, if widened principally on the 
 water side of the Street ; indeed, the Street may hereafter go 
 across Hanover Street, and be continued of this width, two 
 hundred feet into Lynn Street on the water side, with but little, 
 if any, damage to the two estates bordering thereon. 
 
 The SI 6,500 stated as being the expense of carrying Com- 
 mercial Street to the point in Ann Street aforenamed, is for 
 the purchase of some small estates, and making compensation 
 to individuals on the route, whjse estates cannot be passed 
 without essential injury to them, and which will be more dis- 
 tinctly understood by following the lines on the Plan, with the 
 explanatory document numbered 1, the amount of all which is 
 estimated at about §13,500, the balance is for the cost of 
 making the Street, and putting it in a condition for paving, as 
 per S. P. Fullers' estimate of the'same, (see paper ,No. 20. and 
 is $3,098 52, making together the aforesaid estimate of about 
 
11 
 
 0 
 
 $i 6,500. The length of the proposed extension of Commer- 
 cial Street to Ann Street is 1/250 feet, carrying a width of 
 fifty feet, the whole quantity of land therefore redeemed from 
 old wharves, and covered in part with stores, sheds, and other 
 wooden buildings, together with some dock will amount to not 
 far from 62,500 square feet. 
 
 Thus are the Council made acquainted with all the facts 
 touching the premises which your committee are in posses- 
 sion of, and in view of which, your committee have unani- 
 mously agreed to report a Resolve, recommending an appro- 
 priation of the sum of ten thousand dollars towards defraying 
 the cost of the aforesaid enterprise. The work may be coni- 
 .nenced this fall, and the street, by a condition among some of 
 the abutters on the line must be laid out, if done agreeably to 
 the arrangement among themselves, in all the month of April 
 next, although the principal part of the ensuing year might 
 elapse before the money would be called for from the City. 
 
 Your Committee are not aware that it is necessary to en- 
 large their present report by any remarks by way of argument 
 in favor of the Council, adopting the principal Resolve, recom- 
 mended by them, particularly when it is borne in mind, that 
 the extension in a northerly direction of Commercial Street, as 
 now proposed, originally entered into the views of the City 
 Council as forming part of the improvement contemplated in 
 the laying out of this Street A few, however, of the many 
 other considerations which presented themselves to your com- 
 mittee, they will proceed to state. 
 
 It will readily occur to the Council, that the project of a 
 wide capacious avenue around this City had long been in con- 
 templation with the old town authorities, and with every City 
 Council since the change of the municipal government. In 
 view of this was it, your committee believe, that both branches 
 of the Council in the last annual address, from its chief ma- 
 gistrate, had its attention called to this subject, in relation to 
 the extension of Broad Street round to Sea Street. Of no less 
 importance in the view of your committee, and most perfectly 
 in accordance with the views just referred to, is the extension 
 of Commercial Street to Lijnn Street, and when both of these 
 Streets are completed, there will remain but a small part of 
 your City which will not be accommodated with such marginal 
 street. Commencing at the oVorth, and following Charles 
 River, you have Lynn Street forty feet wide on straight lines 
 to Causeway Street, thence by this Street which is sixty feet 
 in width to Leverett Street, thence to Brighton Street, through 
 Brighton Street, with the omission of an extension of this Street 
 across to Cambridge Street, but which the public necessity 
 will very shortly call for to be continued to Charles Street, 
 thence through Pleasant and Washington Streets to Roxbury, 
 or a little westerly, over Tremont Street, just laid out, to Rox- 
 bury. To return back to the place of beginning, you take a 
 
12 
 
 southerly course through Commercial Street to the J .ong 
 Wharf, theuce through India and Broad Streets to Sea Street, 
 (the conjunction of these two latter named Streets is now in 
 charge of a joint committee of the Council) thence by Sea 
 Street to South Boston, or turning westerly through East and 
 Essex Streets to Front Street and Washington Street, er hy a 
 continuation of Front Street (already petitioned for to the 
 Council) to Northampton Street and iloxbury. This is the 
 course of a very few years, with only the continuance of the 
 past prosperity of our City, will this very desirable object of a 
 marginal Street, embracing all the advantages of new Streets 
 and wide side walks, extending itself around the City entire, 
 be accomplished. 
 
