Beacon Street

Beacon Street begins as a one-way street from the intersection of Tremont Street and School Street. From this point, it rises up Beacon Hill for a block where it meets Park Street in front of the Massachusetts State House. From that intersection it descends Beacon Hill as a two-lane, bi-directional street in the Back Bay until it reaches Charles Street at a point dividing Boston Common from the Boston Public Garden. At Charles Street, it becomes a one-way avenue that runs through the Back Bay neighborhood until it reaches Kenmore Square, or the intersection with Commonwealth Avenue (Route 2).

From Kenmore Square, Beacon Street skirts the area around Fenway Park and follows a southwesterly slant through Brookline along either side of the MBTA Green Line trolley tracks to Cleveland Circle in Brighton. From there it passes through Chestnut Hill, including the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Boston College.

It winds its way into the city of Newton, where it crosses the Hammond Pond Parkway and crosses Centre Street to form the defining intersection of Newton Centre. Then, it meets Walnut Street at "Four Corners" near the Newton Cemetery, and goes through Waban at its intersection with Woodward Street. It ends at Washington Street (Route 16) near a junction with Boston's circumferential highway, Interstate 95 (also cosigned as Route 128).

File:Beacon Street, by Bates, Joseph L., 1806 or 7-1886.jpg image of Beacon Street by Joseph L. Bates]]

Beacon Street initially formed the northern limit of Boston Common, and was extended over the Charles River Basin as a dam that would later form the shore between a narrowed river and the newly filled-in Back Bay neighborhood. The part of Beacon Street west of Kenmore Square was originally laid out in 1850. Railroad tracks were first laid in 1888 for what would eventually become the modern Green Line C branch.

In July 2020, the state awarded $32,000 for a feasibility study and conceptual design of restoration of the original bridle path, which ran along the median of the Brookline portion.{{cite web |url=https://www.mass.gov/doc/2020-masstrails-grant-awards/download |title=2020 MassTrails Grant Awards |date=July 2020 |publisher=Commonwealth of Massachusetts |page=2}}

• Robert McCloskey's 1941 children's book Make Way for Ducklings features a mother duck leading her eight ducklings across Beacon Street, with the help of four members of the Boston Police Department.
• The Beacon Street Girls series of preteen books is set around Beacon Street in Brookline.
• Nanci Griffith's 1987 album Lone Star State of Mind has a song called "Beacon Street".
• Beacon Street is the location of the fictional pizza parlor Beacon Street Pizza during the first season of the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl.
• {{Frac|112|1|2}} is the address of the fictional bar Cheers.{{cite episode |title=The Stork Brings a Crane |series=Cheers |series-link=Cheers |season=8 |number=6 |minutes=03:15}} The actual location of the exterior shots is 84 Beacon Street.
• The Unitarian Universalist Association managed to confuse the numbers on this street. In 1927, moving from 25 Beacon Street down the street, they wanted to keep the number 25, and convinced the legislature to pass a law to keep it.{{Cite web |url=http://stewardship.blogs.uua.org/a-movable-feast-25-beacon-street-a-love-story/ |title=A Movable Feast: 25 Beacon Street – A Love Story |access-date=2014-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129082619/http://stewardship.blogs.uua.org/a-movable-feast-25-beacon-street-a-love-story/ |archive-date=2014-11-29 |url-status=dead}}
• In Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, a main character owns a shop on Beacon Street and the shop appears several times throughout the series.
• 14 Beacon Street was used in the series Ally McBeal as the exterior location for the law firm Cage & Fish (later Cage, Fish, & McBeal), which was located on the 7th floor of this building.{{Cite web |title=Ally McBeal Offices (Cage & Fish) |url=https://foursquare.com/v/ally-mcbeal-offices-cage--fish/4e66b6186365d0e711e40c23}}

File:1722 ParkSt TremontSt BeaconSt Boston.png|1922 artist's recreation of Beacon Street as it was in 1722 (upper left)

File:BeaconStreet Boston 1850s.jpg|Illustration of Beacon Street, Boston in the 1850s

File:1870 BeaconSt Boston.png|Beacon St., 1870

File:2351617938 BeaconSt Boston.jpg|Beacon St., Back Bay, c. 1870s

File:Interior beaconstreet.jpg|Interior of 241 Beacon St., former home of Julia Ward Howe, 19th century

File:AmoryTicknorHouse ca1885 BeaconSt Boston detail12 LC HABS ma0898.jpg|Top of Beacon St., across from the State House, c. 1885

File:1900 AHAC parade BeaconSt Boston.png|Parade of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, 1900

File:Boston Water Works, Chestnut Hill High-Service Pumping Station, 2450 Beacon Street, Boston (Suffolk County, Massachusetts).jpg|Boston Water Works, Chestnut Hill High-Service Pumping Station, 2450 Beacon Street, c. 1970s(?)

File:Boston marathon mile 25 beacon street 050418.jpg|Boston Marathon, mile 25, Beacon St., 2005

File:922 beacon street 2006.jpg|922 Beacon Street in 2006 with Ruggles Baptist Church in the background

File:Boston Cityscape Painting m.jpg|Boston's Beacon Street (2008) by R. Vojir featuring the Somerset Club

File:Boston - buildings 23.JPG|Top of Beacon St., showing One Beacon Street building, 2008

File:Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts.jpg|Facade of the Boston Athenaeum

File:14 Beacon Street (Fish, Cage, & McBeal) (7183315650).jpg|14 Beacon Street, from the series Ally McBeal, as the exterior the location of the law firm "Cage & Fish" (later "Cage, Fish, & McBeal"), which was located on the 7th floor of this building{{cite web | url=https://foursquare.com/v/ally-mcbeal-offices-cage--fish/4e66b6186365d0e711e40c23 | title=Ally McBeal Offices (Cage & Fish) }}

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• Amory–Ticknor House
• Nathan Appleton Residence
• Beacon Street Girls
• Boston Athenæum
• Boston Bar Association
• Boston Common
• Boston Public Garden
• Boston Transit Commission Building
• Cheers Beacon Hill
• Chester Harding House
• Cleveland Circle
• Dean Road station
• Gibson House Museum
• Hancock Manor
• Headquarters House (Boston, Massachusetts)
• Harrison Gray Otis House
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. lived on Beacon St. 1871–1894State Street Trust Company. Forty of Boston's historic houses. 1912.
• Julia Ward Howe lived on Beacon St.
• Kenmore Square
• Leavitt-Riedler Pumping Engine
• Massachusetts State House
• Mount Vernon Church, Boston
• Myles Annex
• Myles Standish Hall
• One Beacon Street
• Page Company, former tenant
• John Phillips (mayor) lived on Beacon St. (corner of Walnut Street), 1804–1823State Street Trust Co. 1912.
• William H. Prescott lived on Beacon St. 1845–1859State Street Trust Co. 1912.
• Robert Gould Shaw Memorial
• Somerset Club
• Washington Square (Boston)

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• New York Public Library. [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?79314 Postcard of Unitarian Building], 25 Beacon Street Boston, Headquarters American Unitarian Association. Also shows State House, Hotel Bellevue, early 20th century.

{{Streets and squares in Boston}}

Category:Beacon Hill, Boston

Category:Streets in Boston