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Longshoremen: Boarding & organizing at India square
"McCarthy's Mistake,"1894 (Boston Daily Globe)
Boarding
India Square's proximity to the wharves meant it was a prime location for laborers to board, especially longshoremen - people who were employed at the docks to load and unload ships, work that required intense manual labor.
These jobs were often dangerous, exemplified in the 1894 Globe article to the left, "McCarthy's Mistake." It describes John, a longshoreman, who fell overboard a steam ship and in his attempt to re-board, broke his leg. The longshoreman was living at 4 India Square at the time, where numerous laborers and Irish immigrants are known to have boarded.
Organizing
Because of its location, India Square was a common area for local unions to meet. For instance, in 1927 International Longshoremen's Association and steamship agents held their annual conferences at the Flour and Grain Building, just two blocks away on the corner of Milk and India Streets.
"Longshoremen to Meet with Agents Tomorrow," 1927 (Boston Daily Globe)
"Yuletide Spirit Reaches Horses," 1938 (Boston Daily Globe)
India Wharf in "Annual Report On Statistics Of Labor 1941-1946" (Massachusetts Dept. of Labor & Industries)
As indicated by the Globe article to the left, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had an annual tradition of feeding hundreds of horses during the holiday season. It is clear that in 1938, labor unions still had a presence in the area, with the annual feeding of the Teamsters' horses and Christmas gathering held in India Square.
In the 1940s, longshoremen labor union number 1407 held its meetings at India Wharf (pictured above), showing that long after the shipping boom, the presence of unions in the area was still strong.
India wharf rats: the room where it happens?
Background
The India Wharf Rats was an association formed in 1886 by author John T. Wheelwright and Sigourney Butler, former comptroller of the US Treasury in the Cleveland Administration who, upon return to Boston, was a railroad attorney and helped run campaigns for the National Democratic Party.
Wheelwright and Butler rented a room in the India Wharf Building with a view of the harbor, and invited men of similar stature to join the association.
According to the club's preamble, it was "assembled for the purpose of reviving American commerce, cultivating the culinary arts, and promoting the fine arts."
Wharf Rats Preamble, (A History of the India Wharf Rats 1886-1911)
Original India Wharf Rats meeting room (Harbor Walk Boston)
Current day meeting room, 2016. (Papesch)
Membership Then & Now
The club had an admission fee and new members had to be approved by a majority of current members to be admitted. Each member had their own locker to store personal items like their spyglasses. Every club dinner required a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, and over the years the club hosted events with guests from military officers to elected officials.
Many of the original members fought in the Civil War, served as elected officials, were businessmen or had attended Harvard. Nearly all members lived in Boston on streets near the wharf, with a few members listed with New York addresses.
Due to the India Wharf building's demolition in the 1960s, the Wharf Rats moved to a new location nearby, and is still currently in operation. Many of its modern members are Boston businessmen and Harvard graduates.
community challenges: Fires of india square
"Killed at the Fire," 1885 (Boston Daily Globe)
"Fierce Blaze in India Sq.," 1902 (Boston Daily Globe)
"Fire Causes $1000 Damage in Building on India Sq.," 1925 (Boston Daily Globe)
Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, India Square witnessed many transformations of technology, transportation and infrastructure.
However, one part of life that remained consistent were the fires that frequently tore through buildings at a time. As exemplified by the Globe articles above, fires often started in businesses, and their levels of damage varied.
Fighting these fires was extremely dangerous. One account of a fire at an India Wharf chemical company, pictured to the right, reported that the fire fighters had to work in relays because the fumes were so potent they were making the them ill.
"Chemicals Make Firemen Sick," 1922 (Boston Daily Globe)
Work Cited
CHEMICALS MAKE FIREMEN SICK: FORCED TO FIGHT BLAZE ON WHARF IN RELAYS TWO ALARMS FOR $25,000 FIRE ON INDIA WHARF INDIA ALKALI COMPANY THE CHIEF SUFFERER. 1922. Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Feb 11, 1922. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/chemicals-make-firemen- sick/docview/504319023/se-2
FIERCE SLAZE IN INDIA SQ.: ROBERT B. STORER & CO, GENERAL MERCHANTS. SUFFER A LOSS ESTIMATED FROM $15,000 TO $20,000. 1899. Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Feb 13, 1899. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login? auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/fierce-slaze-india-sq/docview/499029183/se-2
Fire loss 1 -- no title. 1925. Boston Daily Globe (1923-1927), Apr 18, 1925. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login? auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/fire-loss-1-no-title/docview/498357206/se-2
KILLED AT THE FIRE.: JAMES SWEETSER OF PROTECTIVE 1 WHERE DUTY CALLED. A BITTER NIGHT FOR FIGHTING FIRE AND HANDLING ICY LADDERS. THE LOSS TO PROPERTY COMPARATIVELY SMALL. 1885. Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Mar 09, 1885. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/killed-at- fire/docview/493216758/se-2
"Longshoremen to Meet with Agents Tomorrow". 1927. Boston Daily Globe (1923-1927), Oct 26, 1927. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/inspector-dennessy-home- hospital/docview/251056469/se-2
LOSS TO BAR.: SIGOURNEY BUTLER DIES AT HIS HOME. PNEUMONIA CLAIMS THE WELLKNOWN LAWYER. HAD RAISEN TO EMINENCE IN PROFESSION. GRADUATED IN CLASS WITH W. E. RUSSELL. HELD POSITION IN TREASURY UNDER CLEVELAND. 1898. Boston Daily Globe (1872- 1922), Jun 08, 1898. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/loss- bar/docview/498897266/se-2
"McCarthy's Mistake". 1894. Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Sep 17, 1894. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login? auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/death-dumpling/docview/497930960/se-2
Papesch. “India Wharf Rats Club/IWRC-34,” n.d. http://papesch.jalbum.net/020905-H60_at_India_Wharf_Rats_Club/slides/IWRC-34.html.
“Prestigious Wharf and Building.” Signs by Friends of the Boston Harborwalk, February 5, 2021. https://boshw.us/sign/prestigious- wharf-and-building/?lang=english#.
Wheelwright, John T. “A History of the India Wharf Rats, 1886-1911.” Internet Archive. Boston : Printed for the club [by] the Merrymount Press, 1912. https://archive.org/details/historyofindiawh00whee/page/n15/mode/2up.
Yuletide spirit reaches horses. 1938. Daily Boston Globe (1928-1960), Dec 22, 1938. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login? auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/yuletide-spirit-reaches-horses/docview/820596888/se-2
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