Chelsea, Massachusetts

“ Sheltered from the winds of the Atlantic by the outlying towns of Revere and Winthrop, and that section of the metropolis known as East Boston, Chelsea occupies a peninsula, once called Winnisimmet, fronting on the Mystic River and its two tributaries, the Island End and Chelsea Rivers. ”

“ The public buildings are commodious and ornamental. Churches of pleasing architecture, of many religious denominations, appropriate school buildings and good schools, spacious and elegant private mansions, a well-organized fire and police department, a public library, low death-rate, and good morals, serve to make the city of Chelsea a very desirable place for those seeking a quiet home in a law-abiding municipality. ”

“ He attended the public scales in Dock-square, Boston, in 1811-'12, then served as market-man and butcher, and in 1817 became a merchant in Southborough. He was postmaster and town treasurer there in 1817-'21, deputy sheriff of Worcester county in 1824-'30, a member of the legislature in 1830-'1, 1834-'6, and 1840, and of the state senate in 1843-'5 and 1868. He removed to Chelsea in 1831, built one of the first houses there, bought the first ferry-boats running to Boston from that place, and was first president of the Chelsea savings bank. ”

“ The parish of Chelsea is bounded on the north by the Fulham Road, which separates it from Kensington. On the east at the entrance into Sloane Square, at which place there was an open rivulet, which divided it from St. George’s, Hanover Square, and was said to rise at or near to Hampstead; and, after crossing Hyde Park, where it formed the Serpentine River, and Knightsbridge, flowed behind Cadogan Place (along a portion of Lowndes’ Square) into the Thames, at Ranelagh, which adjoined Chelsea College. ”

“ This is a quarter, however, much in vogue; mighty swells dwell here, and here pose some famous farceurs in art and literature; here, too, work many earnest men and women in all pursuits of life. These latter plentifully people every part of Chelsea, for the sake of the seclusion and the stillness they seek and here find: just as there settled here for the same reasons, two centuries ago and earlier, men of learning and of wealth, scholars and nobles, who kept themselves exclusive by virtue of their birth or their brains. And so this privileged suburb ”

“ But Chelsea has tried to be fashionable, has opened its doors to foreign invaders, and has even had an attack of Anglomania, and branched out into Terraces in the true London style. And so it has lost homogeneity and originality, and it has only a peculiar and private air of ambitionless and uninviting gloom to set it apart as a special quarter of New York. But Chelsea certainly does look like the inhabitants of its own boarding-houses—most respectable people, who have only tried too hard at elegant gentility for their own comfort or prosperity. ”

“ The Dowager Viscountess Cremorne, born in Philadelphia in 1740, died at her house in Stanhope Street in 1825, in the 86th year of her age. Her ladyship resided at Chelsea a great portion of the year, and kept a large establishment. She was one of the most kind-hearted residents in the parish. For years it was her custom to entertain annually the children of the parochial and other schools, and she patronized the tradesmen of Chelsea as far as it was practicable, giving special orders to that effect to her household. ”

“ One in particular remains in mind, a large old-fashioned dwelling, now reached only by a narrow and built-over passage, a house that looks like a haunted house, from its desolate disrepair, its lost loneliness of location.
Chelsea is a region of yellow cats and green shutters, shabby green on the uncared for and fresh green for the well kept. Old New York used typically to temper the dog-days behind green slat shutters, or under shop awnings stretched to the curb, and with brick sidewalks, sprinkled in the early afternoon from a sprinkling-can in the 'prentice hand. ”

“ Chelsea has much to show. Hampstead, Kensington, Mayfair—these be rich in gilt-trapping names, but no part of England can produce such a shining array of names, whose greatness owes nothing to time, place, or social circumstance: the names of those whose greatness is of the soul, and who have shaken the world with the beauty they have revealed to us. But Art has now taken possession of her, and it is as the studio of the artist that Chelsea is known to-day. ”

