Brookline Village Commercial District | |
Location | Irregular Pattern along Washington St., Brookline, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°20′0″N71°7′16″W / 42.33333°N 71.12111°W |
Architect | Multiple |
NRHP reference No. | 79000364 [1] |
Added to NRHP | May 22, 1979 |
Brookline Village is one of the major commercial and retail centers of the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, United States. Located just north of Massachusetts Route 9 and west of the Muddy River, it is the historic center of the town and includes its major civic buildings, including town hall and the public library. The commercial spine of the village, extending along Washington Street from Route 9 to the library, is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Brookline Village Commercial District.
Brookline Village was the first significant site, known as Muddy River, of colonial settlement in what is now Brookline, due to the crossing of the Muddy River, which provided overland access between Boston and Cambridge (then little more than a village at what is now Harvard Square). The village grew from this beginning to become Brookline's first major economic center. In the 19th century commercial activity was concentrated on Boylston, Washington, and Harvard Streets, and grew with the construction of what is now Brookline Avenue, and the arrival of the rail line that now serves the MBTA.
Brookline Village was once known as Punch Bowl Village, [2] named after the Punch Bowl Tavern, [3] and for a time was part of Roxbury. [4]
Brookline Village is served by the MBTA's Green Line D-train at the Brookline Village station, with service to downtown Boston. The area is also served by the MBTA's bus service.
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury. The city of Newton lies to the west of Brookline. Brookline was first settled in 1638 as a hamlet in Boston, known as Muddy River; it was incorporated as a separate town in 1705.
Route 9 is a 135.310-mile-long (217.760 km) major east–west state highway in Massachusetts, United States. Along with U.S. Route 20, Route 2, and Interstate 90, Route 9 is one of the major east–west routes of Massachusetts. The western terminus is near the center of the city of Pittsfield. After winding through the small towns along the passes of the Berkshire Mountains, it crosses the college towns of the Pioneer Valley and then south of the Quabbin Reservoir and the rural areas of western Worcester County. Entering the city of Worcester from the southwestern corner of the city, it passes through the center of the city and forms the major commercial thoroughfare through the MetroWest suburbs of Boston, parallel to the Massachusetts Turnpike. Crossing the Route 128 freeway circling Boston, it passes through the inner suburbs of Newton and Brookline along Boylston Street, and enters Boston on Huntington Avenue, before reaching its eastern terminus at Copley Square.
Fenway–Kenmore is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. While it is considered one neighborhood for administrative purposes, it is composed of numerous distinct sections that, in casual conversation, are almost always referred to as "Fenway", "the Fenway", "Kenmore Square", or "Kenmore". Furthermore, the Fenway neighborhood is divided into two sub-neighborhoods commonly referred to as East Fenway/Symphony and West Fenway.
Chestnut Hill is a wealthy New England village located six miles (10 km) west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is best known for being home to Boston College and a section of the Boston Marathon route. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is not an incorporated municipal entity. It is located partially in Brookline in Norfolk County; partially in the city of Boston in Suffolk County, and partially in the city of Newton in Middlesex County. Chestnut Hill's borders are defined by the 02467 ZIP Code. The name refers to several small hills that overlook the 135-acre Chestnut Hill Reservoir rather than one particular hill.
The Emerald Necklace consists of a 1,100-acre chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appears to hang from the "neck" of the Boston peninsula. In 1989, the Emerald Necklace was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street Railway via lease and merger to become the city's primary mass transit provider. Its modern successor is the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which continues to operate in part on infrastructure developed by BERy and its predecessors.
The E branch is a light rail line in Boston, Cambridge, Medford, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. The line runs in mixed traffic on South Huntington Avenue and Huntington Avenue between Heath Street and Brigham Circle, in the median of Huntington Avenue to Northeastern University, then into the Huntington Avenue subway. The line merges into the Boylston Street subway just west of Copley, running to North Station via the Tremont Street subway. It then follows the Lechmere Viaduct to Lechmere, then the Medford Branch to Medford/Tufts. As of February 2023, service operates on eight-minute headways at weekday peak hours and eight to nine-minute headways at other times, using 13 to 17 trains.
