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Photo Record


S0213 manuscript page
Catalog Number P0007_55_02
Collection Arthur I. Harriman Photograph
Title Old Assembly House
Date circa 1935
Year Range from 1900
Year Range to 1950
Description The former Assembly House, corner of Vaughn Street and Raitt's Court, Portsmouth, NH.

Built by Michael Whidden III about 1771, the Assembly House was rented for dances, concerts, exhibits, lectures and religious services. In 1789, President George Washington attended a gala ball and praised the building as "one of the best I have seen anywhere in the United States."

About 1820, assemblies moved to the Franklin Hall on Congress Street. In1838, James Raitt, a local blacksmith, bought the property. The Assembly Hall's large center hall was removed and the building was divided into two separate tenements (as seen in the photograph) creating what was then Raitts Court between the two halves.

During the Vaughan Street Urban Renewal Project, c. 1968, the former Assembly House was spared the initial rounds of demolition, but ultimately and apparently due to a lack of historical evidence, the building was demolished in the early 1970s.
Photographer Harriman, Arthur I. (Portsmouth)
Object Name Print, Photographic
Print size 3.5" x 2.5"
Search Terms Vaughan Street
North End (Portsmouth, NH)
Raitts Court
Assembly House (Vaughan Street & Raitts Court)
Vaughan Street Urban Renewal Project
In and Around Old Portsmouth: Historical Facts and Shrines (Arthur I. Harriman)
Subjects Historic buildings
Dance halls
Social life and customs - 18th century
Presidential visits
Demolished
People Washington, George, 1732-1799
Whidden, Michael (Capt.), c1731-1818