About Boston Common

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Boston Common is a well-known public park in Boston, Massachusetts and the oldest city park in the United States, dating as far back as 1634. It is 50 acres in size. The Common is bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charles Street, and Boylston Street. A visitors' center for all of Boston is 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.

History

The Common's purpose has changed over the years. Originally it was owned by William Blaxton (often given the modernized spelling "Blackstone") until it was bought from him by the city. It was used as a camp by the British before the Revolutionary War, and was where they left from for the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Up until 1830, it was used for cattle grazing. It was also used for public hangings up until 1817, most of which were from a large oak which was replaced with gallows in 1769. Mary Dyer was hanged there in 1660.

On May 19, 1713, two hundred citizens rioted on the Common in reaction 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.

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.

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. The previous record, held by Keene, New Hampshire since 2003, was 28,952.

Notable features of the Common

• The Massachusetts State House stands across Beacon Street from the northern edge of the Common.
• The Common forms the southern foot of Beacon Hill.
• The monument to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry stands at Beacon and Park Streets, the northeast corner of the Common, opposite the State House.
• The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a victory column on Flag Staff Hill in the Common
• The Boston Public Garden lies to the west of the Common, across Charles Street, and was originally considered an extension of the Common.
• Frog Pond, a public ice-skating rink in winter months, is situated in the northern portion.
• Park Street Station, the first subway station in America, stands at the eastern corner of the park.
• Likewise, Boylston Station at the southern corner is America's second subway station.
• Boston Common is the southern end of Boston's Freedom Trail.
• Parkman Bandstand, in the eastern part of the park, is commonly used in musical and theatrical productions.
• The softball fields lie in the southwest corner of the Common.
• A grassy area forms the west part of the park, and is most commonly used for the park's largest events. A parking garage underlies this part of the Common. A granite slab there commemorates Pope John Paul II's October 1979 visit to Boston.
• The Province of Nova Scotia has donated the annual Christmas tree to the City of Boston as an enduring thank-you for the relief efforts of the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee following the Halifax Explosion of 1917. In recent years the tree has been located on the Common.
• The Masonic Grand Lodge of Massachusetts headquarters sits across from the southern corner of the Common, at the intersection of Boylston and Tremont Streets.
• Also across from the southern corner of the Common, along Boylston and Tremont Streets, lies the campus of Emerson College.
• In 1986, two prehistoric sites were discovered on the Common indicating Native American presence in the area as far back as 8,500 years ago.
• A monumental inscription at the corner of Park Street and Tremont Street reads:

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

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