The Good Kind of Plaque

From Dave Brigham:

Downtown Boston offers a treasure trove of plaques marking historic events, people and locations. Here are two I recently spotted....

Located on the outer wall of 26 Court Street, a plot of land near Boston City Hall with a rich history that I'll get to in a moment, this plaque recognizes John Augustus, considered the "Father of Probation." It reads, in part:

"Moved by the plight of the unfortunate in the jails and prisons of his day, a humbled Boston shoemaker began a great movement in the reformation of offenders when in 1841 he took from the court for a period of probation one who under his care and with his friendship became a man again."

To read more about Augustus, who was born in Woburn, Mass., in 1785, read this article about the history of probation.

Now, back to 26 Court Street. The City of Boston has owned that plot longer than any other in the Hub, according to this WBUR article. In the 1600's, it was the site of Boston's first jail. "It was there that the pirate Captain Kidd was held before being sent back to London where he was tried and hanged in 1701," according to the WBUR article.

In 1836, the City built a courthouse on this location. "That courthouse is where the federal government encroached upon Massachusetts," said Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director of the Museum of African American History and the African Meeting House, in the article. "In 1851, abolitionists stormed the courthouse and came to the rescue of fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins. But it was a different story for Thomas Sims, when an attempt to rescue him from the courthouse failed," the article continues.

The courthouse was torn down in 1909, replaced in 1912 by the building that now stands there. That structure was originally the City Hall Annex, and it featured columns from the original courthouse. In 1969, 26 Court Street became home to the Boston School Department. That group vacated the building four or five years ago. The City has been looking to sell it since that time.

Just a musket shot away on State Street I found this memorial:

It reads: "Near this site was the first house in Boston of John Winthrop. Born 1588 - died 1649. Governor of Massachusetts for twelve years. First elected October 20, 1629. Brought the charter from England, June 12, 1630. This tablet placed by the City of Boston 1930."

The plaque doesn't make it clear, but Winthrop was the first governor of Massachusetts. The nearby town of Winthrop was named after him. I poked around that town a lot a few years ago when my son was really into checking out planes flying into Logan Airport. For a little flavor of that town, see "Working Our Way Around Winthrop" from March 14, 2017.

This plaque is located on the outer wall of Exchange Place, a building that I recently featured (see June 17, 2019, "Stairs Exchanging Places").