Boston Common

Boston Common
View of the water celebration on Boston Common on October 25, 1848
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Area: 50 acres (200,000 m2)[1]
Built: 1634
Architect: Multiple, including Augustus St. Gaudens
Governing body: Local
NRHP Reference#: 72000144 (original)
87000760 (new)
Significant dates
Added to NRHP: July 12, 1972 (original, in NRHP also including Boston Public Garden)
February 27, 1987 (new, in NHL of Boston Common alone)[2]
Designated NHLD: February 27, 1987[3]

Boston Common (also known as "the Common") is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons".[4][5] Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States.[6] The Boston Common consists of 50 acres (20 ha) of land bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charles Street, and Boylston Street. The Common is part of the Emerald Necklace of parks and parkways that extend from the Common south to Franklin Park in Roxbury. A visitors' center for all of Boston is located on the Tremont Street side of the park.

The Central Burying Ground is found on the Boylston Street side of Boston Common. There, one can find the burial sites of the artist Gilbert Stuart and the composer William Billings. Also buried there are Samuel Sprague and his son, Charles Sprague, one of America's earliest poets. Samuel Sprague was a participant in the Boston Tea Party and fought in the Revolutionary War.

Contents

History

The Common's purpose has changed over the years. It was once owned by William Blaxton (often given the modernized spelling "Blackstone"), the first European settler of Boston, until it was bought from him by the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During the 1630s, it was used by many families as a cow pasture. However, this only lasted for a few years, as affluent families bought additional cows, which led to overgrazing, a real-life example of the Tragedy of the commons. [7] After grazing was limited in 1646 to 70 cows at a time,[8] the Boston Common continued to host cows until they were formally banned from it in 1830 by Mayor Harrison Gray Otis.[9]

The Common was used as a camp by the British before the American Revolutionary War, from which they left for the Battle of Lexington and Concord. It was used for public hangings up until 1817, most of which were from a large oak which was replaced with gallows in 1769. In 1660 Mary Dyer was hanged there by the Puritans for preaching Quakerism.[10]

On May 19, 1713, two hundred citizens rioted on the Common in reaction to a food shortage in the city. They later attacked the ships and warehouses of wealthy merchant Andrew Belcher, who was exporting grain to the Caribbean for higher profits. The lieutenant governor was shot during the riot.[11]

True park status seems to have emerged no later than 1830, when the grazing of cows was ended and renaming the Common as Washington Park was proposed (renaming the bordering Sentry Street to Park Street in 1808 already acknowledged the reality). By 1836 an ornamental iron fence fully enclosed the Common and its five perimeter malls or recreational promenades, the first of which, Tremont Mall, had been in place since 1728, in imitation of St. James's Park in London. Given these improvements dating back to 1728, a case could be made that Boston Common is in fact the world's first public urban park, since these developments precede the establishment of the earliest public urban parks in England—Derby Arboretum (1840), Peel Park, Salford (1846), and Birkenhead Park (1847)—which are often considered the first.

A hundred people gathered on the Common in early 1965 to protest the Vietnam War. A second protest happened on October 15, 1969, this time with 100,000 people protesting.[12]

Today the Common serves as a public park for all to use for formal or informal gatherings. Events such as concerts, protests, softball games, and ice skating (on Frog Pond) often take place in the park. Famous individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul II have made speeches there. Judy Garland gave her largest concert ever (100,000+) on the Common, on August 31, 1967.

It was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987.[1][3] The Boston Common is a public park managed by the Boston Park Department. A private advocacy group, the Friends of the Public Garden, provides additional funding for maintenance and special events.[13]

On October 21, 2006, the Common became the site of a new world record, when 30,128 Jack-o'-lanterns were lit simultaneously around the park at the Life is good Pumpkin Festival.[14] The previous record, held by Keene, New Hampshire since 2003, was 28,952.[15]

On August 27, 2007, two teenagers were shot on the Common. One of the bullets fired during the shooting struck the Massachusetts State House.[16] A strict curfew has since been enforced, which has been protested by the homeless population of Boston.[17][18]

Notable features of the Common

"In or about
the year of our Lord
One Thousand Six Hundred
thirty and four
the then present inhabitants
of the Town of Boston of whom
the Hon John Winthrop Esq
Gov of the Colony was Chiefe
did treat and agree with
Mr William Blackstone
for the purchase of his
Estate and any
Lands living within said
neck of Land called
Boston
after which purchase the
Town laid out a plan for
a trayning field for which ever
since and now is used for
that purpose and for
the feeding of cattell"

Notable recurring events on the Common

See also

Preceded by
First location – beginning of trail
Locations along Boston's Freedom Trail
Boston Common
Succeeded by
Massachusetts State House

References

  1. ^ a b James H. Charleton (November, 1985) (PDF). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Boston Common. National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/87000760.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-22  and Accompanying photos: one aerial from 1972 and three from 1985PDF (1.43 MB)
  2. ^ "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. 
  3. ^ a b "Boston Common". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1976&ResourceType=District. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
  4. ^ "Boston Common". City of Boston. http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/bostoncommon.asp. Retrieved 2011-11-09. 
  5. ^ "Place Names: Boston English". Adam Gaffin and by content posters. http://www.universalhub.com/glossary/wickedpn.html. Retrieved 2011-11-09. 
  6. ^ "Boston Common". CelebrateBoston.com. 2006. http://www.celebrateboston.com/sites/boston-common.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-26. 
  7. ^ Loewen, James (1999). Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. New York: The New Press. p. 414. ISBN 0-9650031-7-5. 
  8. ^ http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=10
  9. ^ Lowen, James (1994) Planning the City Upon a Hill: Boston Since 1630University of Massachusetts Press (Boston) isbn 0870239236, 9780870239236, p. 53
  10. ^ Rogers, Horatio, 2009. Mary Dyer of Rhode Island: The Quaker Martyr That Was Hanged on Boston pp.1-2. BiblioBazaar, LLC
  11. ^ Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York: Perennial, 2003. p.51 ISBN 0060528370
  12. ^ Zinn, Howard. p.486
  13. ^ http://www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org
  14. ^ "Life is good" site
  15. ^ "A love in Common for pumpkins". The Boston Globe. October 22, 2006. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/10/22/a_love_in_common_for_pumpkins/. 
  16. ^ "Shots on Common strike teens, State House". The Boston Globe. August 28, 2007. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/08/28/shots_on_common_strike_teens_state_house/. 
  17. ^ "Curfew targets crime on Common". The Boston Globe. August 30, 2007. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/30/curfew_targets_crime_on_common/. 
  18. ^ "Homeless Protest Boston Common Curfew: Park Closed After 11 P.M.". TheBostonChannel.Com. 2007-08-30. http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14009823/detail.html. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
  19. ^ . http://www.celebrateboston.com/sites/boston-common-great-elm.htm. 
  20. ^ http://www.bu.edu/research/spotlight/magazine/06/students/bagley.html
  21. ^ Hoffer, Steven. "Public Restroom to Reopen as Sandwich Shop". AOL News. http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/24/public-restroom-to-reopen-as-sandwich-shop/. Retrieved 26 May 2011. 
  22. ^ Finucane, Martin. "'Pink Palace' to get makeover as Boston Common takeout spot". boston.com. http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/beacon_hill/2011/03/pink_palace_to_get_makeover_as.html. Retrieved 26 May 2011. 

Further reading

External links