Powder House Square

	Powder House Park
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	View of the Powder House Square rotary from Warner Street
Location	Somerville, Massachusetts, United States
Coordinates	42°24′00″N71°06′58″W / 42.40000°N 71.11611°W
NRHP reference No.	75000287
Added to NRHP	May 21, 1975

Last updated November 06, 2024

Powder House Square is a neighborhood and landmark rotary in Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. It is also known locally as Powder House Circle. It is the six-way intersection of College Avenue, Broadway, Warner Street, and Powder House Boulevard. Powder House Square stands at the southern tip of Tufts University's main Somerville/Medford campus, and borders the northern edge of Nathan Tufts Park. The square takes its name from the 18th century Powder House, which overlooks the rotary from Nathan Tufts Park.

History

Broadway was one of the earliest highways running through what would later become Somerville, originating in the 17th century. Originally called "Menotomie's Road," it ran from Charlestown to the settlement at Menotomy (present-day Arlington).

Powder House Boulevard was created in 1900, extending northwest from Broadway at Nathan Tufts Park. According to a plaque placed at the center of the rotary island, the circle was dedicated in 1940 as the James A. Reynolds Traffic Circle, in honor of a Tufts College professor.

Old Powder House

First built for use as a windmill by John Mallet in the early 1703 or 1704, the Old Powder House was sold to the colonial government of Massachusetts for use as a gunpowder magazine in 1747. It is the oldest stone building in Massachusetts.^[2] Located at the intersection of Broadway and College Avenue in present-day Powder House Square, the Old Powder House held the largest supply of gunpowder in the colony. General Thomas Gage, who had become the military governor of Massachusetts in May 1774, was charged with enforcement of the highly unpopular Intolerable Acts, which the British Parliament had passed in response to the Boston Tea Party. Seeking to prevent the outbreak of war, he believed that the best way to accomplish this was by secretly removing military stores from storehouses and arsenals in New England.^[3]

The Old Powder House as it stood in 1935 atop the hill at Nathan Tufts Park, overlooking Powder House Square SomervillePowderhouse1935.jpg — The Old Powder House as it stood in 1935 atop the hill at Nathan Tufts Park, overlooking Powder House Square

Powder Alarm

Just after dawn on September 1, 1774, a force of roughly 260 British regulars from the 4th Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Maddison, were rowed in secrecy up the Mystic River from Boston to a landing point near Winter Hill. From there they marched about a mile to the Powder House, and after sunrise removed all of the gunpowder. Most of the regulars then returned to Boston the way they had come, but a small contingent marched on to Cambridge, seizing two field pieces from the Cambridge Common.^[4] The field pieces and powder were then taken from Boston to the British stronghold on Castle Island, then known as Castle William (renamed Fort Independence in 1779).^[5]

In response to the raid, amid rumors that blood had been shed, alarm spread through the countryside as far as Connecticut and beyond, and American Patriots sprang into action, fearing that war was at hand. Thousands of militiamen began streaming toward Boston and Cambridge, and mob action forced Loyalists and some government officials to flee to the protection of the British Army. This action provided a "dress rehearsal" for the Battles of Lexington and Concord seven months later in the famous "shot heard 'round the world".^[6] This did however, inflame already heated feelings on both sides and would spur actions by both British and American forces to move both powder and cannons to secure locations.^[7]

After the Revolutionary War

Massachusetts began storing gunpowder elsewhere and sold the land containing the Powder House to Peter Tufts in 1818. The estate, known as the Powder House Farm, was used as a farm and residence for the Tufts family for most of the 19th century, passing to Peter's heir, Nathan Tufts. Incidentally, another Tufts relative Charles Tufts donated the land across Broadway on the Somerville/Medford line to found Tufts College (now Tufts University). The college was founded in 1852, on Walnut Hill slightly to the north of present-day Powder House Square.

