Lewis Wharf

The granite structures on the wharf were built as an early 19th-century shopping mall in the era before railroads when water transport was the most efficient way to move commodities to marketplaces.

Waterfront property was developed as a shopping center of stores selling goods unloaded from adjoining wharfs.

He reorganized a portion of the property from John Hancock's estate in 1793 as Thomas Lewis and Son with three leased stores.

[2] Lewis Wharf stores represented the apex of New England marketplace architecture in the age of water transport.

[2] As railroads extended inland from port cities like Boston, wharves became locations for transfer of freight and new marketplaces were built near population centers.