The Boston Aquarial Gardens (1859-1860) was a public aquarium

Public aquarium

A public aquarium is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, housing living aquatic species for viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept by home aquarists, as well as smaller tanks. Since the first public aquariums were built in the mid-19th century, they have become popular...

 in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, established by James Ambrose Cutting

James Ambrose Cutting

James Ambrose Cutting was an American photographer and inventor, sometimes called the inventor of the Ambrotype photographic process.He grew up in poverty on a farm in Haverhill, NH...

 and Henry D Butler. The "conservatories [were] filled with rare marine animals imported and collected exclusively for this establishment; ... a perfect and striking illustration of life beneath the waters." The business was located on Bromfield Street in the Financial District.

In 1860 it moved to a new facility nearby, on Central Court, off Washington Street

Washington Street (Boston)

Washington Street is a street originating in downtown Boston, Massachusetts that extends southwestward to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island state line. The majority of it was built as the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in the early nineteenth century...

, and re-opened as the Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens

Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens

The Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens in Boston, Massachusetts, featured a public aquarium and zoo. It was located in the Financial District on Central Court . On display were "hundreds of specimens of the finny tribe there to be seen sporting in their native element, in all their variety of...

.

Further reading

• Mrs. Partington Visits the Fishes. New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette; Date: 08-17-1859
• Catalogue of fishes, mollusca, zoophytes, &c., &c., at Aquarial Gardens, no.21 Bromfield Street, Boston; Cutting & Butler, proprietors. In: Willem Theodorus Gevers Deynoot. Aanteekeningen op eene reis door de Vereenigde Staten van Noord Amerika en Canada, in 1859. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1860. Google books
• Aquarial Gardens. Barre Gazette (Barre, Massachusetts); Date: 07-20-1860

External links

• New England Aquarium. The Boston Aquarial Gardens (1859 - 1860).