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Although the Derby Wharf faces the U.S. Custom House, it was not owned by the government. The wharf belonged to ship owner Elias Hasket Derby, who with his father Richard, built the first 800 feet of stone exterior walls filled with earth in 1762. In 1808 Derby’s heirs completed a 1300-foot extension. Cargoes were stored in spacious three-story warehouses attached to the wharf.

Today Derby Wharf is being preserved within Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

Inside this impressive building were the offices of the United States Customs Service collectors, inspectors, and other officials. It was here that ship’s captains and owners paid duties on imported goods, ordinarily about 5% of their value.

Before the passage of the Federal Income Tax Act of 1913, customs duties on ship’s cargoes provided much of the money to run the national government. Between 1789 and 1840, duties collected here earned the Treasury more than $20 million - a substantial amount in those days.

Salem’s Custom House was one of several in Massachusetts. It was built in 1819, near the end of Salem’s prominence as a world port. However, the Customs Service used the building for more than a century. Today the Custom House is the centerpiece of Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

More information:
www.nps.gov/sama/historyculture/customhouse.htm