Boston's Old City Hall: Benjamin Franklin Statue & Boston Latin School

Benjamin Franklin Statue Located on the left side of the courtyard of Boston’s Old City Hall (assuming you are facing the structure) is the city’s first portrait statue. This 8’ bronze sculpture was erected in 1856 on the 150th birthday of its subject, Benjamin Franklin. The sculptor was Richard Saltonstall Greenough.

Benjamin Franklin Statue

In viewing the statue we see Franklin standing in plain dress while holding a cane and hat. If you walk around the statue you will find four bronze bas-reliefs, each of which shows a significant event in U.S. The history of which Franklin was a part of. If you begin on the side opposite the Old City Hall you will see Franklin as a young boy working a printing press. Just off towards the right, we find a much older Benjamin Franklin signing the Declaration of Independence (that would be Ben in the center of relief). Continuing around in a counter clockwise direction has been Franklin signing yet another significant documented, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War. On the final side of the pedestal there is a relief showing Franklin conducts his infamous kite experiment.

Each of these events depicted on the base of this statue are ones which you are likely well versed and/or educated on via your US history lessons, so I thought we’d end with one tale of Mr. Franklin that you may not have come across in your history textbooks.

In 1781 Benjamin Franklin was serving as U.S. Ambassador to France and becoming increasingly frustrated by the significant number of pointless tasks being undertaken by the many European academia he was dealing with. In a letter of sarcasm to his fellow officials he drafted a proposal titled “A Letter to the Royal Academy” or what has become more commonly referred to now as “Fart Proudly.” In his letter, Mr. Franklin mocks the system by proposing that educational efforts be spent on analyzing the effects of human farting and trying to identify ways to improve upon its smell. So, there you have it, Benjamin Franklin… inventor, founding father and proponent of aromatic flatulence.

• Website: http://www.celebrateboston.com/statue/benjamin-franklin-statue.htm 
• Address: 45 School Street, Boston, MA
• Cost: Free

Boston’S Birthplace Of Benjamin Franklin

The site at 1 Milk Street has actually been the former residence of two famous individuals in Boston and American history. In the 1600s the future wife of the founder of Boston, William Blackstone, lived at this location. If we fast forward to the next century, perhaps one of the greatest inventors of our time was born at this address, Mr. Benjamin Franklin.

It was at this address in a former two-story home that Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706. Ben was the fifteenth of seventeen children.

Franklin is, of course, best known for his early experimentations with electricity, the development of the public library system in the US, the conceptualization of paying it forward and as a member of the 5-person committee that helped draft our nation’s Declaration of Independence.

When the actual birth home of Franklin burned down in 1872, the builder responsible for erecting its replacement ensured that Franklin’s legacy would not be lost. He carved a bust with the words, “Birthplace of Franklin” above the front entrance on Milk Street.

• Website: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMW38_Birthplace_of_Benjamin_Franklin  
• Address: 1 Milk Street, Boston, MA
• Cost: Free

Boston’S Old City Hall & Former Boston Latin School

Located on a street named for one of its former tenants (Boston Latin School) is a large granite structure which was also the former home of Boston’s City Hall. The Boston Latin School, the first primary tenant, was founded on April 23, 1635. It was located at this site until 1844 when it relocated to the Fenway, just west of downtown Boston, at 78 Avenue Louis Pasteur. It was the very first public school. Students upon enrolling here were required to take three to four years of Latin. Among the many noted alumni include Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

Boston Latin School

After the Latin school relocated the building was vacant for a period before becoming the site of Boston’s City Hall. The current building is actually the third City Hall, which was erected in 1865. This site remained the center of Boston politics for thirty-eight mayors until 1969 when the controversial Government Center was built. The current tenants of the former Latin School and City Hall now include some commercial offices and a popular steak house.

Old City Hall is constructed in the French Second-Empire-style with four distinct tiers to it and containing two sets of large columns that border the front bay. It was designed by Gridley J. Fox Bryant and Arthur Gilman. Gilman also designed the nearby Arlington Street Church by the Boston Public Gardens, and whom based this structure on the 1850s extension to the Louvre in Paris. His inspiration likely comes from the days he studied in France.

If you walk inside the front bay entrance you will find a series of murals that provide further history to the building. Prior to being reused for commercial purposes and after the abandonment of City Hall, the building was considered to be razed before it was declared a National Historic Landmark. In fact, the Old City Hall was actually one of the very first buildings to obtain such a designation in all of America. Today it is also a popular stop along Boston’s Freedom Trail.

• Website: http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/visitor/boston-latin.html
• Address: 45 School Street, Boston, MA
• Cost: Free