Talk:Boston Public Garden

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Ideas for improving the article?[edit]

Question: This article dates the Equestrian Statue of George Washington to 1869, but also provides a link to an article about the sculptor Thomas Ball, which dates the sculpture to 1864. I suppose it is POSSIBLE that the statue was created in 1864 and installed (and dedicated) in the Garden in 1869, but some clarification would be appreciated. STillotson (talk) 15:47, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I've been doing some additions to this article, concentrating on the history of the Public Garden and working on the section of statures and structures. Behind the scenes I've been writing articles on the subjects of some of the statues and turning on the links. It occurs to me that this is a GARDEN, (or so the name would imply). Is there anyone with insight into the care and upkeep of the flowers, bushes and trees who would like to build that end of the article? The BPG is such a wonderful asset for our city, I would like this article to reflect its value! Pmcyclist (talk) 21:23, 26 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Good suggestion. I added a little information on the trees and flowers, but it could stand to be expanded (and sourced) by someone who has the time. 65.213.77.129 (talk) 18:07, 27 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! Every contribution helps! Sometimes I wish I was a gardener, but really I'm more of a historian. pmcyclist (talk) 00:55, 28 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I think it should be noted that while the original bridge built in 1867 was indeed a suspension bridge, it was rebuilt (I think) in 1921 with columns that support the structure from the ground. (In fact, you can see just by looking at it that it's not a suspension bridge, despite the decorative elements.) I'm trying to find a book that detailed the myth of the "smallest suspension bridge", but it's not on line anywhere and I can't remember the title. I'll have to check Barnes and Noble, which is where I saw it originally. There's a clue about this in Google Books in the "Annual Report" from the Boston Public Works Department in 1923, page 71. --Frito-Jay (talk) 17:58, 29 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Picture gallery thoughts?[edit]

I moved all the photos to a gallery at the bottom and added new photos. I did this because the length of the photos was beginning to exceed the length of the article! Now, however, the article seems a little bland. Do you think we should sprinkle some of the more scenic photos back in the article?

Pmcyclist (talk) 19:55, 27 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Marvel Comics appereance[edit]

In Marvel Comics the Washington Statue was used, inside the Public Garden, by the hero called Captain Britain to smash murdering Nazis. U.S. Avengers #10, published in 2017. Lots42 (talk) 20:28, 15 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Recent move[edit]

Bad move. No one calls it that and it sounds weird. E Eng 17:20, 10 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Ahecht: Care to share your thoughts? ---Another Believer _(Talk) 01:24, 13 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@EEng and Another Believer: As a Bostonian, I can say that lots of people do call it that, and WP:NATURALDIS says that we should prefer slightly less common names over official names with parenthetical disambiguation. Its official website uses the term in its last paragraph: The non-profit citizen’s advocacy group Friends of the Public Garden and Common formed in 1970 to preserve and enhance the Boston Public Garden, Common, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall in collaboration with the Mayor and the Parks Department of the City of Boston, as does the website for the Swan Boats in the garden: The MBTA Green Line Arlington Station is the closest train stop to the Boston Public Garden. The National Park Service has a page titled Boston Public Garden that uses that name several times. Other sites using the term include tripadvisor (which is based just ouside of Boston), US News & World Report, Old Town Trolley Tours (one of the major tour providers in the city), the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the websites of several local hotels. A search of articles from Boston's main newspaper, the Boston Globe, shows that they've used the term 21 times so far in 2019. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 16:05, 14 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Well, as a Bostonian who lives just a few blocks from the Public Garden, I can assure you it wouldn't occur to anyone to say, "Oh, and be sure to see the Boston Public Garden while you're here!" When I said "no one" I obviously didn't mean you couldn't find scattered loose use, or use in which Boston has obviously been added for convenience. The final sentence you cite in the "official website"

The non-profit citizen’s advocacy group Friends of the Public Garden and Common formed in 1970 to preserve and enhance the Boston Public Garden, Common, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall

hardly inspires confidence that careful wordsmithing was brought to bear. E Eng 05:51, 15 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@EEng: Perhaps locally, no one says "Boston Public Garden", but how would you refer to the garden in conversation with someone in Europe? We should keep 'natural disambiguation' in mind while determining the most appropriate title based on secondary coverage. If there's disagreement, a request for comment may be necessary. Making you and User:Ahecht aware of the category discussion below as well. Thanks. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 15:20, 18 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You'd say, "Another place you shouldn't miss while you're here is the Public Garden", just like someone from Tokyo would say, "Be sure to see the Imperial Palace East Gardens" (not "Tokyo Imperial Palace East Gardens"). But I'm not going to fuss about this. E Eng 15:45, 18 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Category[edit]

I think there should be a Wikipedia category about this public garden, since there are several related articles. Articles to include:

There should probably also be an article for Equestrian statue of George Washington.

Related to the above discussion, is Category:Boston Public Garden or Category:Public Garden (Boston) a better title? ---Another Believer _(Talk) 02:09, 18 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Eh, no replies, so I went ahead and created Category:Boston Public Garden and Template:Boston Public Garden, per the current title of the article. Feel free to move if the community decides to move the parent article. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 02:29, 20 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]