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Artificial Table of Contents

Wards of Boston Introduction

Wards of Boston
Wards in Years: 1735 | 1805 | 1822 | 1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870

Introduction
The town of Boston was divided into companies, or districts, to help keep the order, fighting fires, etc. The concept of the Ward was first codified in 1735. The Overseers of the Poor were having difficulty covering the whole town and proposed to divide the town into twelve wards. The freemen agreed and added that these wards would be the districts for "military considerations," too. The division was given to the Overseers to create and the resulting report for such divisions was accepted by the freeman with the caveat that these boundaries would stay in force until the town decided to change them.[See A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston Containing the Boston Records from 1729 to 1742 (Boston, 1885) [i.e. v. 12], 127, 131-133.] The next change in the ward boundaries came in 1805. [See Lemuel Shattuck, Report to the Committee of the City Council Appointed to Obtain the Census of Boston for the Year 1845 (Boston, 1846), Ap. 4-10, wrongly dating the first division as 1746.] When Boston incorporated as a city in 1822. Wards were drawn and redefined in 1822, 1838, 1850, 1865, 1875, 1895, 1914, and 1924. The 1875 was set aside by the court and never officially used. These ward boundaries were defined in A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822-1890, Roxbury, 1846-1867, Charlestown, 1847-1873 and of the selectmen of Boston, 1634-1822, also of various other town and municipal officers (Boston, 1891), xxxix, 270 pp. (Boston, 2nd ed., 1909), 402 pp., at pages 7 through 40 [see WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL; online at Internet Archive, Google Books, and Hathi Trust (1909 ed.); and in the Municipal Register for 1912, 1924, and 1927 [WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FHL; online links for all years, see the Boston Public Library].

It is important to understand these changes ward boundaries as they are referenced in city directories, census, tax records, and other documents. Voter lists and governmental representation was established by wards. The following is a description and associated map to help learn where these boundaries were. Note that the descriptions are the official boundary and the maps sometimes vary from the descriptions (Note: boundaries and colored areas may differ).

1735
Boston Wards in 1735 A New Plan of ye Great Town of Boston (1743) with ward boundaries Note: 15 churches in the city Top of Page

1805
Boston Wards in 1805 A New Plan of Boston (1806) Note: 19 churches in the city Top of Page

1822
Boston Wards in 1822 Plan of Boston (1826) with ward boundaries - colored section were proposed new wards for 1832 Note: 35 churches in the city Top of Page

1838
Boston Wards in 1838 A New &amp; Complete Map of the City of Boston (1839) [colorized by wards] Top of Page

1850
Boston Wards in 1850 Plan of Boston Comprising a Part of Charlestown and Cambridge (1851) [colorized wards] [http://maps.bpl.org/id/10953 New Map of Boston ... with the new boundaries of the wards] (1851) Note: 83 churches in the city Top of Page

1865
Boston Wards in 1865 Plan of Boston (1867) Note: 114 churches in the city in 1867 Note: 127 churches in the city in 1869 (with addition of Roxbury)

1868
Roxbury annexation adds Wards 13-15 in 1868 Plan of Boston with Additions and Corrections (1869) Top of Page

1870
Dorchester annexation adds Ward 16 in 1870 Map of Boston from the Lastest surveys (1870) Brighton, Charlestown, and West Roxbury annexation adds Wards 17-22 in 1873 Map of Boston, for 1874 (1874) Top of Page