Haymarket Square

Before 1839, a body of water referred to as “Mill Creek” flowed directly west of my parcel, the location where they began the construction of Haymarket Square. While the year 1839 appears when searching for the time of its creation, as mentioned in the youtube video above, the Boston natives themselves have little clue as to when Haymarket Square first “opened”. It is more of a cultural shift than an actual physical change (though it was physical). During a time in which the city of Boston underwent a transition from cart-operated produce sales to outdoor marketplaces, Mill Creek was eventually filled to help expand the market district strategically throughout Boston (Turino, BPM). As seen in Figure Three, an image recovered from digitalcommonwealth.org presents a view from Mill Canal showing the swampy Back Bay area before it was filled in (Fig Three). From this point on, Haymarket Square became a cultural hub for obtaining commerce or produce through the exchange of either goods or currency. It became a place of opportunity which provided its natives, like Peter B. Brigham, with endless ways of obtaining a living.  

New Englanders would gather fruits, vegetables, and other produce items and sell them to a public market. In the Youtube video above, a vendor by the name of Frankie who would run around the market district at the age of eleven working for “a quarter a day to 50 cents a day to a dollar, and next thing you know, I’ve been working here for 60 years” (Haymarket, Soul of the City). Working 70 hour weeks, Vendor Otto Gallotto explains the gambling nature of produce sales. He states, “you gamble with produce and you have to make a profit, you’re not selling sunglasses which aren't going to go bad, the food will” (Haymarket, Soul of the City). Sina, an immigrant from Cambodia, came to Boston at the age of two seeking opportunity. She worked one day a week for Otto Gallotto and later wound up opening her very own stand. She explains the grueling nature of attempting to create a stand from scratch and the years and years of failure associated with it. Although, all three vendors interviewed continue to speak fondly of their hometown market district of Haymarket Square. 

The most prominent building located within Haymarket Square was the Boston and Maine Railroad which served as a catalyst in reference to the square's prevalence. The B&M Railroad made the marketplace easily accessible with affordable transportation. As seen in images within the youtube video and throughout the site, the population and crowd density at Haymarket Square was significant. Figure five captures the exterior of the B&M Railroad taking in the year 1894. While the Railroad brought great benefit to the area, it endured a series of physical and legal changes over the course of its life. According to figure seven (below), a newspaper article recovered from Proquest, "The Haymarket Square Station of the Boston & Maine Railroad was torn down during the month of July 1897. The Haymarket Square Relief Station of Boston City Hospital was erected on the site in 1901 and opened to the public on Feb 20, 1932." To the right are images recovered from DigitalCommonWealth.org which portray the Square's physical and business changes during this time period. As seen in figure six listed in 1897 as well, subway construction work is underway in Haymarket Square which is likely an image of the demolishing of Haymarket Square Station as discussed in the Newspaper. In addition, figure four captures Boston City Hospital Relief Station in the year 1905 which as discussed in the paper was "erected on the site in 1901." According to Bob Allison, a historian, there was an outcry about the demolition of the West End but no one seemed to care about the obliteration of Haymarket. The train station was torn down in the 1920s and the West End itself was demolished, although, Haymarket survived as new immigrants came in.

While Haymarket Square's appearance and legal ownership have transitioned over the years, the market's 300-year history still possesses some of its earliest values. According to their modern-day website, "Nestled in the heart of Boston’s historic downtown, and mere footsteps away from Faneuil Hall and the North End, Haymarket is a bustling hub for fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood. It’s a place where you can connect with the history and culture of the city while experiencing the sights and sounds of one of America’s oldest open-air markets" (http://www.haymarketboston.org/experience).

(Background info recovered from: https://www.historicnewengland.org/capturing-the-stories-of-haymarket/

https://bostonpublicmarket.org/blog/653/the-history-of-bostons-market-district/ )