Coolidge Corner is a neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, United States, centered on the intersection of Beacon Street and Harvard Street. The neighborhood takes its name from the Coolidge & Brother general store that opened in 1857 at that intersection at the site of today's S.S. Pierce building, which was for many years the only commercial business in north Brookline.
Newton Upper Falls is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Massachusetts, United States. The village is listed as the Newton Upper Falls Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
On October 7, 1873, Brookline, Massachusetts rejected annexation by a larger neighboring city when it voted down annexation by Boston. When its citizens voted 707-299 to keep its independence, Brookline not only stopped Boston's string of annexations, but it also set an example for wealthy suburbs throughout America. The vote was a significant event in the history of American suburbs.
Mission Hill is a 3⁄4 square mile, primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, bordered by Roxbury, Jamaica Plain and Fenway-Kenmore and the town of Brookline. The neighborhood has two main streets, namely Tremont Street and Huntington Ave. It is served by several stations on the MBTA's Green Line E branch, as well as Roxbury Crossing station on the Orange Line.
The 1767 Milestones are historic milestones located along the route of the Upper Boston Post Road between the cities of Boston and Springfield in Massachusetts. The 40 surviving milestones were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Massachusetts has a total of 129 surviving milestones including those along the upper Post Road. The stones are so named, despite having been placed in many different years, because of a 1767 directive of the Province of Massachusetts Bay that such stones be placed along major roadways. The state highway department was directed in 1960 to undertake their preservation. Many of them underwent a major restoration in 2018.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway is a historic parkway in Boston, Massachusetts. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Washington Street at the Dedham-West Roxbury border, from where it travels north and then east, ending at a junction with Centre Street, near the Arnold Arboretum. The highway is almost entirely contained within the West Roxbury neighborhood, although it passes through part of the Chestnut Hill neighborhood near its junction with the West Roxbury Parkway. Most of its length, from Spring Street in West Roxbury to its eastern end, is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), a successor to the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) which oversaw the road's construction. The parkway was built in stages between 1930 and 1942, and was designed to provide a parkway connection from the Upper Charles River Reservation to other MDC parks via the West Roxbury Parkway. The DCR portion of the road was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The road formerly carried the designation for U.S. Route 1.
Brookline Avenue is a principal urban artery in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It runs from Kenmore Square in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, forming a 1.5-mile straight line to its other terminus at Washington Street in the Brookline Village neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts. The Landmark Center, Fenway Park, Emmanuel College, Longwood Medical and Academic Area and Kenmore Square are sites along its length.
Pill Hill, also known as "High Street Hill," is a neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, United States, and part of Greater Boston.
The Brookline Town Green Historic District encompasses the historic colonial heart of the town of Brookline, Massachusetts. Centered on a stretch of Walnut Street between Warren and Chestnut Streets, this area is where the town's first colonial meeting house and cemetery were laid out, and was its center of civic life until the early 19th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Cypress–Emerson Historic District encompasses a residential area on the west side of Brookline Village in Brookline, Massachusetts, United States. Centered on Waverly and Cypress Streets, and including Emerson Park, this area was developed in the post-Civil War era, its growth matching that of the commercial areas of the village. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Hammond Pond Parkway is a historic parkway in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The road, built in 1932, extends 2 miles (3.2 km) from Hobart Road in Newton to Horace James Circle in Brookline, where it joins the West Roxbury Parkway. It was designed by Charles Eliot and the Olmsted Brothers to provide a parkway setting that provided access from Brookline, Newton, and the western portions of Boston to the southern parks of the Emerald Necklace. The parkway was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Longwood Historic District is roughly bounded by Chapel, St. Marys, Monmouth, and Kent Sts. in Brookline, Massachusetts. The area was developed in the mid-19th century by David Sears and Amos Adams Lawrence as a fashionable residential area, and retains a number of architecturally distinguished buildings, including the Longwood Towers complex at 20 Chapel Street, Christ's Church Longwood, and Church of Our Saviour, Brookline. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1978.
Fort Hill is a 0.4 square mile neighborhood and historic district of Roxbury, in Boston, Massachusetts. The approximate boundaries of Fort Hill are Malcolm X Boulevard on the north, Washington Street on the southeast, and Columbus Avenue on the southwest.