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Scraps of history found where you'd least expect them at Government Center T stop
By adamg on Fri, 07/31/2015 - 1:17pm
The MBTA reports workers at the Government Center rehab project found remnants of a 1915 Boston Post behind an old door jamb.
Other, larger reminders of the station's past will be put on display:
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Comments
As if we needed evidence that
As if we needed evidence that the stations are never cleaned ever.
What I find disturbing
is how this is being touted by the MBTA as a "historical find". It's just a scrap of an old newspaper that people know existed at that time, and which actual copies of can be found at libraries.
A 2015 Boston Globe found in 2115
would also be a notable find.
However, a small piece of a 2015
Boston Globe found in 2115 would not be significant. Plus, by 2115, I suspect that the rise and fall of newspapers will be taught as part of the basic curriculum in the "This is how society used to do things" middle school history course.
2015 Globe
A printed paper copy of the Globe might be impossible to get soon!
What About
A South Boston Today that is still sitting on someone's SoBo doorstep?
RELIC
You are easily disturbed then
You are easily disturbed then. The newspaper is nearly 100 years old -- sure it likely exisits on microfilm, however it's still quite intersting to see the original print version where you least expect it.
Now, if it were a WHOLE
copy of the Boston Post, that might indeed be interesting to some folks. However, and with respect, finding a small scrap of an old newspaper doesn't exactly warrant the "Hey, look what we found" reaction by the MBTA.
And, to put this in perspective, consider the newspapers that were discovered in the State House time capsule that was recently opened. From what I've read and heard in the media and elsewhere, most historians consider them to be somewhat interesting, but not especially significant from a larger historical perspective. And those were full copies that were deliberately preserved, not tattered pieces found in a door jamb.
No, the MBTA didn't call this a historical find
Don't worry: The T's not going to delay the Government Center work while a team of archaeologists investigate the find.
The T called it a bit of a 1915 newspaper. I applied a bit of editorial value add here - I thought it was kind of interesting (then again, I was fascinated by the 1930s-era phone wires that still connected our house to the outside world when we bought the place).
Appreciate the clarification Adam
And, no, I wasn't fearing that this "find" would bring the project to a halt.
Now if we could only convince the powers that be to apply that same logic to the Longfellow Bridge reconstruction.
Maybe more likely
Maybe more likely that it was half-assed construction:
"Hey, John, the jamb isn't quite flush with the wall."
"Hmm...can we jam a newspaper in there?"
"......yes we can!"
Newspapers for everything!
If you have ever lived in an old house, and opened things up, they are everywhere:
used to shim things
used for insulation
used to fill spaces around pipes
used as backing for things being mounted
Seems that there was no end to their use! I found a 1939 newspaper in my kitchen wall that had a lumber list written in neat copper plate script handwriting in the margins. I found a 1962 paper behind the old medicine cabinet when I ripped it out. When my husband's family redid the kitchen in their 1795 home in the 1980s, they found that the walls had been stuffed with newspapers from the 1920s.
This is different, of course, than the 2004 Red Sox Victory edition of the Globe that I intentionally wrapped in multiple layers of plastic bags and left in the wall of the den.
Might want to...
Might want to make sure there were some holes in those plastic bags to let out moisture that will build up in there. Or you can get silica packets (the little "Do Not Eat" packets you find in shoe boxes) and put them in the bags if you ever open the wall again. Would hate for you to open the wall somewhere down the line and find nothing but a block of mold inside of the plastic. That is the reason water proof safes and/or firesafes come with a HUGE packet of silica beads, and even in those you can find the paper is moist if you don't open it up after 6 months.
good to know
that through the century trash is able to survive without being picked up in this fair city. I wonder if in 1915 you would have to carry your trash for blocks upon blocks before stumbling across a trashcan like today. I guess people likely just said "screw it" and threw their trash on the ground, which really is what I should start doing.
No minimum wage meant the
No minimum wage meant the city paid plenty of people to clean the streets on a daily basis. A leftover from the days when horse manure needed to be cleaned up for sanitation reasons. All the money which now goes into city level welfare and social services used to go towards infrastructure and paying people day labor to do maintenance. Everyone had work. But if you got hurt or couldn't work and family, a private charity, or church wasn't there to help destitution would soon follow.
Yes, things were so much better back then...
You forgot to mention the tenements and alms houses...
Really, it's interesting how you can imply that the lack of a standard minimum wage is a good thing?
Most of the Green Line level
Most of the Green Line level of the station only dates to 1963 when the station and the tunnel north to Haymarket were rerouted to accomodate the new city hall construction. The Blue Line level was opened in March 1916. The paper was probably left behind by one of the construction workers.
Not quite
The 1963 work, which was done on both the Green Line and Blue Line levels, was principally cosmetic in nature. However, both the track layout and basic permanent structure of the station on both levels remained unchanged from when the station originally opened after the 1963 work was completed.
Part of the 1963 work included shortening the Blue Line platforms by putting temporary walls in place. I still recall the night sometime in the late 1970s when, waiting for a train to Wonderland, I peered around the temporary wall and noticed the "SCOLLAY UNDER" sign in the original platform wall.
