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254:, and on May 23, 1973, his body was found in the Beacon Hill apartment of John Murray, who had been caring for him during the final years of his life. The police reported that "when we came in to take charge of the body, Mr. Townsend was found in a kneeling prayer position at his bedside." Of his entire family, only one sister, a nephew and a great-nephew attended his memorial service at the
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himself inhabited an old brick townhouse at the end of
Lindall Pl, a cul-de-sac that terminated just behind the Philips Street apartments. A subterranean corridor lined with cubicles connected the basements of the two buildings. The tunnel was said to have housed runaway slaves in transit on the Underground Railway prior to the Civil War.
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Toward the end of his life, his two remaining properties on the Hill were on its North Slope, traditionally the side where servants of patrician South Slope residents lived. He accommodated a motley collection of tenants, mostly young gay men, in an eight-unit building at 75 Phillips St; Prescott
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In talks in Boston and
Provincetown he promoted his "Snowflake Theory" of human personality and sexuality, stating that the human mind is like a snowflake in that no two are alike, and each has six opposing sides: I/You, He/She, Hit/Submit.
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neighborhood, where he began a relationship with theater producer Elliot Paul, with whom he founded the experimental Barn
Theatre in 1922. Paul introduced Townsend to numerous avant-garde creatives, including openly gay writer
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headline reported, "Beacon Hill 'Twilight' Man Member of Queer Love Cult
Seduced Young Man". He did not deny it, and was sentenced to eighteen months in the Massachusetts House of Corrections on
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In the 1950s, he held meetings at his home/bookstore, which he described as "the first social discussion of homosexuality in Boston". He founded a Boston chapter of the
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While working at the Fall River shipyard during World War II, Townsend was arrested on
January 29, 1943, for participating in an "unnatural and lascivious act". The
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164:. Townsend operated speakeasies, restaurants, and theaters, cultivating a bohemian neighborhood on Beacon Hill's Joy Street. He pioneered the popularity of
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for one year. He spent the summer of 1914 in logging camps in
Montana and Idaho, and traveled to North Africa and the Soviet Union. He returned to Boston's
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Charles, Shively (2002). "Prescott
Townsend: Bohemian Blueblood - A Different Kind Of Pioneer". In Bullough, Vern L. (ed.).
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336:"Prescott Townsend: one of most influential Boston gay rights pioneers you've never heard of"
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through her grandmother
Susannah Perkins Staples (the sister of Yale Law School founder
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Wicker, Randy (May 24, 1973) "Early Boston gay advocate
Prescott Townsend dies at 78",
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legislation, urging the lawmakers "to legalize love". He was indulged due to his
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The
Crimson Letter: Harvard, Homosexuality, and the Shaping of American Culture
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Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context
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Before Stonewall: activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context
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Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context
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Townsend had, for years, been suffering from failing health brought on by
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passengers, and the great-granddaughter of the American founding father
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98:(June 24, 1894 – May 23, 1973) was an American cultural leader and
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as an acknowledged homosexual man advocating for the repeal of
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American cultural leader and gay rights activist (1894–1973)
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102:activist, from the 1930s through the early 1970s.
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387:"Pilgrims' Progress: Boston's Gay History"
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172:. He was later a founder of the
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184:Activism and career
89:Gay rights activism
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228:Mattachine Society
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153:Harvard Law School
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80:Harvard University
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449:1973 deaths
444:1894 births
371:0-312198965
209:Deer Island
157:Beacon Hill
68:Nationality
438:Categories
340:Boston.com
262:References
162:André Gide
106:Early life
100:gay rights
35:1894-06-24
396:March 29,
391:The Guide
232:homophile
129:Mayflower
76:Education
345:June 16,
71:American
112:Roxbury
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194:sodomy
242:Death
398:2017
366:ISBN
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