 A more local, but not less important consideration with your 
 Committee in favor of the street now proposed to be con- 
 structed is the present condition of Ann Street, a street which 
 runs parallel with, and is about 150 feet distant from the pro- 
 posed street, and for which the new Street will be in part a 
 substitute, so far at least as lies in its commercial advantages. 
 This street, in its width and lines, through its whole extent, as 
 has once before been remarked, has been a reproach to the 
 town, at least for one generation, being only 14 feet wide in 
 one place between the side walks, and these only two feet wide, 
 and from that, in many places, only 19 feet wide, including 
 side walks, and throughout the whole Street of no greater 
 average width than 24 feet 3 inches, including side walks, at 
 the same time this Street is one of the principal avenues from 
 the centre to the north part of the City ! Now the cost of 
 widening this Street, to make it only .SO feet wide, as has been 
 remarked by a former committee of the Council, would at the 
 very lowest calculation amount to S 100,000. In the most 
 limited view of it, the expense would unquestionably be very 
 considerable: now here is a proposition for a street, the con- 
 struction of which will render unnecessary any very extensive 
 widening in Ann Street, and which can be obtained by the City 
 for merely the sum of $10,000. Your Committee know of no 
 instance where a street of such length and width, and from 
 which the public will derive so many advantages, has been ob- 
 tained at so little cost to the City. 
 
 Again, your committee view it as not among the least of the 
 considerations in favor of a marginal Street, and particularly in 
 the case now referred to, that its construction tends to promote 
 very greatly, the health of the City, by the removal of those 
 numerous small docks which are well known to be constant 
 sources of filth, and at low tides exceedingly offensive. The 
 fact also, that such avenues bring nearer each other, remote 
 sections of the City, particularly in the present instance, your 
 committee consider is not to be lost sight of. The advantages 
 in the saving of time to the laboring man who passes from his 
 home at the north part of the town to Long and Central 
 
13 
 
 Wharves for instance, and his going and returning four tunes 
 a day, is by no means inconsiderable, the City is conferring a 
 benefaction upon this class of our community in the attainment 
 of so desirable an object. The saving of time and expense in 
 the transportation of every description of property, passing 
 either way is, in the opinion of your committee, also entitled 
 to the regard of the Council, and lastly, by way of an immediate 
 pecuniary interest which the City has in the project under con- 
 sideration, it is a fact fairly to be assumed, that while in many 
 cases, sums as large as that now proposed are expended in the 
 straightening or widening streets, having regard to public con- 
 venience and to uniformity of appearance, very properly ap- 
 propriated undoubtedly, but without one dollar ever coming in 
 of additional taxes to the City Treasury, while, in the present 
 instance, in all probability, within three years from the pay- 
 ment of the money, reported in the accompanying Resolve, 
 there will be reimbursable to the Treasury double, if not three 
 fold the interest on the expenditure by the City, in the amount 
 of income from the taxable property created by this improve- 
 ment. 
 
 In conclusion, your committee indulge the belief, that there 
 can be but one opinion as to the general utility of the con- 
 tinuance of the proposed street, agreeably to the petition 
 signed by William Parsons and 1,400 other citizens, originally 
 sent in, and now that of Daniel Sargent and others, the pre- 
 sent year preferred before the Council, the number and respec- 
 tability of the MMpnes attached to the petitions, and the various 
 interests whichthey represent, present strong claims upon the 
 Council, as your committee humbly apprehend, to the granting 
 their request, so far as is embraced in the first subsequent Re- 
 solution, which your committee report and recommend the 
 adoption of by the City Council. 
 
 All which is respectfully submitted, 
 
 By order and in behalf of the joint committee, 
 HENRY J. OLIVER, Chairman. 
 
 Resolved, First, That it is expedient to appropriate the sum 
 of ten thousand dollars towards the extension of Commercial 
 Street fifty feet wide, from its present termination at Lewis' 
 Wharf to the Marine Railway in Ann Street, said Street to be 
 constructed of like materials with that part already built, and 
 the money to be paid when the same shall have been com- 
 pleted to the satisfaction of the Surveyors of Highways, pro- 
 vided, that before any money be applied by the City to the pur- 
 poses of this Resolve, the proprietors of all the land shall, by 
 sufficient deeds, release to the City, all claim for damages or 
 
14 
 
 compensation tor the lands or building, that may be included 
 in the lines of the street that shall be laid out, or that security 
 to the satisfaction and acceptance of the Mayor and Alder- 
 men, that the City shall be fully indemnified from all claims 
 lor the same shall be fust given. 
 
 Resolved, Second, That all farther proceedings in the pre- 
 mises, touching a choice of lines of said street, as also the 
 continuation of collateral streets into the new Street, together 
 with all other matters in relation thereto, be referred to the 
 Surveyors of Highways. 
 
BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
 MULTIPLE VOlUfV^C SOUND rnorrHPP