House numbering

[Joel Berson]

Justin Winsor wrote "There is reason to believe that the stores and shops upon Long Wharf were designated by numbers before the system became general in the town. In some old advertisements letters were used instead of numbers.  (The Memorial History of Boston, 2:502.)

Winsor's footnote for this is Drake, History of Boston, p. 537, note.

I have not yet had the opportunity to follow this up.  Long Wharf was built circa 1710, so such numbering/lettering could have arisen long before the Revolutionary period, which is, IIRC, when researchers on this list have first found it.

Joel

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