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Beacon Street

Beacon Street, c. 1897
Component highways	Route 2 between Arlington and Charles Streets
Location	between Newton and Boston
West end	Newton
Major junctions	US 20 / I-90 at Commonwealth Avenue Route 2 at Arlington Street Route 2 at Charles Street
East end	Tremont Street

Beacon Street is a major east-west street in Boston, Massachusetts, and its western suburbs of Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston University campus, Brighton, and Chestnut Hill.

It is not to be confused with the Beacon Street in nearby Somerville or others elsewhere.

Description

Boston

Beacon Street begins as a one-way street from the intersection of Tremont Street and School Street. From this point, it rises up Beacon Hill for a block where it meets Park Street in front of the Massachusetts State House. From that intersection it descends Beacon Hill as a two-lane, bi-directional street in the Back Bay until it reaches Charles Street at a point dividing Boston Common from the Boston Public Garden. At Charles Street, it becomes a one-way avenue that runs through the Back Bay neighborhood until it reaches Kenmore Square, or the intersection with Commonwealth Avenue (Route 2).

Brookline

From Kenmore Square, Beacon Street skirts the area around Fenway Park and follows a southwesterly slant through Brookline along either side of the MBTA Green Line trolley tracks to Cleveland Circle in Brighton. From there it passes through Chestnut Hill, including the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Boston College.

Newton

It winds its way into the city of Newton, where it crosses the Hammond Pond Parkway and crosses Centre Street to form the defining intersection of Newton Centre. Then, it meets Walnut Street at "Four Corners" near the Newton Cemetery, and goes through Waban at its intersection with Woodward Street. It ends at Washington Street (Route 16) near a junction with Boston's circumferential highway, Interstate 95 (also cosigned as Route 128).

History

Beacon Street initially formed the northern limit of Boston Common, and was extended over the Charles River Basin as a dam that would later form the shore between a narrowed river and the newly filled-in Back Bay neighborhood. The part of Beacon Street west of Kenmore Square was originally laid out in 1850. Railroad tracks were first laid in 1888 for what would eventually become the modern Green Line C branch.

In July 2020, the state awarded $32,000 for a feasibility study and conceptual design of restoration of the original bridle path, which ran along the median of the Brookline portion.

In popular culture

• Robert McCloskey's 1941 children's book Make Way for Ducklings features a mother duck leading her eight ducklings across Beacon Street, with the help of four members of the Boston Police Department.
• The Beacon Street Girls series of preteen books is set around Beacon Street in Brookline.
• Nanci Griffith's 1987 album Lone Star State of Mind has a song called Beacon Street.
• Beacon Street is the location of the fictional pizza parlor "Beacon Street Pizza" during the first season of the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl.
• 112½ is the address of the fictional bar Cheers. The actual location of the exterior shots is 84 Beacon Street.
• The Unitarian Universalist Association managed to confuse the numbers on this street. In 1927, moving from 25 Beacon Street down the street, they wanted to keep the number 25, and convinced the legislature to pass a law to keep it.
• In Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, a main character owns a shop on Beacon Street and the shop appears several times throughout the series.
• 14 Beacon Street was used in the series Ally McBeal as the exterior location for the law firm "Cage & Fish" (later "Cage, Fish, & McBeal"), which was located on the 7th floor of this building.

Image gallery

• 1922 artist's recreation of Beacon Street as it was in 1722 (upper left)
• Illustration of Beacon Street, Boston in the 1850s
• Beacon St., 1870
• Beacon St., Back Bay, c. 1870s
• Interior of 241 Beacon St., former home of Julia Ward Howe, 19th century
• Top of Beacon St., across from the State House, c. 1885
• Parade of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, 1900
• Boston Water Works, Chestnut Hill High-Service Pumping Station, 2450 Beacon Street, c. 1970s(?)
• Boston Marathon, mile 25, Beacon St., 2005
• 922 Beacon Street in 2006 with Ruggles Baptist Church in the background
• Boston's Beacon Street (2008) by R. Vojir featuring the Somerset Club
• Top of Beacon St., showing One Beacon Street building, 2008
• Facade of the Boston Athenaeum
• 14 Beacon Street, from the series Ally McBeal, as the exterior the location of the law firm "Cage & Fish" (later "Cage, Fish, & McBeal"), which was located on the 7th floor of this building

See also

• Amory–Ticknor House
• Nathan Appleton Residence
• Beacon Street Girls
• Boston Athenæum
• Boston Bar Association
• Boston Common
• Boston Public Garden
• Boston Transit Commission Building
• Cheers Beacon Hill
• Chester Harding House
• Cleveland Circle
• Dean Road station
• Gibson House Museum
• Hancock Manor
• Headquarters House (Boston, Massachusetts)
• Harrison Gray Otis House
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. lived on Beacon St. 1871–1894
• Julia Ward Howe lived on Beacon St.
• Kenmore Square
• Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine
• Massachusetts State House
• Mount Vernon Church, Boston
• Myles Annex
• Myles Standish Hall
• One Beacon Street
• Page Company, former tenant
• John Phillips (mayor) lived on Beacon St. (corner of Walnut Street), 1804–1823
• William H. Prescott lived on Beacon St. 1845–1859
• Robert Gould Shaw Memorial
• Somerset Club
• Washington Square (Boston)

References

1. "2020 MassTrails Grant Awards". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. July 2020. p. 2.
2. "The Stork Brings a Crane". Cheers. Season 8. Episode 6. 03:15 minutes in.
3. ""A Movable Feast: 25 Beacon Street – A Love Story"". Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-21.
4. "Ally McBeal Offices (Cage & Fish)".
5. "Ally McBeal Offices (Cage & Fish)".
6. State Street Trust Company. Forty of Boston's historic houses. 1912.
7. State Street Trust Co. 1912.
8. State Street Trust Co. 1912.

External links

• Media related to Beacon Street at Wikimedia Commons
• New York Public Library. Postcard of Unitarian Building, 25 Beacon Street Boston, Headquarters American Unitarian Association. Also shows State House, Hotel Bellevue, early 20th century

v t e Streets and squares in Boston
East–west streets	Beacon Street Boylston Street Commonwealth Avenue Congress Street Court Street Day Boulevard Dedham Parkway Fenway Gallivan Boulevard Huntington Avenue Melnea Cass Boulevard Milk Street Neptune Road New Chardon Street Newbury Street Park Street Soldiers Field Road State Street Storrow Drive Summer Street Tremont Street Winter Street
North–south streets	Arborway Atlantic Avenue Blue Hills Parkway Bowdoin Street Brattle Street Brookline Avenue Charles Street Columbus Avenue Dorchester Avenue Enneking Parkway Federal Street Franklin Street Hanover Street Jamaicaway Jersey Street (Yawkey Way) Massachusetts Avenue Morrissey Boulevard Morton Street North Street Park Drive Riverway School Street Truman Parkway Turtle Pond Parkway Union Street Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway Washington Street West Boundary Road West Roxbury Parkway
Intersections	Adams Square 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 Egleston Square Fields Corner Franklin Square Haymarket Square Hyde Square Jackson Square Kenmore Square Louisburg Square Mass and Cass Maverick Square North Square Nubian Square (Dudley Square) Packard's Corner Park Square Peabody Square Post Office Square Roxbury Crossing Scollay Square Sullivan Square Thompson Square Union Square Uphams Corner Winthrop Square
Italics denote streets and squares that no longer exist. See also Neighborhoods in Boston Transportation in Boston

• Beacon Hill, Boston
• Streets in Boston