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INVENTORY FORM C CONTINUATION SHEET LEXINGTON 16 MERIAM STREET
<br /> MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
<br /> 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
<br /> �H 947
<br /> Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
<br /> If checked,you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
<br /> DESIGN ASSESSMENT
<br /> Describe the design features of the object and evaluate in terms of other similar types of objects within the community.
<br /> Roughly square granite tablet with rounded bottom corners measuring 41 1/2 inches x 40 inches,tapering to 31-1/2 inches at the bottom,with
<br /> raised granite panel mounted on a fieldstone retaining wall along the sidewalk in front of the house at 16 Meriam Street. The inscription
<br /> consists of plain block lettering without serifs,all upper case although of various sizes.
<br /> HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
<br /> Explain the history of the object and how it relates to the development of the community.
<br /> The Town of Lexington appointed a Committee on Historical Monuments and Tablets in November, 1883 to discuss"places which it would
<br /> be desirable to have permanently marked" to identify and commemorate important events associated with the Battle of Lexington on April
<br /> 18, 1775. After 18 meetings,the Committee had identified and placed three memorial stones and nine memorial tablets,at a total cost of
<br /> $14,999.61 (Town Meeting had appropriated$1,500 for the project),submitted its final report in March 1885,and was discharged. This
<br /> monument,while of similar subject matter--identifying important sites of the Battle of Lexington and subsequent retreat-- was not included
<br /> in the original project nor referenced in any subsequent Town record. The inscribed date of 1886,the original location on undeveloped
<br /> private property and the absence of town records with respect to the project suggest that a patriotic citizen may have placed the stone
<br /> privately to commemorate the purported conversation between Samuel Adams and John Hancock on the morning of April 19, 1775 at the
<br /> site. The stone remained on or near its original location through the subsequent subdivision of the lot and demolition of the original home,
<br /> the Goodwin Estate,in 1937,the construction of a subsequent home in 1949 and its demolition in 2001. At that time,the owners of the
<br /> newly constructed home removed the plaque and embedded it in the stone retaining wall at the front of the property.
<br /> The actual text of the quotation is the subject of some dispute. William Gordon,in The History Of The Rise, Progress and Establishment Of
<br /> The Independence Of The United States of America,Including An Account Of The Late War,And Of The Thirteen Colonies,From Their
<br /> Origin To That Period(London: 1788),reports that"During this interesting period[while the Battle on Lexington Green was taking place],
<br /> Messrs. S.Adams and Hancock,whose residence was near at hand,quitted and removed to a further distance. While walking alone,Mr.
<br /> Adams exclaimed, "Oh!what a glorious morning is this!"in the belief that it would eventually liberate the colony from all subjection to
<br /> Great-Britain. His companion did not penetrate his meaning,and thought the allusion was only to the aspect of the sky." (Gordon,at pp.478-
<br /> 79).
<br /> Similarly,years later in an address delivered on the 19th of April, 1835,on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington,
<br /> the American politician and orator Edward Everett reported that"when on the morning of the day you now commemorate,the vollies of
<br /> firearms from this spot announced to [Samuel Adams] and his companion[John Hancock],in the neighboring field,that the great battle of
<br /> liberty had begun,he threw up his arms and exclaimed,in a burst of patriotic rapture,'Oh what a glorious morning is this!...
<br /> Somehow,over the years,this was apparently paraphrased to include the words inscribed on the plaque,i.e. "What a Glorious Morning for
<br /> America!" Indeed,it is this latter wording that appears on the official Lexington flag.
<br /> Adding to the confusion,the Lexington Historical Society has in its archives an undated monograph handwritten by the Reverend Carlton A.
<br /> Staples(1827- 1904),pastor of First Parish Church in Lexington and a founder and the historian of the Lexington Historical Society. In this
<br /> work,entitled"Some historic doubts concerning the battle of Lexington,"Rev. Staples asks"Where did Hancock&Adams go at the time of
<br /> the alarm on the morning of April 19th?Were they witnesses of the battle,&did Adams really say,What a glorious morning this is for
<br /> America up there on Mr. Goodwin's lawn? ...[E]yewitnesses and participants in[the battle] [whose] statements would seem to be
<br /> trustworthy... agree at least in that Hancock&Adams were at a long distance from the Common when the firing occurred;they seem to
<br /> make it improbable,if not impossible,that they should have been up on Mr. Goodwin's lawn,though a pleasant,safe&proper place for them,
<br /> or on the Hayes Estate where it has been proposed to erect a monument on the spot where they stood when those immortal words were
<br /> uttered. But it appears more probable that they were far beyond the limits of Lexington when that fatal volley was fired on the Common."
<br /> Continuation sheet I
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