The Marine Hospital, in the same neighborhood, which has usually from seventy-five to eighty patients from the ranks of our mercantile marine, occupies a lot of about ten acres.

[Illustration:  OLD MARINE HOSPITAL.  Fronting toward the water.  Erected in 1827, and in 1857 converted into a schoolhouse for the Hawthorne School.]

Powderhorn Hill the summit of which is about two hundred feet above the level of the sea, commands a fine view of Boston Harbor, the ocean, and many miles of inland territory.  Chelsea is spread out like a map at its base.  It has been the dream of enthusiastic admirers of the varied scenery afforded from the top, to include it within the limits of a public park, forever set apart for the benefit of the present and coming generations.  Half-way up the side of the hill stands the Soldiers’ Home, where many scarred veterans of the Union army find a safe haven, cared for by those who appreciate their struggles in their country’s cause.  The city, although occupying narrow limits, has become a very attractive place for residence.  The streets are broad, straight, and shaded by very many thrifty trees.  The water-works, organized in 1867, supply good water; gas is furnished at reasonable rates, and the city has nearly completed a system of sewerage, which adds to the comfort and health of the people.  The public buildings are commodious and ornamental.  Churches of pleasing architecture, of many religious denominations, appropriate school buildings and good schools, spacious and elegant private mansions, a well-organized fire and police department, a public library, low death-rate, and good morals, serve to make the city of Chelsea a very desirable place for those seeking a quiet home in a law-abiding municipality.

[Illustration:  ACADEMY OF MUSIC.]

All through the colonial period the civil affairs of the community were intimately connected with the interests of the church; and ecclesiastical history, when church and State were united, and the minister was the greatest man of the parish, becomes of importance.

As early as 1640, in the church of Boston, “a motion was made by such as have farms at Rumney Marsh, that our Brother Oliver may be sent to instruct our servants, and to be a help to them, because they cannot many times come hither, nor sometimes to Lynn, and sometimes no where at all.”  The piously disposed people of Boston evidently commiserated the destitute condition of their poor dependents, and were desirous of ministering to their spiritual wants.

[Illustration:  THE RESIDENCE OF THE HON.  THOMAS STRAHAN.]

[Illustration:  AN INTERIOR IN THE HON.  THOMAS STRAHAN’S RESIDENCE.]

[Illustration:  GERRISH’S BLOCK.]