Tremont Street Subway
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Tremont Street Subway
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A flying junction on the now-abandoned southern section of the Tremont Street Subway, approaching the Pleasant Street Incline
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| Location: | Boston, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates: | 42°21′23″N 71°3′47″W / 42.35639°N 71.06306°WCoordinates: 42°21′23″N 71°3′47″W / 42.35639°N 71.06306°W |
| Built: | 1897 |
| Architect: | Carsen,Howard A. |
| Architectural style: | Classical Revival |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000788[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL: | January 29, 1964 |
The Tremont Street Subway is a tunnel in Boston's subway system, and is the oldest subway tunnel in North America, opening on September 1, 1897.[2] It was originally built as a tunnel to get streetcar lines off the streets, rather than a rapid transit line. It now forms the central part of the Green Line, connecting the Boylston Street station to Park Street and Government Center.
The tunnel originally served stations at Boylston Street, Park Street, Scollay Square, and Adams Square. The latter two stations were substantially altered when Government Center and City Hall replaced Scollay Square and Adams Square in 1963. Adams Square was closed altogether, and Scollay Square station was completely renovated and altered, and the northbound tunnel to Haymarket was rerouted, though the southbound tunnel is still original.
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[edit] Disused southern tunnel
Originally, the subway in 1897 consisted of a main line under Tremont Street that terminated at Park Street, and two forks to the south. One fork has become the extant part of the line. It veered westward along Boylston Street, toward Back Bay. The other fork continued under Tremont Street to an opening called the Pleasant Street Incline (depicted in the photo at the right). This latter section ran streetcars that went southwest to Egleston via the South End, along Tremont Street (route 43), and southeast to City Point in South Boston via Broadway (route 9). While streetcar service through the southern tunnel ended in 1961, this tunnel still exists.
[edit] Entrances
The original entrances were in the Public Garden, at North Station/Canal Street, and at Pleasant Street. The other portals (at Copley Square and directly east of Kenmore Square) have been closed as the line has been further extended.
[edit] Power
From its inception, the subway used trolleys powered by electricity from overhead lines, made possible by the invention of the trolley pole in 1880 by Frank J. Sprague.[3] However, the modern line has been pantograph-only since the trolley wires were modified in the 1990s.[citation needed]
[edit] Ownership, Landmark status
The original owner was the private West End Street Railway, later the Boston Elevated Railway. Public ownership began in 1947 with the Metropolitan Transit Authority, later reconstituted as the modern Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The Tremont Street Subway is now a National Historic Landmark.
[edit] References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ The Boston Daily Globe, Experiences of the first Subway Riders in Boston, The Boston Daily Globe, September 1, 1897
- ^ "Boston Transit Milestones", MIT course,2002 (archived 2007)
[edit] Further reading
- Bierman, Noah, "Transit archeology: Tour of abandoned subway network offers a glimpse of how the T was built", Boston Globe, Saturday, December 26, 2009.
- Moore, Scott, "100 Years of the Tremont Street Subway" (archived 2007)
[edit] External links
- Celebrate Boston's description and image gallery of the Tremont Street Subway
- Photos and discussion of the Tremont Street subway tunnel
- Photos of the Tremont Street subway
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