Childs Bertram Tseckares & Casedino (CBT) was engaged by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works (DPW) to come up with community-approved guidelines for the land parcels to be assembled. As documented in the DPW’s October 21, 1986, Draft Report, Ken Stone, co chairman of the Charlestown North Area Task Force (NATF) expressed the community’s wish to have the approximately one acre tract of land identified as Parcel 5 designated as public open space.

In 1987, at the request of NATF, and through the offices of Representative Richard A. Voke, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management (DEM) appointed a staff person to assist the community in beginning the process to achieve the objective of creating a park out of Parcel 5. In 1988 the City Square Park Committee (CSPC) was established, with Ken Stone and Peggy Bradley serving as co-chairs. (Annette Tecce replaced Ms. Bradley in 1989.) Late in 1989, Representative Voke was successful in securing funds for the planning, design and construction of the park. On May 22, 1991, CBT conducted the first community meeting, and on July 9, 1992, City Square Park was designated a Boston Landmark site. The City Square tunnels were completed in 1992, and surface restoration followed in 1993.

Following a lengthy consultant selection process that involved the participation of CSPC co chairs Stone and Tecce and Richard Johnston of the NATF, in December of 1992, the DEM hired the Halvorson Company, Inc. to carry out the preliminary and final park design for City Square. (This firm had designed the critically acclaimed park in Boston’s Post Office Square.) Community meetings reviewing the final Halvorson proposals took place between January 14, 1993 and January 31, 1994. Responding to input from Charlestown residents, the Halvorson team (led by Craig Halvorson, noted for his commitment to community involvement in the design process) worked in association with David Phillips (who is responsible for the park’s marvelously whimsical art elements) to satisfy the community’s concerns by incorporating into the design sculptural pieces and park ornamentation with associations to Charlestown’s rich history.

Such works of art (hammered copper and cast bronze) adorn the park, including representations of the crane (for the Three Cranes Tavern that once occupied this site), of the cod (for the most important food of New England’s past – fish), of corn (for the Native American culture that planted maize) and of rope (for the sailing and marine history of the region). The sculpture of the allegorical figure of “Justice”, sited prominently where Main Street meets City Square, recalls the establishment of the Court of Assistants at this location, documenting Charlestown as the “Birthplace of the Judiciary” in Massachusetts. Historic personages who lived in native to Charlestown are commemorated on the portrait medallions at each of the park gateways.

City Square Park was designed as a richly-detailed oasis of green, defined by a custom built ornamental fence on a low granite curb. Included in the plantings are more than 70 separate species of trees, shrubs, perennial flowers, groundcovers and grasses. Today’s one acre park occupies a space that since 1775 has been open space. By the middle of the 20th century that space had become a traffic circle and parking lots. The park site today with its formal design elements, gas lights, curving paths and lawn areas successfully evokes the past by responding in a contemporary fashion to its historic legacy.

On April 11, 1994, the City Square Park Committee became the Friends of City Square Park, Inc., with a governing board of 20 director/assistants, and with Ken Stone serving as president/governor. Ground breaking took place on the frosty morning of April 5, 1995 followed by a festive Celebration (park dedication) Day on October 6, 1996. A Memorandum of Agreement, with the Department of Environmental Management, concerning park ownership, was signed on March 28, 1997

Brief History Since 1629

In 1629, Thomas Graves, an English engineer, and a work party laid out Charlestown’s streets which centered around City Square (then Market Square). A year later a band of about 1000 English settlers led by Governor John Winthrop arrived and settled in the City Square area. Governor Winthrop resided in the recently erected Great House and the other settlers in primitive huts. In the fall of 1630, Governor Winthrop and many of the settlers moved to Shawmut Peninsula (Boston).

This square became the focus of community life as the town grew around it. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, on the night of his famous ride rowed to Charlestown from Boston. Here, he borrowed a horse and departed to sound his warning of British troops on the march all the way to Lexington and Concord. On June 17, of the same year, during the Battle of Bunker Hill, British cannon fire burnt Charlestown to the ground. Rebuilt after the revolution, the square, then known as Charlestown Square, regained its role as the center of town life. As the 19th century progressed, the square became a crossroads as bridges and grand hotels were built and wharves crowded the waterfront.

Charlestown became a city in 1848, and Charlestown Square was renamed City Square. A few years later it was graced with a fountain in the midst of an ornate circular park and in 1868, with a new domed City Hall, whose design reflected High Victorian elegance. Boston annexed Charlestown in 1874. The grand City Hall building was later replaced in 1917 by a more modest municipal building and courthouse.

The twentieth century brought the elevated transit lines, highway viaducts, a traffic rotary and parking lots that blotted out the old park as well as much of the charm of the square itself. As the blight and shadow cast by overhead transportation facilities began to lift, the people of Charlestown worked to see that a beautiful park would again become the center of City Square. Charlestown began a new role as a major contributor to the arts, politics and economic future of the City of Boston.

The Pride of City Square Park

Outline of the Great House Foundation

The Great House, built in City Square for Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, became the seat of government of the first self governing colony in America. It set the stage for future battles that would result in the hard won Liberty, independence and representative government that is ours today. The building stood from 1628 – 1775.

Justice Statue

This statue has been erected to mark the birth of the judiciary system in this state. Near here, on August 23, 1630, Governor John Winthrop and members of the Massachusetts Bay Company organized the Court of Assistants, forerunner of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

Paul Revere Memorial Plaque

Placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, a plaque and adjacent steps, once part of the Charlestown Bridge, commemorate Paul Revere’s midnight ride. The ride began in City Square using a horse borrowed from Deacon John Larkin.

Word War II Memorial

This simple obelisk, repeating the form of the Bunker Hill Monument, honors the men and women of Charlestown who served our nation in the defense of freedom in World War II.

The Park Gateways

The park’s gateway posts display include medallions that honor the extraordinary accomplishments of famous men and women who lived in Charlestown:

Arts and Humanities:

Elizabeth Foster Goose (1665-1757) the author of Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes

John Boyle O’Reilly (1844-1890) poet, editor, writer and adventurous Irish rebel and champion of Ireland’s independence

Education:

Dr. Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826) the Father of American Geography

William Carleton (1797-1876) Benefactor of Carleton College

Reverend John Harvard (1607-1638) Benefactor of Harvard College

Charles Tufts (1781-1876) Benefactor of Tufts College

Government:

Edward Everett (1794-1865) American orator and statesman, Secretary of State, U.S. Congressman and Senator, and Governor of Massachusetts

Nathaniel Gorham (1738-1796) A patriot, statesman, merchant, President of the Continental Congress and signer of the U.S. Constitution

Science & Commerce:

Samuel Morse (1791-1872) Artist and inventor of the electric telegraph and Morse code

Loammi Baldwin (1780-1838) Considered the Father of Civil Engineering in America.