What you must know about The Old Corner Bookstore, Boston

The Old Corner Bookstore was originally the site of the home of a Puritan woman named Anne Hutchinson. Hutchinson resided at her home here from the years 1634 to 1638 before she was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her differing religious views. Despite the fact that many colonists had come to America to establish religious freedom, the largely Puritan group strictly imposed a uniform view with proponents typically being outcast from the settlement. Hutchinson’s cause was further abhorred due to the fact that she was a female preaching such messages at a time when it was unacceptable for women to be so outspoken. Today Anne is recognized as pioneer in religious freedom and her efforts are celebrated via a sculpture outside of the Massachusetts State House. When she was expelled in 1638, however, Anne was forced to relocate her family to an area near the Bronx, NY. Sadly Anne and her six children met an ill demise in their exile as they were savagely killed and scalped by Mohawk Indians.

Old Corner Bookstore

The Hutchinson residence was destroyed during a massive fire within Boston on October 3, 1711. The replacement brick structure was built shortly thereafter and is the current building that still resides here today. The early-Georgian structure with gambrel roof was built to serve as both a home and apothecary shop to Thomas Crease.

The most noted resident at this locale, however, was a publishing firm by the name of Ticknor and Fields. As early as 1829 printing presses were moved onto this site when Timothy Harrington Carter first began publishing books here. In 1832 two men by the names of James Thomas Fields and William Ticknor established their own publishing company within that would ultimately bear their names. The firm was truly innovative in that it was the first of its kind to actually offer royalties for authors. Prior to this period authors were typically only granted a single upfront payment and the authors did not maintain copyright to their own works. The new business model was obviously favored by writers who came to Ticknor and Fields in droves. Amongst those who had works published here included the likes of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Homes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Nathaniel Hawthorne (who published his two most noted works, The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables here). Ticknor and Fields, in fact, became so renown that it was once referred to as “The Hub of the Hub” (a reference to Boston’s nickname of “Hub of the Universe” given to it by Oliver Wendell Holmes).

Ticknor and Fields operated out of this building until 1865, just one year after William Ticknor’s death. Upon its departure, the publishing firm relocated to a site just across the street from the Park Street Church. The company would remain a significant contributor to the publishing world until it was acquired by the Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1889. The name of Ticknor and Field was officially retired in 1908 when it was officially absorbed under the Houghton-Mifflin brand.

Subsequent to Ticknor and Fields exodus from School Street, this address saw a series of other publishers operate out of here for a given period. The building then went into a period of dams during the 20th century and was operating as a pizza parlor in 1960 when it was proposed for demolition. A private company would save the building from destruction when it acquired the property for the sum of $100,000. The firm, Historic Boston, Inc. Operates as a not-for-profit organization that works to identify and invest in the redevelopment of historically significant buildings.

Since being saved from the wrecking ball, the Old Corner Bookstore has had a revolving door of retail tenants. From 1982-1997 the Globe Corner Bookstore, the largest travel book and map company in North America, operated a store here. The Boston Globe then ran a run-of-the-mill souvenir shop within from 1998-2002. Three years later, Ultra Diamonds tried their luck at selling fine jewelry along the Freedom Trail until their closure in 2009. And most recently, the Old Corner Bookstore has proven that historic buildings know no bounds when it comes to meeting rent payments when the fast-food burrito chain Chipotle opened here.

• Website: http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/oldcorner.asp
• Address: 3 School Street, Boston, MA
• Cost: Free