Everything about Kenmore Square totally explained
Kenmore Square is a
square in
Boston,
Massachusetts,
United States, consisting of the intersection of several main avenues, (including
Beacon Street and
Commonwealth Avenue) as well as several other cross streets, and
Kenmore Station, an
MBTA subway stop. Kenmore Square abuts
Boston University, and is synonymous with Lansdowne Street, one of Boston's nightlife centers; it's also near
Fenway Park.
History
The land that's now Kenmore Square was originally the swampy, uninhabited corner of the mainland, which marked where the narrow
Charles River fed into the wide, marshy
Back Bay. It was part of the colonial settlement of Boston until 1705, when the hamlet of Muddy River incorporated as the independent town of
Brookline. The land ended up in Brookline because the Muddy River - several blocks to the east - formed the eastern border of the new city.
The portion of
Beacon Street west of Kenmore Square was laid out in 1850, intersecting with Avenue Street (now the Allston portion of Commonwealth Avenue), Mill Dam Road (now Brookline Avenue), and Western Avenue, a road traversing the Back Bay mill dam in approximately the modern location of Beacon Street. The
Boston and Worcester Rail Road and the
Charles River Branch Rail Road combined here to cross the Back Bay on a separate railroad bridge, making a beeline for the Leather District. The railroad lines still exist on more or less their original alignments, with the city developing around them. Minor adjustments have been made for the construction of
South Station, what is now the
MBTA Green Line, and the
Massachusetts Turnpike.
The city of
Brighton was merged with Boston in 1874, and the Boston-Brookline line was redrawn to connect the new Back Bay neighborhood with Allston-Brighton.
Even as late as 1880, Kenmore Square was only sparsely developed. By 1890, the Back Bay landfill project had reached Kenmore Square, for the first time fully connecting it with parts of the city to the east.
Streetcar tracks were laid on Beacon Street in 1888, passing through Kenmore Square on the surface, from
Coolidge Corner to
Massachusetts Avenue. These would eventually become the
Green Line "C" Branch. Tracks were laid on what by then was called Commonwealth Avenue in 1896, from Union Square in Brighton. These would later serve the
Green Line "A" Branch and
Green Line "B" Branch. The
Boylston Street Subway was extended to Kenmore Square in 1914, where it rose above ground.
In 1915, the Kenmore Apartments were built on the corner of Kenmore and Commonwealth Avenue. Later, the apartments became the Hotel Kenmore with 400 guest rooms. The Kenmore was owned by Bertram Druker, a prominent Boston developer and was known as the baseball hotel. It housed every one of the 14 teams after the war. When larger hotels like the Sheraton were built, the Hotel Kenmore started to show its age and eventually became apartments again. It is now called Kenmore Abbey.
In 1932, the Kenmore Square portion was put underground, and branch portals opened at Blandford and St. Mary's Streets.
The Citgo sign
A large, double-faced sign featuring this logo overlooks Kenmore Square, and has become a landmark, partly because of its appearance in the background of televised
Red Sox baseball games. The current 60 foot by 60 foot incarnation, unveiled in March
2005 after a six-month restoration project, features thousands of
light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that turn off at 1:00 AM. LEDs were selected for their durability, energy efficiency, intensity, and ease of maintenance. Earlier versions featured
neon lighting; the previous sign contained some 5,878 glass tubes with a total length of over five miles.
Citgo, which is a subsidiary of
Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., refers to its logo as the "trimark."
The first sign, featuring the Cities Service logo, was built in
1940, and replaced with the trimark in
1965. In
1979, Governor
Edward J. King ordered it turned off as a symbol of
energy conservation. Four years later, Citgo attempted to disassemble the weatherbeaten sign, and was surprised to be met with widespread public affection for the sign and protest at its threatened removal. The Boston Landmarks Commission ordered its disassembly postponed while the issue was debated. While never formally declared a landmark, it was refurbished and relit by Citgo in
1983 and has remained in operation ever since. In
2005, during a major renovation, the neon lights of the Citgo sign were removed and replaced with a
light-emitting diode display.
There is no associated Citgo gas station -- the sign is now a historical landmark, visible over the left field wall of Fenway Park during most televised
Boston Red Sox games. It was highlighted in the
1968 short film Go, Go Citgo and a
1983 Life Magazine photograph feature. The association with Fenway and the
Red Sox is so strong that local
little league fields often are decorated with replicas of the Citgo sign, as is
Hadlock Field in
Portland, Maine. The sign is caricatured in
Neal Stephenson's
1984 book
The Big U as "the Big Wheel sign", worshipped by members of a fictional American Megaversity fraternity.
In
September 2006, Jerry McDermott, a Boston
city councillor, proposed that the sign be removed in response to
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's insults toward
American President George W. Bush. McDermott also suggested draping an
American flag or Boston Red Sox banner over the sign until Chávez is out of office.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Kenmore Square'.
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