Pi Alley

Pi Alley (often misspelled Pie Alley) in Boston, Massachusetts, is located off Washington Street, near the Old City Hall on School Street. The origin of the short street's name remains in question. It may be named after the pied type which newspaper composing rooms dumped into the alley in the past, or after the local restaurants that sold coffee and a piece of pie for a nickel.Boston Globe Guide to Boston. 2005 It is also known as Williams Court, Savage's Court, Peck's Arch, and Webster's Arch.Boston Street Laying-Out Dept. A record of the streets, alleys, places, etc. in the city of Boston]. Boston: City Printing Dept., 1910.Edward Hartwell Savage. Boston events: Boston for 250 years, from Blackstone to O'Brien. Boston: Mutual News Co., 1886.

History Through the years, tenants have included:

The Bell-in-Hand (est. 1795) was "a faithful reproduction of the taverns fashionable in London" in the 18th century.John F. Murphy. Up-to-date guide book of greater Boston. Boston: Murphy, 1904; p. 60"The Bell-in-Hand, 1795: Boston's Oldest Tavern". Caledonian (NY), v. 11, no. 4, Aug. 1911; pp. 166–167. Boston HeraldBostonian Society. Old Boston in early photographs, 1850-1918. Dover Publications, 1990; p.16. Boston police (c. 1854), corner of Court Square and Williams Ct.Edward Hartwell Savage. Boston events: Boston for 250 years, from Blackstone to O'Brien. Boston: Mutual News Co., 1886. Private residences in 1832 of a clerk, colorer, cordwainer, handcartman, housewright, mariner, nurse, truckman, wheelwright, and several laborers, printers, and widowsBoston Directory. 1832 David Francis (1779-1853), printer, publisher (Munroe & Francis)Roberts. History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Volume 2. Boston: A. Mudge & son, printers, 1897; p.333-334 "Oakum pickers tenement" (c. 1711). "In 1711, Oct. 2, a fire commenced in Williams' Court in an oakum pickers tenement, where the woman suffered the fire 'to catch the oakum she was employed in picking of;' all the houses and stores on both sides of Washington St. between School St. and Dock Square were laid in ashes."Dearborn's reminiscences of Boston. 1851; p.32 Life in Boston, a weekly periodical (c. 1851)Dearborn's reminiscences of Boston. 1851; p.90 Samuel Sewall (c. 1727). "Monday, July 10th, 1727, removed with my family to Boston. Hired a house in Deacon Williams Court next house to Deacon Williams, N. Gates and N. Gleason, bringing my household stuff."Sewall, quoted in: "Early Reminiscences." City Record and Boston News-Letter, Jan. 21, 1826

Pi Alley

Bron en licentie