The Boston Subway (Park St to Boylston St) - Boston, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 21.393 W 071° 03.762
19T E 330125 N 4691425
The subway from the Park Street Station to the Boylston Street Station along the MBTA Green Line is the oldest subway in the United States, and is an ASCE Landmark.
Waymark Code: WM2N4Q
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/24/2007
Views: 151
Much of this comes from the ASCE web site and MBTA web site.
By the 1890s, Boston's streets were quite busy. In fact "Boston's Tremont Street had become so clogged with streetcars that the wags of the day retorted that it would be much quicker for a passenger to climb onto the roof of their trolley and walk over roof tops of stalled vehicles to reach their destination." [MBTA web site]
To solve this problem, the Boston Transportation Commission was founded in 1894, with Howard A. Carson as the chief engineer.
They considered several solutions. One of the proposals was by Joseph Meigs, who had set up a demonstration monorail system powered by steam. A plaque in Cambridge marks the spot and is waymarked here (
visit link) . Finally, a street car tunnel system was selected. Work began in March, 1895. A ditch was dug on the Boston Common along Tremont Street. The ditch was not very deep; the top of the tunnel was just below the surface. On September 1, 1897, the first streetcar ran through the tunnel. It is estimated that over 100,000 people rode through the tunnel that day.
Today, the tunnel is still very much used, and is one of the busiest sections of the trolley - Heavy Rail system. The Green Line tunnel now extends from North Station to the east and beyond Kenmore Station to the west. The Park Street Station is one of the busiest stations in the system. It now has two subway lines (the green and the red) stopping there.
The ASCE plaque is mounted on the entrance to Park Street Station at the Boston Common, to the right of the doors.