No. 24 Hanover St.

24 Hanover Street	circa 1880s to 1890s
Chauncey Jacobs, Proprietor
Boston, MA 02108

Below right is from a Boston street atlas from 1885 (btw, the map is oriented South-North). No.24 is a four story building. The gap between no.24 and no.30 is an alley (the gambling room was probably entered from a door off the alley). Around the corner from Hanover Street I highlighted the address 114 Sudbury--it was the location of a major Billiard manufacturer named J. E. Came & Co. I mention it because it's possible the ivory chips came from there.

A poster showing Hanover St., Boston in 1931. Note that No. 24 is shown

A current aerial view--the block which once housed No.24 Hanover Street no longer exists

It is documented that there was an illegal gambling joint at 24 Hanover street between 1882 and 1891. The operation was run Chauncey Jacobs. The newspaper clippings below document 11 police raids. I'm sure there were many raids that eluded my search. I believe that the gambling operation had to be run with the tacit approval of the police. The raids appear to have been for "show". Having the approval of the law would help explain why an illegal gambling operation would put the address of its establishment on its gaming checks. Note that Sergeants Butters and Foster attended most raids. It appears that Jacobs catered toward students from Harvard.

Raid number 1

Boston Daily Advertiser November 22, 1882

Boston Daily Advertiser May 1, 1885