Boston Letters 1886-1895 EJ Phillips

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Boston Letters 1886-1895

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When I moved to Boston in 1979 I never dreamed I would read letters from a relative talking about the flowers in the Public Garden or going to Longfellow's House in Cambridge. I still need to check out (and transcribe a letter) an excursion EJ Phillips made to City Point {Castle Island) and I haven't figured out which new park was unfinished in 1888. Did EJ Phillips ever visit Quincy Market or Faneuil Hall? the Union Oyster House in the Blackstone Block? She almost certainly saw the State House, the Park Street Church, King's Chapel and the Granary Burying Ground. I think of her when I walk through the Public Garden, and the Cambridge Common. Mother and I visited Longfellow's Housein Cambridge in 1996. But her hotels and theaters are long gone Her Boston baseball predated Fenway Park. Her South End Grounds opened in 1888 and burned down in 1894. How much of the Freedom Trail would EJ Phillips have been likely to see? http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Trail

Mary Glen at Longfellow's House Cambridge 1996 -- 101 years after EJ Phillips visited.

EJ Phillips came to Boston in 1879 with the Union Square Theatre Company and appeared in the Banker's Daughter. This may have been her first trip to Boston, though she had toured in Massachusetts in 1871 and 1873
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Boston Globe 1880 April 22 AM ad for Palmer's Union Square Theatre Company's production of the Banker's Daughter at the Park Theatre listed Mrs. EJ Phillips in the cast, along with Charles Thorne, John Parselle, JH Stoddart, WJ LeMoyne, Walden Ramsey, Sarah Jewett, Maud Harrison and Sarah Cowell. May 16 an ad for French Flats listed Mrs. EJ Phillips, Maud Harrison, Ida Vernon, Sarah Cowell, Nellie Morant, John Parselle, JH Stoddart, Charles Walcot, Walden Ramsey, and HF Daly, Newspaper ads also show that she was in Boston in May 1881 at the Abbey Theater and April 1884 at the Globe Theatre.

previous: New York April 29, 1886

UNITED STATES HOTEL BOSTON
Tilly Haynes, Proprietor
Boston May 4th 1886

My dear Son,

We have a comfortable room and board $4 per day. Hattie seems to like it and I hope she will soon reap some benefit to her health from it. I think she has a little malaria in her system, which I hope the change of air may eradicate.

We opened last night [at the Park Theatre] with Engaged House good but not full. We play the same tonight, tomorrow night and Sat Mat. Thursday, Friday and Sat night Broken Hearts and Old Love Letters. Next week. Our Society.

Mr. LeMoyne told me that on Wednesday or Thursday last, he could not be sure which, that the children in House 473 [4th Ave., New York] set fire to a bed, and as alarm was given and the engines were in front of the house in a few moments. The fire was extinguished without, I believe, damaging the building but I guess they all had a lively scare. Miss Cowell has rented her flat for 4 months beginning the 1st of June to the 1st of Oct to a Miss French, a writer.

Hattie sends love and Kisses and so does your Mother, wishing you every success and good health to enjoy it. Always your loving Mother

United States Hotel Boston
May 8th 1886

My dear Son,

I think your printing is very nice indeed, especially the Brown receipt, that is very pretty. I see it is for the office here. If you had a dozen or two such customers as Mr. Brown you would be sure of at least bread & butter, wouldn't you? I guess Mr. Baker is slow to pay. You must stir him up a little.

I play in Engaged this Afternoon but do not play tonight. Broken Hearts being the programme. Last night went to see Neil Burgess in Vim, [Bijou Theatre] being very funny. Thursday night we went to see Mary Anderson, the play Ingomar. [Globe Theatre] Was not electrified by the Star or her Company. Monday night Our Society goes on to try its luck with a Boston Audience. I hope it will do as well as it did in New York.

I cannot yet tell you how I shall be able to arrange for [Hattie] visiting you as if I possibly can, I would like to go with her and that will depend upon whether Sealed Instructions will be done or not. If Saints & Sinners should please the 1st week, I think it's likely they may play it the last week. If so, I cannot go to see you.

Then if Hattie gives up the New York wedding and goes with me to Utica you can meet us there and take her back with you. I know you must be working hard but when the [illegible] is at rest, bodily labor is good for the health. Love and Kisses from your loving Mother

United States Hotel Boston
May 11,1886

My dear Son,

How are you situated to meet the May note? I am very short. My dressmaker's bill was heavier than I expected, and all other expenses of moving have made my purse very low. Today I received the transfer Insurance papers and have to send seventy seven cents for that. Glad it is no more. I have not any thing to pay at the storage house until the end of three months, or five months! But I must be ready for then. So you must be as easy as possible with me for a month. Do not fail though to let me know if you are in need.

Our Society made a hit last night, good notices this morning. I will enclose you one from the Post. Would like very much to see you today but cannot, so with love and Kisses will say by by. Your loving Mother E. J. Nickinson

United States Hotel
Boston, Mass May 13th 1886

My dear Son,

I am glad to hear Seymour has departed for Scranton and I sincerely hope things will please him so well, that he will remain there for the future. And that he has given the notes into his father's hand. Now cannot you get Mr. Johnson to take Baker's bill as part of the note due next Thursday? Unless in the meantime Baker pays you. I do not want you to appeal again to Aunty if we can help it. Let me know how much you want to make up the note, not later than Monday and I will strain a point to (get it - crossed out) send it to you.

You told me the balance of that, (the 1st note), was $38. Seymour owing you $12. Today I inquired the fare from here to Utica. It is $6.50. You find out what the fare is from Utica to Middletown, and let me know as I want to figure up Hattie's expenses, and see if I can afford to take her to Utica and have you meet her there. She can then pay you a visit for that week, and you and she could go the following Sunday to see Aunty. But I must know the cost to see whether I can meet it or not. I haven't been so poor for a number of years. Well, it is always darkest before the dawn and I hope things will soon look brighter for all of us.

One good thing. I have a good part in Our Society and have made a hit in it and that advances my interest with A.M. P[almer]. Yesterday I received a box full of beautiful Red & pink roses and lilies of the valley from a Dr. Harris and a very complimentary note. The gentleman is an old friend of Wm Palmer's and a member of the "Algonquin Club" awfully swell you know! Love and Kisses from your loving Mother

Algonquin Club "In October 1885, fifty prominent citizens of Boston convened for the purpose of discussing the formation of a new social club. Five months later, on March 9, 1886, by a special act of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Algonquin Club was incorporated. For a time, the new club occupied quarters at the Crowninshield mansion at 164 Marlborough Street." The Algonquin Club's current building wasn't built until 1888. " By the 1885-1886 winter season, 164 Marlborough had become the temporarily location of the Algonquin Club. In November of 1888, it moved to its new permanent location at 217 Commonwealth and thereafter 164 Marlborough was once again the[Benjamin and Katharine] Crowninshields’ home.https://backbayhouses.org/164-marlborough/ The 1885 Boston City Directory lists physicians Henry Harris and John T Harris and Dr. Francis A. Harris, physician and medical examiner, as well as Edward N. Harris, a dentist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin_Club The Algonquin Club has been sold and the club website is defunct.

United States Hotel Boston Mass
May 19th/86

My dear Son,

Printing my dear is like all other trades and professions - waiting and worrying belongs to all - and you are right in saying it does not do to drum too much, for it may lose further patronage. Grin & bear! all will come out right at last.

As for stinting myself, I have already done that but I shall continue to do it (if health and life is given me) until you are out of debt. I hope your little accounts will be coming in now to pay your daily or weekly expenses, and then all will be right. Do not worry but be diligent, faithful and honest - and we shall yet weather the storm.

Yesterday Mr. AMP[almer] read the new play The Martyr to us. The play is a strange one and I have a good part. It is going to cost a lot of money to dress it. I believe we are to produce it in Chicago. I do not think we shall rehearse it before next week. I think Mr. P[almer] is trying to remain here the 5th week. God bless you and give you good luck. Love and Kisses from Mother

United States Hotel, Boston May 22 1886
My Dear Son, I cannot tell you whether we go to Utica or not – if not we lose a full week salary, which at the present time is not pleasant to think of. I think if the business had picked up largely for “Saints & sinners” we should have played it two weeks and then have remained here the 5^th week but the business has been only fair and so “sealed Instructions” goes on Monday night. I suppose in my next I shall be able to tell you what we do.

Had a call from Willie Seymour yesterday. Wished to be remembered to you. Have now to go to Matinee so will close. With love and kisses from Hattie and self. Mother

Ramsey’s [Walden] Mother died Tuesday and was buried yesterday from Church of the Holy Communion – 6^th Ave. This morning rec’d Lizzie’s card of invitation to wedding;. [sentences written along the side and over writing of the last page, even though there’s a blank side of the page.]

Boston Mass
May 27th 1886

My dear Son,

I am sorry you did not go to Suffern and pay the note when due and not ask any favor from Mr. Johnson. He and his son have placed us in a very unpleasant position, but I do not want them to know it or get the best of us. I am now about crazy and if they get ahead of me I shall be completely so.

I leave here on Sunday 2 PM, play 2 nights in Utica -- leaving there Tuesday night after performance for Chicago. Have to buy four dresses for the new play and have nothing to buy them with. Next week I get only 2 night's salary, scarcely 20 dollars but even that is better than none. It will pay any expenses between here and Chicago. Where I shall stop in Chicago will depend upon how cheap the hotels are. So at first direct your letters to McVickers Theatre. I am not playing this week, only rehearsing. Now shall not be able to see you I guess, much before Novr. Love & Kisses from your loving and lonesome Mother
Are you in debt for board?

Boston Mass
May 30th /86

My dear Son,

You may not have felt cheerful in writing the letter but it is the most satisfactory one to me, that I have received from you for sometime. Let me always know your trials and troubles. Had you been more confiding for the past five years, you would be a happier boy today.

Money is hard to collect in those small towns but it will be good when it comes in. Of course those who are indebted to you have to wait until their bills are paid. Do not get discouraged on that account. Bakers [illegible - obviously Baker has not paid his bill] does not surprise me and that is why I wanted you to get the bill turned over to Johnson. He could trade it out in groceries, &c - perhaps you can get him to take it on the next note, June 20th.

I wrote to Aunty [Zavistowski] about that and she has promised to assist me in the payment of that note as I had to get dresses in Chicago for the new play. After that I hope I shall be able to attend to the rest. With regard to the press - hold on to it for the present unless you can get what you gave for it.

Hattie left me yesterday at 9 AM. I feel very lonesome without her but suppose that will wear off when I leave this room where she has been with me. Write to her and let her know when you expect her. She has an idea it will be too expensive for her to remain long with you, but I guess Mrs. Cheeseborough will not be too exorbitant.