“ As we face the river, there is always fresh air to meet us, and in summer time, above the road smell of asphalt and petrol, there floats a soft, keen savour of growing things and green bushes, hidden away behind walls; if an old door opens, we catch a glimpse of gardens and sometimes of a “mulberry-bush,” grown to forest size, which, planted by the men who fled from the terror of St. Bartholomew, still fruits and flourishes to repay Chelsea hospitality.
On the right-hand side, where we turn into Upper Cheyne Row, stands the much-talked-about “Mystery House” of the late eccentric Dr. ”

“ Chelsea was the mere village of Chelsea, known from Sir Thomas More's house, where Henry VIII. had walked with his arm round that great statesman's doomed neck; as Holborn was then a country road leading to the pleasant village of St. Giles, and trending on to the way that led to Oxford and to fatal Tyburn, so called from its burn or brook, then well known to patient city anglers. ”

“ Mary, relict of the first duke, died here in 1714, at the good old age of 85 years.
It may here be observed that Chelsea, not only in former times, but at the present period, 1869, is admitted to be generally a very healthy parish. This assertion is proved by the weekly reports given to the Vestry by Dr. Barclay, the medical officer of health, and which is confirmed by other gentlemen of the medical profession. The reports read at the meetings of the Chelsea Board of Guardians, also, shew that a great many of the inmates of the workhouse live to a very advanced age ”

“ At each end of our walk are the two small rivulets which bounded the old parish east and west; one is now arched over and flows unseen beneath the tread of busy feet; the other serves as a railway cutting and carries rattling trains: so the old-time memories of the place now either flow underground, or are modernised and become part of its daily life.
In the extreme north-eastern corner as we enter Chelsea we find Hans Place, a secluded green oval, built about with old-time two-storied brick houses. ”

“ My humble position in life will not in the slightest degree, I feel confident, tend to p. 2depreciate my long-cherished desire—especially as the shades of evening are fast closing the day-light of my earthly life—to add to the information which has already been given respecting a parish to which I am much attached, both by birth and early associations.
The earliest mention of Chelsea is to be found in the Saxon Chronicle, in the year 785; from which record it appears that a Synod was then held in it, and at which period it was the residence of Offa, king of the Mercians. ”

“ Chelsea ought to be the most home-like region in New York on account of its connection with Christmas; for a [Pg 198] son of Bishop Moore, Clement C. Moore, [85] who gave this land to the seminary, and made his own home in Chelsea, wrote the childhood classic, “'Twas the night before Christmas.”
In this old-time neighborhood stand not only houses, but long-established little shops. One for drugs, for example, is marked as dating back to 1839. But, after all, that is not so old as a great Fifth Avenue shop which was established in 1826. ”

“ I cannot say much for the cheerfulness of Chelsea now-a-days: it would seem as if past gaiety always flung a deeper shadow over the places where it once held sway. The large old houses, darkened with many years, have a gloomy appearance; and the chances of the present day are, that they have transmigrated into boarding-schools and mad-houses. No vestige remains of that luxuriant growth of almond-trees, for which it was formerly celebrated. ”

“ The King’s Road only took a second place in Chelsea proper. Paradise Row and Cheyne Walk were considered the busiest and most thriving parts of the village, as nearly all its industries were located on the river bank, and nearly all the best families lived in Cheyne Walk or Paradise Row, and in the p. 9Royal Hospital, where the old soldiers used to pass the board, and pensions were paid. ”

“ Thomas Hoblyn, Esq., who for many years was the Rector’s Churchwarden at St. Luke’s Parish Church, occupied a house at the corner of Cadogan Street, Sloane Street. He was one of several newly-appointed magistrates, about the time of the passing of the first Local Act of Parliament for the better assessing and collecting the Poor’s Rate, &c.
The above house is now occupied as an Industrial Home for Girls, one of the many admirable institutions which reflect so much credit upon that part of Chelsea. ”

“ The solid and yet harmonious building designed by Sir Christopher Wren is the nucleus of Chelsea. Indeed, the inhabitants locally call the hospital itself “Chelsea.” In all prints later than the end of the seventeenth century the central cupola rising above the two great wings forms a conspicuous landmark. In the days of William and Mary the gardens sloping down to the Thames were laid out in the stiff, formal Dutch style. Canals, in the shape of a capital L, with the foot reaching to the river, intersected prim gardens, and rows of little limes, pollarded like willows, edged the banks. ”

