Construction : Introduction

Material prepared by:

Jan Arabas, Department of Art
Middlesex Community College, Bedford and Lowell, MA

White Pine Monograph (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum)

Until 1818, the Customs Service rented a variety of buildings in Salem for use as a custom house. Custom revenues provided a substantial portion of government income throughout the later part of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. The Salem customs agents, responsible for a bustling port, collected large tariffs on imports and were also charged with storing bonded goods.

In 1818, the Treasury Department allocated funds for the purchase of a lot and construction of a new customs building along Derby Wharf. Treasury agent William F. Lee, then Collector of the U.S. Customs at Salem, was designated to oversee the project and selected Perly Putnam, a Weigher and Gauger, and Jonathan P. Saunders, the Surveyor of the Port, to draw plans for the new building and oversee construction.

Credits:

Salem Maritime National Historic Site for scanning portions of the H.S.R.

Page citation: http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/page/10146/