State Street

Variant name of place

King Street; Kings Street

Geographic position

42.3581° N, 71.0636° W

Event

Fundraising Tour of Great Britain

Sources

Anderson, Thomas F. “Historic Boston.” New England Magazine. June, 1908: 559-576. Web. State Street Trust Company State Street: A Brief Account of a Boston Way. Walton Advertising and Printing Company: Boston, 1906. Web.

General note

State Street is located in the present-day financial district of Boston, Massachusetts, and is the home of several famous landmarks including the State House, the Long Wharf, and the Boston Custom House. The street was named Market Street in 1636 when Puritans settled in the area and built houses on either side of the street and fixed lines on official maps. In 1708, the town selectmen ordered that Market Street, on which the Town House was located, be called King Street. In 1784, in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, the name was changed to State Street to symbolically cut regal ties. State (King) Street is perhaps most well known for being the location of the Boston Massacre, which occurred outside the Town House in 1770. The Wheatley family and their servants and slaves, including Phillis Wheatley, lived on King Street; correspondences between Susannah Wheatley, Phillis’s mistress, and Occom were addressed to and from the Wheatley home there in 1765 and 1771.