Watertown Square

Last updated
Watertown Square
Neighborhood and road intersection
MBTA route 71 trolleybus leaving Watertown Square, October 2019.jpg
Looking southwest across the square from the corner of Mount Auburn Street and North Beacon Street (2019)
Watertown Square
Location in Watertown, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°21′55″N71°11′04″W / 42.3652°N 71.1844°W / 42.3652; -71.1844
State Massachusetts
County Middlesex
City Watertown

Watertown Square is a neighborhood in Watertown, Massachusetts, [1] centered on the intersection of Main Street [2] and North Beacon Street (both part of U.S. Route 20) and Galen Street and Mount Auburn Street (both part of State Route 16).

Contents

The square stands immediately to the north of the Charles River, [3] which is crossed by the Watertown Bridge on Galen Street. The Armenian Library and Museum of America is located in the square; Watertown Dam is 1,000 feet (300 m) to the west.

MBTA bus routes 59 and 71 terminate in a busway on the west side of the square, while route 70 stops on the north side.

History

Postcard of Watertown station Watertown station postcard.jpg
Postcard of Watertown station

The Watertown Branch Railroad opened through Watertown Square in 1847. Passenger service on the line ended on July 9, 1938, and the second track was removed by early 1940. [4] The middle section of the line from the Waltham/Watertown line through Watertown Square to East Watertown was abandoned in 1960. The former Watertown station was reused as a lumber company by 1968, but later demolished. [5]

In September 2023, a new plan for the square was announced by the City of Watertown. [6] The city plans to reconfigure the square to add public space and support future housing development. Charles River Road and Riverside Street would be rerouted to the east, creating a standard four-way intersection between Main/North Beacon and Galen/Mount Auburn. MBTA routes 59 and 71 would be extended to Watertown Yard, with the Columbus Delta park expanded onto the former busway area. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenmore station</span> Subway station in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Kenmore station is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line, located under Kenmore Square in the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The station opened on October 23, 1932 as a one-station extension of the Boylston Street subway to relieve congestion in the square. Kenmore is the primary station for passengers wishing to visit Fenway Park, located one block away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alewife station</span> Rapid transit station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

Alewife station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transit station in the North Cambridge neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the northwest terminal of the rapid transit Red Line and a hub for several MBTA bus routes. The station is at the confluence of the Minuteman Bikeway, Alewife Linear Park, Fitchburg Cutoff Path, and Alewife Greenway off Alewife Brook Parkway adjacent to Massachusetts Route 2, with a five-story parking garage for park and ride use. The station has three bike cages. Alewife station is named after nearby Alewife Brook Parkway and Alewife Brook, themselves named after the alewife fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard station</span> Subway station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

Harvard station is a rapid transit and bus transfer station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Located at Harvard Square, it serves the MBTA's Red Line subway system as well as MBTA buses. Harvard averaged 18,528 entries each weekday in FY2019, making it the third-busiest MBTA station after Downtown Crossing and South Station. Five of the fifteen key MBTA bus routes stop at the station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MBTA bus</span> Greater Boston bus network

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates 152 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance for all residents living in areas with population densities greater than 5,000 inhabitants per square mile (1,900/km2) within the MBTA's service district. Much of this service is provided by bus. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 91,459,700, or about 303,300 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lechmere station</span> Light rail station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

Lechmere station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line light rail station in Lechmere Square in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is located on the east side of Monsignor O'Brien Highway near First Street, adjacent to the NorthPoint development. The accessible elevated station has a single island platform, with headhouses at both ends. It opened on March 21, 2022, as part of the Green Line Extension (GLX). Lechmere station is served by Green Line D branch and E branch service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reservoir station (MBTA)</span> Light rail station in Brookline, Massachusetts, US

Reservoir station is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located in Brookline, Massachusetts, adjacent to the Cleveland Circle area of Brighton. The station is adjacent to Reservoir Yard and Carhouse, with the Cleveland Circle terminus of the C branch just a block away. With a daily ridership of 3,395, Reservoir is the second-busiest surface stop on the D branch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Elevated Railway</span> Defunct public transit company serving the Boston metro area, MA, USA (1894-1947)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MBTA key bus routes</span> Bus routes utilized and ran by the MBTA

Key bus routes of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) system are 15 routes that have high ridership and higher frequency standards than other bus lines, according to the 2004 MBTA Service Policy. Together, they account for roughly 40% of the MBTA's total bus ridership. These key bus routes ensure basic geographic coverage with frequent service in the densest areas of Boston, and connect to other MBTA services to give access to other areas throughout the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton and Boston Street Railway</span>

The Newton and Boston Street Railway was a streetcar company in the Boston, Massachusetts area, eventually bought by the Middlesex and Boston Street Railway. Its line is now the 59 Needham Junction – Watertown Square via Newtonville bus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Line A branch</span> Former streetcar line in Massachusetts, US

The A branch or Watertown Line was a streetcar line in the Boston, Massachusetts, area, operating as a branch of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line. The line ran from Watertown through Newton Corner, Brighton, and Allston to Kenmore Square, then used the Boylston Street subway and Tremont Street subway to reach Park Street station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trolleybuses in Greater Boston</span> Electric powered public transportation

