Bowdoin Square (Boston)

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Bowdoin Square, Boston, c. 1880 BowdoinSquare ca1880 Boston.png
Bowdoin Square, Boston, c. 1880

Bowdoin Square (established 1788) in Boston, Massachusetts was located in the West End. In the 18th and 19th centuries it featured residential houses, leafy trees, a church, hotel, theatre and other buildings. Among the notables who have lived in the square: physician Thomas Bulfinch; merchant Kirk Boott; [1] [2] and mayor Theodore Lyman. [3] The urban renewal project in the West End in the 1950s removed Green Street and Chardon Street, which formerly ran into the square, and renamed some existing streets; it is now a traffic intersection at Cambridge Street, Bowdoin Street, and New Chardon Street. [4] [5]

Boston Capital city of Massachusetts, United States

Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 685,094 in 2017, making it also the most populous city in New England. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County as well, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. As a combined statistical area (CSA), this wider commuting region is home to some 8.2 million people, making it the sixth-largest in the United States.

Massachusetts State of the United States of America

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts's population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.

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Bowdoin Square is served by the MBTA Blue Line station Bowdoin.

Blue Line (MBTA) Boston subway system

The Blue Line is a rapid transit line in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, one of four rapid transit lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs from Bowdoin station in downtown Boston under Boston Harbor to East Boston and Revere on the inner North Shore, where it terminates at Wonderland. The stop at Airport Station, by way of a free shuttle bus, is one of two rapid transit connections to Logan International Airport. In 1967, during a systemwide rebranding, the line was assigned the blue color because it passes under the Boston Harbor. With an end-to-end travel time of less than twenty minutes, the Blue Line is the shortest of Boston's heavy-rail lines and the only line to have both third rail and overhead catenary sections.

Brief history

Some of the features of Bowdoin Square in its heyday included:

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References

  1. ↑ Boston Directory. 1807.
  2. ↑ Daily Atlas (Boston), April 2, 1844.
  3. ↑ Boston Directory. 1823
  4. ↑ Massachusetts Centinel; Date: 07-02-1788
  5. ↑ Boston Street Laying-Out Dept. A record of the streets, alleys, places, etc. in the city of Boston]. Boston: City Printing Dept., 1910.
  6. ↑ Alan Emmet (1997). "Radishes and orchids: the Boott's garden in Boston". So Fine a Prospect: Historic New England Gardens. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.
  7. ↑ State Street Trust Company. Forty of Boston's Historic Houses. 1912.
  8. ↑ Robert Woodward Cushman. Bowdoin Square Church Book: comprising a brief history of the formation and organizations of the church : a list of its members : its articles of faith, covenant, etc. Boston: Samuel N. Dickinson, 1843
  9. 1 2 King's hand-book of Boston. 1889. Includes illustration of the church.
  10. ↑ "Parson Downs squelched, The Boston Baptists drop the Bowdoin-Square Church." New York Times, Sep 16, 1886. p.1.
  11. ↑ Boston Directory. 1856.
  12. 1 2 "Boston hotel on fire; The Bowdoin Square House Damaged and Two inmates Injured." New York Times, Feb 28, 1902. p.6.
  13. ↑ "A Boston Theatre Sold: The Bowdoin Square Bid Off, After Many Adjournments, for $96,000." New York Times, Aug 8, 1893. p.1.
  14. ↑ Life and Letters of Charles Bulfinch, Architect. 1896.
  15. ↑ New Hampshire Sentinel; Date: 05-02-1850
  16. ↑ Homans. Sketches of Boston, Past and Present. 1851.

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