I will enclose a V in this for your present use. We are to be in Chicago seven weeks. I hear the lowest terms at Palmer House(where I wanted to stop, it being near the theatre) is $3 per day rather more than present salary will warrant me paying. So I do not know where I shall stop.

[AR] Cazauran has joined us. He was here to rehearse the play [The Martyr which he had adapted from the French] on Friday. Queer as the old boy is, I felt rather glad to see him & he seemed delighted to be with us. We leave tonight at 7 by the Boston& Albany road. Leave Utica after performance on Tuesday night. We stop over at Niagara Falls for six hours.

God bless you my dear Son and give you strength and resignation to bear up under your load of trouble. We all have to buy experience. This is the first you have had to pay for, but do not despond. All will come out right in the end, when by your perseverance and upright dealing you have won the confidence of the community, they will encourage and give you work.

Mr.[Louis] Massenjust called to know if there was anything he could do for me. I told him "no". Kind of him though, wasn't it? Said he and his wife would see me to the Depot which is only one black away, but I feel the kindness for very seldom so you find actors so thoughtful of an old [55] lady. Love and Kisses. Best wishes from your loving strolling Mother

previous: Philadelphia Aug. 29, 1887 next: Chicago June 7, 1886

United States Hotel Boston
Tilly Haynes, Proprietor
Boston Septr 7th 1887

My dear Son,

We opened on Monday night to a very fine house and same was repeated last night. Glad to hear you are being kept busy and things are likely to succeed with your employers. Success makes everybody pleasant and good natured. At least it is so in my profession.

Met AM P[almer]on Monday night. He was all smiles, the house being good and fair prospects at the box office. We are to open Jim [the Penman]in New York. I am tired of the play. And I suppose we shall be required to find new dresses for the opening of a new season and that I do not like - especially as two or three other plays calling for lots of dresses are to be produced.

One of these will be the Martyr for which I shall require three new dresses. I have one that I had made for the part in Chicago and have not worn. The others I have been wearing in Jim and they are nearly worn out. So will have to get some new ones. And where! and oh, where will the new ones come from!

Yesterday I went with Messr's [EM] Holland,[Eugene] Presbrey & [Alessandro] Salvini to see the Bostons and Philadelphians play. Phillies won. I will send a Globe with the score of the game to you. The Philadelphians are stopping at this hotel. I spoke to McGuire last Evening at supper time. He was catching and the ball struck his mask and drove the wire into his eyebrow.

He had of course to stop playing - but he told me the hurt was not as bad as he at first thought. The doctor put three stitches in and said there was not much damage done and I suppose not for I saw him at breakfast this morning and he seemed all right. His bandage was off and he appeared quite jolly.

Clements took his place and he got a ball on the back of his head but after a minute he did not mind it. He went to his place again as if nothing had happened. Do you think I am becoming a great Base Ballist?

But no wonder I have long been a Base Bawlist. I find one good in attending the games. It keeps me in the fresh air and I think that does me more good than medicine.

I do not get as strong as I wish to be. A little exertion fatigues me. I was in hopes the bracing air of Boston would do me good, but the heat is too much.

This morning rec'd a basket of fruit from Mr. [EM] Holland. This is his birthday also. He thought of me, but I did not think of him. We spent the last in Sacramento. And oh! was the weather hot there! Phew! No more today but 57 Kisses [her age that day] and bushels of love from your loving Mother

According to the Boston Globe's account of the baseball game (Sept 7, 1887) "Sutton hit a foul tip that struck McGuire's mask. The mask was smashed and the wire cut a deep gash in McGuire's forehead and was just above his eye. It was a bad wound and necessitated the retirement of McGuire to have his wound sewed up." The score was Philadelphias 10, Bostons 4. "The Phillies played with great earnestness and brilliancy and deserved to win. By doing so they stepped back once more into fourth place." This 1887 Boston Globe advertises a Baseball League Championship game Boston vs. Philadelphia.

Boston,
Sept, 9, 1887

My Dear Son,

Have you ever read Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty”? If not I will send it to you. It ought to be read by every thinking man & woman. I have not quite finished it but will by the time you let me know if you have read it or not. You will perhaps find it rather dry reading at first, but I think you will get interested in it, and as I have done become a convert to his theory

But I fear great deeds will have to be done before his principles can be put into practice. Those who hold the land also hold the power! But the “Bastille” was destroyed. The American Revolution took place and also the Civil War and who can say what men may yet do for the good of their fellow beings.

Certainly something is needed for Poverty and Crime are daily increasing. Human beings are not naturally so bad, until driven by want and in desperation so those dreadful deeds that fill our daily papers with such tales and pictures of horror! That are anything but edifying to young or old.

Progress and Poverty: an inquiry into the cause of industrial depressions and of increase in want with increase of wealth was first published in 1880. Henry George (1839-1897) American economist, founder of the single tax movement, was a candidate for mayor of New York City in 1886.

United States Hotel Boston
Septr 15th 1887

My dear Son,

Went to Boston Museum to see Dominie's Daughter yesterday afternoon. Madame Ponisi plays in it. She was the original at Wallacks. The play is not bad, but the acting was. Still it is well to see these things once in awhile. It gives one confidence in oneself.

We play Jim next week and if Mrs. [Agnes] Booth is well enough of her cold we shall play it the last week. Business is big. Enclosed find a V. Love and Kisses I remain your loving Mother

United States Hotel Boston Mass.
Septr 28th 1887

My dear Son,

I hope the mosquitoes are gone and your hay fever better. A tallow candle is a very old remedy for a "cold in the head" but I never heard of it (the candle) being blown out and the smoke inhaled. The way people used to when I was young, was to take the tallow from around the top of the lighted candle with the finger and apply it to the nose inside and outside.

Of course the candles were chiefly of mutton tallow and the candle was the easiest form to procure it. But mutton tallow is the best emollient and is used in many salves. Hence it is the mutton tallow, not necessarily a candle that allays irritation or cures it.

I may not be here next week, for yet it is undecided whether the "bill" will be changed next week or not. If changed, it is to be Elaine and I shall go to New York and try to find a place in which to nestle before the winter.

Do not want to go back to 39 W 12th. Paid there too much money for what I got. Hattie wants me to go to a hotel, but I am afraid New York Hotels are beyond my means. The "Sturtevant" is recommended to me as reasonable for the hotel, but not for me.

I had to pay $16 per week last winter after Hattie left me. I can get good room and board at Sturtevant for $17.56 per week. That would be cheaper than $16 at Mrs. O' Mearas. Still I do not want to pay so much, for I want to get some clothes for the Winter and shall have to buy a great deal of stuff for "business" clothes. I want to get in easy distance to the theatre, so as not to have to take cars after performance. With love and Kisses I remain your loving Mother

United States Hotel Boston Mass
Sept 29th/87

My dear son

I read the account of the man trying to shoot his landlady but have not seen any account of the woman found on the Race Course. Such dreadful things happen every day! It is most unfortunate.

Have you ever read Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty”? If not I will send it to you. It ought to be read by every thinking man & woman. I have not quite finished it but will by the time you let me know if you have read it or not. You will perhaps find it rather dry reading at first, but I think you will get interested in it, and as I have done become a convert to his theory

You will think “Mom” has got into a moralising mood. Wish I could do more – get into a moralising Action. But I hope and that is all I can do, that something will soon be done to help poor suffering humanity, not by strife and blood shedding but by Peace, Mercy and Love.

I received a letter from Mr. Presbrey on Tuesday Eve. He had called at the Sturtevant House to see what they would ask for a room heated and board for me for the winter. Their terms would be $28 per week. Too steep for Mama!

Yet I was told by many that I could get there for $`7.50 per week. Do not know yet where I shall stop, so send letters to theatre until further notice. I may go to Nagles, but I did want to be in a hotel as I can have baggage attended to and a light in the hall when I get home at 11:30 or 12 o’clock. Enclosed find $2. With love and Kisses I remain your loving Mother

Boston Mass
Octr 1st 1887

My dear Son,

I wrote you on Thursday enclosing $2. Glad your coat looks so well after cleaning. But how about the heavy overcoat, will that do you this winter? Your heavy undershirts, I presume will need replenishing - also drawers I suppose.

Tomorrow we leave here at 4 PM for New York. I am going with Mr. & Mrs. [Louis F] Massen to the Rossmore, 41st and B'way. Mr. Massen thinks I can make terms there to suit me for the winter. At all events I shall stop there until I can find something to suit my pocket-book.

Of course I would prefer being nearer the theatre than 41st, although B'way cars are very convenient but always crowded. It is possible that I may put up at Nagle's, but their prices are much higher than they were on 12th Street.

And you get very little for the price and have to climb from basement to attic for each meal, for I suppose they would want $18 per week for me on the top floor. However I will see when I get there. I want to get settled as soon as possible as rehearsals will commence at once and then dressmaking.

With regard to your leaving your present position to risk your chances in New York, I think you would be very foolish. I have repeatedly said that your present salary is better than twenty in New York. If your idea of coming to New York is to be with me, give it up, for I never know from one month to another whether I shall have to travel or not.

When, for instance, Elaine is produced, I am not in the cast, and shall be liable to be sent away at a moments notice. I shall never undertake to keep house again! I could not even if I wished.

Already the report is that the Co. go to California next summer. That means another five months absence from New York. Therefore if you took a position in New York, you would be more alone than you are now.

For N.Y. is a great wilderness, where those you do know live at opposite extremes and you seldom see them. There ought to be a better chance for you in Middletown to make a home than in New York. At least do not leave your present position until something definite offers and you are assured of doing better.

As for the hard work you are doing, that will not hurt you. Had your work been harder in New York you might have saved some money. Hard work does not kill but idleness and dissatisfaction does. Your experience in New York must teach you that the holiday friends you had there, and spent your earnings with, and upon, are "faded and gone" for all they think of you!

I do not ask you to remain in Middletown all your life, but look out for chances before you take a rash step that you will regret. As soon as I get settled in New York, you can come see me and talk it over. I told you in my last letter to send letters to theatre until I could send you an address. Do so still, as I may only remain at Rossmore one night.

Well dear, I am now going to theatre for Matinee. We could keep on playing Jim [the Penman] here for another four weeks to big business. The business seems to increase with every week. The musicians had to give up their seats last night and go under the stage. Some are prognosticating that it will run again all this season at Mad[ison] Sq.'[uar]e [Theatre].

