The towers are 40 feet in diameter and four stories high, while the entire length of the building is 250 feet. It was constructed after designs entirely Mr. Thayer’s own, without the aid of an architect, and the beauty of the building and the charming location have been remarked by strangers from all over the country. He entered political life in 1852, when he was elected a member of the school board. Later he was a member of the board of aldermen and served during the years of 1853–’54 in the state legislature. It was during his first year in the state House of Representatives that he became conspicuous by the introduction of a bill to incorporate the Bank of Mutual Redemption, which was hailed with delight by bankers and monied men throughout the state, as it seemed to afford a means of release from the autocratic rule of the Suffolk Bank of Boston. This bill was passed in the course of years and the Bank of Mutual Redemption loaned the money to the government when Andrew was governor during the Civil War. It was not, however, until 1854 that Mr. Thayer accomplished the great act of his life, the one which enrolls his name among the benefactors of mankind, in originating the plan which saved Kansas and other territories to the Union and perhaps settled the destiny of the nation, for if the southern leaders had secured the territories, it would have given them the balance of power for many years to come and there would have been no rebellion. The North would have acquiesced, as it always had, in the decision of the congressional majority. In his original idea of making Kansas free, he actually settled the destinies of the country. It was at a meeting to protest against the repeal of the Missouri compromise, held in the old city hall on the evening of March 11, 1854, that Mr. Thayer announced his celebrated “plan of freedom.” In effect it was simply to take possession by lawful means of the new territories through organized immigration of free-state men sustained by a base of supplies. Mr. Thayer defined this plan as “business anti-slavery,” distinguished from sentimental and political anti-slavery, both of which had been tried for many years and found to be faulty, slavery in the meantime constantly growing stronger. He clearly saw that whichever side gained the majority of the settlers would control the situations of the new section, in spite of all efforts to establish others among them, and to the purpose of securing this majority for freedom he devoted all his energies and all of his means until that end was accomplished. As the first means toward fortifying himself for this undertaking he immediately secured the passage of an act to incorporate the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company and before the vote to repeal the Missouri compromise was taken, hired a hall in Boston and began to speak afternoon and evening in behalf of his undertaking.