Boylston Street


Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The road begins in Boston's Fenway neighborhood, runs through Back Bay, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, and ends in Downtown Boston.

Name

As early as 1722, Boylston Street, then a short road on the outskirts of the town of Boston, was known as Frogg Lane or Frog Lane. It was later renamed for Ward Nicholas Boylston, a philanthropist and benefactor of Harvard University. Boylston, who was a descendant of Zabdiel Boylston, was born in Boston and spent much of his life in it. Boylston Market, and the town of Boylston, Massachusetts, were also named after him.

Route

From west to east, Boston's Boylston Street begins at the intersection of Park Drive and Brookline Avenue as a two-way, six-lane road in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. It runs through high-rise, mixed-use buildings one block south of Fenway Park before forming the northern boundary of the Back Bay Fens at the Storrow Drive/Commonwealth Avenue right-of-way. Past the Fenway, Boylston Street enters the Back Bay neighborhood, where it becomes a major commercial artery carrying three lanes of traffic eastbound. As it travels through the Back Bay, it forms the northern boundary of Copley Square and provides the southern limits to the Boston Public Garden, before becoming a two-way street running along Boston Common's southern edge from Charles Street to Tremont Street. After Tremont Street, Boylston returns to carrying one-way traffic east before ending at Washington Street in the downtown area, where it continues as Essex Street.
The MIT Rogers Building was at 497 Boylston Street when MIT had its original campus in Boston, before it moved to Cambridge in 1916. A plaque on the building serves as a commemoration.
On April 15, 2013, 666 Boylston Street was the scene of two explosive detonations that occurred during the running of the 117th Boston marathon, which killed 3 people and wounded at least 264.

Landmarks

The MBTA Green Line follows Boylston Street in Back Bay, with stops at Boylston, Arlington, Copley, and Hynes Convention Center.