As a nation, we’ve had numerous anniversaries celebrating the founding of the United States and, in particular, the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Hull has been around for all of them. Each commemoration, however, has changed in size, scope, and focus based on where Hull was on its historic journey.
1826
When we think of the way Hull might have observed the semicentennial of the birth of the nation, we must remember a few facts about the town’s history. During the Revolution, the town was evacuated, and only about half of the families returned. By 1826, the population was half of what it had been in 1776, about 125 people. And while the population was rebounding, it was also evolving. In 1826, Joshua James, the great lifesaver, was born. He was the son of a local mother and a Dutch immigrant father, and he and his direct family alone made-up 10% of the town’s population. Other families had also left their European homelands behind and found the little village at the end of the peninsula to be a safe haven to start a new life during the past few decades. While for many Americans the Revolution was in living memory 50 years on, for many Hull residents who had recently come to North America, it didn’t mean nearly as much.
In 1826, the Sportsman, a new hotel operated by Paul B. Worrick, opened, signaling the beginning of Hull’s future as a summer resort, but for the moment Hull was still a small and secluded town. If Hull residents celebrated that year, it was with church bell ringing, maybe a speech or two, and probably a few old-timers telling tales about the day, when they were just young men, that they took up arms and marched off to war.
That said, Massachusetts was ahead of the field as far as early observances went. In 1781, Massachusetts became the first state to recognize July 4th as a state holiday. In June 1825, Daniel Webster spoke at the laying of the cornerstone for the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, but the giant obelisk would not be ready for the 50th anniversary; in fact, it was not completed until 1843. On the national level, the federal government appointed a 50th anniversary commission for what turned out to be a muted affair. July 4, 1826, would quickly turn to a day of mourning, as both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, invited to participate in the 50th anniversary commemoration in Washington, D.C., passed away within hours of each other.
1876
The country’s centennial fell just 11 years after the end of the Civil War. The federal government had officially recognized Independence Day in 1870. Hull was entering its heyday as a growing summer resort, perfectly positioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary.
In general, the centennial became a moment of healing for a country torn in half by the recent fratricidal conflict. The flying of the American flag became a symbol of the reunified union, and a six-month long World’s Fair, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, attracted more than eight million people to witness the wonders of American innovation.
Hull Village was more accessible than ever in July 1876, with the laying out of Nantasket Avenue to Pemberton Point in 1870. The Boston and Hingham Steam Boat Company’s steamers Governor Andrew, Rose Standish, and John Romer carried revelers from Boston to Downer Landing in Hingham and to the Nantasket wharf. They had a few choices for lodging and dining. Nehemiah Ripley described his Rockland House as “first-class in every respect; delightful drives; unsurpassed facilities for boating and fishing; hops [i.e., dances] twice a week; patronized by the elite of New England.” Advertisements called summer visitors to the Nantasket House in Hull Village and the Gun Rock House, “surrounded on three sides by water.” The Seabreeze House offered “roast clams every half hour” and the Wayside House boasted “a first-class place for parties seeking a day’s pleasure; good boating, bathing and fishing.” The Hudson House, on Jerusalem Road, boasted that “the celebrated grove and water facilities make it the most desirable resort on the road.” At the base of Atlantic Hill, The Pavilion offered “chowders, fried potatoes, fish, etc., at moderate prices” with “soda water, confectionary and cigars for sale at the counter.”
The Hingham Journal reported on July 7 that “the attractions at Downer Landing led hosts of people to seek the cooling breezes of the harbor, and great numbers also tested the benefits of the pure air at Nantasket Beach, and luxuriated at the various cafes and hotels on the shore.”
In the Village, according to The Boston Globe on July 6, “Hull was patriotic to the extent of a public meeting, the reading of the Declaration by Lewis Loring, Esq., and addresses by the Rev. Mr. Beadle and others. A gayly-adorned tent was the scene of the speaking.” The year-round population in Hull was about 300.
1926
The sesquicentennial, like the centennial, occurred not long after the closing of a major war. Hull would long feel the results of World War I, with citizens physically, mentally, and spiritually wounded and families mourning lost loved ones. By 1926, the town had seen its peak as a summer resort and was on a slow decline during one of the largest boom periods in American economic history.
Hull had everything in place for a major celebration: miles of sandy beaches and ocean views, numerous grand hotels from Gun Rock to Pemberton Point, restaurants, boardwalks, a 20-year-old amusement park, and more. Unfortunately, it had also become a known location to easily get booze during the height of Prohibition. Throughout the 1920s, federal agencies acting under the Volstead Act regularly raided the town. While Miss Nantasket may be crowned in front of thousands on the beach as revelers screamed down the first hill of the Giant Coaster at Paragon Park in the background, Treasury agents might be concurrently busting down doors to find illegal hooch and carry off popular hoteliers and restaurant owners to face judges and plead their cases. Though unpopular, the law was nonetheless rigidly enforced.
