Beacon Street

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Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and several of its western suburbs. Beacon Street in Boston, Brookline, Brighton, and Newton is not to be confused with Beacon Street in nearby Somerville.

[edit] Description

Beacon Street begins as a one-way street from the intersection of Tremont Street and School Street. From this point it rises up Beacon Hill for a block where it meets Park Street in front of the Massachusetts State House. From that intersection it descends Beacon Hill as a two-lane, bi-directional street until it reaches Charles Street. At Charles Street it becomes a one-way avenue that runs through Back Bay neighborhood until it reaches Kenmore Square.

From Kenmore Square, Beacon Street skirts the area around Fenway Park and follows a southwesterly slant through Brookline along either side of MBTA Green Line trolley tracks to Cleveland Circle in Brighton. From there it passes Boston College as it winds its way to the city of Newton, where it crosses Centre Street to form the defining intersection of Newton Centre, meets Walnut Street at "Four Corners" near the Newton Cemetery, and goes through Waban at its intersection with Woodward Street. It ends at Washington Street near Boston's circumferential highway, Route 128.

[edit] History

The part of Beacon Street west of Kenmore Square was originally laid out in 1850. Railroad tracks were first laid in 1888 for what would eventually become the modern Green Line "C" Branch.

[edit] In culture

• The Beacon Street Girls series of preteen books are set around Beacon Street in Brookline