Boston Goal/Prison

49 Court St

The jail or goal sat on Prison Lane (1634-1708) which later became known as Queen St (1708-1788) then Court St – about the back section of Court Square in the middle of the block down City Hall Ave alley (across from province st off school st). (1788+) round 1689, "the old stone gaol on Prison Lane [had] ... outer walls ... of stone three feet thick, its unglazed windows barred with iron, 'the cells partitioned off with plank, the doors covered with iron spikes, the passage-ways like the dark valley of the shadow of death.'" In 1704, a new building replaced the old on the same site. "The prison and its dungeon were considerably repaired after the great fire of 1711, in that neighborhood, which destroyed the town house and first church. The Leverett-street jail opened in 1822, replacing the old prison off Court Street. In 1823 the old gaol was taken down, and its materials were partly used in constructing the gun house and ward room on Thacher Street" in the North End.

Many citizens turned to illegal smuggling to avoid the Sugar and Stamp Acts which were the first attempts of Britain to enforce tax collection. The average British citizen was taxed 25 times more than any colonist but despite this, colonists turned to illegal smuggling. These acts also denied offenders a trial by jury because colonists had a habitual tendency to find their smuggling peers not guilty. The Liberty Tree by Chinatown is where the first protest began in response to the Stamp act.

-Source Links-

https://www.history.com/news/the-stamp-act-riots-250-years-ago