Boston Common

Boston Common
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark District
Boston Common 2005
location	Boston , Massachusetts
Coordinates	42 ° 21 '18 "  N , 71 ° 3' 56.2"  W Coordinates: 42 ° 21 '18 "  N , 71 ° 3' 56.2"  W.
surface	200,000 m²
Built	1634
architect	Various, including Augustus Saint-Gaudens
NRHP number	(original) 87000760 (new) 72000144 (original) 87000760 (new)
Data
The NRHP added	July 12, 1972 (originally including Boston Public Garden ) February 27, 1987 (new, without Boston Public Garden)
As  NHLD declared	February 27, 1987

Boston Common , and the Common , is a central public park in Boston in the state of Massachusetts in the United States . Inaugurated in 1634, it is the oldest urban park in the United States.

The Boston Common occupies about 20 hectares and is bounded by Tremont Street , Park Street, Beacon Street , Charles Street and Boylston Street . It is part of the Emerald Necklace , which extends south from the Common to Franklin Park in Roxbury . There is a visitor center on Tremont Street for information about Boston.

On the Boylston Street side is the Central Burying Ground , where the graves of the painter Gilbert Stuart , the composer William Billings, and Samuel Sprague and his son Charles Sprague , one of the first American poets , can be found. Samuel Sprague was a member of the Boston Tea Party and fought in the American Revolutionary War .

history

The Central Burying Ground on Boston Common

The Frog Pond from the west

The Parkman Concert Pavilion on Boston Common (2007)

The purpose and use of Boston Common has changed over the years, in some cases significantly. The area initially belonged to the first European settler in Boston, William Blaxton , until the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony bought it from him. During the 1630s, many families used the site as pasture . That changed, however, when wealthy families bought more cows and let them graze there too, leading to significant overgrazing . This was a practical example of the tragedy of the commons .

Before the American War of Independence , the Boston Common served as a field camp for the British , who set out from there to the battles of Lexington and Concord . The park was to 1817 for public executions by hanging used, as it is a big one oak was, however, in 1769 by a gallows was replaced. In 1660 Mary Dyer was hanged there by the Puritans for preaching Quakerism .

On May 19, 1713, two hundred residents rioted on Boston Common in response to a food shortage in the city. They later attacked ships in the port and the warehouses of the wealthy trader Andrew Belcher , who exported grain to the Caribbean for profit . The lieutenant governor of Boston was shot dead during the revolt .

Boston Common received its final park status probably no later than 1830, when cows stopped grazing on the area and proposed that it be renamed Washington Park . The previous renaming of Sentry Street bordering the park to Park Street in 1808 already took into account the new use. Around 1836 an ornate iron fence was erected around the site, which completely enclosed the park and defined its boundaries. At the same time, its five promenade paths were opened, of which the Tremont Mall was the first to exist since 1728. The course of the paths imitated St. James's Park in London . Looking back at the park's history back to 1728, the year the first boardwalk was opened as a recreational route through the park, Boston Common is the world's first public urban park. Its origins lie well before the England Derby Arboretum (1840), Peel Park in Salford (1846) or Birkenhead Park (1847), which are often regarded as the first parks of their kind.

At the beginning of 1965, around 100 people protested against the Vietnam War in Boston Common ; at a second demonstration at the same location on October 15, 1969, there were already 100,000 people.

Today the site serves as a public park and as a place for formal and informal gatherings of all kinds. Events such as concerts, demonstrations, softball games and ice skating on Frog Pond take place regularly. Well-known personalities such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Paul II gave speeches and speeches there. Judy Garland gave her biggest concert in the park on August 31, 1967 with over 100,000 visitors.

On July 12, 1972, Boston Common and Boston Public Garden were listed as a Landscape Monument on the National Register of Historic Places . The park was declared a National Historic Landmark on February 27, 1987 . On the same day, Boston Common was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a separate Historic District . The park is administered by the Boston Park Department . A private interest group , the Friends of the Public Garden , provide additional funding for maintenance and repair as well as for special events.

On October 21, 2006, a new world record was set on Boston Common: 30,128 Jack O'Lantern lanterns were lit simultaneously during the Life is good Pumpkin Festival . The previous record from Keene , New Hampshire in 2003 with 28,952 lanterns was clearly exceeded.

On August 27, 2007, two teenagers were shot and killed in Boston Common. One of the bullets fired during the shooting struck the Massachusetts State House . Since then, there has been a strict curfew , which the homeless in Boston protested against.

