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Beacon 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.

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

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

Description

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Boston

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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

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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

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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

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Stereoscopic image of Beacon Street by Joseph L. Bates

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.[1]

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  • 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.[2] 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.[3]
  • 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.[4]
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  •  
    1922 artist's recreation of Beacon Street as it was in 1722 (upper left)
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    Illustration of Beacon Street, Boston in the 1850s
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    Beacon St., 1870
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    Beacon St., Back Bay, c. 1870s
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    Interior of 241 Beacon St., former home of Julia Ward Howe, 19th century
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    Top of Beacon St., across from the State House, c. 1885
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    Parade of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, 1900
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    Boston Water Works, Chestnut Hill High-Service Pumping Station, 2450 Beacon Street, c. 1970s(?)
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    Boston Marathon, mile 25, Beacon St., 2005
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    922 Beacon Street in 2006 with Ruggles Baptist Church in the background
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    Boston's Beacon Street (2008) by R. Vojir featuring the Somerset Club
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    Top of Beacon St., showing One Beacon Street building, 2008
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    Facade of the Boston Athenaeum
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    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[5]

See also

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References

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  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.
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