Historical Walking Tours | Boston, Massachusetts
  • Tour 18thC of Paul Revere
    • ADDITIONAL TOURS >
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      • The Kennedy Tour
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    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
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      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
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  • History Blog
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
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    • Mayor's of Boston
    • James Franklin
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • James Otis
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • Collage of Boston
    • Boston Harbor
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Customs House
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park

What did john wilkes booth have to do with boston, massachusetts?

Picture
The Deringer by Henry Deringer of Philadelphia
                                                                        John Wilkes Booth prepared to be a Bostonian
 
John Wilkes Booth purchased property in the newly developed Back Bay area, at 115 Commonwealth Avenue in 1863.  This was not a speculative financial  purchase.  His brother resided in Boston for 15 years. Instructions to thes real estate agent were clear that this would be his home.
 
“Dear Joe, Did you or Orlando send me that catalog of Back Bay lands to be sold April 9th. However, find out about them. For lots No. 5,6,7 or 9 (any one of them) on the north side of Commonwealth Avenue. I will bid as high as $2.70 per foot (their minimum value is $2.25). If you fail to get any one of the above, I will bid on corner lot (Commonwealth Avenue) No. 20. as high as $3.25 per foot. If you are not out bid and fail to get any of them, I will bid on any one (single lot) on south side of Marlborough Street as high as 20 percent above its minimum valuation (a corner lot preferred.) Attend to this, dear Joe. See Keach who said something about the auctioneer being sorry he did not know I wanted to buy last time. Let Orlando see this. Advise with him about it. He promised to buy from me, or to let me know about it. I don’t care about the lots on Marlborough St. If I buy one of them, it will be on spec. So if you miss Commonwealth Ave, strike light on the first….Yours truly, J. Wilkes Booth”[i]
 
Here are some financial comparisons of the property value then and now at 115 Commonwealth Avenue
  • The purchase price was $8,192
  • The land was recorded in his mother's name
  • Booth did not develop the property.  It appears he subsequently suffered financial losses in the oil business
  • In 1876 Walter Hastings Jr. purchased the property and built a house on it that cost twenty-six thousand dollars
  • 115 Commonwealth Avenue, sold for $10,600,000, on September 5, 2010[ii]
  • The sale price in 2010 was $1,012, a square foot, compared to the original lot sale price of $8,192
  • Yearly taxes today are three times the value of the house and land in 1876
                                                                                    Footprint of the Booths and Boston;
  • John Wilkes Booth stayed at the Parker House in April 1865​
  • He practiced shooting with a pistol on School Street over the five-day stay in April 1865
  • He was killed by pursuing Union soldiers April 23rd, 1865 
  • The Union soldier that shot and killed Booth  at the Garrett barn in Port Royal, Virginia,  was also a Bostonian; Sergeant Thomas P. “Boston” Corbett
  • His brother Edwin Booth was a long-term Boston resident 
  • After the assassination, Boston was sympathetic to the burden Edwin endured
  • Edwin Booth's wife Mary was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, in 1863[iii]
  • Edwin remarried in 1869
  • Edwin declared bankruptcy during the depression of 1873. His theatre folded
  • His second wife died in 1881
  • After two strokes Edwin Booth died June 6, 1893, and was interred next to his first wife, Mary
  • Asia Booth Clarke, younger sister to the two Shakespearean actors, died at age 52 on May 16, 1888, in England  ending a lightly threaded marriage to John Sleeper Clarke of Boston comedial acting fame
  • Her body was returned to the Booth Family site in Barltimore, Maryland
  • ​John Wilkes Booth’s body was eventually returned to the Booth family sight, at Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore Maryland, joining his family in eternity[iv]
  • After the assassination, John Wilkes younger brother, Junius, managed for many years the "Boston Theatre", ran a retreat for actors at Manchester By The Sea and married in Boston and raised four children. He died in 1886. 
  • Learn of the Bostonian that killed John Wilkes Booth
                                                                                              Sources
​http://historyofmassachusetts.org/john-wilkes-booth-owned-property-in-boston/Rebecca Beatrice Brooks
American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies; Michael W. Kauffman; 2005
Classic Realty; 115 Commonwealth Avenue Boston: www.classic-realty.com/115-commonwealth-avenue-boston/
http://www.bu.edu/bhr/2015/05/11/boston-the-booth-brothers-and-the-parker-house/By: Susan Wilson

                                                                                              End Notes
[i] “Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. “John Wilkes Booth's Boston Property.” History of Massachusetts, 26 Oct. 2017, historyofmassachusetts.org/john-wilkes-booth-owned-property-in-boston/.
[ii] Per REDFIN
[iii] http://www.bu.edu/bhr/2015/05/11/boston-the-booth-brothers-and-the-parker-house/By: Susan Wilson
[iv] https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=13523390
 



9/5/2017
Hi Sheila,


I just wanted to tell you and Mitch how very much I enjoyed today. Mitch is passion for history comes through loud and clear in his delivery.

I learned new facts about Paul Revere that I had never known before.

Mitch was so well-prepared including all of the pictures and it was obvious that heput a lot of time and effort into this tour and the presentation.

So thank you so much for the invitation
He did a great job!
leslie b, Natick


10/18/2017Hi Mitch, finally getting to say thank you for such an enjoyable day and tour of Paul Revere etc.. I truly learned so much and loved walking through so much of historic Boston! PHYLIS, nh

9/5/2017
Hi Beth,

Thanks for asking us to go on your tour, Mitch, of Boston’s historic sites. Your enthusiasm and love of history is contagious. You made history come alive. Sorry I had to leave early. I bet the tour of the North End was equally exciting! You put your all into it.
sarah r. Wellesley

6/15/2017 gxxxxen@snhu.edu Comment 6/1/2017, Your remarks about John Hancock really painted a historical image of the man.
​
6/1/2016
Hi Mitch, resume services reviews has just posted a comment on your blog post,     Why Did Paul Revere Become a Coroner at the   Age of Sixty-two? : This is a very interesting piece of historical information. I was never aware of this information before. I didn't even know how relevant Paul Revere is in the history of Boston. It seems that he is a very important figure on Boston's foundation. I'm definitely going to dwell further into matter and research more about him.
Comment actions:

​

6/3/2017 GS, SNHU,edu,  Mitch your remarks about John Hancock really painted an historical image of the man.

10/15/2016 Thank you so much for the Boston Massacre Tour.  I never knew it was such a complicated affair.  I particularly liked the incidental historical stops about Colonial Boston.  I hadn't been downtown for years.  You opened up so much for me.  June, Natick Ma.

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  • Tour 18thC of Paul Revere
    • ADDITIONAL TOURS >
      • The Boston Massacre Tour >
        • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gzette
        • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
      • Boston Civil War Tours
      • The Kennedy Tour
  • Revere Bells Index
    • Revere Bells in Boston
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells >
      • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
  • History Blog
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • James Franklin
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • James Otis
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • Collage of Boston
    • Boston Harbor
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Customs House
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park
✕