“ Most happily, his mind and heart were both rightly directed: in him the conviction of what ought to be was followed by a resolution that it should be; his generous and merciful feelings were not limited to good intentions: he added energy to zeal, and industry to stern resolve; and, in a word, the mighty object has been accomplished. [26a] The Institution, which originated at a small meeting, in a comparatively humble house in “Hans-place, Chelsea,” is now the patronized of the Queen, and the aided of the people; and its power to do good has been marvellously augmented. ”

“ Green, an extensive brewer. In one of these houses Henry Blunt, Esq., father of the late Rev. H. Blunt, resided for a considerable period. Mr. Blunt, sen., was universally respected in the parish. He held a commission in Queen Charlotte’s Chelsea Royal Volunteers.
In Rayner Place resided Philip Burrard, Esq., for many years. He served the office of churchwarden of the parish, &c., and was a captain in the old Chelsea Volunteers.
Mr. Robert Farrier, a celebrated artist and portrait painter, has resided in Hemus Terrace for some years. He is a very old inhabitant, and much respected. ”

“ This Lord Sands, a few years previous to his death, conveyed to Henry VIII. the manor of Chelsea, with certain closes or land situated at Kensal Green, near Wilsden, containing about 1373⁄4 acres. [26] In 1861 there were in that part of Kensal which belongs to this parish 591 houses and 3223 inhabitants. The number of houses has since increased, and the present population may be estimated at 3500 persons. ”

“ In the 18th and 19th centuries Chelsea, especially the parts about the embankment and Cheyne Walk, was the home of many eminent men, particularly of writers and artists, with whom this pleasant quarter has long been in favour. ”

“ Most of the cliques have their being in Chelsea, though Fitzroy Square and the Garden City occasionally put forward claims, and Bedford Park asserts itself. I suspect that the movement is nowadays away from Chelsea. King’s Road grows every day more mercantile; nothing in it recalls the arts except a slight excess of shops which sell artists’ materials. One does meet the Chelsea girl, no longer in a jibbah, but more likely in an eloquent sweater, with her hair cut short and her feet brogued, but then the Chelsea style has crept into many circles. ”

“ I fell to thinking how odd it must be to live in such an atmosphere. How is it we never have it in Chelsea? I have never been the less welcome because my host or hostess has as many pounds a week as I have a year. My old friend of my ’prentice days—dear old Tom, the foreman, and Jack Williams, the slinger, they get no colder welcome from us because they live in Hammersmith or Whitechapel. Have we ourselves not seen in our rooms rich and poor, artist and mechanic, writer and [Pg 87] labourer? ”

“ Since 1822, when the city was incorporated, Boston has been governed by a mayor, eight aldermen, and a common council of forty-eight members, chosen annually. With the town of Chelsea, it constitutes the county of Suffolk, and sends one representative to Congress. As a commercial city, it holds a second rank among the seaports of the United States. There are many manufactures in the city, and much wealth of the citizens is invested in the manufactories of Waltham, Lowell, and other towns. ”

“ It is said that by his councils, in a great measure, the Duke of Northumberland’s design of setting the Lady Jane Grey on the throne was prevented; for which good office of loyalty to them, the Queens, Mary and Elizabeth, continued him in the Treasurer’s Office, which he enjoyed for thirty years; and on being asked how he preserved himself in that place through so many changes of government, he answered, “By being a willow, and not an oak.” He died in 1572, aged 97 years. The marquis greatly enlarged and improved the house, and, according to Norden, “adorned Chelsea with stately buildings.” ”

“ Mr. Faulkner considers, however, that “hylle” is an evident mistake for “hythe;” and Cealc-hythe signifies not a place abounding in chalk, but a wharf or landing-place for chalk brought from other quarters. This amended definition seems at once to remove the previous objection, particularly as large quantities of chalk and lime were formerly, and even now at times, landed at a wharf by the river-side at Chelsea. In the ancient record of Domesday, it is written Cherchede and Chelched. The parish was called Chelchethe in the taxation of Pope Nicholas, in 1291 ”