If so we shall all be ready in the Spring to join Bartley Campbell in your big town house. Nothing more today but love, Kisses and another $2 from your loving Mother

Boston Globe: 1887 Sept Jim the Penman played at the Park Theatre. Sept 4 "Mrs. EJ Phillips, who makes her appearance as Lady Dunscombe, is to be received as a warm friend.

next: NY Nov. 13, 1887

1888 previous New York April 18, 1888

Boston Globe May 6 1888 Jin the Penman will be seen may 21 at the Park with Agnes Booth as Mrs. Ralston running two weeks and closing the Madison Square company's engagement. May 14 Elaine preceded Jim the Penman. may 28 Ball players from the City of Brotherly Love, with their rivals from the Hub, enjoyed Jim the Penman at the Park last evening, by special invitation of the management. The play went off with great spirit and success. ... The season has proven steadily prosperous.

United States Hotel
Boston May 14th 1888

My dear Son,

Poor child. You have my sympathy in your suffering. But that will not cure you. I imagine the extra strain upon your system in those long walks has done the mischief.

For sometime before leaving New York Alice [Zavistowski Webb] wanted me to use a new remedy but I was afraid to try it -- but at last did so, and used one bottle before leaving New York, and got another bottle here. It is a Spanish mineral water called Rubinat Cordial. I imagine it is doing me a great deal of good. It does not pain or gripe.

I have taken the label off the bottle, and will enclose it so that if your druggist has not got it he will know where to send for it. It is recommended by the high school doctors in New York. I take about a wine glass full in the morning before breakfast, but only on alternate days. So far it has been a decided success with me. In New York I paid 35 cents for it. Here they charged me 50 cents.

No acting for me tonight. I enclose 100 cents. Suppose you were not pleased with the neckties. Eh? Love and Kisses from your loving Mother

United States Hotel
Boston, May 27th 1888

My dear Son,

All letters from John and Mrs. Dolman give good accounts of Hattie's condition [childbirth] and of your nephew [John Dolman "Jack"]. His eyes were a little sore & he had a little colic, but is better. Today his Grandpapa was to visit him and has given him a carriage. Lottie has sent him a silver spoon. So you see he came as near as possible to being "born with a silver spoon in his mouth".

We remain here two weeks longer playing Jim [the Penman] It was decided last Thursday when A.M.P[almer] came to attend the Actors Fund benefit at the Boston Theatre. I suppose [Hattie] will be disappointed, but it is for the best.

Yesterday was wet and cloudy but notwithstanding the "Philadelphias" won their second game of ball from the Bostons. Friday the opening day the Phillies were 4 to 1. Yesterday 1 to 0. Great excitement and interest in the game here. They play again tomorrow & Tuesday. Think I shall go tomorrow, if the day is fine & warm.

Today I dined with Mr. & Mrs. Noble and then we took a walk around a new Park that has been opened, which when completed will be very pretty. [Could this be part of Olmstead's Emerald Necklace, possibly the Fens and Muddy River?] Mr. & Mrs. Noble will soon leave here to reside in Santa Barbara, California. They have invited me to visit them while I am out there, as it is on the road to Los Angeles. I may if I go to California. [She did see the Nobles in California, but in San Francisco in 1890.]

[There were about 50 Nobles listed in the 1885 Boston City Directory http://bcd.lib.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00012&chapter=d.1885.su.Noble none of them clearly identifiable as this couple.]

I sometimes feel as if I should not be able to stand the journey again. But perhaps I shall feel differently after a few weeks rest. Hope so anyway. I am awfully nervous all the time, but I suppose that is the result of my increased age. We are doing better bus[iness] with Jim than with the two previous plays. Love and Kisses from your loving Mother

Baseball
United States Hotel
Boston, May 31st 1888

My dear Son

Yesterday had over $500 in for Matinee, $1,100 and over at night. Pretty good receipts for the managers, but the actors are no richer.

On Tuesday I went to see the Phila team beat the Bostons and they did it 8 to 0. It was the prettiest game I have ever seen played. No score either side until the 7th inning, then Phila 2. 8th inning 3. 9th 3. Total 8. Boston 0. The Phillies looked very happy.

The "Globe" yesterday morning, in its article on the game said, "Mr. Alexander Salvini, accompanied by Mrs. E.J. Phillips, watched the game from the grandstand". I am getting up a baseball renown you see. Mr.[EM] Hollandwas with us, but was not mentioned.

Wm. Palmer sat in front of me with some friends. He was mentioned, also Mr. & Mrs. George Floyd (agent for Nat Goodwin) and many other whose names I did not know. "Indianapolis" is here now. Played twice yesterday and lost.

I was just going to tell you here, that I would not go today, when Salvini came with Mrs. Presbrey to ask me to go, so I am going. Will finish this when I return.

Just returned. Indianapolis won 5 to 4. The game was quite exciting. Our party was Mr. & Mrs. Presbrey, Messrs Salvini, Holland & self. Enclosed find V. Love and Kisses from your loving Mother

The Boston Globe (May 30 1888) notes "In the grandstand yesterday were noticed Alexander Salvini accompanied by Mrs. E.J. Phillips. Mr. Salvini thinks that Dick Johnston is the greatest centre fielder in the league. Near him sat Will Palmer, Fred Purmort, Morton Atwood and Jimmy Connolly in a group. This quartet was unanimous that if [Mike] Kelly were in the game Boston would have won. Among the others who wept at the defeat of Boston were Forrest Robinson, Frank Losee, John T. Sullivan, John Rogers, Charley Perkins, George W. Floyd, John Graham, Mrs. George Floyd and E.J. Driscoll."

Philadelphia won 8-0. "Boston hit the ball everywhere but the right place. They hit hot liners to the infield, high flies to the infield, and hot line flies to the outfield. All this they did very well, but somehow or other the boys could not hit safe -- a Philadelphia fielder was always in the way.

The Globe account (May 31 1888) seems to indicate that Boston beat Indianapolis 4-2. Scores at this time were not in the headlines, and can be difficult to find in the text. A sports column in the June 10 1888 Globe mentions that "For over 25 years now [baseball] has been our national game".

South End Grounds, Boston Daily Globe, May 26, 1888

United States Hotel [undated but plays indicate 1888 season] Boston
Tilly Haynes, Proprietor $2 enclosed

My dear Son,

Next week I have a rest. Elaine will be played, to be followed by Jim [the Penman]for the rest of the engagement, which ends 2nd of June. Then I shall be eleven weeks without salary, even if I go to California. At present I feel that doubtful.

One thing, if I was able to say "no" I, for one would not go. The plays with the exception of Jim are weak, and the ladies who are to go are weaker. The ladies are Misses [Marie] Burroughs, [May] Brookyn, [Kate] Moloney, [Clara] Lipman and myself.

Such a weak lot to take to San [Francis]'Co as a representative New York Company is a shame. And we are to follow the Lyceum Coin their great success of The Wife and other plays. We cannot be anything but a failure. When [Al] Hayman the California manager sees the casts of the plays I think he will be justified to "Kick". I cannot imagine what A.M.P[almer]is about!

Business has been bad this week. Boston did not take to the Partners, but she has not forgotten the members of the old Union Square Co. Mr. Stoddart and I have rec'd big receptions every performance. We have very little to do, but what we do is well received. The Presbreys do not go to California. Maud [Harrison] does not go.

Things generally are in a muddle. The plays to be done in San F'co are Saints and Sinners, Partners, Heart of Hearts, Jim the Penman, and another play that A.M. thinks I will not be in. Which means Marie Burroughs as "Elaine" & Miss [May] Brookyn playing the "part" of the "Queen".

We are to be in San F'co 5 weeks, then down to Los Angeles one week, Denver, Salt Lakes, etc., on return, and playing two weeks in Chicago. Then in New York Nov 1st or about the 5th which will be the Monday. Now you see what is in store for me.

How about you! I hope your affairs are not in a worse, if not better condition. Your salary is small, but if you get it regularly you ought to be able to live comfortably off of it.

My first salary was eight dollars per week, and I had to buy stage clothes out of it. I paid $2.50 for board, but engagements were only for nine months in the year. I wish I could make a fortune to leave you, and your sister - but it is too late now. And I shall never be able to get an increase in salary from A.M.P[almer].

He has told those who have asked him that he intended reducing instead of increasing salaries, so as the parts I get are so insignificant there is no use in my asking him for more. He would give me the old chestnut, "I know you are worth more, but I cannot afford to give you more". So it all ends in our having to do the best we can, with what we have, and be thankful that we have as much as we have! Love and Kisses from your loving Mother

A review of Partners from the May 1, 1888 Boston Daily Adv read "Last night their audience was very large and noisily enthusiastic ... Mrs. Phillips, who was the most warmly received, plays a genuinely shrewd and intuitive old lady of rank, and acts with her usual pleasant ease and intimacy of style", though the play itself is described as being from M. Alphonse Daudet's novel with "its palpable imitation of Dickens in Mr. Chiebe, who is a Micawber with variations, and in Mr. Delobelle, who is a kind of combination of Vincent Crummies and Harold Skimpole" but "This tremendous book has been used by Mr. Buchanan as the skeleton of his play of "Partners," -- the skeleton, that is to say, with the position of the bones varied to suit his fancy and the backbone entirely left out. Partners in San Francisco 1888

The Wife was the first play written by collaborators David Belasco and Henry C. DeMille. Opened in New York in Nov 1887 and was a huge success.

United States Hotel
Boston, June 8th 1888

My dear Son.

Our company disbands for a time on Sat night -- 5 of us take the 11:30 train for New York. Mr. & Mrs. Presbrey left us Monday for Florence, Mass. Mrs. [Agnes] Boothgoes to Manchester-by- the- sea. Her son [Sidney Booth] to join [Richard] MansfieldCo in New York. Wm. Palmer and others go by boat to New York. Mr. & Mrs. [EM] Holland to Cape Cod. "So runs the World away".

Today, this being a perfect day, I am going with Mr. [Alessandro] Salvini & Miss [Kate] Molony to see the Bostons & Detroits this afternoon. Miss Molony is a stockholder in the Detroit club.

Yesterday I sent you a Boston Herald because of the excellent likeness it contained of Grover Cleveland. I hope the ticket pleases you, Cleveland & Thurman. Have you any doubt of their election?

June 9th. My dear Son. Did not get this finished yesterday as the folks called to take me to Baseball. It was a great game, 15 innings. But I believe there is a dispute about it and the President Mr. Young will count it out, the umpire not giving to Boston what they earned, which would have ended the game in the 9th inning in favor of Boston. I suppose you will read all about it in the papers. Not yet got salary, and hear that we are not to be paid until we get to N.Y.. But I hope it is not true. Love and Kisses from your loving Mother

In the Boston Globe (June 9 1888) the headlines read "GREAT BALL Boston Vanquished by Detroit Fifteen Innings at the South End" [Grounds] and its account of the dispute is [Dan] "Brouthers hit to right field for a base...Nash muffed the ball...Brouthers got to third...Brouthers did not stir and John sent the ball to Morrill in time to catch the runner. In the meantime Brouthers started for home. Morrill made a fine throw to Kelly. Kelly stood directly on the plate and touched Brouthers before he could get home.

