Tremont Street

Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Tremont Street
Tremont Street with view of Park St. Church (1915)
Former name(s)Treamont Street
NamesakeTrimountaine
OwnerCity of Boston
LocationBoston, Massachusetts
Nearest metro stationGovernment Center station
Park Street station
Boylston station
Tufts Medical Center station
North endGovernment Center, Boston
South endBrigham Circle

Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly southwesterly direction, it passes through Boston's Theater District, crosses the Massachusetts Turnpike, and becomes a broad boulevard in the South End neighborhood. It then turns to the west as a narrower four-lane street, running through Mission Hill and terminating at Brigham Circle, where it intersects Huntington Avenue. The street name zigzags across several physical roads, often requiring a sharp turn to remain on the street.

Etymology

The name is a variation of one of the original appellations of the city, "Trimountaine", a reference to a hill that formerly had three peaks. Beacon Hill, with its single peak, is all that remains of the Trimountain. Much of the Trimountain was removed, and the earth used as fill to expand the Shawmut Peninsula. The two smaller peaks, Cotton Hill (or Pemberton Hill, at what is now Pemberton Square) and Mt. Whoredom (or Mt. Vernon, formerly at the location of the modern-day Louisburg Square) no longer exist.[1] The central peak, Sentry Hill, now called Beacon Hill, is smaller than the original peak, which reached approximately to the height of the top of the State House.

A British military map of Boston from 1775, prepared by a Lieut. Sir Thomas Hyde Page of His Majesty's Corps of Engineers, shows Beacon Hill, Mount Whoredom, and another unnamed hill all just above Beacon Street. There is a small street on the northeast corner of Boston Common called "Treamount Street" from School Street to Hanover Street, the precursor of modern Tremont Street, running north from what was then called Common Street (modern Tremont Street alongside the eastern border of Boston Common).[2]

Points of interest
Tremont Street in front of King's Chapel

Sites of interest along Tremont Street, from northeast to southwest, include:

Transportation

The Tremont Street subway runs underneath the street. Opened in 1897, it was the first subway tunnel in North America and still carries the MBTA Green Line.

The Green Line stops in three places under Tremont Street:

  • Intersection of Tremont and School Street (Boston Common at upper left), 1722
  • 1775 map
  • Tremont St., 1798
  • Faneuil mansion, c. 19th century
  • Tremont St., c. 1843, by Philip Harry
  • Gleason's Publishing Hall, corner of Tremont and Bromfield St., 1851
  • Advertisement for Chas. E. Brewster's Natural History Store, 1861
  • Horticultural Hall, 19th century, photo by John P. Soule
  • Tremont St., 1891
  • Intersection of Tremont St., Pleasant St., and Shawmut Ave., 1896

See also

References

Notes

  1. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Boston" (PDF). Massachusetts Historical Commission. January 1981. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  2. Page, Sir Thomas Hyde, "A plan of the town of Boston with the intrenchments &ca. of His Majesty's forces in 1775, from the observations of Lieut. Page of His Majesty's Corps of Engineers, and from those of other gentlemen." Source: Library of Congress

Further reading

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