In the 1870s, a pickle and condiment manufacturer named George Emerson began making pickles nearby, housing his business in a large shed that he moved to the property from another location in Somerville. The powder house itself, with its two-foot thick stone walls, was well-insulated and made a perfect place for storing Emerson's "Old Powder House Brand" pickles.^[8]

The descendants of Nathan Tufts donated the Powder House Farm along with its namesake structure to the city in 1890, and from this Nathan Tufts Park was established in 1893.

The Field House was constructed in 1935-36 using stones from the 1934-demolished Somerville Highlands railroad station, which had closed in 1927 when passenger service on the Fitchburg Cutoff ended.^[9]^[10] Sponsored by the Federal Relief Administration as a Work Projects Administration Project, it has served many purposes over the years, including as an office for the Draft Board, then for the Traffic and Parking Department, and most recently as a Youth Program center. The building underwent significant repairs and restoration work both inside and outside during 2001–2002, and is now available for public use by petition.

In celebration of its 100th birthday, the City of Somerville (whose seal had previously depicted George Washington) created a new city seal, featuring the Powder House.

Nathan Tufts Park (along with the Powder House) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, the first of many landmarks in Somerville to be added. The City of Somerville designated the park a local historic district in 1985.

An accidental fire damaged the Powder House in 1998, leading to extensive repairs and renovations in 2000–2001.^[7]

Powder House Square today

Small bronze sculptured monuments can be seen around Nathan Tufts Park referring to the site's past uses as a farm, a mill, storage for gunpowder, and even a pickle factory.

The island within the actual traffic circle is a tiny park on its own, complete with walkways, benches, and neatly arranged bushes and other flora. There is a large 360 degree directional post that points in the direction of dozens of different communities (like Arlington, Medford, and Winchester).

Powder House Square is located less than a half mile from Davis Square, Teele Square and Ball Square in Somerville. It is served by MBTA buses 80 (Arlington Center/Lechmere), 89 (Clarendon Hill/Sullivan Square), 94 (Davis Square/Medford Square), and 96 (Harvard Station/Medford Square). Red Line subway service to Harvard Square and downtown Boston is conveniently close at Davis Square Station. Powder House Square is approximately one mile from Exit 31 of I-93.

An MBTA station at Ball Square, part of the Green Line Extension project, is a short walk from Powder House Square, making it now within a half mile of the Green Line in addition to the nearby Red Line station at Davis Square.

Several businesses thrive on or around Powder House Square, including restaurants, several small medical and dental practices, and a funeral home.

Related Research Articles

Medford is a city 6.7 miles (10.8 km) northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somerville border.

Somerville is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area of 4.12 square miles (10.7 km²), the city has a density of 19,671/sq mi (7,595/km²), making it the most densely populated municipality in New England and the 19th most densely populated incorporated municipality in the country. Somerville was established as a town in 1842, when it was separated from Charlestown. In 2006, the city was named the best-run city in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe. In 1972, 2009, and 2015, the city received the All-America City Award. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus along the Somerville and Medford border. Tufts, alongside Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, makes up one corner of the Brain Power Triangle, which thus includes the city of Somerville.

The Mystic River is a 7.0-mile-long (11.3 km) river in Massachusetts. In the Massachusett language, missi-tuk means "large estuary", alluding to the tidal nature of the Mystic River. The resemblance to the English word mystic is a coincidence, which the colonists followed.

Davis Square is a major intersection in the northwestern section of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, where several streets meet: Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue. The name is often used to refer to the West Somerville neighborhood surrounding the square as well.

The Somerville Community Path is a paved rail trail in Somerville, Massachusetts, running 3.2 miles (5.1 km) from Massachusetts Avenue to East Cambridge via Davis Square. The first portion opened in 1985 along part of the former Fitchburg Cutoff rail line. Extensions opened in 1994 and 2015. A further 1.9-mile (3.1 km) extension to East Cambridge opened in June 2023 as part of the Green Line Extension project. It is a section of the partially completed Mass Central Rail Trail.

