Historical Tours in and about Boston / Compliments of American Oil Company

Compliments of AMERICAN OIL COMPANY
Copyright 1935, American Oil Company
You are now in the Historic City of Boston, the Birthplace of American Liberty.
The Boston you see around you today is the capital city of the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with a population, in its Greater Boston area, of 2,307,897, and it covers 1022.6 square miles. The town was settled over three hundred years ago by a God-loving people of rugged character, industry and vision. Today it has grown into this great modern manufacturing and commercial center. It boasts of two hundred universities, colleges and schools, of which the major ones are Boston University, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Radcliffe, Wellesley, Tufts, Simmons, Boston College, New England Conservatory of Music, Northeastern, and Massachusetts School of Art. There are two hundred and twenty-four public libraries available with more than four million books. There are five museums open to the public.
This little book has been designed by the American Oil Company for your convenience during your stay in this historic town and has been divided into five tours, each of which may be made easily in a day’s time.
The Start: Leaving the Providence Street side of the Hotel Statler, walk directly ahead on Arlington Street one block to Boylston Street. Turn right, proceed on Boylston Street to Charles Street, at which point we cross to the
The Boston Common is a tract of land, containing nearly fifty acres, bought in 1634 by Governor Winthrop and others from William Blaxton, who held his title by right of possession gained prior to the settlement of Boston in 1630. It was set apart for common use as a cow pasture and training field, and amusingly still retains that status. As you enter the Common, pause for a moment at the little cemetery on the Boylston Street side for here lies buried Gilbert Stuart, the noted portrait painter, and also a number of prominent Boston citizens.
Proceeding through the Common, we view the Soldiers’ Monument which crowns Flagstaff Hill where British Artillery was stationed during the siege of Boston, when troops were quartered and entrenched there. From what is now Park Square, the British embarked for Lexington on April 18, 1775. On the Common, the British mustered before the Battle of Bunker Hill and here also gathered contingents for Colonial expeditions against Louisburg and Quebec. Many Massachusetts regiments assembled here prior to going to the front in the Civil War. On Beacon Street Mall, opposite the State House, stands the Shaw monument by Augustus St. Gaudens, a memorial to Colonel Robert G. Shaw and the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry.