Ghosts in the Museum: The Leverett Street Jail

150 Staniford St,Boston MA 02114

27 October, 2021

Description

A Halloween Talk presented by Duane Lucia, The West End Museum's President and Curator Located approximately where the West End Museum is today, the Leverett Street Jail served as the city and county prison for some three decades in the mid-19th century (1822–1851). The institution was a flashpoint for such hotbed issues as capital punishment, slavery and abolitionism, blasphemy, and women’s rights. The Jail was infamous for overcrowding and intermingling inmates with no regard for severity of crime. Seven of 10 women incarcerated there were innocent, arrested purely on the word of others for such offenses as speaking out about politics. Numerous executions by hanging took place within its walls, in close proximity to West End residences; one newspaper wrote: “A clear view of the execution could be witnessed from a dozen houses on Lowell Street, and one building at the end of Wall Street. The windows of these houses were filled with persons of both sexes, and on the back sheds were crowded boys and girls, and men and women of all ages. People swarmed upon the tops of buildings, and outside the jail, where no possible view could be obtained…” Join us at The West End Museum to learn about the Leverett Street Jail's past on it's former site at the Museum; admission is free with a costume! 150 Staniford St., Suite 7, Boston, MA 02114 The West End Museum is a neighborhood museum dedicated to the collection, preservation and interpretation of the history and culture of the West End of Boston.