Lodging Houses
Lodging houses/Hotels played a prominent role in the 1-24 Cross Street parcel. Through my research I learned that these houses have been a hotspot for drama.
Directly located off of Haymarket Square on 1 Cross St. sat a hotel named the Hampton House. The Hampton House was owned and operated by John M. Pendleton until it was passed down to his daughter Jennie F. Pendleton in 1895. In 1917 Jennie F. Pendleton sold the hotel to Benj. Piscopo who kept the name the same for three years before renaming it Hotel Blackstone. Although this parcel of land shifted owners its purpose as a hotel on the corner of Cross St. remained the same.
The Hampton House was a brick and frame building with 48 available rooms. No records of any significant changes in construction of the hotel were found from its creation in 1882 to its destruction upon the widening of Cross St.
The Hampton house was clearly a focal point on the North End for entertainment and drinking. To the right is an ad for Garrick Club's Pure Rye Whiskey that is served at the Hampton. The Hampton House is a focal point for the North End. It has a prime location being located directly off of the epicenter of Boston’s food chain, Haymarket Square.
Several deaths happened in the Hampton House including one unnamed women who died of gas asphyxiation who was found with an unconscious man (Timothy Hurley). Timothy Hurley was registered at the hotel under the alias Donald Donavon. The woman was just registered as his wife although they were not married.
The police on the case said that old hotels often have gas burners that cause fatalities. They said that hotels should be inspected and old fixtures replaced. Other fire related deaths happened in the Hampton House despite there being water access and chemical fire extinguishers on each floor, as well as staircases to an escape route on the roof.
Many Boston hotels at this time were considered to be fire traps, and the Hampton House in particular was published in several newspapers warning locals of the danger of fire within the Hampton House.
Another tragedy that happened at the Hampton House was the death of Mollie Mack. Mack was a waitress at a North End dining room. Even North End locals stayed at the Hampton House. She was at the Hampton House registered as Charles Burges' wife, but she was married to another man. The two met at a bar on North St. and soon after meeting got the hotel room. The two were said to be intoxicated when they checked in, and then ordered a bottle of whiskey. The woman half dressed fell out of a third story window onto the sidewalk. Burges described the women jumping out of bed and then running to the window to get air. Burges was interrogated for murder, but was found innocent.
Through the details of the death of the unnamed woman, Mollie Mack, and other research on the Hampton House it appears that for a long period of time the hotel was a place of heavy drinking as well as commonly used by people as a place to come back to after nights out in local North End bars.
Other nearby lodging houses in this area existed at Tyler St, which was a lodging house with 22 men. As well as 16 Cross St, where 40 men resided.
Nearby at 35 Endicott St existed another small long term hotel/ lodging house business existed. The house owner, Daniel Bodein, was robbed and assaulted by three men in 1895. The three men came in at 11 pm and were insisting on getting a room upstairs in the house, but the house was full. The men forced their way into a room, and then began beating Bodein. The police arrived and chased the men down Cross Street.
The lodging house/hotels in the Haymarket/North End area appear to be a hot spot for drama!
Much of what I discover about Cross St portrays a parcel with a great deal of action, crime, and heavy drinking in throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.