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Government Center station (MBTA)
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Government Center station (MBTA)
Government Center station is an MBTA subway station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at the intersection of Tremont, Court and Cambridge Streets in the Government Center area. It is a transfer point between the light rail Green Line and the rapid transit Blue Line. With the Green Line platform having opened in 1898, the station is the third-oldest operating subway station (and the second-oldest of the quartet of "hub stations") in the MBTA system; only Park Street and Boylston are older. The station previously served Scollay Square before its demolition for the creation of Boston City Hall Plaza.
The station was closed on March 22, 2014 for a major renovation, which included retrofitting the station for accessibility and building a new glass headhouse on City Hall Plaza. The new fully accessible station was reopened on March 21, 2016.
As the first horsecar lines were built in the late 1850s, the Scollay Building in Scollay Square became the transfer point between the various lines. The Metropolitan Railroad, the largest of the horsecar systems, used the Tremont House hotel a block to the south of Scollay Square as a terminus for many routes.
The northern section of the Tremont Street Subway opened on September 3, 1898, with a station at Scollay Square. The station had an unusual platform design. The three-sided main platform served northbound and southbound through tracks plus the Brattle Loop track, one of two turnback points (along with Adams Square) for streetcars entering the subway from the north; a side platform also served the loop Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) streetcars from Everett, Medford, and Malden (which formerly ran to Scollay Square on the surface) used Brattle Loop, as did cars from Lynn and Boston Railroad and its successors. The last of those, the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, used the loop until 1935.
Scollay Square and Adams Square had similar baroque headhouses with four-sided clock towers. Unlike Adams Square, the Scollay Square headhouse had its entrance at one end of the structure. A small exit structure was located to the north, while the Brattle Loop used a separate entrance built into a building at Court Street and Brattle Street. The headhouses of the Tremont were sharply criticized as "pretentiously monumental", with the Scollay Square headhouse compared to "an enlarged soda fountain". Later stations on the East Boston Tunnel and Washington Street Tunnel incorporated this criticism into their more modest headhouses.
On June 10, 1901, Main Line Elevated trains began using the through tracks through the Tremont Street Subway, while streetcars continued using the Brattle Loop. The main platform was divided into separate sections for northbound and southbound elevated trains, each with separate staircases and ticket takers, with sliding platform sections to meet the high-level doors on the El cars. Passages under the Brattle Loop were built from each side to the Brattle Loop platform, which had its own staircases and ticket takers for streetcars. On July 9, 1904, streetcar passengers began paying fares to the streetcar conductors and the streetcar ticket office was repurposed for southbound El passengers.
On December 30, 1904, the East Boston Tunnel opened for streetcars from Maverick Square in East Boston to a one-track stub-end terminal at Court Street next to Scollay Square. A passageway was built connecting the two stations. A bronze statue of John Winthrop was relocated from Scollay Square to the Back Bay in 1903 to make room for the exit stairs from the station. Erected in 1880, the statue had already been moved in 1898 to make room for the first headhouse.
The stub-end track at Court Street was normally restricted to one streetcar at a time; however, two were commonly allowed during peak periods. On October 6, 1906, a conductor was crushed to death between two streetcars while preparing his trolley pole for the return trip - the second such accident at the station. In addition to these incidents, the stub-end terminal was operationally inefficient, which prompted the need for a replacement.
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Government Center station (MBTA)
Government Center station is an MBTA subway station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at the intersection of Tremont, Court and Cambridge Streets in the Government Center area. It is a transfer point between the light rail Green Line and the rapid transit Blue Line. With the Green Line platform having opened in 1898, the station is the third-oldest operating subway station (and the second-oldest of the quartet of "hub stations") in the MBTA system; only Park Street and Boylston are older. The station previously served Scollay Square before its demolition for the creation of Boston City Hall Plaza.
The station was closed on March 22, 2014 for a major renovation, which included retrofitting the station for accessibility and building a new glass headhouse on City Hall Plaza. The new fully accessible station was reopened on March 21, 2016.
As the first horsecar lines were built in the late 1850s, the Scollay Building in Scollay Square became the transfer point between the various lines. The Metropolitan Railroad, the largest of the horsecar systems, used the Tremont House hotel a block to the south of Scollay Square as a terminus for many routes.
The northern section of the Tremont Street Subway opened on September 3, 1898, with a station at Scollay Square. The station had an unusual platform design. The three-sided main platform served northbound and southbound through tracks plus the Brattle Loop track, one of two turnback points (along with Adams Square) for streetcars entering the subway from the north; a side platform also served the loop Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) streetcars from Everett, Medford, and Malden (which formerly ran to Scollay Square on the surface) used Brattle Loop, as did cars from Lynn and Boston Railroad and its successors. The last of those, the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, used the loop until 1935.
Scollay Square and Adams Square had similar baroque headhouses with four-sided clock towers. Unlike Adams Square, the Scollay Square headhouse had its entrance at one end of the structure. A small exit structure was located to the north, while the Brattle Loop used a separate entrance built into a building at Court Street and Brattle Street. The headhouses of the Tremont were sharply criticized as "pretentiously monumental", with the Scollay Square headhouse compared to "an enlarged soda fountain". Later stations on the East Boston Tunnel and Washington Street Tunnel incorporated this criticism into their more modest headhouses.
On June 10, 1901, Main Line Elevated trains began using the through tracks through the Tremont Street Subway, while streetcars continued using the Brattle Loop. The main platform was divided into separate sections for northbound and southbound elevated trains, each with separate staircases and ticket takers, with sliding platform sections to meet the high-level doors on the El cars. Passages under the Brattle Loop were built from each side to the Brattle Loop platform, which had its own staircases and ticket takers for streetcars. On July 9, 1904, streetcar passengers began paying fares to the streetcar conductors and the streetcar ticket office was repurposed for southbound El passengers.
On December 30, 1904, the East Boston Tunnel opened for streetcars from Maverick Square in East Boston to a one-track stub-end terminal at Court Street next to Scollay Square. A passageway was built connecting the two stations. A bronze statue of John Winthrop was relocated from Scollay Square to the Back Bay in 1903 to make room for the exit stairs from the station. Erected in 1880, the statue had already been moved in 1898 to make room for the first headhouse.
The stub-end track at Court Street was normally restricted to one streetcar at a time; however, two were commonly allowed during peak periods. On October 6, 1906, a conductor was crushed to death between two streetcars while preparing his trolley pole for the return trip - the second such accident at the station. In addition to these incidents, the stub-end terminal was operationally inefficient, which prompted the need for a replacement.
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