North Square in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, sits at the intersection of Moon, Prince, North, Garden Court and Sun Court Streets. Paul Revere lived here, as did other notables in the 17th and 18th centuries. Prior to July 4, 1788, the area was known as Clarke's Square. [1]
In the 17th century, Old North Meeting House anchored the neighborhood. Its pastor was Increase Mather, who lived in the square until his residence was destroy by fire. [2] On November 27, 1676, Mather's home, the meeting house, and a total of 45 buildings in the North End were destroyed by a fire. [3] The meeting house was rebuilt soon afterwards, and the Paul Revere House was later constructed on the site of the Mather House. [4]
"In the eighteenth century Boston's two grandest houses were on North Square. ... William Clark, merchant, had a 3-story brick house with 26 lavish rooms, and nearby, facing the garden court, was John Foster's house, later occupied by Governor Hutchinson." [5] John Pitcairn and John Downes also lived in the square. [6]
After the death of George A. Scigliano in 1906, North End residents lobbied to build a monument to him in North Square and rename it Scigliano Square. Instead, the North End Park near Copp's Hill was renamed Scigliano Park in his honor. [7]
In the 20th century, as was typical of the North End generally, predominantly Italian immigrants lived in the square.
Since the 1950s, North Square has been along the path of the Freedom Trail.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
The North End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the city's oldest residential community, having been inhabited since it was colonized in the 1630s. It is only 0.36 square miles (0.93 km2), yet the neighborhood has nearly one hundred establishments and a variety of tourist attractions. It is known for its Italian American population and Italian restaurants.
The Old North Church, is an Episcopal mission church located in the North End neighborhood of Boston. The church, which was built in 1723, is the oldest standing church building in Boston and a National Historic Landmark.
Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is also the location of the Massachusetts State House. The term "Beacon Hill" is used locally as a metonym to refer to the state government or the legislature itself, much like Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Hill does at the federal level.
The Paul Revere House, built c.1680, was the colonial home of American Patriot and Founding Father Paul Revere during the time of the American Revolution. A National Historic Landmark since 1961, it is located at 19 North Square, Boston, Massachusetts, in the city's North End, and is now operated as a nonprofit museum by the Paul Revere Memorial Association. An admission fee is charged.
Long Wharf is a historic American pier in Boston, Massachusetts, built between 1710 and 1721. It once extended from State Street nearly a half-mile into Boston Harbor; today, the much-shortened wharf functions as a dock for passenger ferries and sightseeing boats.
Charles Street is a north-south street in the city center of Boston, Massachusetts. It begins in the north at Leverett Circle, where it connects with Nashua Street and Monsignor O'Brien Highway. Science Park station on the MBTA Green Line is located there. Charles Street runs south and gives its name to the Charles/MGH station on the MBTA Red Line, connecting via the Charles Circle rotary to Cambridge Street and the Longfellow Bridge which leads to Cambridge. This segment is a one-way street, with traffic heading northwards.
Louisburg Square is a street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bisected by a small private park. The park, which is bounded by Pinckney Street to the north and Mount Vernon Street to the south, is maintained by the Louisburg Square Proprietors. While the Proprietors pay taxes to the City of Boston, the city does not own the park or its garden.
The Mather School is the oldest public elementary school in North America. It is located in the Dorchester region of Boston, Massachusetts and was named after Richard Mather. Mather was an English-born American Congregational minister who emigrated to Boston and settled in Dorchester in 1635.
First Church in Boston is a Unitarian Universalist Church founded in 1630 by John Winthrop's original Puritan settlement in Boston, Massachusetts. The current building, located on 66 Marlborough Street in the Back Bay neighborhood, was designed by Paul Rudolph in a modernist style after a fire in 1968. It incorporates part of the earlier gothic revival building designed by William Robert Ware and Henry Van Brunt in 1867. The church has long been associated with Harvard University.
Prince Street is a street in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It runs for around 0.32 miles (0.51 km), from Causeway Street and Commercial Street in the northwest to North Square at Garden Court Street in the southeast. It is one-way, southbound, except for the block between Hanover Street and Garden Court Street, which is northbound. Prince Street was originally known as Black Horse Lane. Causeway Street, meanwhile, was formerly Endicott Street.
The Bunch-of-Grapes was a tavern located on King Street in Boston in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the 17th and 18th centuries. It served multiple functions in the life of the town, as one could buy drinks and meet friends, business associates, political co-conspirators. The facade of the Bunch-of-Grapes building featured an iconic sign: "Three gilded clusters of grapes dangled temptingly over the door before the eye of the passer-by."
Federal Street is a street in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to 1788, it was known as Long Lane. The street was renamed after state leaders met there in 1788 to determine Massachusetts' ratification of the United States Constitution.
Hanover Street is located in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts.
Brattle Street, which existed from 1694 to 1962, was a street in Boston, Massachusetts, located on the current site of City Hall Plaza, at Government Center.
William Clark was a merchant and town official in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Around 1713 he built a large house at North Square in Boston's North End.
The Custom House in Boston, Massachusetts, was established in the 17th century and stood near the waterfront in several successive locations through the years. In 1849 the U.S. federal government constructed a neoclassical building on State Street; it remains the "Custom House" known to Bostonians today. A tower was added in 1915; the building joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1986.
North Street in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, extends from Congress Street to Commercial Street. It runs past Dock Square, Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and North Square. It was first named in 1852, and consists of segments of streets formerly named Ann, Fish, Ship, Drawbridge, and Conduit Streets.
Pemberton Square in the Government Center area of Boston, Massachusetts, was developed by P.T. Jackson in the 1830s as an architecturally uniform mixed-use enclave surrounding a small park. In the mid-19th century both private residences and businesses dwelt there. The construction in 1885 of the massive John Adams Courthouse changed the scale and character of the square, as did the Center Plaza building in the 1960s.
Meeting House Hill is one of the oldest sections of Boston's historic Dorchester neighborhood. It is the site of the First Parish Church and the Mather School, the oldest public elementary school in North America. Located immediately to the north of Fields Corner, it is within walking distance of the Fields Corner and Savin Hill MBTA stations.
