Secrets of Mechanic Street

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Lost Massachusetts has been conducting research into the history of Mechanic Street and the reasons behind it. Several of our episodes have focused on our findings and investigations of specific Mechanics Streets. See Episode 44 for the initial review and theories. 

64 Towns in Massachusetts have a Mechanic Street. Most make T junction with Main Street or feed Main. The name has nothing to do with garages or automobiles and precedes common cars. Their configurations have common features suggesting purpose & symbolism, the meaning has been lost in the modern world. 

The various Mechanic Streets contain similar features: Railroads, factories, war memorials, cemeteries, post offices, Masonic Halls, VFW & Foreign Legion Posts. They are decorated and dedicated but it is never explained why. 

North End, near Paul Revere’s house. Cir. Paul Revere’s death in 1818 name Mechanic Street begins to appear on maps. Mechanic Sts. appear in Mass (and other states) in the following decades. Mechanic has particular meaning to Revere. 

Classically, Liberal Arts were: rhetoric, grammar, logic, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry and music. Working with the hands was for lower labor classes. Medieval astronomy eventually crossed the lines. Monks built increasingly complex clocks to pinpoint correct prayer times and annual observances. Importance of tracking solar, lunar and planetary cycles for religious purposes made mechanical construction acceptable. Monks applied same principles to food production and construction. From Greek mekhanikos/mekhane - inventive, ingenious, artisan, full or resources. The definition of someone who simply repairs devices is more recent. 

Renaissance, Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution depend on mechanical development. Longitude, calculus, etc were not possible without improved mechanical tools. Mechanical Arts are no longer laborers but new middle class. Revere was an emerging middle class artisan. Beyond politics, Boston patriots wanted to open pubic museums, music halls, libraries and schools for ordinary citizens. Liberty was not simply about a new form of government but the betterment and elevation of the individual.