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Kate M.
Creating India Square
"An address on…India Wharf was currency around the world." Jane Holtz Kay's description of India Wharf in Lost Boston best describes the value of owning property, or running a business, on India Square.
To take advantage of the expanding global sea trade, Boston investors hired architect Charles Bulfinch to design a new wharf, streets and buildings. In 1804, construction began on India Wharf, Broad and India Street. This included the India Wharf building and buildings between Broad and India Street on the Atlantic Avenue side.
Because of the lack of an extensive railway system, Boston ports lagged behind those of New York starting in the 1860s. The new shoreline created during this time created space for new commercial development, as well as Atlantic Avenue through which the Atlantic Railway ran. As seen in the maps to the right, buildings like India Wharf were sliced in half to make room for the new elevated railway.
“What India Street Was in Ye Olden Time,” 1889 (Boston Daily Globe)
"Loft Building at Auction," 1942 (Boston Daily Globe)
India Square was located in the financial district across from India Wharf, with only the Atlantic Railway and one short block separating them. The Wharf was one of many situated on the Waterfront, home to warehouses, businesses and international ports, the center of shipping and trade.
As seen in the Globe article to the left, India Square was in the middle of an area rich with a diverse array of businesses. The waterfront brought in goods from overseas, and the Atlantic Railway provided easy transport for shoppers from around the city.
Even in the 1940s, just a decade before the Central Artery was constructed, property on India Square was still of value. One advertisement described it as "a convenient business headquarters for a small jobber or contractor whose business requires him to be near the insurance district and waterfront."
Financial District, 1899. (Walker and Downs)
Atlantic Railway, Rowes Station ca. 1940. (Leslie Jones Collection)
Central Artery through what used to be India Square. (Digital Commonwealth)
India Square today. (The Rose Kennedy Greenway)
Over time, economic trends shifted and the peak of the Boston shipping industry was no more. From the 1960s to 1970s, India Wharf was replaced by the Harbor Towers and India Square in its entirety was replaced by the Central Artery, as seen above in the third image from the left. Today, the former site of India Square is home to the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
Works Cited
“5-7 Broad Street - Boston.” Boston Landmarks Commission. Accessed December 12, 2022. https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/5- 7%20Broad%20Street%20Study%20Report_tcm3-44962.pdf.
Archives, Boston City. “#Onthisday in 1912, a @Cityofboston Photographer Walked down Atlantic Ave and State Street, Photographing Streetscapes as They Went. Let's Walk along! Https://T.co/r5uun4dayg @Universalhub @Hubhistory PIC.TWITTER.COM/AWUZJRC9FO.” Twitter. Twitter, September 26, 2022. https://twitter.com/ArchivesBoston/status/1574426333312065541.
Bromley, George Washington. Atlas of the City of Boston. Philadelphia: G.W. Bromley & Co., 1895, 1917. Boston Public Library, via Atlascope.
Classified ad 4 -- no title. 1942. Daily Boston Globe (1928-1960), Nov 01, 1942. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login? auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/classified-ad-4-no-title/docview/817079418/se-2
Gen H. Walker and Albert E. Downs. Boston, 1899. Vitali Map Co. https://www.vitalimaps.com/shop/boston-1899
G.M. Hopkins & Co., Atlas of the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts: vol. 1 1874.. Boston Public Library, via Atlascope.
Grant, Spencer. "Central Artery and downtown: Note Customs House & Harbor Towers, downtown Boston." Photograph. 1971. Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/np193956m
Holtz Kay, Jane. Lost Boston. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2006.
"India Wharf, Boston: Built 1803-1807; demolished 1962 Figures 90-91" In The Architecture of Charles Bulfinch, 188-193. Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1969. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674182226.c38
Jones, Leslie. "Atlantic Ave. showing elevated station at Rowe's wharf, from Appraisers' stores." Photograph. [ca. 1940–1949]. Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/q524kk64t (accessed December 09, 2022).
Keohane, Joe. “The Harbor Towers' Towering Contradictions.” Boston Magazine. Boston Magazine, April 2, 2015. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2008/01/28/the-harbor-towers-towering-contradictions/.
March Of Trade: From The Water Front To The City's Centre. A Day With Old-Time Merchants. What India Street Was In Ye Olden Time. Groceries, D ry Goods, Produce, Iron And Steel, All Huddlad Together In The Oldfashioned Locality. 1889. Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Jan 27, 1889. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/march-trade/docview/493554928/se-2
MRS JOHN L. GARDNER: SNAP SHOTS OF THE FAMOUS SOCIAL LEADER AND HER HUSBAND==A CLEVER WORD PICTURE OF A GIFTED WOMAN==HER HOME AND FASHIONABLE LIFE. 1894. Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Apr 01, 1894. https://holycross.idm.oclc.org/login? auth=cas&url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/mrs-john-l-gardner/docview/497601115/se-2
“Prestigious Wharf and Building.” Signs by Friends of the Boston Harborwalk, February 5, 2021. https://boshw.us/sign/prestigious-wharf-and- building/?lang=english#.
Sanborn, Daniel A. Insurance Map of Boston. Vol. 1. 1867. New York: D.A. Sanborn. Boston Public Library, via Atlascope.
The Rose Kennedy Greenway. (2022, October 13). https://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/
Unknown. n.d. (circa 1897-1905). Artstor. "Three views of buildings, including offices of shipping agents, and carts at India Wharf." https://library.artstor.org/asset/SCHLES_130763045.
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