MBTA looking for creator of Government Center murals so it can return them

Put them on display at Boylston Street Station. It could be a mini museum down there with the type 5 and the MTA era livery PCC.

And what about the large American Flag and Bald Eagle images that were in the station - probably from the time of its opening, or at least since the Bicentennial?

Any room at Green T in Mission Hill for these?

I was just thinking about these charming paintings last night. WHY in the world wouldn't they try to sell them? I am sure they would have many interested takers--I would love to own one. I think it's incredibly short-sighted not to restore them and rehang them, but if they don't want to do that they could raise revenue. Such poor thinking.

So, if they can't find her, can someone else offer to take them? I would.

Government Center's most recent configuration dates to October 1963, and to the Metropolitan Transit Authority -- the "M.T.A." of the song about Charlie. Before Boston City Hall could be built, the M.T.A. had to relocate the northbound tunnel between Scollay Square and Haymarket. Of course, if the T did that now, they'd close the entire Green Line for a couple of years. But in those days they ran the service straight through the construction site. Scollay Square station closed on October 25, 1963, and Government Center (using the new northbound tunnel) opened on October 28.

The porcelain murals -- which included the American flag, the eagle, and the large star -- were part of a systemwide "station modernization" project done by the MBTA after it took control in 1964. This modernization program included, among other things, installation of signs identifying the color-coded lines (which were introduced in 1965). The first station in that program was Arlington, dedicated in August 1967. My recollection is that Government Center was "modernized" under that program in the early 1970s. That would fit in with the patriotic symbols being linked to the bicentennial in 1975-76. The T did not really hire artists to do the porcelain murals in the modernized stations; the designs were chosen by the team that was doing the other graphics, signs, etc. In many stations, the porcelain murals simply reproduced old photos of the area above the station. Obviously, the T didn't want to do that at the former Scollay Square!

The T did not actually begin commissioning artwork -- by named artists -- until the late 1970s. If I recall correctly, the murals in question, by Ms. Beam, were not installed until sometime in the 1980s. The PCC cars, which are portrayed in those murals, stopped running in regular service when the Arborway Line was closed in December 1985. I seem to remember -- but I may be wrong -- that these murals appeared shortly after that, perhaps in homage to the recently-departed PCC cars.

That being said, I always liked those murals and I'd been wondering what happened to them. I hope they do find a good home on the T system or in a museum. For the record, they were covered either with glass or with plexiglas to protect them, but a fair amount of soot had collected on them despite the coverings.

Based on the many bearded individuals depicted I'm going to say this is later than the '60s. Also, I searched the Globe archives and found a listing for a 1978 exhibition at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts called "Murals for Subway" by Mary Beams.