Ball Square is a neighborhood primarily in Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, but also extending into Medford, at the intersection of Boston Avenue and Broadway, located between Powder House Square and Magoun Square. It is primarily a residential area with a handful of shops and restaurants along Broadway. Located on the edge of the neighborhood surrounding Tufts University, Ball Square contains a mix of businesses serving the student and academic populations as well as those reflecting the more blue-collar neighborhoods to the east.

Teele Square is at the intersection of Broadway, Holland Street, and Curtis Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, a half-mile from Davis Square and the Davis Square stop on the MBTA Red Line, as well as a half-mile from Alewife Brook Parkway and Powder House Square. The square sits on Clarendon Hill, one of the seven hills in Somerville. The square is named after Jonathan W. Teele, who resided in an early portion of Charlestown that eventually became Somerville in 1842.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powder Alarm</span> 1774 event leading up to the Revolutionary War

The MassachusettsPowder Alarm was a major popular reaction to the removal of gunpowder from a magazine near Boston by British soldiers under orders from General Thomas Gage, royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on September 1, 1774. In response to this action, amid rumors that blood had been shed, alarm spread through the countryside to Connecticut and beyond, and American Patriots sprang into action, fearing that war was at hand. Thousands of militiamen began streaming toward Boston and Cambridge, and mob action forced Loyalists and some government officials to flee to the protection of the British Army. A similar event, also called The Powder Alarm, occurred in Virginia in April, 1775.

Winter Hill is a neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts, United States. It takes its name from the 120-foot hill that occupies its landscape, the name of which dates back to the 18th century. Winter Hill is located roughly north of Medford Street, west of McGrath Highway, and east of Magoun Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunpowder Incident</span> 1775 conflict of the American Revolutionary War

The Gunpowder Incident was a conflict early in the American Revolutionary War between Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, and militia led by Patrick Henry. On April 21, 1775, two days after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Lord Dunmore ordered the removal of the gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg, Virginia to a Royal Navy ship.

Spring Hill is the name of a ridge in the central part of the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, and the residential neighborhood that sits atop it. It runs northwest to southeast, roughly bounded by Highland Avenue, Somerville Avenue, Elm Street, and Willow Avenue. Summer Street runs along the hill's crest.

Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, and heads north on the east bank of Alewife Brook, crossing into West Somerville and ending at the Mystic River on the Medford town line, where it becomes Mystic Valley Parkway. The entire length of Alewife Brook Parkway is designated as part of Massachusetts Route 16 (Route 16), while the southernmost sections are also designated as part of Route 2 and U.S. Route 3 (US 3). It is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation responsible for bridge maintenance.

The Fells Connector Parkways are a group of historic parkways in the cities of Malden and Medford, Massachusetts, suburbs north of the city of Boston. The three parkways, The Fellsway, Fellsway West, and Fellsway East serve to provide access from the lower portion of the Mystic River Reservation to the Middlesex Fells Reservation. The latter two parkways continue northward, providing access to the interior of the Fells and providing a further connection to Lynn Fells Parkway. Significant portions of these parkways south of the Fells, which were among the first connecting parkways designed to be part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston by Charles Eliot, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Ten Hills is a neighborhood in the northeastern part of the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. The area is roughly wedge-shaped, about 50 acres (200,000 m²) in size, and is bounded by the Mystic River to the north, McGrath Highway to the east, and is largely separated from the rest of Somerville by Interstate 93 to the southwest. Ten Hills is next to Assembly Square in the east, and Winter Hill in the southwest. The neighborhood landscape is predominated by a single hill, the peak of which is roughly at the intersection of Temple and Putnam Roads. The Ten Hills neighborhood is located in Ward 4, Precinct 1 of the City of Somerville, which is in the 34th district of Middlesex County.

The Green Line Extension (GLX) was a construction project to extend the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line light rail system northwest into Somerville and Medford, two inner suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. The project opened in two phases in 2022 at a total cost of $2.28 billion. Total ridership on the 4.3-mile (6.9 km) extension is estimated to reach 45,000 one-way trips per day in 2030.

