Fields Corner is a historic commercial district in Dorchester, the largest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States founded in June 1630.
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.
It is named after Zechariah Field (born in East Ardsley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Eng., about 1600; arrived in Boston, 1629). He was a son of John and grandson of John Field, a distinguished astronomer of England. He lived in Dorchester, 1630. His place of residence is still known as Fields' Corner. [1]
John Field or Feild (1520/1530–1587), was a "proto-Copernican" English astronomer. Field was the son of Richard Field. He was born, it is supposed, at Ardsley in the West Riding of Yorkshire between 1520 and 1530. He received a liberal education, and Joseph Hunter, his descendant, conjectured that part of it was gained under the patronage of Alured Comyn, Prior of Nostell, from which house the cell of Woodkirk, near Ardsley, depended. Anthony à Wood believed that he studied at Oxford.
The area is served by the newly refurbished Fields Corner subway station on the Ashmont branch of the MBTA Red Line. The X-shaped intersection of Adams Street and Dorchester Avenue marks the center of one of Dorchester's busiest commercial districts. The Fields Corner district is distinguished by several landmark buildings, including one of Dorchester's most well-known, One Fields Corner, also known as the Lenane Building or the Liggett Drug Store Building, at 1448-1456 Dorchester Avenue, a triangular building with prominent curved facade dominating the south side of the Adams Street/Dorchester Avenue intersection. On the east side of the intersection is an enormous brick building which houses a U.S. Post Office and is known as the O'Hearn Storage Building, which once housed a music hall and today displays little of its original character as a building designed by noted Dorchester architect Edwin J. Lewis. [2]
The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs roughly northwest-to-southeast across Cambridge and Davis Square in Somerville – from Alewife in North Cambridge to Kendall/MIT in Kendall Square – with a connection to commuter rail at Porter. It then crosses over the Longfellow Bridge into downtown Boston, where it connects with the Green Line at Park Street, the Orange Line at Downtown Crossing, the Silver Line at South Station, as well as Amtrak and commuter rail at the South Station surface terminal before passing through South Boston and Dorchester. South of JFK/UMass in Dorchester, it splits into two branches terminating at Braintree and Ashmont stations; transfers to commuter rail are again possible at JFK/UMass, Quincy Center, and Braintree. From Ashmont, passengers may continue to Mattapan via the Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line, a 2.6-mile (4.2 km) light rail line.
Louis Kroh Liggett was an American drug store magnate who founded L.K. Liggett Drug Company and then Rexall. He was later chairman of United Drug Company. He was a member of the Republican National Committee for Massachusetts.
To the north is the Fields Corner Municipal Building (1874, now housing professional offices), located at 195 Adams Street on the corner of Arcadia Street, and, a short walk up Adams Street, Ronan Park, an 11-acre hilltop park with a gorgeous view to Dorchester Bay. Residential areas such as Meetinghouse Hill, Clam Point, Melville Park surround the Fields Corner business district and are characterized by densely packed three-decker housing or Victorian homes in yards. Residents are a diverse mix of Vietnamese Americans, Hispanic-speaking peoples, and Americans of African descent, and European descent. Fields Corner is known in Boston for its Vietnamese restaurants serving excellent pho (Vietnamese soup), Dorchester's long-standing Irish population is represented by several pubs, including the Blarney Stone, where it is said draft Guinness was first served in the United States.
The Fields Corner Municipal Building is a historic municipal building at 1 Arcadia Street and 195 Adams Street in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1875, it is a prominent local example of Victorian Gothic architecture, probably designed by the city's first official architect, George A. Clough. The building originally housed a police station and library; it has been adaptively reused for professional and commercial purposes. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