Everybody began to cheer anticipating Mr. Lynch's decision. But Mr. Lynch surprised everybody by declaring Brouthers safe. A howl of derision went up and for several minutes the spectators were terribly excited. It looked like Bedlam let loose and Lynch looked as though he wished he were dead. Morrill kicked hard but Lynch wouldn't change his decision." The 15 innings account (an 11-5 win for Detroit) ends "In closing, please allow me to call President Young's attention to Mr. Lynch. Please call him off before he does further damage."

President Young Nicholas E. Young (commonly called Nick Young) was then the president of the National League. Thanks to Howard Rosenberg (who writes 19th century baseball books) for identifying Mr. Young.

South End Grounds http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/sthend.htm The South End Groups were at Walpole Street, off Columbus.
Dan Brouthers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Brouthers
Deacon McGuire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deacon_McGuire

Grover Cleveland Boston Globe June 7 1888 President Grover Cleveland was re-nominated at the St Louis National Convention. June 8 SURE WINNERS Thurman nominated unanimously. This Globe had a sketch of Cleveland and Allan G Thurman, the "knight of the red bandana" Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland_Presidential_campaign,_1888 Cleveland lost this election to Benjamin Harrison, but was re-elected in 1892.

1889 United States Hotel Boston, Mass
May 14th/89

My dear Son,

Give my love to [fiancée] Neppie &c. I am glad to hear "none others need apply". That is the key to happiness in this world, my darling. With love and Kisses I remain your loving Mother

United States Hotel Boston Mass
May 19th/89

My dear Son,

This is the last week of Capt. Swift until next August 26th, Grand Opera House NY. Next week we play Jim [the Penman]. the Season closing on Sat night the 1st of June.

I intend if possible to take the train that night for New York, when I thought you could join me on Sunday Morning, and spend Monday with me also. I am tired and do not feel like going amongst strangers. And my purse is very thin taking into account my long vacation. After 1st of June it will be 13 weeks before I again receive salary.

Think it over and see if you do not think it the wisest plan for you to come to New York to see me. I suppose about the 20th of August I shall have to be in New York for rehearsals, and then I can take a run to see you.

Hattie sent word for me to tell "Buddie" not to forget her when he was passing photos around. What will the photos be a dozen? I will send you some cash to buy some for us when I get my salary tomorrow night.

If you insist upon my going to M'[iddle]town now, I think I should prefer stopping at Mrs. C[heseborough]'s. She can give me a cup of tea and a piece of bread & butter, and that is about all I use now except milk. I drink a great deal of milk. With love and Kisses I remain your loving Mother

Boston Globe 1889 May 7 Captain Swift at the Park Theatre "In a small part -- that of a cold natured woman who would risk everything for "reputation" Mrs. E. J Phillips was excellent." May 12 TABLE GOSSIP "with Mrs. Phillips [and Agnes Booth Schoeffel, Marie Burroughs and Annie Russell] who is always eminently graceful in appearance, it would be difficult to find today four more perfectly dressed women on any stage." May 28 Jim the Penman was played in the final week.

previous: New York, April 17, 1890 next: Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 1889

1890 United States Hotel Boston
April 29 1890

My dear daughter Penelope,

I was glad to learn that all the packages had reached you safely, for after I had packed the box containing the cake basket I was afraid I had not sufficiently wrapped up the inkstand and was afraid it might -- being so heavy -- cause damage to the cake basket and perhaps break the ink holder -- but it was packed and fastened up, and I had so much to attend to that I let it go -- break or no break!

Albert wants to know who the cake basket is from. You can tell him that it is from his very old friend E.J.N. -- sometimes called Phillips for short. I thought it pretty, and that you would find it useful.

I sent the [sewing?] machine belongings in another package -- all but oil can. That you will have to replace, as the one I had leaked, and was not worth sending. I hope you got that package, as it contained an ambrotype likeness of Albert's father, which I wished him to have, and take care of. The picture was taken in 1859, and is the only one that was taken -- and I am sure Albert will miss it.

I was told at rehearsal today that we are to be here six weeks. If true, that will be only one week between closing here and starting for Seattle Wa. It is expected that we shall play Pillars of Society here. Some of the "parts" were given out today. I am in it, but have not yet received the "part". Do not expect it to be a very good one, and hope it is not very long.

I went to the "Players Club" reception last Wed'day. It was an awful crush and I became very tired. Saw many new faces and met many old friends. I was there from half past three until after five. It was ladies day, no gentlemen admitted unless members of the club. So you may imagine the noise of 2 to 3 hundred women when all were talking at once. I was glad when I got away.

I cannot make you any promises about visiting you, for I was "knocked silly" when I was told this morning that we were to remain here six weeks. And if I can visit you, I will, or have you & Albert meet me in New York before I leave -- and spare me that much railroading. I hope you are not suffering so much with biliousness. [Neppie was pregnant.]

Aunt Jack made a hit last night and will certainly play three, if not four weeks. So I shall not have very hard work while here. Will close with Love and kisses to my dear children Neppie & Albert from their loving Mother

Two $ enclosed

The chapter Ladies at the Club notes that the first Ladies' Day was April 29 1889 -- Shakespeare's Birthday -- so EJ Phillips wrote about going to the second one. Ladies were welcome only in the Great Hall and adjoining rooms and the Library -- but signs posted "Don't stand on the stairs." A Certain Club One Hundred Years of the Players, John Tebbel 1989 The New York Clipper also reported that she attended the first Ladies Day in 1888.

The Players Club opened New Year’s Eve 1888, The Theatre, Jan 12, 1889 reported on speeches by Edwin Booth, Augustin Daly and Lawrence Barrett and the décor, including “the centre chandelier, peculiarly constructed of stags’ horns, was designed by Stanford White.”. Of the 71 members listed at least 11 were colleagues of EJ Phillips. Minutes of the First Meeting of the Players Club Dec 31 1888http://books.google.com/books?id=4l5IAAAAYAAJ&dq=players+club+edwin+booth&source=gbs_navlinks_s

UNITED STATES HOTEL
Boston Mass May 2nd 1890

My dear Son.

No rehearsal called since Wed'day. Presbrey went to New York on Tuesday night and was to return last night, but he did not. His wife [Annie Russell] was to arrive in New York again yesterday Morning. She was not improving in the South, so she is come back to be again under the doctor's care in New York.

I cannot tell you anything about business. All is uncertain. We may be here only three weeks and we may stay six. The "parts" have been given out to some of the company in Pillars of Society. I have not yet received mine. Mr. [Frederic] Robinson has a very long part, the one played by Herr [Ernest Ritter Von] Possart last Fall at the "Amberg" theatre, N.Y. The play is a heavy talkative one and not likely to "catch" the American audiences! Whether it will be tried here or not, remains to be seen but we are told such is the intention. With love to my son and daughter, Albert and Neppie, I remain your loving Mother

Ernest Ritter Von Possart (1841-1921) German actor and manager https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_von_Possart

UNITED STATES HOTEL
BOSTON, May 7th 1890

My dear Son

We are now rehearsing [Ibsen's] Pillars of Society. I am only in the 1st Act, and shall not have anything to buy for the part. If the play is done here, I do not think it will be before the 5th week commencing 26th of May. I heard this Morning that we shall only be here five weeks -- that leaves only two weeks from the closing here to the starting for California.

Annie [Russell] Presbrey is back in NY and is not gaining any -- cannot yet stand on her feet, has no appetite and does not sleep. Looks as though it would be hard work for her to pull through.

Wish I could give you a detailed account of my future movements, but I cannot, but I think the five weeks here is correct as it came from Mrs. [Agnes] Booth this Morning. Her husband [John Schoeffel,Junius Brutus Booth Jr. had died in 1883] has found some other attraction for the 6th week, so that is why we shall only stay five. With love and Kisses to you both, dear children, I remain your loving Mother

Palmer never did produce Pillars of Society. Minnie Maddern Fiske became a great proponent of Ibsen.

UNITED STATES HOTEL
Boston, May 9th 1890

My dear Son.

I hasten to assure you and Neppie that there is no danger in the nausea she suffers from. It is very unpleasant but not unusual or dangerous. Still I think she ought to select the doctor she wants and have an interview with him. Doctors prefer to know sometime beforehand, and arrange the time so as not to interfere with other cases. Find out what doctor she prefers and you go and speak to him. He will give her something to relieve the nausea.

She must be near quickening. She may faint over that. I never did, but it is a very common occurrence. Do not be frightened over it, but the very best way of all is for her to see a doctor. He will not tell anyone if she still wants to keep it quiet. She does not want to worry her Mother, but I guess her Mother suspects it before this.

Homeopathic "Nux vomica" would relieve her, I think, but the surest and safest and best way is for her to consult a physician. She will have to at last, and might as well begin at once.

Mrs. [Nellie Dolman] Law's doctor was spoken to six weeks or two months ago. Dr. Guernsey is to take the case -- if he gets back soon enough in Septr from Europe. If not, Doctor Ingder will be called. Dr. Guernsey diagnosed her case as not later than the 15th of Septr. I guess Neppie will go a month beyond that.

In the meantime, as things transpire, I will let you know, but anyway it will be too long to wait for my arrival before consulting a doctor -- so do that at once.

He may not want to see Neppie -- just tell him how often the nausea affects her, and how her general health is, and he will prescribe without seeing her. Then I will see him when I am there, and Neppie can see him in my presence. Until you see the doctor give her a very little dose of bicarbonate of soda -- a quarter of a teaspoonful in half a tumbler of water.

Do not let Neppie carry coal up from the cellar. That is the worst thing she can do -- other exercise is good for her -- and walking is good. I am glad her house is so pleasantly situated. She can go outdoors so much, and that is good for her. No more this time, but love and Kisses to you from your loving Mother

I will go and see [Neppie, who was pregnant] as soon as I can leave Boston. If I do not play the last week we are here I can, after rehearsal on the Friday May 30th, take an Afternoon train for New York and get to you on the Saturday's [train]. Everything is so uncertain though.

We have been rehearsing [Ibsen's} Pillars of Society and yesterday afternoon a telegram came from A.M. [Palmer] to Mr. Presbrey to rehearse Her Father today -- which was done. Should that be done the last two nights, it will let me off, but changes may come that I shall be in the bill during the whole last week. And in that case I may not be able to be with you before Sunday or Monday, 1st or 2nd of June. No more this time, but love and Kisses to you from your loving Mother

United States Hotel Boston Mass
May 10, 1890

My dear daughter Penelope,

Albert’s letter rec’d yesterday – made me feel very sorry for you. I had hoped by this time the disagreeable accompaniment of nausea had subsided, but by Albert’s writing to me I imagine that it has increased. While I do not fear any dangerous results – yet I am sure it must be very distressing and you ought to have a physician’s advice at once – he will give you something to correct the trouble and enable you to partake and hold a good square meal.

