Eagle Feathers #184 – The Square

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Washington Street was first called the Road to Newtowne, the original name of the City of Cambridge and the home of American’s first college, Harvard. Later, she became a much-traveled thoroughfare that was laid out through today’s Union Square.

This street received its name in honor of George Washington, the leader of America’s Colonial Army and America’s first president. His image can easily be seen on the mural in Union Square, on our quarters and our one-dollar bills. The mural’s image is of the General presenting the first American flag, the Union Flag, to his soldiers at Prospect Hill.

After the Revolution and with no bridges crossing the Charles River, a trip to Boston from Charlestown was eight to ten miles and Union Square became a pleasant rest stop. Free ladled-out well water was provided on both sides of the square for travelers, while horse troths were offered for their animals.

Businesses grew and one early merchant capitalized by naming his store, The Oasis. The square received its name from the location of the area’s Civil War recruiting station where Somerville and neighboring citizen soldiers signed up for the Union’s cause.

Prior to that, the area was called Liberty Pole Square. The pole was constructed by firefighters to honor the flag and the freedom she represented. Before that, it was called Sand Pit Square, in reference to the fine silica deposits found there, which was used by the neighboring Union Glass Works.

Still earlier, it was sometimes called Hour Glass Square. This was because of its early hour-glass shape caused by the Millers River’s tidal marshes in which Bow Street, with its curved shape, was considered the neck of the glass.

Names change:

• Before it was the Maurice J. Tobin Bridge, this structure was beautifully called the Mystic River Bridge.
• The George Dilboy Memorial Stadium was almost changed to the Charles Shannon Stadium in 2006 after the Massachusetts Senator.
• The Boston University Bridge was originally called the Cottage Farm Bridge.
• Before the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Bridge was named, the site was known as the West Boston Bridge.
• The official name of the Zakim Bridge is The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge. It was almost called the Freedom or Patriot Bridge.
• For well over a century, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted the Harvard Bridge, named after Reverend John Harvard, to be called The Technology Bridge.

Today, because of the worldwide varieties of restaurants and small businesses that pepper Union Square, it might well be nicknamed United Nations Square. That name would not be necessary because the historic saga of Somerville’s Union Square has always been international. She was first built on the oldest road in the city; and although her architecture has changed and will continue to change, her historic roots never will.