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History Tidbit on Charlestown's City Square
All of the current developments in City Square may seem unique, but they are in fact simply part of the ongoing change and renewal process that the Square has enjoyed for almost 400 years. If one looks at the Square's history, there has been a cycle of boom and bust over more than three centuries. In the end, however, the Square has always been rebuilt and has grown in scale as new generations hold to a vision for making it more vibrant. Today's City Square construction is simply part of that cycle.
The Square has long been shaped by its location next to deep water and by a series of disasters, such as 18th c. bombardment, 18th and 19th c. fire, and 20th c. demolition, and by rail lines and roadways. Did you know that during the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Square and the rest of Charlestown were burned to the ground? or that a large Town Dock ( a body of water) once reached all the way to where the Ironside Grill is located today and was only filled in the 1830s after a terrible fire burned everything from the Square to the Navy Yard? There have been such disasters, but always there have been bigger plans for the Square.
You may think that today's buildings now rising in the Square are unusually large-scale. However, just after the Civil War, several large buildings framed the Square which became known as a stopping point for travelers. Developer, Moses Gill planned and built a grand brick hotel of 6.5 stories in height and 500 feet in length, called the Waverly House; then he constructed an addition. Both were located where Rutherford Avenue runs today. Right across the Square rose a sparkling new 5-story City Hall with oval park and fountain in front. Look for its picture on an historic marker at the front of today's District Court House on the Square.
In 1874, Charlestown voted to join Boston and became part of Boston's world. Several decades later, the famed elevated rail line, known as the El, was built and cut diagonally across the Square and right down Main Street in 1901. Noise, shadows, and the obstruction of the El supports detracted from City Square's appeal.
With the opening of the Tobin Bridge in 1950, the area really fell on hard times. Bridge traffic emptied into City Square. Then, new overhead ramps were built on the Chelsea Street side of the Square and guaranteed that traffic no longer emptied into the Square but by-passed Charlestown altogether. Businesses failed and buildings emptied and were demolished or boarded up as the Square took on the appearance of a wasteland. Many of us remember these hard times for the Square.
Fortunately, the cycle of renewal was about to kick in again. Interstate-93 opened in 1973, the El came down in 1975. Only the ramps over City Square, now in bad condition, remained. The Massachusetts Department of Public Works wanted to take those ramps down and rebuild them bigger. Fortunately, some Charlestown residents were determined to remove the ramps once for all. They approached the MDPW with plans to put the highway underground. That group, called the North Area Task Force, monitored and lobbied the State for 20 years and the plans were adopted. Then Roughan Hall, where Keane, Inc. and Olives are now located, was rehabbed in 1985; and a $5,000,000 City Square Park became a reality in 1994.
There has been no looking back since. Several years ago, resident activists worked with the Highway Department to structure development programs for each of the parcels created by the underground highway. These include: Parcel 1, now with completed residential development; Parcel 2; Parcel 3; Parcel 4; Parcel 5, where the City Square Park is located; and Parcel 6. Please consult the earlier article, What's Going on in Charlestown's City Square? for further details about these developments.
These introductory historical comments were made by Carol Bratley during the May 23rd Business Association meeting concerning new developments in City Square. She wishes to acknowledge the source information provided by Ken Stone and by Roads and Ruins, published by the Central Transportation Planning Staff of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works in 1979.
Copyright 2004 Charlestown Business Association
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HISTORIC BUSINESSES
King & Co., a Division of H.R. Hatch Ins. Agency, Inc.
30 years
McCarthy Bros. Liquors*
112 years
Whittemore-Wright Company, Inc.
90 years
The Cooperative Bank
87 years
Liberty Bell Wholesale Grocery Co. Inc.*
76 years
Catalano Bros., Inc.*
86 years
The Warren Tavern
Built 1780; reopened 1972
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