Washington Street (Boston)


Washington Street is a street originating in downtown Boston, Massachusetts that extends southwestward to the Massachusetts–Rhode Island state line. The majority of it was built as the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in the early 19th century. It is the longest street in Boston, and it remains one of the longest streets in the state of Massachusetts.
Washington Street serves as a divide where a number of cross streets in Boston change name.

History

Washington Street, as it eventually became named, was the first road to connect the small peninsular town of Boston to the mainland, carrying the Boston Post Road to New York City. The name was first given to a section of this road in Boston from the border with Roxbury to the fortification, in honor of George Washington who rode through it during his tour of New England in October 1789.
Washington Street was extended on July 6, 1824 to include the northward continuation of this road to Dock Square. This replaced other names that had been in use along this part of the road since 1706:
Then in Roxbury, the name Washington Street was given on May 9, 1825 to the southward continuation of this road from the town line with Boston to the present-day Roxbury Street in Dudley Square.
For a period of time afterwards, Washington Street extended westward from Dudley Square to the border with Brookline. Part of this extension was renamed Tremont Street on July 2, 1860. Then the remaining part from Dudley Square was renamed Roxbury Street on June 16, 1874—and at the same time, Washington Street was extended southwestward from Dudley Square along the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike to Rhode Island. The only location where Washington Street deviated from the path of the turnpike was south of downtown Dedham, bypassing what is now School Street and Court Street.
In Boston, Washington Street was extended northward along a new road to Haymarket Square on November 6, 1872.
Charlestown Street, which began in Haymarket Square and continued northward to the Charlestown Bridge, was renamed North Washington Street on March 1, 1901. The name of the bridge itself was changed to North Washington Street on February 10, 1910.
The first state highway in Boston was the part of Washington Street from Dedham to West Roxbury Parkway. It was taken over by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works in 1908. The short piece in West Roxbury Parkway, to just north of the road through the parkway, was taken over in 1921; the next state highway in Boston was the Southern Artery in 1926.

Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike

The turnpike was established in 1803 as a straighter alternative to two roads between Boston and Providence: the Lower Boston Post Road, and the road via Walpole and Wrentham. It ran from Dudley Square to the border of Rhode Island and beyond to downtown Pawtucket. The turnpike was constructed as an entirely new road, except for a part through North Attleborough. The southern half of the turnpike, which had some steep grades and bypassed towns where travelers wanted to stop, saw little use and remained a dirt road until the construction of US 1. The part of the turnpike within the Roxbury limits was laid out as a public road in June 1857 and named Shawmut Avenue, as an extension of the existing Shawmut Avenue from Boston. The adjacent part of the turnpike within West Roxbury was named Shawmut Avenue as well on February 3, 1858.

Extent and description

Washington Street begins at State and Court Streets as a one-way thoroughfare. Through Downtown Crossing, from Milk Street south to Temple Place, Washington Street is closed to most vehicular traffic. South of Temple Place, Washington is, once again, one-way northbound, becoming two-way at Stuart Street and Kneeland Street. From Marginal Street, south to East Berkeley Street, including the bridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike and the adjacent Amtrak/Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority commuter rail tracks, the road is also one-way northbound, with a southbound contra-flowing bus lane for the Silver-Line bus.
At Dudley Square in Roxbury, Washington Street is southbound-only for several blocks, between Warren Street and Dudley Street. Northbound traffic bypasses this section to the east using those two streets. Just after passing under the Arborway in Jamaica Plain, Washington Street becomes Hyde Park Avenue, and traffic staying on Washington Street must turn west on Ukraine Way to cross over the Amtrak/MBTA Commuter Rail tracks, and then south at South Street, which becomes Washington Street again.
Southbound traffic must use short sections of South Street and Poplar Street at Roslindale Square. South of there, near the border between Roslindale and West Roxbury, Washington Street crosses West Roxbury Parkway and acquires a median strip. This median lasts until just before the Dedham city line, where the road continues as an undivided road.
Washington Street continues southwestward, through the center of Dedham, the outskirts of Westwood, the centers of Norwood, and East Walpole and South Walpole. At the Walpole–Foxborough line, it no longer crosses the railroad tracks, and traffic must detour via Water Street and North Street. North Street connects to the Boston-Providence Turnpike, which carries US Route 1. This road merges into the old path of Washington Street south of the railroad. From there to Rhode Island, except through North Attleborough center, US Route 1 stays with Washington, as it passes through the outskirts of Foxborough, Wrentham and Plainville, and then through South Attleboro.

Numbered routes

Washington Street currently has the following route numbers:
When the first numbered highways in Massachusetts, the New England Interstate Highways, were assigned in 1922, NE 1 used Washington Street through North Attleborough center and from Norwood center to Arborway in Boston. By 1927, US 1 split in Dedham center onto Court Street, using Ames Street and Bridge Street into Boston, where it used Spring Street and Centre Street to reach Arborway.
Soon after 1933, the new road from Roslindale to Foxborough was finished, and it was around this time that the rest of the current alignment to Rhode Island was finished — using Washington Street from Foxborough to the state line, except through North Attleborough center. The old road became Route 1A north from North Attleborough center and through South Attleboro, ending at the rotary just north of Dedham center. For several years in between, the new road was only built south of Dedham, and US 1 once again used Washington Street from Dedham into West Roxbury, where it cut north to Centre Street via West Roxbury Parkway.
Between 1949 and 1961, 1A was truncated to end at US 1 via Elm Street south of Dedham center, probably to keep traffic out of Dedham center. US 1 was removed from that alignment in 1989, but 1A still ends at the old route.

Public transportation

As a main road, Washington Street has had its share of streetcar and later bus routes. It also had the Washington Street Elevated from south of downtown to and later. An shows horsecar tracks from Boylston Street south to Dudley Street. An 1874 map extends them south from Dudley to just north of Forest Hills, and north to Dock Square. By 1888, tracks also used Washington north to Haymarket Square, and by 1897 all the way to and over the Charlestown Bridge.
As the West End Street Railway electrified its lines in the late 19th century, Tremont Street was the first north-south arterial in downtown Boston to run electric streetcars. As the lines on Warren Street, Blue Hill Avenue, and Hampden Street were electrified, they initially used Shawmut Avenue to reach Tremont Street. On September 2, 1890, the line on Washington Street to began electric operation, again using Shawmut Avenue north of Dudley Square. On November 28, 1891, the downtown Washington Street tracks were electrified, with the five Warren Street, Hampden Street, and Blue Hill Avenue routes rerouted to Washington Street. This relieved congestion on the Tremont Street tracks and allowed increases in service.
A later,, shows that tracks owned by the West Roxbury and Roslindale Street Railway continued southwest from Forest Hills via Dedham to Norwood. The Norfolk Southern Street Railway left Norfolk on the road to Walpole center, but used Washington Street from Common Street in Walpole to South Walpole. Except for the older section through North Attleborough center, used by the Interstate Consolidated Street Railway, none of the rest had streetcar tracks, due to its avoidance of populated areas. In still shows streetcar tracks on Washington Street within Boston, ending downtown at Essex Street. By 1953 they were only in use from Forest Hills to Egleston and from Dudley to Northampton Street.
The Washington Street Elevated, later part of the Orange Line, opened from south of downtown Boston to Dudley on June 10, 1901, and south to Forest Hills November 22, 1909. The Washington Street Tunnel downtown opened November 30, 1908. The Elevated closed on April 30, 1987, with the opening of the Southwest Corridor several days later.

Other Washington Streets in Boston

There are two significant and two minor streets in Boston with the same name. Addresses at these streets need to be distinguished by neighborhood names or ZIP codes.