Landmarks on the Boston Common

• The Massachusetts State House is across Beacon Street on the north side of the park.
• Boston Common is the southern part of Beacon Hill .
• A plaque commemorates the large elm that stood in the park until 1876 and was used both for freedom rallies and for executions by hanging.
• In the northeast corner of the park on Beacon and Park Streets, across from the State House, is the Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Infantry Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Army in the Civil War .
• The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a victory column on Flag Staff Hill.
• The Boston Public Garden is to the west of the Common on the other side of Charles Street and was originally part of the Boston Common.
• The Frog Pond serves as an ice rink in the winter months and is located in the northern part of the park.
• The Brewer Fountain is located near Park Street Station. It is made of bronze , is 6.70 m high and weighs 6,800 kg. It was cast in Paris and was a gift to the city from Gardner Brewer . It was activated for the first time on June 3, 1868. The fountain that can still be seen in this square is the only known copy of the original that was shown at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and designed by the French artist Édouard Liénard . The fountain is decorated with the figures of Neptune , his wife Amphitrite, as well as with figures of Acis and Galateia . He suffered from a lack of maintenance and gave up his position completely in 2003. A major repair project began in 2009, and after about a year of restoration and cost of around 640,000 US dollars, the well, which is now fully functioning again, was inaugurated on May 26, 2010.
• The Park Street Station is located in the eastern corner of the park. It was and is the first subway station in the USA.
• Boylston Station at the south end of the park is the second oldest subway station in the United States. A horse-drawn subway originally ran between the two stations .
• Boston Common is the southern end of the Freedom Trail ; the starting point is near Park Street Station.
• The Parkman Bandstand pavilion in the eastern part of the park is often used for musical and theater productions.
• There is a softball field in the southwestern part.
• The western part of the park is formed by a wide grassy landscape and therefore serves as the location for the largest events in the park. Therefore there is also an underground car park there . A granite slab commemorates the visit of John Paul II in 1979.
• Since 1971, the Province of Nova Scotia has donated a large Christmas tree annually to the city as a continuing thank you for support from the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts State Public Safety Committee after the 1917 Halifax Explosion. For several years the tree has been on Boston Common set up.
• The Masonic Temple of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge is across the south corner of the park at the intersection of Boylston and Tremont Streets.
• In the same location is the Emerson College campus .
• Prehistoric finds were made on Boston Common in 1913 and 1986. These suggest that indigenous peoples lived in the region 8,500 years ago.

See also

• List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in northern Boston
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston

literature

• William Henry Whitmore; Boston (Mass.). Committee of Citizens: The public rights in Boston common . Being the report of a committee of citizens. Press of Rockwell and Churchill, Boston 1877, OCLC 6841210 ( full text in Google Book Search).
• Samuel Barber: Boston Common . a diary of notable events, incidents, and neighboring occurrences. 2nd Edition. Christopher Publishing House, Boston 1916, OCLC 5782282 ( full text in Google Book Search).

Web links

Commons : Boston Common  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• A View on Cities: Boston Common. Retrieved October 30, 2011 . 
• National Park Service : Boston National Historical Park. Retrieved October 30, 2011 . 
• Friends of the Boston Public Garden. Retrieved October 30, 2011 (Web site of the Boston Public Park Preservation Organization). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} James H. Charleton: National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Boston Common. (PDF; 370 kB) In: United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. 1985, accessed June 5, 2019 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Massachusetts. National Park Service , accessed August 5, 2019.
3. ^ Boston Common . CelebrateBoston.com. 2006. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
4. ↑ James W. Loewen: Lies across America . what our historic sites get wrong. Ed .: WW Norton. New Press, New York 1999, ISBN 978-1-56584-344-8 .
5. ↑ Horatio Rogers: Mary dyer of rhode Iceland . the quaker martyr that was hanged on boston common, june 1, 1660. General Books, SI 2010, ISBN 978-0-217-01710-7 , pp. 1–2 ( full text in Google Book Search).
6. ^ ^{A b} Howard Zinn: A people's history of the United States . 1492-present. New edition. HarperCollins, New York 2003, ISBN 978-0-06-052842-3 , pp. 51 .
7. ^ Entry Boston Common and Public Garden in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed June 23, 2016
8. ^ Entry Boston Common in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed June 23, 2016
9. ↑ Life is good festival. (No longer available online.) In: Life is good. Archived from the original on October 31, 2011 ; accessed on October 31, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ^ A love in Common for Pumpkins . In: The Boston Globe , October 22, 2006. 
11. ↑ Shots on Common Strike Teens, State House . In: The Boston Globe , August 28, 2007. 
12. ^ Curfew targets crime on Common . In: The Boston Globe , August 30, 2007. 
13. ↑ Homeless Protest Boston Common Curfew: Park Closed After 11 PM . TheBostonChannel.com. August 30, 2007. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 16, 2008. 
14. ^ JVC Smith: Boston Common Great Elm. Retrieved October 31, 2011 . 
15. ^ Brewer Fountain, Boston Common. Retrieved October 31, 2011 . 
16. ↑ David Abel: A fountain fall from grace. 141-year-old fixture to undergo repairs - with a hefty price tag. In: Boston.com. June 12, 2009, accessed October 31, 2011 . 
17. ^ David Abel: A jewel of the Boston Common glistens once more. Fountain offers historic oasis. In: Boston.com. May 27, 2010, accessed October 31, 2011 . 
18. ^ Brewer Fountain Rededication. In: Clueless in Boston. May 27, 2010, accessed October 31, 2011 . 
19. ↑ Trina Arpin: Joseph Bagley. Fishing in the Frog Pond. In: Boston University. January 10, 2007, accessed October 31, 2011 .