Steamboats still ruled the summer waves off Hull. Although the train had come to Hull in 1880, the steamers offered a chance to beat the heat, gliding through the cooling breezes amidst the beautiful scenery of Boston Harbor. Thousands took the boats from Boston to Nantasket Beach. Thousands more arrived by automobile, so many, in fact, that the Boston papers had started to keep count of how many cars were seen at the beach, the numbers in the tens of thousands. It could not have been a pleasurable ride; the state chose to make major repairs on the Boston-Quincy-Weymouth-Hingham road to Nantasket Beach throughout the summer of 1926. For those people off the steamboat lines and without cars, buses ran regularly to the beach.
On July 1, 1926, the state bathhouse at Nantasket Beach opened for the season, on land taken for a state reservation after the devastation of the Portland Gale of 1898. July 4 fell on a Sunday. At one minute past midnight, the Surfside and Paragon Park ballrooms kicked off dances until dawn to usher in the celebration. At 2 a.m., the Hull and Metropolitan District Commission police forces began their raids, making 39 arrests for drunkenness, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor, keeping and exposing liquor and having gambling implements.
That morning, 125,000 cars thronged Nantasket Beach and “not another automobile could possibly find room for parking within the limits of this town,” according to The Boston Globe on July 5. With only the one road into town (George Washington Boulevard did not yet exist), traffic backed up well into Hingham. On the Reservation, state officers directed drivers to park on both sides of the thoroughfare, and “so congested and narrow was the passage lane over the Metropolitan District Commission that it required more than 60 minutes to proceed the half-mile distance.” Parents lost children frequently among the 300,000 people on the beach, with all safely reunited by police.
The Pemberton Improvement Association held a bonfire at the point, their first in 25 years, safely distant from all houses. The year-round population of Hull had grown to approximately 1,900 residents.
1976
The country’s Bicentennial had a long buildup period. Hull purposely formed a new historical commission in advance, to begin to take stock of what the town held in terms of historic stories, buildings, and artifacts pertaining to the community’s role in the Revolutionary War.
Commemorations in Hull began in 1975, in connection with the 200th anniversary of the trials of 1775, the Battle of Boston Light, and other wartime activities. A play focusing on the life of Susanna Haswell Rowson, a young girl who lived in the Village during the war and became a celebrated author, brought her story back to life.
As July 4, 1976, approached the town’s residents prepared for Hull’s biggest party in years. A Revolutionary War-era ball welcomed all dressed in period costume a few months in advance of the big day. Around town, local neighborhoods held their own gatherings. Allerton Hill held an essay contest for kids, with two savings bonds as prizes. At 9 a.m., the James Murphy “marathon” for young people 18 and under promised a trophy and other prizes. At 10:30, Roy Scannell of 1 Point Allerton Avenue held a flag-raising and shortly thereafter the annual Hilda and Thayer Baldwin peanut hunt for children took place, part of the “races, fun, fellowship” portion of the day.
On Saturday, July 10, Hull celebrated the Bicentennial in style. At 9 a.m., as 100,000 gathered at the beach to find vantage points from which to see a Tall Ships parade and the USS Constitution sailing offshore, runners raced from A Street to Sunset Point and back. At 10:30, with the Tall Ships sailing past, Hull officials, visitors from the French Embassy and U.S. State Department dedicated Fort Revere Memorial Park and Frenchman’s Grove, the town’s permanent memorials to the Revolution. At 1 p.m. a gala parade of nearly 100 different units marched from Monument Square to Bayside, where a beer garden, food vendors, and a variety of novelty concessions could be found at an event the organizers called Field Fest. Clowns, puppets, a clambake, square dancing in the tennis courts and a Children’s Olympic Games wrapped up the event.
By 1976, Hull’s year-round population was around 9,900.
Hull rode a roller coaster of its own from 1776 to 1976, from a small, secluded outpost of a town to an overcrowded summer resort before finding its place as a seasonally busy suburb of Boston. During that time, the year-round population grew 7,820%. Celebrations moved from a hyper-localized affair in Hull Village – the epicenter of Hull’s population in 1826 – to more broadly designed affairs meant to cater to out-of-town summer tourists to a decidedly inward-focused prideful reminiscence of the town’s role in the grander history of the formation of the United States.
As we approach yet another celebration, the semiquincentennial, Hull will once again define its own path as we remember the birth of our country. Those events will be highlighted throughout the summer in the Times and this year’s Summer Guide, available online and in local stores.
