The History of Beck and School Streets

Researching the history of Newburyport homes often leads to the discovery of interesting facts that provide a deeper understanding of our city’s development. An analysis of Deacon Joshua Beck’s will of 1747 more clearly defines a three-and-a-half acre parcel of land on the south side of Newburyport including most of Beck and School Streets.

Deacon Joshua Beck was born in Portsmouth, NH around 1691. He married in 1716 and moved to Newbury, now Newburyport, where he fathered 15 children. He was a shipwright, or ship carpenter, by trade and then became a shopkeeper toward the end of his life. Joshua earned the title Deacon after he spent 10 years as the deacon of the Third Church of Christ in Newbury which was established in 1726. Deacon Joshua Beck is buried at the Old Hill Burying Ground.

Source: “Map of a portion of the Town of Newbury as it was in the year 1700 by Sidney Perly”, J.J. Currier

The three-and-a-half acre parcel of land purchased by Joshua Beck can be placed on the “Map of a portion of the Town of Newbury as it was in the year 1700 by Sidney Perly” featured in Ould Newbury by John Currier. It included the rectangular parcel owned by Col. John March in 1700 plus the abutting land of Benjamin Pierce. Col. John March was a prominent citizen in 1700, and among other things, he kept the ferry over the Merrimack River from Newburyport to Ring’s Island starting in 1688. Jemima March, Col. March’s widow, sold the L-shaped parcel of land in 1713 a year after her husband’s death. At that time, the property boasted a “dwelling house, barn, orchard, and outhouses.”

This land is now part of Beck and School Streets. Joshua Beck purchased the land just prior to his death in 1747. Seven of Beck’s eight surviving children received a division of the lot as a part of their inheritance from their father. The eighth child received a comparable piece of land, unfortunately only described as “the acre,” in a different part of Newbury.

Jonathan Beck, the eldest Beck son, received the parcel of land that now sits under the Old South Presbyterian Church. Jonathan sold the land in 1756 to a committee of men for “the meeting house that shall be built.” Beck sold his remaining parcel to what is today’s 3-5 School Street, the birthplace of William Lloyd Garrison.

Nathaniel Beck and Hannah Beck Cross each received land on the south side of School Street, starting at the corner on Federal Street and ending just short of Lime Street. Hannah and her husband, Stephen Cross, sold a small parcel to the Town Treasurer of Newburyport in 1764 “to and for the use and behoof of the Inhabitants of the said Town of Newburyport.” The South schoolhouse, reportedly 24 feet wide, 36 feet long, and 8 feet high, was built on the land shortly thereafter. The construction date coincided with the separation of Newburyport from Newbury and was one of three new schools that had been planned for Newburyport. The South schoolhouse operated for more than 40 years and was eventually torn down. The original land remains open space as part of the Garrison Gardens. The remainder of Hannah’s land was divided into house lots around 1770, some of which are part of today’s Atwood Park along School Street.

Thomas Beck’s parcel of land included 300 feet of frontage along the south side of Beck Street between Ship and Lime Streets. Stephen Cross, Hannah Beck’s husband, eventually purchased this land and divided it into house lots around 1800.

The seven land divisions within the 3.5-acre parcel included clarifications about how the new roads, now Beck and School Streets, would be developed, “These ways are left for conveniency of passing to and from the lots.” A way was partially laid out from Federal to Ship Street in 1775 and the street was finished and officially named Beck Street in 1797. School Street was appropriately named around 1765 when the South schoolhouse was built.

“Agreeable to the petition of Stephen Cross Esq., Abner Greenleaf, Jonathan Beck Jun. and others: We the Subscribers select men for the Town of Newburyport have laid down the Street therein petitioned for and described in the within Plan as follows: sixteen feet from a nail drove in the house fronting on Federal Street, the property of Capt. Offin Boardman Jun., to the outside of the Southwest corner board on said house and sixteen feet from said corner board running parallel with said Federal Street to a stake drove on said Federal Street. Thirty two feet from a stake on land under the direction of Stephen Cross Esq. to a stake drove on Land of William Rutherford, this line to run on the bounds of Lime Street. As respects the continuation of Lime Street as expressed on the within plan we have lain down hereby two feet on said Ship Lane between two stakes one drove at the Southwest Corner of Capt. John Goodhue’s house, and the other on Land of Mr. Henry Hudson twenty two feet fronting the new Street above mentioned between two stakes drove down on said Street to conform in all other respects to the within plan.”

Source: Town Records, available on microfilm at the Newburyport Public Library

Enjoying the architecture of Newburyport is best done walking. So as you walk around NBPT@3MPH, walk down School Street and take a moment in the Garrison Gardens. Look at the Old South Presbyterian Church and the birthplace of William Lloyd Garrison. Continue to Beck Street and enjoy the diversity of homes built upon land that once belonged to Deacon Joshua Beck.

Barb Bailey is a house researcher for the Newburyport Preservation Trust. She may be reached at Barb.Bailey03@gmail.com.