Oh, the Smell!!!
Phewwwww….
In 1870 Boston the City had a quarter of a million citizens, ten
times the size of Boston
It was a nice city, but the smell--- some days,
especially in the southern and western parts—the smell was overpowering. The smell in parts of the city was terrible
for weeks at a time.
In
1878 Boston
In
the late 1600s residents built the first
sewer drains, and it was pretty much whoever could pay for digging and building
a drain to the nearest water put it in.
In those days, people disposed of human waste separately, in cesspools.
Even
up to the 1880s people dumped their chamber pots in tanks on their property.
The
industrial revolution expanded Boston
tremendously, and all the additional people, and all the chemicals that poured
from the textile mills and other manufacturing plants turned Boston
In
1866, just after the Civil War, a cholera epidemic hit Boston
So a decade later, it was time for
action, and Elliot C. Clarke was one of the men who led the effort to build a
new system that would move the effluent beneath the city and out to Boston harbor, at Moon Island
Map
of Boston sewer system, 1885, by Elliot C. Clarke
I
recently found three small handwritten diaries that Clarke had written during the years when he was building the new Boston
Clarke was a
member of a fine old Boston family, and became a
Boston
Clarke was a prominent figure in Public Health and Civil Engineering in
those days, and his work was interconnected not only with building, maintaining
and expanding Boston's storm drain and sewer system, but the many railroads and
horse railways criss-crossing the city, as well as streets and the system of
collecting slops, house trash and ashes from residences and businesses all over
the city, and collecting and disposing of dead animals daily.
Clarke gave papers at national Public Health forums, and wrote a mountain
of documentation on Boston
In his diary, Clark writes (Oct. 2,
1878) about efforts
to get residents to deed property for sewer
Three diaries
Three personal handwritten diaries
(1879-1881) in the life of Eliot C. Clarke, Principal Assistant Engineer
for Improved Sewerage, the man who built the Boston
Sewer System 1878-1881 Boston , MA : City of Boston Boston Boston
SOLD
In the
event that Boston
Mary Norton's Autograph Book, Maynard, Mass., 1879 Norton, Mary A. 1879 Maynard, MA:
ephemera. Mary started this autograph book in 1879. It contains
sentimental inscriptions from friends and relatives, mostly from Maynard , MA and Halifax , Nova
Scotia
Joyeaux Trio from Ruth's Post Cards, 1928
Ruth's Post Card Travelogue, 1928 by Bradford, Ruth Boston, MA: Ruth Bradford, 18 Cedarlane Way Europe , and sends home this detailed, colorful report of
her adventures, carefully described on the backs of 22 post cards. She watches
the fireworks for Bastille Day at Biarritz Pyrenees .
Luncheon in Quimper
Cannon and Camera
Rough Riders at Camp Wikoff
Cannons and Camera: Sea and Land Battles of the
Spanish-American War in Cuba, Camp Life, and the Return of the Soldiers; First
Edition Photographs and Narrative by Hemment, John C.1898. New York , NY Cuba Adams . Hemment had earlier photographed the Battleship
Maine extensively, and when he arrived in Cuba Maine ,
life in American soldiers' camp, off to the seat of war in Santiago Morro Castle . Among the Cuban
pickets. About mules in the campaign.
Siege of Santiago
Modern
Sanitation, March 1907 published by Standard Sanitary Mfg. Co., New York,
London, Chicago 1907 Pittsburgh, PA: Standard Sanitary Mfg.
Co. Magazine features cover photo of London's Piccadilly Circus, where public
toilet is now located. Editorial by Horace Barnes notes that Europe is far
ahead of U.S.
Rhode
Island, A Study in Separatism: American Commonwealths series, second edition by
Richman, Irvirng Berdine 1918 Boston , MA : Houghton Mifflin & Co. Frontispiece is fold-out
map of Rhode Island Rhode Island and Massachusetts , and states that since he is not connected
to New England , his work may be found to be
impartial. Narragansett Bay and the beginnings
of separatism. Age of Roger Williams. Paper Money. Rhode Island Newport Providence Rhode
Island Newport , Laafayette riding a-gallop to Boston
Walter Kendall Architect--Architecture sketches and drawings
collection and Detailed Photo History of Property at Rockport ,
MA 1957-58 1958 Rockport , MA Church of St. Vincent
Ferrer Rockport ,
Massachusetts
Cartoons
from WWII Sailor's Photo Album; WWII Sailor
World War II Sailor's Photo Album, ca. 1945 ~23 pp. 25 x 29 cm. World War II sailor collected photos
of girls, Navy blimps, his ship USS Zircon (PY-16), more girls, other sailors.
Includes three small handmade sailor cartoons, two large photos of girls,
charcoal sketch of young man, group photo of 1945 class at Naval Academy
Preparatory School , Camp Peary , VA.
Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net
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