Do not let any girlish modesty stand in the way of your good health. I might give you a dozen recipes, and none of them help you. It will be three weeks before I can be with you, and it will not do for you to suffer all that time. Do at least let Albert get a doctor to give you some medicine if you do not want to see one yourself, but I think you had better see one, and make your October arrangements with him.

You will feel more confidence in yourself when you have consulted with a doctor. I think you told me you would have Dr. Douglas. He has a good natured face and you need not hesitate to speak to him. You must not be nervous when strange pains or sensations come. That is nature working her way for the final delivery. I think your dear Mama must suspect the state of things by this time – and perhaps will feel badly if you do not tell her.

I wish you could be here to see the lovely display of flowers in the "Public Garden" – the colors are simply gorgeous! Tulips in red, white, yellow, purple and variegated pansies, daisies, buttercups, crocuses, gillyflowers, etc. etc. They are beautiful. Wish you and Albert could come and enjoy it.

I hope soon to hear that you have consulted a doctor [about Neppie's pregnancy] and are feeling better. With love and Kisses to you and Albert I remain your loving Mother

Public Garden: As I retrace trips of EJ Phillips I try to determine what still remains of what she would have seen -- and what is new and wasn't there. For the Public garden she certainly saw George Washington and his horse by Thomas Ball, installed in 1869 http://www.celebrateboston.com/attractions/public-garden-washington-statue.htm Washington is seen as Commander in Chief, rather than President. EJP also took people to see the Washington Elm in Cambridge. The pond and suspension bridge opened in 1861 -- and the swan boats, inspired by Lohengrin, first appeared in 1877. The first Public Garden sculpture was the Ether Monument 1869, celebrating the first use of anesthesia at Mass General Hospital in 1846. Friends of the Public Garden, Sculptures and memorials http://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/our-parks/public-garden/sculpture-memorials/

Plantings The seasonal floral displays in today’s Garden are the legacy of its second (and final) superintendent, William Doogue, who guided the Garden from 1878 until his death in 1906. Doogue practiced a “gardenesque” style of landscaping with extravagant and ornamental plantings. He introduced the bedding-out system to Boston, with flowers and foliage massed together in elaborate patterns. …Tropical displays were part of the Victorian fascination with large and showy plants. Admired for their exotic effect, tropical displays of palms, crotons, and other specimen plants were also recognized as serving an educational purpose to increase knowledge and appreciation of plants from around the world. The tradition continues to this day, although much less elaborate than the displays of the nineteenth century.

Of all the flowers in today’s Public Garden, it is the tulips that have the oldest and closest tie with its history, going back to its earliest years and continuing, with variations, until the present day. The prize tulips that bloomed around 1840 were said to be the first such display in America. The bulbs were imported from England at a cost of $1,500, a huge sum in those days….Roses, another feature of the earliest Garden, have been reestablished in four beds, surrounded with a protective post-and-chain fence.…The most striking visual change in the Garden through the years has been the growth of its trees. Those planted in the nineteenth century have matured to their full beauty along with newer specimens that have been planted for future generations. The Garden contains more than six hundred trees representing more than a hundred varieties, both native and imported. Many trees are labeled with their Latin and common names, in keeping with the educational role of a botanical garden.
http://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/our-parks/public-garden/plantings/

United States Hotel Boston
May 15th 1890

My dear daughter Penelope,

I am glad to hear from both of you -- that you are feeling better -- as the days pass by, I think the nausea will be less frequent -- I hope so at least -- for the feeling is a very disagreeable one -- and adds to all the other queer sensations. Besides it is necessary to retain some food or you will lose strength which you will need for the finale.

I am glad to hear your family have got through the annual trial of housecleaning, although I think most good housekeepers like to go through it. I used to enjoy it.

I have a very good idea of how lovely the country looks around you by the suburbs of Boston - - and by the "Common" and "Public Garden". The old trees in the Common are now spreading their foliage and noble and grand.

This is the handsomest city on the Continent. And I wish you could come and see it. There are a great number of buildings being erected in all parts of the city, and all business seems very prosperous.

I have attended St Paul's Church the past two Sundays. It is an old fashioned building with high backed pews, the organ and choirs in the front part of church with a gallery. The fashionable Episcopal church here is "Trinity". Phillips Brooks is the Rector -- it is almost an impossibility to get a seat there on Sundays and being a considerable distance [about 3/4 mile] from this hotel, I do not try.

I have been to witness two performances at Park Theatre. The first was Fanny Davenportin La Tosca and last Monday night -- Frederick Ward in Belphigor the Mountebank. You see I am not much given to running around much at nights.

Next week Aunt Jack is played -- and they are busy rehearsing Her Father every day, which I suppose will be produced a portion of the last week. This is all the business news I can give you. With love and Kisses etc. Mother

[back of envelope says, in red ink] Read the last number of the North American Review. Not sure which article Perhaps "What shall we do with silver?" May 1890 Possibly April 1890? https://www.jstor.org/journal/nortamerrev?decade=1890

St. Paul's Church, now Cathedral, just opposite Boston Common on Tremont St, and a few blocks from the theaters on Washington St. Formed in 1820

She certainly saw the Brewer Fountain set up in 1868 and a copy of a fountain designed for the Paris World Fair of 1855. The Boston subway, the first in the US wasn't opened until 1897, two years after her last visit to Boston. But construction began on March 28 1895, just as she was in Boston, so perhaps she saw some of that.https://historyofmassachusetts.org/boston-first-subway-america/

Brewer Fountain a bronze copy of a French original that won a gold medal at the 1855 Paris World’s Fair. Brewer, a wealthy Boston merchant, purchased a direct cast of the original in France and had it installed within sight of his [29] Beacon Street house. Its sculptures represent mythological figures associated with water: Neptune, Amphitrite, Acis, and Galatea. It was later moved to its present location near the Tremont Street Mall. Waterless for many years, the fountain was recently restored to its former glory.Boston Common, Friends of the Public Garden, http://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/our-parks/boston-common/

Designed by architect/sculptor Martin Milmore, the neoclassical Soldiers and Sailors Monument, on top of Flagstaff Hill, is a Civil War memorial in the form of a victory column. At its dedication in 1877, Generals McClellan and Hooker were among those attending, along with two Confederate officers.http://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/our-parks/boston-common/sculpture-memorials/

Frog Pond is the only pond left of the original three on the Common. The once muddy pond, curbed and ornamented with a fountain, became the centerpiece of the mid-nineteenth-century Common. The fountain was in many ways the symbol of modern Boston. Its debut in October 1848 was the highlight of an extravagant daylong Water Celebration, hailing the introduction of the city’s public water system. http://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/our-parks/boston-common/frog-pond/

Trinity Church (built 1872-77, the portico and front tower peaks were rebuilt in the 1890's) is still in Copley Square and still a wonderful HH Richardson Romanesque building. King's Boston describes Philip Brooks as "one of the most famous preachers in the Episcopal denomination. He is much beloved by his parishioners, and highly esteemed in the community. He is a brilliant speaker, earnest and eloquent, and a man of superior stature".

Trinity Church postcard

La Tosca by Victorien Sardou Mar 1888.

Boston Globe 1890 May 25 Aunt Jack at the Tremont, May 27 Jim the Penman at the Tremont Theatre
Tremont Theatre 1889-1940s, building demolished 1983. The theater was owned by John Schoeffel, husband of Agnes Booth Schoeffel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremont_Theatre,_Boston_%281889%29

next:Railroads 1890

1891

UNITED STATES HOTEL
Boston, Mass. Jany 26th 1891

My dear Son.

Left New York at 3 PM yesterday. Arrived at above hotel at 10 PM, an hour late due to the effects of the storm. Play in Capt. Swift tonight, tomorrow& Wed'day nights. The rest of the week in Jim [the Penman]. Weather quite warm. Streets in dreadful condition from the effects of the snow, and here they have to guard against the avalanches from the roofs of the buildings.

Hope to be back in New York by next Sunday Evening. Love to my dear children, Neppie, Edward & Albert. Love and Kisses from their loving Mother

Jan 29, 1891 handwritten letter

United States Hotel, Boston
January 29th 1891

My dear Son,

We leave here at 2 PM on Sunday and reach Albany at 8 PM. Play there on Monday night and leave Tuesday morning for New York. None of the Company who go to Albany are in the opening bill at Madison Square. The bill at Albany will be [the one-act] A Social Fiction and A Pair of Spectacles, the performance being for the benefit of some Episcopal Home, Bishop Doane being at the head of the affair.

I should so much like to see you all, but I do not know when I shall be able to do so -- everything seems to be so uncertain about business, that I do not know where I am, or what I do next. So I cannot make any promises -- but will when I can.

And if, when I return you feel like coming to see me, I shall be happy to have you. I think Edward would behave nicely -- and all would be glad to see him. The change would be good for Neppie. I can have Edward's laundry attended to right in the house so that would no hindrance to his coming. It is nearly a year now since Neppie paid me a visit. Love and Kisses etc. Mother

Boston Globe 1891 Jan 18 Two opening acts Augustus Thomas' "After thoughts" and Sydney Grundy's "A Pair of Spectacles" Jan 27 Captain Swift at the Tremont Theatre for two nights, then Jim the Penman. Jan 28 listed AM Palmer as one of the two most prominent people to have checked into Boston hotels Palmer stayed at the Adams Hotel.

Bishop Doane, first Episcopal bishop of Albany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Croswell_Doane

1893

UNITED STATES HOTEL Boston
April 24th 1893

My dear Neppie.

Yes, I like Boston. Wish we could stay here until the end of the Season instead of doing so much travelling. I am always so much at home in this hotel, and the proprietor and his sister always give me such a warm welcome.

Next Sunday will be travelling to Phila. Stay there one week, 8th of May, Pittsburg 1 week. 15th to Brooklyn for one week, 22nd Toronto 1 week. Closing season on Sat night May 27th. Isn't that a heap of travelling for so short a time?

Have not yet settled anything for next season but do not travel with Joseph. May do worse; but hope to do better. Love and Kisses to Albert, Ted & Neppie, my dear children from their loving Mother

UNITED STATES HOTEL Boston
April 27th 1893

My dear Son,

Today I have been visiting Mrs. Seymour [mother of Willie Seymour] at her son's house and have seen her two eldest grandchildren. Miss May being 9 years old and Master Edward 5 years. The girl is very stout -- too stout to be pretty. The boy would make up two of our Jack. Young Mrs. [ William] Seymour and her baby are in New York on a visit. The baby is eleven months old.

