The building at 18 Prospect St., which houses the North Shore Children’s Theatre today, has a colorful history. Built as Hibernian Hall in 1871, it served as the headquarters of the Hibernian Friendly Society, which supported the town’s Irish Catholics. The society helped immigrants find jobs and housing, provided financial support if a man suffered a workplace injury, and assisted families with funeral costs.
By the 1890s, Hibernian Hall began hosting entertainment that many Marbleheaders frowned upon: boxing matches. Heavyweight boxers from Salem, Lynn and Marblehead sparred for an audience of drinking and gambling men.
Polite society viewed boxing as a barbaric vice, so the boxers at Hibernian Hall followed the Queensbury Rules, designed to make boxing as respectable as other contact sports. The rules called for all boxers to wear gloves, ending the era of bare-knuckle bouts. The matches were split into three-minute rounds with a rest in between, and if a boxer fell down, he had 10 seconds to get back up; his opponent couldn’t continue to hit him.
However, boxing never shed its brutish reputation. By 1910, Salem banned boxing matches, and the Hibernian Society feared that Marblehead would follow suit. They made matches open to Society members only, who had to pay a fee to attend. On April 14, 1915, the Hibernians prepared the hall for its usual Wednesday night match. Nine police officers surrounded the building, and one fellow officer stood sentry at the door, taking down the names of every man who went inside. The Hibernians canceled the bout, and they stopped hosting matches altogether by the 1920s.
Jarrett Zeman is the assistant director of the Marblehead Museum. “From the Vault” is a partnership between the Marblehead Museum and the Current.
