John Winthrop Statue, 1880
First & Second Church, Today
First & Second Church, Today
John Winthrop was the first Governor of Massachusetts, and the Deacon of the First Church of Boston. On September 17, 1880, the 250th anniversary of the founding of Boston, a statue was dedicated in Scollay Square to Governor Winthrop, at the intersection of Court and Tremont Streets. In 1898 the construction of the new subway system into the Square forced the statue further down Court Street. Six years later the construction of the East Boston line (today's Blue line) forced another move for the beleagured statue.
First & Second Church, Today
First & Second Church, Today
First & Second Church, Today
Like many of his Brahmin descendants, Governor Winthrop withdrew (was moved by the Boston Arts Commission) to the Back Bay, where he stands today, in front of the First and Second Church of Boston, at the intersection of Berkely and Marlboro Streets.
Brattle Bookstore
Cornhill (1825 - 1963)
West Street (1963 - present)
West Street (1963 - present)
The Brattle Book Shop was "founded in the Cornhill section of Boston in 1825, and has been in the hands of the Gloss Family since 1949. Over the years George and his son Kenneth built this shop into one of the largest antiquarian book shops in the country." Here's a picture, from its website, of the original location.
West Street (1963 - present)
West Street (1963 - present)
West Street (1963 - present)
George moved his store (and remaining books) here to West Street where it can still be found today, brimming with so many books they fill an alley next door with $1, $2, and $5 bargains.
July 30, 1964
George Gloss was loathe to leave his Cornhill location and stayed open even while the wrecking ball continued its onslaught in the early 1960s. Moving was inevitable, so several times George made a remarkable offer - take all the books you can carry in your hands (no bags or boxes allowed) in five minutes - for free! This article, from the Globe archives, describes the final giveaway before the move to West Street.
Sears Crescent Building
Beginnings
True renewal
Beginnings
Built in 1843 by David Sears on Cornhill, a street carved into the city's landscape in 1816, it quickly became a magnet for businesses from carpet stores to restaurants
Arguments
True renewal
Beginnings
Deciding what to do with the venerable building was one of the great debates in the urban renewal era. Many wanted nothing to do with ancient brick buildings in a shiny new glass and steel city. That the city would allow the Sears Crescent to remain is a testimony to those who saw a future in restoration.
Here we see excavation for the realigned Green line to Haymarket in 1963
True renewal
True renewal
Mr. Sears' building today
THIS is how one renews a building - and saves history. The Sears Crescent Building was gutted and rebuilt from the inside out.
Mr. Sears' building today
Mr. Sears' building today
Mr. Sears' building today
The Sears Crescent Building stands today as a reminder of how easily we let so much of Boston's past fall to the wrecking ball... and the folly of the notion old buildings could not be made useful
Tea... and coffee
Mr. Sears' building today
Tea... and coffee
The famous tea kettle (first hung in 1871 as a promotion for a tea shop on the Square) still steams today, though the store over which it hangs is best known for coffee, not tea.
109 Court Street (Bell and Edison labs)
Here on the northern side of City Hall Plaza, in front of the JFK Federal Building...
...stands a marker which indicates the site where, in 1875, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson invented the telephone. (We know that this was also the same laboratory where Thomas Edison worked several years earlier building, among many devices, his first patented invention - a stock ticker.)
Secrets in Pemberton Square
Pemberton Square, located behind the curving 1-2-3 Center Plaza, is home to the gloriously refurbished John Adams Courthouse. This space is also a monument to misguided notions of city planning in the 1950s and 60s.
Like these two things.
They are someone's idea of benches.
Ugh.
Our only reason for including this urban renewal nightmare is to show you one of several plaques hung around the bench. This one marks the (approximate) spot where John Winthrop (he of the moving statue) lived in the early 1600s.
The best secret of all... the Old Howard Stage
One the other side of Pemberton Square, just behind 1 Center Plaza, are several concrete benches. (Again, ugh.) It is what is on one of those benches which draws us here...
On the first bench is this plaque, placed there in 1968 by a group of
Old Howard devotees, perhaps the most vocal of whom was Francis W. Hatch, the composer and singer of "Some Coward Closed the Old Howard," which can be heard by clicking on this link
You never know where you'll find pieces of Scollay Square
This is the Emerson Umbrella on Stow Street in Concord, MA. The Umbrella is described on their web site as a "non-profit cultural organization committed to nurturing and encouraging the arts throughout the community."
Incredible as it seems, this room (the dance studio of the Umbrella) is where you can find an original sign from the Old Howard!
We don't know how it got here...
... but we do wonder how many people take the time to look at the signs and ask about them...
Making Time Visible (A public art project)
Making Time Visible was a temporary public art installation, conceived by Gretchen Schneider (an architect who was teaching at Smith College) to render the streets of old Scollay Square on City Hall Plaza in chalk. Under Schneider’s supervision, local architects, architectural students and team of students from the Citizens Schools spent August 27, 2002 on City Hall Plaza. They surveyed then laid out and drew - in chalk - Cornhill, Brattle, and Hanover Streets, three of the 22 streets which once crisscrossed Scollay Square. (The above photo was taken from an office in 1-2-3 Center Plaza. To our right are Gretchen and David, who was one of her many minions that day...)
Jerry Williams brings back Scollay Square
It started in June 1986 when the Boston Celtics were given a parade to celebrate their 16th World Championship. The parade ended at City Hall Plaza in Boston, and WRKO Radio (where David was an engineer at the time) sent Jerry Williams to broadcast his hugely popular afternoon talk show. What Jerry said that day would literally change the map of the City of Boston. "I am not broadcasting from Government Center," Jerry said over the air, "I am broadcasting from Scollay Square. Let's bring back Scollay Square!"
And that just what Jerry did. On April 8, 1987, thanks entirely to Jerry, the City of Boston officially renamed Government Center to reflect its special past: Government Center at Scollay Square. The T (Boston's subway system) would similarly rename the Government Center subway stop, and street signs in the area were also changed. In the above picture Jerry listens as Mayor Ray Flynn read the proclamation officially changing the name.
The renaming drew an appreciative crowd to City Hall - sorry... Scollay Square.
Nobody appreciated the day as much as David, who got to spend time with the star of the Old Howard, Ann Corio
Learn more about Jerry
This is a great book about Jerry's role as one of the creators of talk radio. To hear clips from his shows, and to order the book, visit the Jerry Williams web site..