So Ted is like me. He cannot eat strawberries without suffering. With love and Kisses to my dear children Albert, Neppie and Sunshine I will say adieu for this time. Your loving Mother

Mrs. Seymour died in 1897 at William Seymour's home 88 Winthrop St, Roxbury. Boston Globe 1893 April 23 Ramsey Morris' company in Joseph at the Globe Theatre.

next: New York May 18, 1893

Narragansett House Providence R I
Fe^by 1894

My dear daughter Neppie,

Your very welcome letter reached me a few moments ago and the contents has somewhat surprised and startled me. Of course I shall be delighted, if all turns out right, and very thankful to your father for his confidence in my dear Son, who I am sure will do all in his ability to perform the duties of the office so graciously placed upon him. I hope soon to hear that all is settled satisfactorily.

Legislatures are slow things and it may be sometime before it is settled, but as the Trustees have voted in your father's favor that goes a long way towards a favorable decision. [This seems to be about a job.] Soon I hope I shall be able to offer my congratulations to you and Albert. I have worried considerably that I have not been able to do more for you the last two years, but my seasons have been so short that it impoverished me and I was helpless.

But I hope now better times are coming to you. "All things come to him who waits". You have waited and I pray trust, you are now rewarded. It will be a great consolation to me, I assure you, for I do not see much prospect before me of bettering my condition. Managers are looking for the young and beautiful and I shall have to take a back seat.

What next season will bring forth, I do not know and do not yet know how long this one will continue, but am very thankful that my health has held out.

I go nowhere except to the theatre and back, and went nowhere in Montreal. Our business here is not very good, and I do not think it will increase very much for the rest of the week. We do not go to Springfield, but instead go to New London on Friday night and New Haven on Saturday night. Then make our way to Washington to open there on the 12th for one week, 19th Pittsburgh 1 week, 26th Phila for one week. Then a week to fill in between there and Brooklyn on the 12th of March. After that I do not know what will become of us.

I want to see [my grandson] ever so much, and see how much he has grown since he was in Ridgewood [NJ] -- five months ago! He must be ever so much bigger now! Is he going into Kilts or Knickerbockers this Spring? I should like to see his Debut. He will kick higher than ever. I enclose a V to buy something for him. My love and Kisses to you individually & collectively dear children 3 Albert, Ted and Neppie. Ever your loving Mother

Providence train station
Providence was already a thriving city in 1847 when Brown-educated architect Thomas A. Tefft’s Union railroad depot, the original train station, opened in 1847. The station’s Exchange Terrace site backed on to a large cove and a small hill where the State Capitol would be built four decades later. ... As railroad demand grew, so did the need for more terminal space, made possible only by the filling of the cove (now the area surrounded by Union Station, the State Capitol, and Providence Place mall) in 1890. The question of what to do with the now-undersized but still-glorious train station was answered by a catastrophic fire which destroyed it in February, 1896. One Union Station History, Rhode Island Foundation http://www.rifoundation.org/matriarch/OnePiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_430_A_PageName_E_AboutHistory1UnionStationHisto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Station_(Providence)

Perry House New Port, R.I.
Feby 8th 1894
Open all year W.I. O'Brien, Proprietor

My dear daughter Neppie,

Left Worcester, changed cars twice and took a steamer called the "General" and arrived in NewPort about 1:15. The ride down the [Narragansett] Bay (I do not know what else to call the water we came on) was delightful. We return the same way tomorrow Morning on our way to New London. I wish we could go all the way by water if it could be as pleasant as it was this Morning.

March, I think, is the worst month in the year to think of changing clothes, unless you put warmer ones on. I do not think though, that the Knickerbockers would be any colder than the little dresses. Of course Ted wears underdrawers and shirts under his skirts now, but you will best be able to judge by the weather [Ted was 3 1/2 in March of 1894!] March is always a treacherous month and blows hot and cold very suddenly. And I would not be too anxious to make the change. April will be here in seven weeks. Patch up his old clothes until then and be on the safe side.

We were officially notified yesterday that we do not go to Pittsburg. We were to go there week after next, but the date was cancelled. Will now close as I want to take a little rest and get ready for work. Love and Kisses to my dear boys Bert & Ted and to my dear daughter Neppie from their loving Mother

next: Rochester Feb. 1894

Cambridge 1895

Hotel Bowdoin Boston, Mass.
March 23rd [1895]

My dear daughter Neppie,

Have just got back from Post Office, where I had been to send as order to Albert for your Easter Eggs, and Hats. Please divide it, as you did the Xmas orders - with my love and good wishes to you all for a joyous and bright Easter.

I received your letter - I am very sorry to hear your Mama is in poor health - she should have a tonic. I have a new one I am taking. Although it has been thirty years on the market - I never heard of it until a week ago. It is called "Fellows Compound of Hypophosphites". I have taken a very few doses and feel that it is building me up. I had begun to have "that tired feeling" - and was afraid I was sinking back into the old condition.

When we become weak, that is the time disease catches hold of us - so do get your Mama to take something. Get it for her - don't let her get down sick - for then it will be harder to build her up. And it would be a good Spring medicine for you - the doses are very small. One teaspoonful in a wine glass of water, with your meals.

Yesterday we had a very pleasant warm day - and I went with Mrs. & Miss [Virgie] Graves to Harvard and enjoyed the trip very much. It was their first visit to Cambridge and I took them to see the Longfellow House and grounds - and the old Elm tree where "The Father of His Country" took command of the Army in 1775.

The new Curtain Raiser is postponed until Wednesday night. We will be in LawrenceMass on Easter Monday and Portland, Maine on Tuesday. Where we are to be on the Thursday I do not know yet -- that is the night when we were to be in Lawrence Miss [Odette] Tyler was ill - or thought she was, all last week and didn't play, but it didn't injure the business. Love and Kisses to my dear children from their loving Mother

"Fellows Compound of Hypophosphites" Patented and internationally recognized as an effective remedy, it is listed in many medical books of the period as "an excellent recuperative tonic". An advertisement found in International Clinics Quarterly, Vol 3 dated 1905, Fellows Syrup was used, " in the treatment of anemia, neurasthenia, bronchitis, influenza, pulmonary tuberculosis and wasting diseases of childhood, and during convalescence from exhausting diseases." In the ad, there is a reference to the ingredient Strychnine, which is an exceptionally bitter tasting and extremely powerful poison. It acts on the central nervous system, causing powerful convulsions. It was used in some medications in the late 1800s. In an article in the Canadian Illustrated News dated December 16, 1871, it mentions that James himself had been a victim of "secondary stage", pulmonary consumption and use of his own preparation had cured him. Mark Fellows
https://oldmainartifacts.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/fellows-compound-syrup-of-hypophosphites-fellows-co-new-york/

1916 ad for Fellows' Compound Syrup of Hypophosphites, British Medical Journal http://www.bmj.com/content/2/2901/local/advertising.pdf https://www.facebook.com/Fellows Syrup

Possibly Laura Graves (c.1870-1925) EA and/or Kate Graves (c. 1874-1898) EA but seems to be Virgie Graves according to programs found.

Longfellow House Now a National Historic Site, the Georgian house was built in 1759 on Brattle Street (part of Tory Row). Longfellow lived in the house from 1837 until his death in 1882. http://www.nps.gov/long/index.htm The National Park Service guide I talked to said many people came to see the house when Longfellow was alive, and family often let them in.

George Washington had stayed there.

Jill Lepore on Longfellow https://theamericanscholar.org/how-longfellow-woke-the-dead/#.Wv4wrmjRVFEHow Longfellow Woke the Dead When first published 150 years ago, his famous poem about Paul Revere was read as a bold statement of his opposition to slavery

Harvard I wonder what EJP saw of Harvard. The tower of Memorial Hall is obvious to the left in the drawing below of the Washington Elm. And I recently observed, while standing just outside Harvard Yard across the street from Memorial hall that the roof top sign of the Sheraton Commander [named in honor of Washington taking command] is in a direct line [about 1/4 mile away]. Seems likely she saw Harvard Yard, certainly minus Widener Library (dedicated 1915 and built in memory of Harry Elkins Widener who died on the Titanic in 1912) and Memorial Church (replacing Appleton Chapel [1853-1931 now depicted in a bronze plaque at the east end] and completed 1932, in memory of students and faculty who died in World War I.). HH Richardson's Sever Hall was completed in 1880. Massachusetts Hall dates from 1720. Hollis Hall was completed in 1764. Harvard Hall was built between 1764 and 1766. Holden Chapel 1755.

Washington Elm George Washington took command of the American army on Cambridge Common on July 3, 1775, barely two weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill. His main camp was there from 1775 to 1776. The elm survived until the 1923 (with streetcars running on either side of it) and a plaque and scion replaced it there, with other scions going to Washington DC and the Arnold Arboretum Famous Trees and Michelin Guide to New England ]. The site of the original elm is now under asphalt, mid-Garden Street between the Common and the First Congregational Church, corner of Mason Street. Historic Walks in Cambridge But Wikipedia [accessed Feb 27 2011] says the tree died in 1923 and the Cambridge Historical Society discredited any definite connection with George Washington in a paper published in 1925. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Elm
Washington Elm You can see Harvard's Memorial Hall tower on the left.

Bruce Myren, The Washington Elm Project
“The Washington Elm” is a project documenting the tree under which George Washington allegedly took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, MA in 1775. By beginning with one tree, which is itself not the original, I invite the viewer to consider how history is represented and memorialized within the built environment and via connections to the natural world. Washington and troops did indeed muster on Cambridge Common. However, according to a nineteenth-century legend, perhaps by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, this event took place under the shade of an elm. Many scions—a rooted clipping that is genetically identical—of this witness tree have been planted around the country. Interest in cultivating these elms grew during the nation's centennial, but the most widespread effort was led by the Daughters of the American Revolution on the anniversary of Washington’s birth in 1932. In 1923, Cambridge city workers, in an effort to keep the original Elm alive, cut off a limb, unbalancing the tree and causing it to topple and die. Fortunately, a Harvard alum and University of Washington professor had planted a scion on the UW campus in the 1880s; it was from this Elm that the current tree on the Common was grown.
http://brucemyren.com/the-washington-elm.html
Cambridge Historical Society exhibit Oct 2014 – Jan 2015

Washington Elm, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Elm

Alice Longfellow, Henry’s oldest daughter, continued to live in the House after her father’s death in 1882. She and her brother and two sisters increasingly thought of the House as a memorial to be maintained as it was when their father had lived there. … But maintaining a historic home to share with the public was difficult. “I tried after your grandfather’s death having the house open every day,” Alice wrote to her nephew Harry Dana in 1913, “and nearly went crazy. Neither Abby nor I will ever try it again. Never.” Longfellow House Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 1 - National Park Service

Harvard Square, Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Square
The horse cars were electrified in 1889. http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:Power_System_of_Boston's_Rapid_Transit,_1889

The HOTEL BOWDOIN
Hale & Deane. Proprietors Boston, Mass
March 28, 1895

My dear Son,

I am going out to send you an order for $20, as in moving you may need it. I did not think you would move before the 1st of April. This may make your Easter a little less, but you will not need it so much then.

