Do you know who your street is named after? Maybe it’s one of the governors of Massachusetts listed below. From 1629 to 1685, governors were chosen by shareholders in the Plymouth Co. or Massachusetts Bay Co. (Carver, Danforth and Endicott). The role and terms of governors followed the twists and turns of Massachusetts and American political history, shifting between those locally appointed and royally appointed. After the Revolution, of course, governors were elected by the citizens with John Hancock being the first governor of the now independent Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This list derives primarily from records of the National Governor’s Association, and local historians Christopher Hail, Michael Kenny, and Lewis Hastings.
Adams Terrace: Samuel Adams (1722-1803), 2nd Governor of Massachusetts
A Harvard grad, Samuel Adams was not successful in business, so he instead turned to politics. He worked as Boston tax collector, clerk of the Massachusetts House, member of the Continental Congress, and president of the Massachusetts Senate. Adams was also a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Fun Fact: One version of the story relates that on April 18, 1775, John Hancock and Samuel Adams were returning from Concord to Boston when they had second thoughts. They stopped at a relation of Hancock’s in Lexington (now the Clarke-Hancock house) carrying with them a fresh salmon intended for their dinner. Passing the time in political debate, the pair were surprised when Paul Revere (and subsequent William Dawes) each galloped up to warn them the British were coming. Not yet having dined on their superb fish, they were reluctant to leave. But depart they did, only to realize they had left behind the fish. By now it was very late at night, but they sent back for the fish, finally dining on it after midnight at their final destination: the modest home of Amos Wyman in the Burlington/Bedford neighborhood.
Ames Street: Oliver Ames (1831-1895), 37th Governor of Massachusetts
After dropping out of Brown University, Oliver Ames went into the family shovel business: the Ames Plow Co. He served in the Massachusetts State Militia but resigned before the Civil War. During the war, he paid a substitute to join the Army in his stead, a somewhat common practice at the time. His political career began in 1879 as a member of the Massachusetts State Senate. Later, he was Lieutenant governor from 1883-1887 and elected to governor for three terms, from 1887-1890.
Fun Fact: The town of Oliver, Nebraska is named after Oliver Ames.
Banks Street: General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks (1816-1894), 24th Governor of Massachusetts
Nathaniel Prentiss Banks was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, and was the son of a textile worker. He served in the Massachusetts Legislature and in the U. S. House of Representatives. He was elected Governor of Massachusetts (1858-1861) before becoming a Major General for the Union Army for the duration of the war. After the war, Banks returned to Congress. Overall, he served ten terms in Congress before retiring in 1891. He was an abolitionist and supporter of women’s suffrage and was a Trustee of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. Upon his death, the obituary in the Boston Sunday Herald noted that Banks “was one of the most distinctively remarkable personages of our more recent history….no public man ever had more enthusiastic followers.”
Fun Fact: as a youngster working the Lowell and Waltham textile mills his responsibilities replacing thread on bobbins led to his nickname as “Bobbin Boy Banks.”
Carver Street: John Carver (ca. 1584-1621), 1st Governor of the Plymouth Colony
John Carver, (born ca. 1584 in Holland; died 1621 in Massachusetts), was an affluent businessman. He negotiated with the Virginia Company of London for land in the future Massachusetts and raised money to underwrite the costs of the voyage. He arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 and was the first signer of the “Mayflower Compact,” a framework for the governance of the Plymouth Colony. Carver died the year after arriving in Plymouth, but in that short time worked with the chief of the Wampanoag tribe to reach a peace agreement that lasted more than 50 years.
Fun Fact: There must be one, but it is hard to find a fun fact about anyone enduring the hardships of that early settlement.
Andrew Street: John Albion Andrew (1818-1867), 26th governor of Massachusetts
Andrew’s term of governor covered most of the Civil War, from 1861-1866. After studying at Bowdoin College, he arrived in Boston to study law with Henry Fuller, an uncle of abolitionist Margaret Fuller. An abolitionist himself, Andrew served as defense counsel for those indicted for assisting fugitive slave Anthony Burns. He was elected to the Massachusetts legislature in 1857. According to the Massachusetts Historical Society Andrew, “organized the first Black regiment in the north”—the famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment.
Fun Fact: After retiring from government in 1866 his legal practice focused on reforms in divorce proceedings.
Danforth Street: Thomas Danforth (1623-1699), Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1679-1686
There is no known image of Thomas Danforth.
Danforth Street was originally named after another Massachusetts governor, Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (see below) but, for reasons that are not clear, it was renamed for Danforth around 1908. After serving as Treasurer of Harvard, Danforth was elected deputy governor in 1679. He was a conservative and was among those banning Quakers from the colony. King Charles reprimanded the colonists for this policy and demanded that they reverse it. Danforth and others replied, “colonial government was essentially sovereign except where its laws conflicted with English law.” In 1684, Danforth’s hard line cost him the governor’s election, but he remained as deputy governor. In 1693, he participated in Superior Court hearings about witches (the trials having begun in Salem) and, in sympathy to those accused, enabled them to relocate to his properties west of Boston.
Fun fact: He and his wife Mary Withington had twelve children.
Endicott Street: John Endecott (ca. 1588-1665), 1st, 13th, 15th, and 17th Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
John Endecott first served as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, and again four more times between 1644-1664. He served as deputy governor three times between 1631 and 1655.n He was also co-founder of Salem, Massachusetts. The Endecott family changed the spelling of their name to “Endicott” in the 18th century.