No, the northbound Green Line
No, the northbound Green Line was relocated to a new tunnel towards Haymarket, the old alignment under Cornhill to Adams Sq veered off just before the present station, the entire northbound platform and track and half of the Brattle loop were new to 1963. The wall along the westbound Green Line track and part of the original Brattle loop are all that remain of the 1898 construction on the Green Line level.
The station was modernized in 1968, only three years after the realignment of the northbound Green Line. The Blue Line platforms were shortened with the 1968 work
I don't think that's entirely true.
I've studied a blueprint of the original trolley platforms and compared it by eye to the existing pre-closure platforms by eye. While the basic shapes and directions remained the same, I believe there were some realignments to the trackage and expansion of the northbound platform.
At some point early in the history of the station the Brattle Loop (the "short turn" track) was under separate fare control, with it's own entrance and exit (the section marked "ADDITIONAL PLATFORM" on the linked blueprint).
At some point the additional platform fell into disuse. My guess is that during the 60's renovations is when a large portion of the loop wound up walled off behind cinderblock. Most people have see the loop itself but have probably never laid eyes on the additional platform, as it seems to have wound up behind yet another wall. (This photo shows a view of the loop -- the wall on the left of the photo separates the loop from the active platform and the door on the right probably leads to the hidden "additional platform")
Now, here's where it gets interesting. If one were still able to look at the existing trackage today, we'd see that there is much more platform between the loop and the main northbound track than there is in the blueprint. What I theorize is that when the northbound tracks were realigned into a new tunnel that bypassed Adams Square, (a) the southeast end of the additional platform was demolished (b) the loop was turned to the north sooner, and (c) the northbound platform was made much wider and extended further to the northeast. In addition I think the main northbound track might have been brought slightly to the northwest, because one can observe a little left-right zig-zag as a train enters the station from the south -- a set of turns that obviously wasn't in place at the time the historic blueprint was made.
The short story is that I believe about 70% of the station retains its original alginment, but the northbound platform has been realigned and significantly expanded, yet in a way that retains a great deal of similarity to the original layout.
I love these finds. My ex-
I love these finds. My ex- husband used to work in construction and said it was common to find things behind walls, such as newpapers and bottles.
I love these blasts from the past.
lol
I grew up in a farm house that was built in 1889. I used to crawl around the crawl space (half the basement) and find all sorts of bottles. Mostly alcohol bottles.. they musta been drinking when they were building the house! Which didn't surprise me considering how poorly the house was built.
In the crawl space in the eave, it looked they they started building a wall for the bedroom and decided the slant was too low then built the wall that exists today. So you'll look in the eave and see a half wall, complete with plaster and lathe and it just ends.
The dining/kitchen was fun. We took down about 7 layers of wallpaper, only to find out the wallpaper was the only thing holding up the plaster. In one spot near the bathroom door, it looked like they ran out of lathe, and ripped apart a Sunkist box and used it as lathe. (They also ran out of plaster because there was a thin layer which came off when we took the wallpaper off)
And of course, I won't talk about the sterling silver tea pot and set we found jammed in the attic!
I Wish They'd Rename It "Scollay Station"
It is
a tad more accuarate than Government Center: somehow, Government Center seems too grandiose of a name for "City Hall, a courthouse you can't see from the street, the Old State House Museum, and a flat space where you can stand and see three Dunkins and two Starbucks at the same time."
The official name
for the station is actually "Government Center at Scollay Square." However, apart from some black on white "At Scollay Square" notations that appeared under the white on green Government Center banners (as I recall, the notation never was applied to the Blue Line level), the MBTA never included the name on maps or otherwise acknowledged it.
This compromise to getting the Scollay Square name back at Government Center was the result of a lobbying effort by WRKO talkmaster Jerry Williams, who took on the crusade to rename the station after convincing the voters to repeal the original Massachusetts seat belt law - under the premise that it somehow violated driver's constitutional rights to smash through windshields if they so chose to.
Eh, Scollay Square is dead.
Eh, Scollay Square is dead. That area is a sprawling collection of government buildings, and even if those buildings were reorganized so as to make things more friendly, it would still be Government Center. Streets that formed that intersection no longer exist. Calling it Scollay Station would just be an empty gesture and only lead to confusion.
Side note: does the east side of Beacon Hill count as Government Center too? Those are government buildings too, even if a different level of government and without the modernist style.
I Did Not Suggest Naming It "Scollay Square" ...
... I suggested it be named simply "Scollay Station". Of course, there's no longer a Scollay Square, but the "Scollay" name has a rich historical context that's worth remembering, especially when the station is adorned with beautiful 100-year-old tile work.
"Government Center" is too bland and generic; many other cities have transit stations or other places with that name, but nowhere else is there a Scollay Station. ( let alone a "Scollay Under"! )
( I'd also love to see the Oak Grove platform at Downtown Crossing returned to its historic name, as part of the memorial to Donna Summer. It would be fabulous if it also still has its original tile work hidden behind the current decor there. )
Rename The Oak Grove Platform At DTX Back To "Summer Station"
... and encourage the buskers to play Donna Summer music.
I lost a jock strap in
I lost a jock strap in scollay square. If they find it, i wan it back. that was a night to remember.
Try DTX
I think that dancer guy found it and was wearing it today.
They would have found it
They would have found it sooner except it was buried under a huge pile of Globe Directs.