Adams Square (1879–1963) was a square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Now demolished, it was formerly located on the site of the current
Boston City Hall
Boston City Hall is the seat of local government in the United States, city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the List of mayors of Boston, mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in ...
in
Government Center.
History
The square was a product of the 1873–74 extension of
Washington Street to
Haymarket Square, which created a large open space at the junction of
Cornhill,
Brattle
:''There is another Woodchurch in Kent, a hamlet in the Manston civil parish within the Thanet district.''
Woodchurch is a Kent village, the largest civil parish in the Borough of Ashford. It is centred from the market town of Ashford and fr ...
, Washington, and Devonshire Streets. In 1879 the city decided to erect a statue of the
Patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot(s) or The Patriot(s) may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American R ...
and statesman
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams (, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, Political philosophy, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts, a le ...
at this spot, and the area was accordingly given the name Adams Square that same year. During its early history the square was part of a thriving retail district near the northern end of Washington Street and was the home of
Leopold Morse & Co., one of the largest clothing retailers in the city.
In 1898 Adams Square became a stop along the
Tremont Street Subway
The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third-oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (after the City and South London Railway in 1890, and Line 1 ...
(the predecessor to the
MBTA
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
Green Line) with the opening of
Adams Square Station, whose large granite
head house
A head house or headhouse may be an enclosed building attached to an open-sided shed, including the piers extending into a waterway, or the aboveground part of a subway station.
Markets
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, head houses were oft ...
became the principal architectural feature of the area. Subsequent alterations to the square in the early twentieth century were undertaken in an effort to relieve congestion caused by increasing automobile traffic. In 1928 the city removed the Adams statue and relocated it to adjacent
Dock Square in order to improve traffic flow, and three years later the original head house of the subway station was torn down to increase driver visibility and replaced with a significantly smaller entranceway.
In the mid-20th century the square was targeted for
urban renewal
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
as part of the
Government Center project. It was demolished in 1963 and replaced with
Boston City Hall
Boston City Hall is the seat of local government in the United States, city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the List of mayors of Boston, mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in ...
.
[; .]
Images
File:Dock Square 1860.jpg, View from Dock Square toward the future site of Adams Square (center) and Brattle Street (right), 1860
File:1896 DockSq Boston map byStadly BPL 12479 detail.png, Map of Adams Square, 1896
File:Washington Street at Brattle Street (13083215115).jpg, Adams Square looking west toward Brattle Street (left) and Leopold Morse & Co. (center), c. 1895
File:Work on Section 9 in Adams Square looking northerly (19156137036).jpg, Adams Square looking north toward Haymarket Square, during the construction of Adams Square Station, 1897
File:Building on Washington Street between Brattle Street and Cornhill (13473671054).jpg, South side of Adams Square looking west toward Cornhill (left) and Brattle Street (right), 1905
See also
*
Dock Square
*
Scollay Square
300px, Scollay Square, Boston, 19th century (after September 1880)
350px, Scollay Square, Decoration Day, 19th century (after September 1880)
Scollay Square (c. 1838–1962) was a city square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was named for ...
Notes
References
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External links
Adams Square– The Curse of the Bambino Musical
Washington Street, Adams Square, Facing North, in 1954–1959– Perpetual Form of the City, via Dome
{{coord, 42.35988, N, 71.05746, W, type:landmark, display=title
Former buildings and structures in Boston
Squares in Boston
Financial District, Boston
19th century in Boston
Government Center, Boston