g the time to actually read and absorb the information on the statue, a person can learn a great deal about some of the most important times in Benjamin Franklin’s life.
I could not tell you the countless number of times that I have walked by one milk street and had no idea that one of America’s most influential individuals was born at this location in 1706. Although the image you see is not his original building of his birthplace due to the fact it burned down in the 1811 it is still pretty cool to think such an enlightened person was born there. If you pass by One milk street you will see a statue of Benjamin Franklins head stating “Birthplace of Franklin”.
Beginning in 1729, the Old South Meeting House served as a Puritan house of worship where American leaders such as Benjamin Franklin regularly attended meetings. Being the largest building in Boston at the time, the house would become a forum for dissent and free speech. In regards to the building’s significance, it served as a meeting place for the debate that ignited the Boston Tea Party.
Benjamin Franklin was born here on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706 to Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. His was the youngest son of seventeen children and lived in Boston for all of his childhood and the majority of his teenage years. This building is not the original home of Benjamin Franklin, as the original burned down in a fire that swept down Milk Street in 1811. Ironically, the ground floor is home to Sir Speedy, a printing company. It is a different kind of printing, but it is ironic that the spiritual successor of one of Benjamin Franklin’s occupations is where his birthplace is. Franklin’s time in Boston helped shaped his character and set him on the path of becoming what many in his time referred to him as, The First American.
This equestrian statue of George Washington, located in the Boston Public Garden, was sculpted by Thomas Ball in the 1850’s. Later, in 1869, the statue was unveiled before the public with a thirteen-gun salute and is remembered as a time of intense local pride. Shortly before this, in 1856, the statue of Benjamin Franklin in front of Old City Hall on School St. graced the public. Two of the 18th century’s greatest historical contributors and figures in the shaping of our Nation commemorated in stone right int he heart of Boston.
Like Washington, Benjamin Franklin was among the few of the signees of the Declaration of Independence and stands as a major contributor in American history to the political and scientific discoveries made in the 18th century.