The Leather District
Navigating the Leather District in the 1800s
13 to 73 South Street was mostly occupied by the leather industries since the shipping yards and markets were in close proximity. There was the occasional clothing store but the buildings in this area were designed to have shops or offices for dealers on the first or second floors. The third and fourth floor consisted of the workshops and manufacturing processes to create the products to sell. It was common for dealers and manufacturers to have their place of work on South Street but live in other middle class areas around Boston.
As shown above, the parcel was home to many leather dealers and companies. This is a schedule of buildings and their occupancy in 1877 that was used by insurance companies to account for building occupancies and the equipment used by the companies.
South Street Characters
L. A. Kimball
Lewis A. Kimball was a silversmith who had a business on 23 South Street in the 1870s. Kimball did not live on South Street because his home was at 498 East Broadway where other workers lived and then traveled to the Leather District for work.
J. J. Birkmaier & Co.
The J. J. Birkmaier & Co. would steam, sponge and refine clothes on the top floors of units 19 to 23 South Street. In 1900, J. J. Birkmaier & Co. was purchased by Frederick Haartz who already owned a business at 90 South Street. Haartz was a 27 year cloth examiner for Miner, Beale & Co. who wanted to expand his business.
Converse & Stanwood
Between 25 and 29 South Street, Converse & Stanwood took up the whole building to manufacture, store and sell hides and leather. A “hide” is animal skin which is tanned or dried for clothing, shoes and household items.
Claflin & Thayer
One of the many boot and shoe dealers on this parcel was the business Claflin & Thayer on 37 to 41 South Street. The owners of this company appear to have had more status in the social world because Bnyard Thayer bought land on the Fenway with a frontage of 100 feet and his daughter came out as a debutante in 1899.
Alex Moseley & Co.
This company at 43 to 47 South Street was one of the many leather dealers on this parcel. Moseley both owned and occupied the building while another leather company occupied the top floors of the building. He owned this building from 1883 to 1898 until “J. Stober” bought it in 1928.
A Well-know Resident
James Gleason
On 30 South Street, there was a well-known dry goods dealer, James Gleason, who lived near the place where he worked. As a dry goods dealer, he was in the Leather District near all the businesses that store and sell dried goods. Gleason was an example of how lower-class workers would work and live in and around the Leather District.
Citations
Boston Public Library. 1877. The Boston Directory. Boston: George Adams.
Boston Public Library. 1877. A schedule of the buildings and their occupancy, on the principal streets and wharves in the city of Boston. : Surveyed and published expressly for the use of insurance companies. Boston: Boston : Press of W.L. Deland.
Boston Public Library. 1880. The Boston Directory. Boston: George Adams.
"CRIMINAL COURTS." 1872.Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), May 17, 4. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/criminal-courts/docview/491833985/se-2.
Fibre & Fabric: A Record of American Textile Industries in the Cotton and Woolen Trade. United States: n.p., 1900.
"IN BROOKLINE POLICE DEPARTMENT.: JAMES GLEASON, NEW SERGEANT, ENTERED ON DUTIES LAST NIGHT--CHANGES CAUSED BY HIS APPOINTMENT." 1899.Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Dec 20, 5. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/brookline-police-department/docview/499269317/se-2.
Shoe and Leather Reporter. United States: Shoe and Leather Reporter Company, 1879.
"TABLE GOSSIP." 1899.Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Dec 31, 34. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/table-gossip/docview/499266596/se-2.
Tufts Digital Library. 1872. The Boston Directory. Boston: Sampson & Murdock Co.