Re: subways-- off topic

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

Donna Halper wrote:
 
> Just a historical question for some of you who lived in greater Boston in
> the 50s.  I was trying to recall some of the subway stops whose names were
> changed as a result of urban renewal or whatever.   I know there used to be
> Friend/Union (at what is North Station, across from the old Boston Garden),
> and I know there used to be Mechanics (for the old Mechanics Hall, where
> many radio shows were held in the 20s and 30s)-- is that now Hynes
> Convention Center or Auditorium?  Can anyone fill me in on other names that
> got changed?

Mechanics became Prudential.  Massachusetts station became Auditorium, and
now Hines/ICA (That means "Institute of Contemporary Art").
 
> What brought this to mind was hearing that oldie "Charlie on the MTA"--
> written before it became the MBTA, of course--  where it talked about the
> "Scollay Square Station" (today Government Center, right?).

Actually, it's now officially "Government Center at Scollay Square."  It
seems that back a few years ago, while doing a remote in City Hall Plaza,
Jerry Williams suddenly declared that he was broadcasting from "Scollay
Square, NOT Government Center" and on the spur of the moment started a
movement to restore the name of Scollay Square.  So if you look along
Cambridge Street, you will find Scollay Square street signs, and I think
there's a plaque somewhere on one of the pillars of Center Plaza
commemorating the restoration of the name.  There was a formal ceremony at
the time, but it didn't make much news.  It turned out to be at the same
time as another event on the common:  Governor Dukakis's formal
announcement of his candidacy for President.

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 A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                     617.367.0468
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