Yes dear, it is not a very pleasant prospect for the family at 1738 [Franklin St Phila] and Walter [Dolman] is not doing anything, and at this season there is not much to do for him. Mr. D[olman] grows weaker, and it is only a question of time when the end will be here, but no cure is expected. Dr. says may last some weeks, may go off in a day. John and Eddie are so far attending to his business and to them he talks, but says very little to anyone else.

Will [Law] goes to see the children and takes them to his Mother's every Sunday to dinner -- that is the two eldest -- but there is no attempt yet at reconciliation that we know of.

I believe we close the season here on April 6th. If Mr. D[olman] lasts that long I suppose it will be best for me to go through to Phila and see what they are doing, although I did think of stopping in New York for a few days but nothing definite can be decided on just now.

I have nothing arranged for next Season yet. Had a talk with Marcus Mayer, who told me he had not settled for anything for next season, but if he had anything he would give me an engagement. The Taber people have not answered my letter, so I imagine they do not want to pay so much money as I asked. I hope something will soon turn up. Love and Kisses to my dear children, yourself, Neppie and Ted from their loving Mother

Boston, Mass
Sunday before starting April 7th 1895

My dear daughter Neppie,

Last night we closed our Season with Camille and after the curtain fell Miss[Olga] Nethersole gave us a champagne & sandwich farewell. She, her brother & maid sail on Wednesday for England. I am very sorry we close so early, for she could have prolonged the Season for a few weeks with advantage to herself, and certainly to me.

We take 3 PM train for New York, arrive there at 9 PM tonight. I shall have to go to a hotel tonight, and in the morning see, or try to see one or two persons, and then proceed to Phila to get rid of my trunks and mend my clothes before going to Middletown. I am also going to try to get a few weeks engagement, if possible, for it seems cruel to lose the weeks of April & May doing nothing, when I need so much more money than I have, and I feel more able to work now, than at anytime this Season. Love and Kisses to you and Albert from your loving Mother

Boston Globe 1895 March 21 Olga Nethersole in Camille, Frou-Frou and Romeo and Juliet at the Boston Museum. AM Palmer's Company was presenting Trilby at the Park Theatre. march 28 Mrs. Phillips made a lovable old nurse. She played her role with a simplicity seldom seen in younger actresses and she read her lines with an ease and naturalness that was at once pleasing and artistic.... One cannot help feeling that Mr. Barrymore is somewhat bored in the balcony scene. April 2 The Transgressor Mr. Gattie's play has little to commend it in either plot or sentiment. .. Mrs. Phillips was amusing as the chronic invalid Mrs. Woodville.

next: Philadelphia April 1895

June 17, 1897 Philadelphia Did you see by the papers that Mrs. Seymour [mother of Willie Seymour] passed away on the 3rd of June at the residence of her Son, 88 Winthrop Street, Roxbury, [near Dudley Square] Boston, Mass?

Boston Theatres
Tremont Theatre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremont_Theatre,_Boston_(1889) 1890, 1891 Madison Square Theatre 1889-1940s, building demolished 1983. The theater was owned by John Schoeffel, husband ofAgnes Booth Schoeffel
176 Tremont St, now the Lowe's Boston Common Theater. The original Tremont Theater (1827-1843 )https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremont_Theatre,_Boston was purchased by the Baptists and became the Tremont Temple in 1843 and remains so todayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremont_Temple EJ Phillips almost certainly walked past it, particularly in 1895 when she was playing at the Bowdoin Theatre.

Other Boston Theatres

Boston Athenaeum Theater History http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/224 lists a number of Boston theaters.
The history of Boston’s theaters often provides the researcher and theater aficionado with some fascinating drama of its own. In the nineteenth century, when Boston was the center of a thriving community of theaters, an ongoing conflict between artistic freedom and the city’s ubiquitous Puritan strain was clearly in evidence. Even as early as the eighteenth century, theater going in Boston was regarded as a fashionable, but not entirely legal pursuit.

Boston Museum Tremont Street (18 and 28) between Court and School Street, just beyond the Parker House and King's Chapel. 1846-1903 http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/224#a
1887 "Went to Boston Museum to see Dominie's Daughter yesterday afternoon."
Boston Museum entry hall 1903 shows Thomas Sully's 1819 painting "Passage of the Delaware" now in the Museum of Fine Arts

18 -28 Tremont StNow an office building, with ground floor Phillip's Market and Papyrus card and stationery store. When was this building built?

These three theaters were all in the same block of Washington St.
Boston Theatre Washington St. 539 Washington St. now the Boston Opera House 1794--1852 and 1854-1925http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/224#a

Bijou Theatre, 545 Washington St. The UnionSquare Theatre Co. seems to have appeared here. It opened in 1882, and was taken over by BF Keith in 1886.
Now an office building, next door to the Boston Opera House http://cinematreasures.org/theater/11085/

Park Theatre 619-621 Washington St. Built by Lotta Crabtree http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/224 1879-1990
An 1887 Boston Globe advertises Jim the Penman at the Park Theatre. 1890 "I have been to witness two performances at Park Theatre."

Globe Theatre 1893 Joseph 1884 Separation by Bartley Campbell, Globe ad
364 Washington St. (1867-1873,1874-1903) 364 Washington St now seems to be TJ Maxx, at the corner of Bromfield St, near what was Filenes.
Three Boston theaters have been called Globe Theatre. http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/224#g

Boston and Cambridge Historic Tourism
Old Landmarks of Boston
Beyond the Old-South Church, the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, Christ Church [Old North], the Old Corner Bookstore, King's Chapel, the few remaining ancient burial-grounds, the Common, and a dozen or so of old houses, few of the cherished old landmarks of Boston now remain. One by one they have disappeared, - some obliterated by changes in the arrangement and widening of streets; other removed to make room for various improvements, and the building of business-blocks; others swept away by fire, or destroyed by the ravages of time. Over the question of the removal of landmarks to make way for contemplated improvements, there has always been a struggle between those citizens pleading for their retention for the sake of the memories clustering about them and their historic value, and the advocates of the change who were wont to speak of the former as "sentimentalists,' while they themselves, in turn, were denominated "vandals," possessed of a "utilitarian spirit,' and lacking in veneration for historic monuments of the glorious past.

Some of these local struggles have been quite fierce. ... while few of these landmarks remain unchanged, there are remnants of a number still left; ... Of historic sites, among the first to be sought by many is that of the birthplace of Franklin. What is presumed by the best local historians to have been the site of the house in which the great American first saw the light is marked by the building of the "Boston Post" (newspaper), at No 17 Milk Street, nearly opposite the Old South, and a few steps only from Washington Street ... its destruction by fire in 1811 was greatly regretted .... Over across the way from the Old South Church, on Washington Street, stood the Old Province House, the ancient abode of the royal governors, and once of the last relics of the old colonial days to disappear. Its last days, however, were its saddest From its once proud position it fell lower and lower in the social scale, until it became a shabby tavern, and finally a hall for negro-minstrelsy. Now nothing is left of it save portions of its walls; but the sign "Province House" still shines out in a hesitating and unobtrusive fashion. . .. The home of "Sam" Adams was not far from the Old Province House. It was on Winter Street, on the corner of Winter Place. .. It stood a revered landmark until 1820. The house where he was born was on Purchase Street, just north of Summer, and it commanded a fine harbor view.

The site of the Liberty Tree [in the block just beyond 3 of the theatres on Washington St.], John Hancock House, and John Singleton Copley's House are also described. Of course much of downtown Boston had burned in the Great Fire of 1872. Bacon, Edwin M. King's Dictionary of Boston, Cambridge : Moses King Publisher, 1883.

Old State House, Boston History and Architecture http://www.iboston.org/mcp.php?pid=oldState
Custom House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Custom_House

681-687 Washington St. HH Richardson's last surviving commercial building 1875http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayden_Building The Malaysian restaurant Penang is here now. http://historicboston.org/portfolio_page/the-hayden-building/

Blackstone Block The streets and squares which define the Blackstone Block date from the 17th century. Union, Hanover, and North (Ann) Streets were among the first streets to be laid out in Boston. Today's Blackstone Street lies atop the line of the Mill Creek which in the 17th century ran between the Mill Cove (now the North Station area) and the Great Cove (filled for Atlantic Avenue beginning in 1868). Private drawbridges over the Mill Creek connected the North End to the center of town. Boston's Blackstone Block https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Blackstone%20Block%20Historic%20District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Block_Historic_District

This is by Haymarket, near Quincy Market Boston History and Architecture http://www.iboston.org/mcp.php?pid=quincyMarket Would EJ Phillips ever had reason to come here? She wasn't far away.

Hotels
United States Hotel at Beach and Lincoln Streets. It was built in 1824, when it was regarded as an enormous structure, and certainly the largest hotel in the city. It has been enlarged several times until it covers two acres. In its early days it was the favorite stopping place for celebrities visiting The Hub. Nineteenth Century Hotels in the United States, Antiques Digest, orig. published 1927 http://www.oldandsold.com/articles25/hotels-12.shtml

King's Dictionary of Boston(1883) says the United States Hotel is "one of the oldest of the established hotels of the city, and one of the best, enjoying an excellent reputation in every respect. Its seal dates back to 1826". It was on Beach Street, between Lincoln and Kingston, in the Leather District on the edge of what is now Chinatown. In 1883 it took up the entire block and was three [or four] stories high. Daniel Webster lived there at one time, and Charles Sumner entertained Dickens there.

Bacon's Dictionary of Boston 1886 mentions two enlargements -- entire blocks of Lincoln and Kingston Street, and a building covering nearly two acres at that time. with 500 guest rooms, near all the southern railroad stations and with street cars passing in front of its doors. http://books.google.com/books?id=FlEdAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22united+states+hotel%22+boston++%22beach+street%22+kingston&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The streets have changed considerably, particularly with the building of the Surface Artery, and the site of main entrance of the
United States Hotel is now a Chinese restaurant with a parking garage above it. But it is a short walk to the theaters of Washington Street.
Hei La Moon restaurant serves dim sum http://www.hiddenboston.com/HeiLaMoon.html and is enormous, as befits its predecessor hotel.

