Province House is built.

Built for merchant Peter Sargeant, it is located at today 327 Washington Street. The three-story building includes a cupula topped by an weathervane figure of an Indian archer made by Deacon Shem Drowne. The most elaborate home of the period, it is subsequently the setting for some of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales. The building is purchased by the town in 1716, serves as the royal governor’s mansion until the Revolution, is sold in 1796, becomes a tavern in 1834, a dance hall, and a hotel, part of Ordway Hall (ca. 1857) and the Opera House (ca. 1861). Badly damaged by a fire in October 1864, it is rebuilt as the Lyceum Theatre (ca. 1870). After several more fires, the last in 1907, it becomes the Old South Theatre, then a motion picture house in 1908. Despite efforts to preserve it, the building is demolished in May 1922. Only the garden steps to Bosworth Street remain today.