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The Cornhill Lunch Room is open to take your orders
By adamg on Mon, 05/10/2021 - 12:34pm
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
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Comments
No way.
No way.
scollay square
?
My guess too
If i had to place it precisely i’d wager where the City Hall Plaza office buildings are now, by that fancy pants juice dump and the eyeglasses store.
Wrong side of the street.
Wrong side of the street. Only the even side is left.
Government Center T
The odd-numbered addresses on Cornhill were across the street from those buildings -- basically right where the T is now.
Scollay Square
Right around where the Govt Ctr stop is today
Cornhill Bookstore
There used to be a Cornhill Bookstore on a little street off of South Street, somewhat near the South Street Diner (formerly Blue Diner) in the 70s and 80s, but they pretty much obliterated the whole street it was on when they put up a huge building in the 80s. It was a great little bookstore. Strangely, it had a lot of pornography alongside all the other inventory, although I wouldn't exactly consider it a porn place.
Cornhill
My guess is what is now Government Center. Cornhill Street is (or was) parallel to Court Street. I think some of the businesses in the old Sears Crescent Building might still use the street name. I'm pretty sure the rear entrance to the veterans shelter is a Cornhill Street address.
It's not Cornhill Street, it
It's not Cornhill Street, it's just Cornhill, like Broadway. (It's rare to see this. A couple of other examples are The Bowery in New York, and Boulevard in Atlanta)
Other streets without suffixes - local examples
Fenway, Riverway, Jamaicaway, Arborway, Fellsway, Lynnway
for the first one, I sometimes see addresses written like this: "34 The Fenway"
Columbia Road was supposed to be Dorchesterway if it had been built the way Frederick Law Olmsted had intended. Day Boulevard either once was, or was intended to be, Strandway.
(And yet, we have Causeway Street near North Station, and Glenway Street in Dorchester near Franklin Park)
Is this the same location?
https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/21312...
Yes, it's the same place!
The Sears Crescent and Sears Block (where Starbucks' steaming kettle is now) had even-number addresses from 40-68 Cornhill. The numbers on each side were slightly staggered, so 73 Cornhill was opposite 60 Cornhill. The street numbers began with number 1 at Washington St., on the east end, and ran to 81/68 at the west end, Scollay Square/Court Street.
The northbound Green Line subway tracks were originally directly under Cornhill and followed the curve of the street. As part of the Government Center construction, the northbound subway tunnel was relocated in 1963 to a straighter path directly under the City Hall Plaza.
Frame Shop at 69 Cornhill
That's my great great grandfather John J. O'Brien's picture frame shop at 69 Cornhill, underneath the locksmith sign.
It's a shame
that the "69 Repairing" shops are all long gone.
On Cornhill would be my guess
On Cornhill would be my guess.
Interesting fact about Cornhill, though it was a street, it was not called Cornhill Street. Just Cornhill plain and simple.
The Answer
Thanks for playing, folks! This is indeed Cornhill. This photo is from about 1890.