Post Office Square, Boston

Post Office Square (est. 1874) in Boston, Massachusetts is located in the financial district at the intersection of Milk, Congress, Pearl and Water Streets.^[1][2] It was named in 1874 after the post office which fronted it,^[3] now replaced by the John W. McCormack Post Office and Court House.

As of 2009 the square is almost entirely occupied by a privately owned and managed but publicly accessible park, Norman B. Leventhal Park, named for the Boston building manager and designer who designed it. It sits above a parking garage, named "The Garage at Post Office Square."^[4] The garage lies 80 feet (24 m) below the surface, the deepest point of excavation in the city. Revenues from parking fund the maintenance of the park. The 1.7-acre (0.69 ha) park is a popular lunchtime destination for area workers. It features a cafe, fountains, and a pergola around a central lawn, and the management provides seat cushions for visitors during the summer. Designed by landscape architects The Halvorson Company, the park is also home to "125 species of plants."^[5]

Detail of 1883 map of Boston, showing Post Office Square and vicinity

Post Office Square, Boston, 1876

Also on the square is the New England Telephone Building, where the laboratory in which the first telephone was built has been reconstructed.^[6]

Harvard University reached an agreement with the Friends of Post Office Square to place six large trees from its Arnold Arboretum collection on permanent loan in the square, but, as of 2003, only one remains.^[7]

History

Post Office Square was the site of a 1964 speech by Lyndon B. Johnson.^[8]

There was a transformer explosion and fire in the One Post Office Square building in December 1986. An electric company worker was killed but fortunately it was after normal business hours and the building was able to be evacuated with only a few injuries.^[9]

It was also the site of the now-closed Boston Claim Assistance Site of the September 11th Victim Compensation Program.^[10]

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Post Office Square (Boston).

• The Norman B. Leventhal Park, at Post Office Square
• Photo on Flickr
• on Adrants
• SAH Archipedia Building Entry

Coordinates: 42°21′23″N 71°03′21″W / 42.356260°N 71.055707°W / 42.356260; -71.055707

Streets and squares in Boston Streets Arborway Atlantic Avenue Beacon Street Bennington Street Blue Hills Parkway Bowdoin Street Boylston Street Brattle Street Brookline Avenue Charles Street Columbus Avenue Commonwealth Avenue Congress Street Court Street Day Boulevard Dorchester Avenue Federal Street Fenway Franklin Street Gallivan Boulevard Hanover Street Huntington Avenue Jamaicaway Massachusetts Avenue Melnea Cass Boulevard Memorial Drive Milk Street Morrissey Boulevard Morton Street New Chardon Street Newbury Street North Street Park Street Park Drive Riverway School Street Soldiers Field Road State Street Stony Brook Reservation Parkways Storrow Drive Summer Street Tremont Street Truman Parkway Union Street Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway Washington Street West Roxbury Parkway Winter Street Yawkey Way Squares, circles, crossings and corners Andrew Square Blackstone Square Brigham Circle Central Square Chester Square City Square Cleveland Circle Codman Square Copley Square Day Square Dewey Square Dock Square Downtown Crossing Dudley Square Egleston Square Fields Corner Franklin Square Haymarket Square Hyde Square Jackson Square Kenmore Square Louisburg Square Maverick Square Packard's Corner Park Square Peabody Square Post Office Square Roxbury Crossing Sullivan Square Thompson Square Union Square Uphams Corner Italics denote streets that no longer exist. See also Neighborhoods in Boston Transportation in Boston