The Boston-area trolleybus system formed part of the public transportation network serving Greater Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It opened on April 11, 1936, with a large network operating for the next quarter-century. Measured by fleet size, the Boston-area system was the second-largest trolleybus system in the United States at its peak, with only the Chicago system having more trolleybuses than Boston's 463. After 1963, the only remaining portion was a four-route cluster operating from the Harvard bus tunnel at Harvard station, running through Cambridge, Belmont, and Watertown. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority took over the routes in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston-area streetcar lines</span>

As with many large cities, a large number of Boston-area streetcar lines once existed, and many continued operating into the 1950s. However, only a few now remain, namely the four branches of the Green Line and the Ashmont–Mattapan High-Speed Line, with only one running regular service on an undivided street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sullivan Square station</span> Rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Sullivan Square station is a rapid transit station on the MBTA subway Orange Line, located adjacent to Sullivan Square in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is a major transfer point for MBTA bus service, with 12 routes using a two-level busway. The station has two island platforms serving the two active Orange Line tracks plus an unused third track. The Haverhill Line and Newburyport/Rockport Line pass through the station on separate tracks but do not stop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">86 (MBTA bus)</span> Bus route in Greater Boston

Route 86 is a local bus route in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as part of MBTA bus service. It operates on a circumferential route between Sullivan Square station and Reservoir station via Union Square, Somerville, Harvard Square, and Brighton Center. In 2018, it had the 18th-highest weekday ridership on the system, though it ranked 37th by number of weekday trips. A 2018–19 MBTA review of its bus system found that route 86 had infrequent and unreliable service, including irregular scheduled headways, despite its high ridership and significance as a crosstown connecting route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood Island station</span> Rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Wood Island station is an MBTA Blue Line rapid transit station located off Bennington Street in the Day Square section of East Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. The station is adjacent to and named for the former Wood Island Park, a once heavily used recreational area for East Boston residents. Most of the park was destroyed in the mid 1960s to expand Logan International Airport. It was built in 1952, replacing a pair of Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad stations that served the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watertown Yard</span> Bus terminal in Massachusetts, US

Watertown Carhouse is a bus maintenance facility and former streetcar carhouse located in the southern section of Watertown, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Watertown Square. As Watertown Yard, the site also serves as a bus depot serving local and express routes 52, 57, 59, and 504, with additional connections available at Watertown Square station on the opposite end of the Watertown Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watertown Branch Railroad</span> Former rail right of way being converted to multi use path

The Watertown Branch Railroad was a branch loop of the Fitchburg Railroad that was meant to serve the town of Watertown and the City of Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, as an independent short line railroad; it also serviced the Watertown Arsenal. The line has been formally abandoned and portions have been converted into a rail trail, the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway. A section from School Street to Arlington Street in Watertown was completed first. A small portion in Waltham has been converted into a park called Chemistry Station Park after the railroad station once located there. Construction of an extension to Fresh Pond Reservation in Cambridge began in the summer of 2018 and was completed in June 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts Route 16</span> Highway in Massachusetts

Route 16 is a 59.8646-mile-long (96.3427 km) east–west state highway in Massachusetts. It begins in the west at an intersection with Route 12 and Route 193 in Webster, just north of the Connecticut state border. It runs in a generally southwest-northeast routing through a number of Boston's suburbs and runs to the west and then north of the city before ending in Revere at an intersection with Route 1A and Route 60.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Square, Boston</span>

Union Square is a square in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Brighton Avenue/North Beacon Street. Union Square is serviced by the MBTA 57, 64, 66, 501, and 503 buses. There is also a station for the Blue Bikes bicycle sharing system in Union Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton Corner station</span> Transit hub in Newton, Massachusetts, US

Newton Corner is an MBTA bus transfer point in the Newton Corner neighborhood of Newton, Massachusetts, located on the rotary where Washington Street crosses the Massachusetts Turnpike. The Newton Corner station, known simply as Newton for much of its lifetime, served commuters on the Worcester Line from 1834 to 1959. A streetcar stop, located on the surface streets, served a number of routes beginning in 1863, including the Green Line A branch until 1969. Newton Corner is now a stop and transfer point for MBTA routes 52, 57, 501, 504, 553, 554, 556, and 558, which include express routes to downtown Boston as well as local routes, with stops on the north and south sides of the rotary.

References

  1. Marcus, Cara (2018). Watertown Square Through Time. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-1-63500-063-4.
  2. "Watertown Square from the Delta". www.digitalcommonwealth.org. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  3. Marchione, William P. (2004-04-01). The Charles: A River Transformed. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7385-3539-5.
  4. Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1986). Boston's Commuter Rail: Second Section. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 52. ISBN   9780938315025.
  5. O'Connell, Richard W. (August 18, 1968). "Old railroad depots take on new careers". Boston Globe. p. A-1 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Watertown Square Area Plan". Watertown Square Area Plan. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  7. "Watertown Square Area Plan Project Update" (PDF). City of Watertown. April 4, 2024. pp. 88–97.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Watertown Square at Wikimedia Commons