Hotel Bowdoin site 1-6 Bowdoin St. and Cambridge Street, now an 11 story office building, with offices of Mass General Hospital and [in the past] Senator John Kerry. A short walk from here to the site of the Boston Museum.
Feb. 28 1902 "Boston hotel on fire" New York Times articles describes the building as a five and a half story granite building owned by the Oliver Ames estate with about 150 people, mostly actors "thrown into confusion" by the fire
.https://www.nytimes.com/1902/02/28/archives/boston-hotel-on-fire-the-bowdoin-square-house-damaged-and-two.html

Bowdoin Square has changed considerably http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowdoin_Square_(Boston) since Scollay Square was demolished and Government Center built in the 1960s, but at one earlier point had both the Bowdoin Hotel and Bowdoin Theatre. The Hotel burned in 1902 and was described in a New York Times article as primarily an actors' hotel. Just beyond this on Cambridge, going towards the Charles River are the 1806 Old West Church the 1796 Harrison Gray Otis house and Mass General Hospital founded 1811 ( and the Charles Street Jail 1848=1851, now the Liberty Hotel)

Scollay Square Today http://www.bambinomusical.com/Scollay/Remnants.html
Pieces of Scollay Square can still be found in Boston and the surrounding area today - if you know where to look...

Old West Church in 1806, the congregation commissioned Asher Benjamin, an architect and builder, to design the new church building …. [Minster Charles] Lowell took up the mantle of social activism – supporting the abolitionist cause. Encouraged by associate minister, Cyrus Bartol, he ended the practice of segregated seating in the congregation. Lowell began the first Sunday school classes, providing lessons for both the wealthy and poor children of Boston. Bartol served the West Church for over 50 years. He was a staunch abolitionist. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, the church was a safe house on the “Underground Railway.” The West Church congregation disbanded in 1887. Andrew Wheelright, member of West church bought the building to save it from demolition. The West Church was converted into a desperately-needed branch library in 1894….. In 1961, the building was purchased by the Methodist Church to provide a home for a new congregation, formed by the merging of Copley Methodist Church and the First Methodist Church on Beacon Hill. http://oldwestchurch.org/about/history-of-old-west/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_West_Church_(Boston,_Massachusetts)

Harrison Gray Otis houseOtis House is the last surviving mansion in Bowdoin Square in Boston's West End neighborhood. Charles Bulfinch designed the house for Harrison Gray Otis, a lawyer who was instrumental in developing nearby Beacon Hill, served in Congress, and was a mayor of Boston. Otis House is the first of three houses Bulfinch designed for Harrison Gray Otis and his wife Sally Foster Otis. The house’s design reflects the classical proportions and delicate detail of the Federal style. http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/otis-house/otis-house

Massachusetts General Hospital (and Charles Street Jail) The history trail online tour includes photographs of an 1888 horse drawn ambulance. While the Charles River is now 1,000 feet to the west of the hospital there were originally wharves from which patients and supplied could be brought. Photographs in the hallways near the Ether Dome always show these wharves. “The [Bulfinch Building] cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1818, and construction completed in 1823. The dome still houses its original surgical amphitheater, the hospital's operating room from 1821 to 1867, known today as the Ether Dome in commemoration of the world's first public demonstration of surgical anesthesia in 1846.” … “the Charles Street Jail was constructed between 1848 and 1851 in accordance with the Auburn Plan first used for English jails in the 1790s. Humanitarian ideals inspired the Auburn Plan, which incorporated radiating wings to provide adequate ventilation and natural light for inmates and allowed segregation of prisoners by sex and category of offense. There have been many changes to the building since the 19th century, including the enlargement of wings and construction of a brick wall to replace an earlier brick-and-iron fence. In 1991 Charles Street prisoners were moved to a new county jail on Nashua Street in Boston and Mass General bought the building and surrounding land. http://www.massgeneral.org/museum/history/default.aspx https://www.massgeneral.org/museum/history/
The Charles Street Jail is now the Liberty Hotel (with bars Alibi and Clink) and a dramatic central courtyard. Mary Glen had a chance to tour it, thanks to the New England Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, while there were still barred hospital beds and telephones used to communicate with prisoners. https://libertyhotel.com/hotel/history/

Oldest restaurants in Boston
Durgin Park 1827-2019 Quincy Marketplace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durgin-Park Still open at Logan Airport but hardly the same!https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60745-d4097264-Reviews-Durgin_Park-Boston_Massachusetts.html
Jacob Wirth's 1868-2018 was at 33-37 Stuart St. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Wirth_Restaurant
Locke-Ober 3 Winter Place 1875-2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locke-Ober http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-haskel/locke-obers-cafe_b_2672066.html I'm glad I got a chance to have lobster bisque at Locke Obers before it closed. Of Course EJ Phillips couldn't have eaten there -- women were not admitted until 1971.
Union Oyster House 41 Union St. 1826 –present http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Oyster_House

Mt Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge http://www.mountauburn.org/ Founded in 1831, Edwin Booth and his first wife Mary Devlin Booth, Charlotte Cushman and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) are buried here.

Railroads, from King's Dictionary of Boston 1883
The several railroads starting from Boston are: the New-York and New- England, the Boston, Revere-beach and Lynn, the Old- Colony and the Boston and Albany - having their stations at the south side of the business portion of the city; the Boston and providence on the west side; and the Boston and Maine, on the north. Each of these is described in detail in this Dictionary. They connect the great trunk- lines of this country with the port of Boston, and reach tide-water by means of the improved terminal facilities establishing along the water-front in recent years [see Terminal Facilities].

Boston and Albany Station and Line: The present passenger-station of this road occupies the block bounded by Kneeland, Lincoln and Utica Streets, and, like the mother modern railway-stations in the city is convenient in its arrangements for passengers, as well as for the prompt despatch of trains, without confusion. completed in Sept.. 1881, ... succeeded the Boston and Worcester Railroad, and now forms one continuous line to the Hudson River.

Boston & Albany Station

Old ColonyRailroad:Passenger station: on Kneeland and South Streets. This is a plain structure externally, and is arranged internally, with head-house and train-house, much resembling the Boston and Albany Station, which is patterned after it. Chartered 1841 to build and operate a railroad from Boston to Plymouth... The company has since absorbed the Old Colony and Fall-River railroad companies, the Fall-River and Newport, the Cape-Cod, the Vineyard-Sound ... and the Lowell roads.
Bacon, Edwin M. King's Dictionary of Boston, Cambridge : Moses King Publisher, 1883.

New York and New England: Passenger station. Atlantic Avenue, foot of Summer Street. This is an unpretentious building, but is most admirably arranged (as are all the Boston railway-stations) for the comfort and convenience of passengers.... The New York and New England is the successor of the old Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad. In 1873 it succeeded to all the property and right of the latter road. Replaced by South Station in 1899.

South Station Boston 1899-present previously New York & New England Passenger Station Atlantic Avenue and Summer St.
South Station was born back in the late 1890s when it was no longer efficient for each of the five railway companies that serviced Boston to have their own depot. Passengers found it difficult at best, and a nuisance at the very least, to cart their baggage and belongings between terminals scattered from Back Bay to Summer Street. The turn of the century was coming and Boston needed to have the newest, most efficient and architecturally grand station in the nation.
South Station, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Station has background on the earlier train stations in Boston.

Boston railroads in 1846 http://bostonhistory.typepad.com/notes_on_the_urban_condit/2006/05/railroad_lines_.html

South Station and North Station in Boston are still not well connected, though there has been talk of improving connections, by land and/or by water. more on Railroads

Have notes on Boston plays from the Boston Athenaeum collection of programs to add

Bibliography
Bacon, Edwin M. King's Dictionary of Boston, Cambridge : Moses King Publisher, 1883. Web version Boston Illustrated, 1886 http://www.kellscraft.com/bostonillustrated/bostonillustratedcontent.html
Bergen, Philip, Old Boston in Early Photographs, 1850-1918 Prints from the Collection of the Bostonian Society, New York : Dover Publications, 1990. http://www.amazon.com/Old-Boston-Early-Photographs-1850-1918/dp/0486261840
Campbell, Robert, text and Peter Vanderwarker, photographs, Cityscape of Boston, An American City Through Time, Boston NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1992 http://www.amazon.com/Cityscapes-Boston-Peter-Vanderwarker/dp/0395700655
Famous Trees, Miscellaneous Publication No. 295, Washington DC, June 1938.
Harris, John, Historic Walks in Cambridge, Chester CT : Globe Pequot Press, 1986.
Kay, Jane Holtz, Lost Boston, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980 http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Boston-Jane-Holtz-Kay/dp/0395966108
Kay, Jane Holtz and Pauline Chase Harrell, NY: Preserving New England, Pantheon Books, 1986
Vanderwarker, Peter, Boston Then and Now: 59 Boston Sites Photographed in the Past and Present, NY: Dover Publications, 1982
http://books.google.com/books?id=mIaA2hyMBaAC&dq=Vanderwarker,+Peter,+Boston+Then+and+Now&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Boston Athenaeum, Theater Database http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/223
Boston Evening Transcripthttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=sArNgO4T4MoC 1873-1916
Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data, Tufts University Boston City Directories https://dca.lib.tufts.edu/features/bostonstreets/people/directories.html
City of Boston archives http://www.cityofboston.gov/archivesandrecords/
Historic New England http://www.historicnewengland.org/ was SPNEA Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
Massachusetts Historical Society http://www.masshist.org/
National Historic Landmarks Survey, Massachusetts, National Parks Servicehttp://www.nps.gov/state/ma/index.htm
Walking tours of Boston's made land, Nancy S. Seasholes, MIT Press, 2006

Boston Globe Archive 1872- presenthttps://bostonglobe.newspapers.com/?xid=1880&tpa=op%2BgaLwuCJokKNvjAx0Nqg%3D%3D

1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1893 1895

Last updated August 17, 2021

1879	6	14		Boston MA	Park Theatre	Bankers Daughter
1884	4	27		Boston MA	Globe Theatre	Separation
1886	5	1	to May 30	Boston MA	Park Theatre	Engaged Our Society "good notices" "good pt in"
1887	9	4	to Oct 1	Boston MA	Park Theatre	Jim the Penman open with1 week followed by Elaine then Martyr
1888	5	14	to June 9	Boston MA	Tremont Theatre	Partners open, then Elaine, Jim the Penman
1889	5	5	4 weeks	Boston MA	Park Theatre	Captain Swift
1889	5	9	to May 13	Boston MA	Park Theatre	opening a success receptions big mine as good as the best promises well
1890	4	29	5 weeks	Boston MA	Tremont Theatre	Pillars of Society by Ibsen rehearsed Jim the Penman
1891	1	26	2 weeks	Boston MA	Tremont Theatre	Captain Swift Jim the Penman
1895	3	23	3/18- 4/6	Boston MA	Boston Museum	Camille Romeo & Juliet Transgressor
1992	2		present	Boston MA	trip	MG researches theater history at Boston Public Library

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