India Wharf

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title: "India Wharf" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["transport-infrastructure-completed-in-1804", "commercial-buildings-completed-in-1807", "wharves-in-boston", "boston-harbor", "former-buildings-and-structures-in-boston", "economic-history-of-boston", "financial-district,-boston", "19th-century-in-boston", "charles-bulfinch-buildings"] description: "Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts (1804–1962)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Wharf" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts (1804–1962) ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/IndiaWharf_Boston3_19thc_HABS_MA-2-76.jpg" caption="India Wharf, Boston, 19th century"] ::

India Wharf (1804-c. 1962) in Boston, Massachusetts, flourished in the 19th century, when it was one of the largest commercial wharves in the port. The structure began in 1804 to accommodate international trade at a time when several other improvements to the Boston waterfront occurred, such as the creation of Broad Street and India Street.

History

Funders and organizers of the construction of India Wharf in 1803 on the waterfront near Long Wharf included Francis Cabot Lowell, Uriah Cotting, Henry Jackson, James Lloyd Jr., and Harrison Gray Otis. Builders completed the wharf in 1804. Architect Charles Bulfinch designed the building atop the wharf, completed in 1807. The long stone building housed 32 stores.

Merchants operating from India Wharf included China traders Russell and Company (1824); Also on the wharf were grocers Edward Keays and John Worster; cooper John Lang; broker Joseph Hall; iron dealers Perrin & Ellis; painter Jacob Thaxter; hairdresser Lewis Johnson. The Norris and Baxter dining saloon maintained a presence on the wharf, c. 1857.

Through the mid-19th century, India Wharf became Boston's "headquarters of the trade with the Orient and many valuable cargoes from Canton, Calcutta, Russia and the Mediterranean ports were discharged there. ...There were 30 stores in the block. Many Bostonians of today can recall the time when several large square riggers were moored at the wharf, unloading their cargoes of tea, coffee, spices and fruit." Shipping activity continued on the wharf into the 20th century.

Demolition of the wharf and the long building occurred in stages, c. 1868-1962. Since 1971, the brutalist high-rise Harbor Towers have occupied the former site of India Wharf.

Images

File:1814 FinancialDistrict Boston map Hales.png|Detail of 1814 map of Boston, showing India Wharf and vicinity File:IndiaWharf Boston 19thc HABS MA-2-76.jpg|India Wharf, Boston, 19th century File:1870 FinancialDistrict Boston map byFFuchs JohnWeik detail2.png|Overview of wharves, 1870 (India Wharf 3rd from left) File:1935 IndiaWharf Boston byAHaskell HABS MA-2-76 detail3.jpg|India Wharf, Boston, 1935 File:2010 IndiaWharf Boston3.jpg|Harbor Towers, on former site of India Wharf, 2010

References

References

1. Walter M. Whitehill. (1959). "Boston, a topographical history". Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
2. Nancy S. Seasholes. (2003). "Gaining Ground: a history of landmaking in Boston". MIT Press.
3. Albert W. Mann. (1917). "Walks & talks about historic Boston". The Mann publishing co..
4. Jim Vrabel. (2004). "When in Boston: a time line & almanac". Northeastern University Press.
5. Constance D. Sherman. (1959). "Boston from the State House Belvedere a Century Ago". The New England Quarterly.
6. (1832). "Boston Directory". Stimpson & Clapp.
7. State Street Trust Company (Boston, Mass.). (1918). "Some merchants and sea captains of old Boston: being a collection of sketches of notable men and mercantile houses prominent during the early half of the nineteenth century in the commerce and shipping of Boston". State Street Trust Co..

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::