Fun Fact: Between 1630 and 1649, John Endecott planted a pear tree on his property in Danvers. Around 375-ish years later, you can visit the still-thriving tree at 100 Endicott St in Danvers, Mass.
Everett Street: Edward Everett (1794-1865), 16th Governor of Massachusetts
Edward Everett was a renaissance man. He entered Harvard at age 13 and graduated four years later as valedictorian of his class. This was followed up by an M.A. from Harvard’s Divinity School and a Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen, Germany. Upon returning to the United States, Everett became a pastor of the Brattle Street Unitarian Church, a professor of Greek at Harvard, and editor of the North American Review. He served in the U. S. House of Representatives for ten years before being elected governor in 1836, a position he held until 1840. He was then minister to England (1841-45), president of Harvard (1846-49), and Secretary of State under President Fillmore (1852-53). From 1853-54 he was a member of the U. S. Senate. But Everett may be remembered most for his two-hour oration at the dedication of Gettysburg National Cemetery just before President Lincoln’s two-minute, 272-word speech.
Fun Fact: Everett designed the first City of Cambridge municipal seal when it was incorporated in 1846.
Eustis Street: William Eustis (1753- 1825), 11th Governor of Massachusetts
William Eustis, like many other governors, graduated from Harvard. He trained to become a physician under Joseph Warren of Bunker Hill fame, served during the Revolutionary War, and was a medic in Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts (1786-87). His foray into politics began in 1788 when he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He returned to serve two more terms: 1801-1805 and 1820-1823. Eustis was Secretory of War for President Madison and envoy to the Netherlands. After returning to America, he ran for governor of Massachusetts three times, but failed until 1823 when he was finally elected. Eustis died in office in 1825.
Fun Fact: Eustis was a close friend of Aaron Burr. Legend has it that Eustis once aided Burr by helping him find a home for “a young woman whose mother had been involved in an adulterous relationship with Alexander Hamilton.”
Gerry Street and Gerry’s Landing: Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), 8th Governor of Massachusetts
Another Harvard man, Elbridge Gerry graduated in 1762. After working in the family’s shipping business for a number of years, Gerry switched careers and entered politics. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and General Court, a member of the Committee of Correspondence, a delegate to the Continental Congress, signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. After four attempts to gain the Governorship, he was finally successful in 1810 and was re-elected in 1811.
Fun Fact: “Gerrymandering” is named after Elbridge Gerry his attempts at partisan redistricting.
As the story goes, in 1812 the subject of redistricting came up at a Boston dinner party of Federalists. Also at the dinner was cartoonist and illustrator Elkanah Tisdale. It was Tisdale who drew a map of the district which looked like a dragon with wings and claws. This has become the most common illustration we associate with the bill. Someone once said the form resembled a salamander, to which another guest retorted “No, a ‘Gerry-mander.’”
Gore Street: Christopher Gore (1758-1827), 7th Governor of Massachusetts
After graduating from Harvard in 1776 (what a year!), Christopher Gore established a legal career in Boston. In 1788, he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Following his term, he served as U. S. Attorney for Massachusetts and was appointed by President Washington to serve as commissioner to England.
He remained there as charge’d’affairs in London for one year, after which he returned to Massachusetts and became a member of the Massachusetts State Senate from 1806-09. Gore returned to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for one year before beginning his term as Governor in 1809. After losing the next election, he instead served in the U. S. Senate from 1813-1816.
Fun Fact: Have you heard of Gore Place in Waltham? That was the country estate of Christopher Gore and his wife, Rebecca Amory Payne. The couple did not have children, but rumor has it that former Vice President Al Gore is somehow related to him. Perhaps a distant cousin? Another fun fact – Christopher Gore mentored an up-and-coming young lawyer named Daniel Webster.
Greenhalge Street (now Danforth Street): Frederic Thomas Greenhalge (1842-1896), 40th Governor of Massachusetts
Frederic Thomas Greenhalge grew up in Lowell Mass, where his family had emigrated to from England in 1855. Due to his family’s financial straits, Greenhalge had to drop out of Harvard where he had intended to study law. He had a brief stint teaching school and studying law until the advent of the Civil War. He was unable to serve because of poor health, but nonetheless went on to work as a civilian commissary for the army in New Bern, North Carolina, where he contracted malaria. Returning north to study law, Greenhalge was admitted to the bar in 1865. He was judge of the Lowell Police court for ten years (1874-1884) and twice a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He served as Governor from 1894 until his death in 1896, while serving his third term.
Fun Fact: It was Greenhalge who proclaimed the first Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts in 1894. A spring celebration called “Fast Day,” with fasting and prayers to stave off crop disasters had been in place for 200 years, but as its religious aspects had faded Greenhalge took the opportunity to “re name” the day, so to speak, in commemoration battles of the Revolution in Lexington and Concord.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
SOURCES
National Governor’s Association
Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston African American National Historic Site
Smithsonian Magazine – Where Did the Term “Gerrymander” Come From?
Cambridge Buildings and Architects by Christopher Hail
The Makings of City Streets by Michael Kenney (History Cambridge)
Erenow – “Of John Hancock, Sam Adams, a Salmon, and a Trunk: Paul Revere’s Ride”
