William Sumner: East Boston’s Founding Developer

In 1833, William H. Sumner purchased Noddle Island for $80,000 and renamed it East Boston. Sumner then founded the East Boston Company and set out on a very ambitious plan to develop the island. The East Boston Company, began to fill in the marshes with landfill and divided the island into four sections. East Boston became Boston's first planned neighborhood and developed streets into a grid pattern. The East Boston Company built wharves, obtained a freight terminal for the Eastern Railroad and encouraged shipbuilders to locate their yards along East Boston's waterfront. By 1835, close to 700 people inhabited the island. The island also included a sugar refinery, an iron forgery, a bakery, a timber company, and 10 wharves. Sumner Street is named for him, as is the Sumner Tunnel. Sumner is also the author of the History of East Boston. He is the son of former Massachusetts Governor Increase Summer who is buried in the Granary Burial ground on Tremont street in downtown Boston.