The Mystic River Reservation is a publicly owned nature preserve with recreational features located along the Mystic River in the towns of Winchester, Arlington, Medford, Somerville, Everett, and Chelsea in eastern Massachusetts. The reserve is part of the nearly 76-square-mile (200 km²) Mystic River watershed. It is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Sullivan Square is a traffic circle located at the north end of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after James Sullivan, an early 19th-century Governor of Massachusetts. The MBTA Orange Line station of the same name is located just west of the square.

Ball Square station is a light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line located at Ball Square in Somerville and Medford, Massachusetts. The accessible station has a single island platform serving the two tracks of the Medford Branch. It opened on December 12, 2022, as part of the Green Line Extension (GLX), which added two northern branches to the Green Line, and is served by the E branch.

Magoun Square station is a light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line located at Lowell Street south of Magoun Square in Somerville, Massachusetts. The accessible station has a single island platform serving the two tracks of the Medford Branch. It opened on December 12, 2022, as part of the Green Line Extension (GLX), which added two northern branches to the Green Line, and is served by the E branch.

The following is a timeline of the history of Somerville, Massachusetts, US.

References

↑ Balestrieri, Steve (September 9, 2011). "The Powder Alarm sets the stage for revolution". millbury.dailyvoice.com. The Millbury Daily Voice. Archived from the original on December 10, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
↑ Parks & Open Space Department. "A Visitor's Guide to Nathan Tufts Park" (PDF). somervillema.gov. City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
↑ Parks & Open Space Department. "A Visitor's Guide to Nathan Tufts Park" (PDF). somervillema.gov. City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
↑ Fischer, pp. 44–45
↑ Richmond, Robert P (1971). Powder Alarm 1774 . Princeton, NJ: Auerbach. ISBN 978-0-87769-073-3. OCLC 162197.
↑ Thompson, Bob (Summer 2024). "The Revolution Could Have Started Here". AMERICAN HERITAGE. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
1 2 Haskell, Albert. "Haskell's Historical Guide Book of Somerville, Massachusetts" (PDF). somervillema.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 8, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
↑ Gordon, Edward W. "From Powder House Pickles to Ball Square Brick Yards: Rapid Suburban Growth in West Somerville at the Turn of the Twentieth Century" (PDF). somervillema.gov. City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2013.
↑ "Somerville, Massachusetts Area and Site Guide" (PDF). City of Somerville. September 24, 2008. p. 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 6, 2014.
↑ "Somerville". Boston Globe. November 19, 1934. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

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[1] Balestrieri, Steve (September 9, 2011). "The Powder Alarm sets the stage for revolution". millbury.dailyvoice.com. The Millbury Daily Voice. Archived from the original on December 10, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

[2] Parks & Open Space Department. "A Visitor's Guide to Nathan Tufts Park" (PDF). somervillema.gov. City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2014.

[3] Parks & Open Space Department. "A Visitor's Guide to Nathan Tufts Park" (PDF). somervillema.gov. City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

[Fischer44-4] Fischer, pp. 44–45

[5] Richmond, Robert P (1971). Powder Alarm 1774 . Princeton, NJ: Auerbach. ISBN 978-0-87769-073-3. OCLC 162197.

[6] Thompson, Bob (Summer 2024). "The Revolution Could Have Started Here". AMERICAN HERITAGE. Retrieved July 4, 2024.

[somervillema.gov-7] 1 2 Haskell, Albert. "Haskell's Historical Guide Book of Somerville, Massachusetts" (PDF). somervillema.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 8, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2013.

[8] Gordon, Edward W. "From Powder House Pickles to Ball Square Brick Yards: Rapid Suburban Growth in West Somerville at the Turn of the Twentieth Century" (PDF). somervillema.gov. City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2013.

[9] "Somerville, Massachusetts Area and Site Guide" (PDF). City of Somerville. September 24, 2008. p. 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 6, 2014.

[10] "Somerville". Boston Globe. November 19, 1934. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.

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