#ropemaking

Establishing an Industry in the Colonial Era

Until 1640, the Massachusetts Bay Colony relied on Great Britain to supply the majority of its finished goods. Any rope or twine that was produced in the colony had to be made with locally grown flax or hemp, and was most likely produced by families for their own use with any excess being sold locally.

In 1638 the Boston area’s first “ropefields” were established in Charlestown. “Rope-maker’s Lane” ran along the town’s colonial waterfront, which is now the cite of City Square and Lynde Street. Soon Boston would have it’s own ropemakers and shipbuilders.

By 1642 shipping and its constituent industries were expanding significantly in Boston. The English Civil War reduced immigration and support from the mother country and limited imperial oversight. As a result, colonists were able to establish their own trade routes to other colonies, and even foreign nations, for the first time. These gains were further solidified during Queen Anne’s War in 1709, confirming Boston as a leading port in Colonial America.

The First Ropemakers

Nehemiah Bourne: In 1641 the shipbuilder Nehemiah Bourne came to Boston on a special permit from England and launched the Trial, Boston’s first merchant vessel. The 160-ton ship carried goods from Boston to the Azores and West Indies. Three years later he returned to England to fight in the English Civil War.

John Harrison: In 1642 John Harrison was invited to Boston to establish a cordage business. In 1666 he had acquired additional land and built a 984 foot long ropewalk. Clough’s reconstructed map of Boston in 1673 shows Harrison’s ropewalk running along modern-day Purchase Street.

Twenty years after it’s construction, in 1685, Harrison sold a 1/3 interest in his ropewalk, including the tar-house and warehouse, to James Barton.

John Heyman: In 1662 John Heyman received a license to produce fishing lines in Boston, but a year later he was ordered to stop producing rope and moved to Charlestown.

William Tilly: By 1697 at least one more ropemaker was running a successful business in Boston. Mr. William Tilly had the resources to hold slaves, and when one of them, Tom, escaped in June of 1697, Tilly advertised for his return with the promise that any would-be slavecatcher would “have Satisfaction to Content (sic).”

Tilly remained involved in the ropemaking industry into the 18th century. In 1705 he seems to have taken full control of the Harrison walk, which had moved from it’s previous location to the area between modern day Atkinson and Pearl Streets. Two years later, records show Tilly building 3 workhouses and a “shedd (sic) of 100 fathoms long and 11 foot wide”.

James Barton: In 1700, James Barton set up a ropewalk on land he was renting from the Leverett family in the New Fields (now the West End). The area became known as Barton’s Point, as it is marked on Bonner’s map (below).

Stephen Minot: Around 1700, Stephen Minot set up a ropewalk on the north slope of Beacon Hill at Ridgeway Lane.

Theodore Atkinson: The namesake of Atkinson Street, Theodore Atkinson operated a ropewalk parallel to William Tilly’s in 1705.

Edward Gray: In 1705 Edward Grey owned a ropewalk parallel to William Tilly and Theodore Atkinson’s. In 1712 he improved his facilities with a range of wood sheds 400 feet long.

Edward Carnes: In 1771 at least one more ropewalk stood in the historic West End (in the area then, and now once more, included in Beacon Hill). Edward Carnes is recorded purchasing a ropewalk on Joy Street in that year, which had begun operating sometime after 1743.

Boston c. 1640 (left) A rough and inaccurate sketch of the streets of Boston as they are supposed to have been first laid out & the owners of the soil, from 1630 to 1650 or thereabouts (Map by William Appleton, Boston Public Library), | Boston c. 1730 (right) The town of Boston in New England by John Bonner, 1723-33 (Boston Public Library)

The ropemaking industry continued to expand between the 1730’s and the Revolutionary War. By 1743 two additional ropewalks were added to William Prince’s edited version of the Bonner Map, and later maps show seven operating in the area by 1790.

Ropewalks and Revolution

In 1770, Boston’s ropewalks became one of the many places where resistance to the Crown developed into a fledgling revolution. Scuffles broke out between British soldiers and workers at the Atkinson Street ropewalks. Soon after, ropewalk workers took center stage in the Boston Massacre. Samuel Grey and Crispus Attucks were both ropewalk workers killed in the Massacre, and other workers including Jeffery Richardson and John Gray also participated in the affair.

The practice of tarring and feathering provided another intersection between the ropewalks and the revolution. The tar used in these mob attacks, which could leave severe burns that occasionally led to death, came from the city’s ropewalks. The feathers were commonly taken from household pillows, sometimes ones stolen from the afflicted person’s home.

Ropemaking in the Federalist Period

Despite numerous challenges posed by conflicts with France and Great Britain, Boston remained a major port into the latter half of the 19th century. As it’s ships circled the globe, the city’s ropemakers continued to supply the cordage required for naval vessels.

Unfortunately for Bostonians, ropemaking came with some serious drawbacks. The ropemaking process involved keeping hot tar – and corollary open flames – in the presence of numerous airborne hemp fibers. These fibers were constantly at risk of igniting, as they did at one of the Pearl Street walks on July 30, 1794. After the fire, six of the seven Pearl Street ropewalks relocated to filled land at the eastern end of the Boston Common on what is now the Public Gardens. The seventh, owned by John and Samuel Gray, moved to Charlestown. Two years later a ropewalk on the Charles owned by MacNeills burned, and that business moved to Charlestown as well.

Fires continued to threaten Boston’s ropemaking industry throughout their history, and are recorded burning ropewalks at least three times between 1795 and 1824 alone.

Despite the fires, in 1798 Boston could claim more than a dozen ropewalks, including 5 on Charles Street (Public Garden), 3-5 on Beacon Hill and another 3 on Allen Street. The Ridgeway Lane ropewalk seems to have survived to the end of the century as well, along with one on South Russell Street.

Article by Sebastian Belfanti