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Child’s estate was purchased by John Howe who found the stone while building the present building around 1737 and removed it to the corner of his property to keep vehicles from damaging the building. The stone was placed in the brick wall above another stone carved to read "Boston Stone 1737" when
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According to popular legend, the stone is the geographic center of Boston, used in colonial times by surveyors as the zero point for outlying milestones showing the distance to Boston, but this is almost certainly not true. There are no contemporary records indicating this. Nineteenth century
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inscribed "Boston Stone 1737". It has been called "both an artifact of the early paint industry and evidence of early industrial activity in the vicinity..." It is considered the oldest paint-mill in the United States. There is no plaque, and the Boston Stone has no official status.
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also called a "muller" used for grinding paint pigments in a long stone trough. It was imported from
England around 1701 by the painter Tom Childs. The stone was originally displayed with a painted plaque including Child’s initials and the date 1701.
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advertising for the
Marshall House inn describes the original inscribing of the Boston Stone's plinth; it is possible that its attribution as Boston's zero milestone was an early 19th-century advertising ploy. The 1921
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The stone, a flattened sphere about 2 feet (0.61 m) in diameter, hollowed out on one side, is embedded in the foundation of a building on
Marshall Street (a narrow alley named for Thomas Marshall) in the
385:"Broadsheet: "The Boston stone." Opposite the "Marshall House" may be seen the celebrated "Boston Stone" imbedded in the wall, long an object of interest to the curious and antiquary"
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in his poem "Landmarks" lamenting the loss of some of Boston's early landmarks, stating "When from Neck to Boston Stone, All thy pride of place is gone."
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proposed that the paint mill be made into a similar landmark by adding the inscription. The new building popularized the old artifact; in 1839, the
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the building was rebuilt by James Davis in 1835. According to Howe’s daughter, a Mrs. Green, their neighbor who had seen the famous
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guide to the city suggested that it was probably set up to provide directions to nearby shops in imitation of the London Stone.
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reported that a replica of the stone made entirely of sugar was exhibited at a fair at
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Rand, McNally Boston guide to the city and environs, with maps and illustrations
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Minor tourist attraction and historical site in Boston, Massachusetts
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The crooked & narrow streets of the town of Boston 1630-1822
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The industrial and artistic technology of paint and varnish
295:. Boston, Mass: James R. Osgood and Co. pp. 143–145
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A guide to the industrial archeology of Boston proper
362:. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. pp. 207–209
292:Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston
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325:. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. p. viii.
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434:Whittier, John Greenleaf (March 1879).
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471:The City Record and Boston News-Letter
467:"The Boston Stone and Marshall Street"
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415:. Marshall Jones Company. p. 80
113:. In 1879 it was mentioned by poet
71:and is a minor tourist attraction.
92:The Boston Stone was originally a
77:Blackstone Block Historic District
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499:. Groundspeak. December 3, 2011
493:"The Boston Stone - Boston, MA"
247:Boston Ways: High, By, and Folk
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409:Thwing, Annie Haven (1920).
356:Sabin, Alvah Horton (1917).
289:Drake, Samuel Adams (1873).
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245:Weston, George F. (1957).
570:Government Center, Boston
319:Stott, Peter H. (1984).
55:The Boston Stone in 1975
115:John Greenleaf Whittier
79:. Below the stone is a
37:42.361850°N 71.056700°W
523:. Rand, McNally. 1921.
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65:Boston, Massachusetts
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42:42.361850; -71.056700
546:at Wikimedia Commons
560:Landmarks in Boston
389:Library of Congress
263:Kevin Walsh (ed.).
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473:. February 7, 2006
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161:1887 Illustration
149:1873 Illustration
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67:. It is near the
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265:"(untitled)"
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103:London Stone
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61:Boston Stone
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197:1930s Photo
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25:42°21.711′N
554:Categories
503:January 5,
497:Waymarking
477:January 5,
332:026269090X
274:January 5,
227:References
221:2016 Photo
209:1975 Photo
185:1911 Photo
173:1898 Photo
28:71°3.402′W
261:cited in
94:millstone
448:24 July
419:24 July
394:24 July
366:24 July
338:24 July
299:24 July
88:History
565:Stones
329:
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81:plinth
439:(PDF)
505:2014
479:2014
450:2024
421:2024
396:2024
368:2024
340:2024
327:ISBN
301:2024
276:2014
251:ISBN
59:The
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
