With new station name, Green Line now stops in West End
(Jim Davis/Globe Staff)
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
More than 50 years after bulldozers flattened the brick tenements of the West End, the neighborhood finally has its very own MBTA stop.
New signs were hung today at the Green Line trolley stop formerly known as Science Park. The new name -- Science Park/West End.
But that West End designation won't show up on any T maps. It is a symbolic local change that will only be visible in the 30 plus signs on the trolley platform and at the bottom of the green stairs that lead some 50 steps up to the station at the foot of the Charles River Dam. Nonetheless, defenders of the West End are delighted that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is making the nod to the neighborhood's original name.
"I think it is absolutely wonderful," said Louise Thomas, a past president and founding member of the West End Civic Association, which requested the name change as part of a push for a station renovation slated to include the construction of two elevators.
Beyond the trolley stop, there is a broader effort by the civic association and others to reclaim the West End name for the neighborhood, which stretches from North Washington Street to the foot of Beacon Hill. Since urban renewal unleashed the bulldozers in the late 1950s, the area had been called Charles River Park after the towering apartment complexes built along Storrow Drive.
The campaign for the West End name has been built on small victories. Four years ago, the West End was recognized as a distinct neighborhood on the city's website. Then came the official city signs on Staniford Street that marked the entrance to the West End. Now on Portland Street, the restaurant Johnnie’s on the Side boasts on its website that its location is in the "renewed West End." The goal, backers say, is to give the area a name carrying the same cachet as the South End and North End, neighborhoods with similar urban roots that have blossomed with upscale shops and eateries.
For the MBTA, the bestowing of a secondary local name to stations is becoming increasingly common as a part of other, larger renovations. The designation Boston Public Library was added to the local signs on the Green Line at Copley Station. On the Red Line, the label Peabody Square was added to signs at Ashmont Station.
"They are looking to try to build their identity," said Daniel Grabauskas, the MBTA's general manager, of the effort in the West End. "We thought it was easy since we are making the other improvements …The West End has kind of gone by the board, and they are trying to bring it back. I think that's great."
The gesture is appreciated by Jim Campano, 68, who grew up in the old West End and remembers the razing of his home at 32 Poplar Street, a spot now occupied by a parking lot for a high rise apartment.
"You can't bring the old neighborhood back," said Campano, who runs the West End Museum on Lomasney Way. "But at least it's not Charles River Park anymore."
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The T is losing money hand over fist and they're spending all this money to put up new signs in ONE station? Get a grip!
hmmm isn't the West End in Boston not Cambridge where the Science Museum stop is?
Charles River Park is the name of the multi-building complex that was built in the West End. You should not be changing its name. Included in the West End is the Charles River Plaza building complex, Mass. General hospital, the Museum of Science, the former Registry of Motor vehicles building, the Liberty hotel (former Charles street jail) etc. The West End is a geographic area designation and nothing else.
Folks, live in the now! How about instead of conitnued bitching about signs changing or still being upset at Charles River Park, you actually take some steps to IMPROVE the west end? I lived in Charles River Park for six years and still hand to deal with the crazy hosptial mental patients, the trash and various other annoyances. How about getting off that high horse and doing something that really matters?
The sign might say West End, but all you'll see are Rear Ends
Seriously, the Science Museum in on the river, not in the "west end". Goes to show that the "West End" is not so much a tangible area but rather an idea.
So sad that in Boston, you can take a city block or two and call it a "District".
Granted, it was a horrible, horrible effort at urban redevelopment, as are most efforts led by government leadership. However...Let it go people!!!!..the West End is no more. Move on for cryin out loud.
the sign work is all done in house by T personnel with existing materials. they make signs all the time for the transit system. cost is not an issue here. in fact, they made a whole lot of people happy without spending much at all. good job MBTA!
The cost of the signs isn't an issue, because it's a renovated station that would have required new signage anyway!
The Science Park station is on the Boston side of the river. It is *not* in any way, shape or form in Cambridge. The museum itself is in the middle of the river, on the dam. I don't know if it is technically in Boston, Cambridge, or both.
Much more important than the name is the lack of handicapped access. The old Science Park station used to have fly-over ramps, allowing you to get to the museum, the banks of the Charles, and other destinations without crossing multiple busy streets. When they rebuilt the station, all the ramps disappeared. Since most of the patrons at the MOS are children, and many from out of town (not urban-experienced), this is extremely dangerous.
You *have* to cross at least 2 very busy streets to get to or from the station.
If all you have to worry about is calling part of Boston the West End, congratulations, you are pathetic.
You've got to be kidding me!! How the hell did someone give the okay to spend money for this? Can we now please vote to repeal the income tax so we can start over and clean up this idiotic state?
Unless all the work is being done by volunteers or paid for by generous donors, there are MBTA employees spending part of their taxpayer and T-rider funded workdays planning, managing, and implementing these name changes, so I agree with Mary Anne. This is a waste of time and money!
The Museum of Science is in Boston. The Museum of Science parking garage is in Cambridge.
I like that they changed the sign and I like living in the West End. I highly doubt the cost was anything more than a drop in bucket. Plus, the West End has no trash problem and MGH is not a mental hospital (actually it is arguably the best medical facility in the world, so I'm happy to have it in my neighborhood).
"formerly", not "formally"!
IDOTS, MBTA HAS IN HOUSE SIGN SHOP! So does the DCR, the CIty of Boston. Stop trying to hash up the attacks on the T give them a break
Since the "A" and "E" keys are well saper8-ed (on most keyboards) I have to guess that substituting "formally" for formerly" at the beginning of this story, is not a typo, but a result of an overworked "Metro Staff" & editors attempting to do more while caring less...
Umm, it's FORMERLY known as, not FORMALLY known as...
Theodore Bernstein, long-time editor at the New York Times and writer of numerous usage books such as The Careful Writer, used to refer to this type of error as "sonic writing," that is, writing with the ear rather than the mind.
What is the west end?
1. Museum of Science is in Boston, not Cambridge
2. There are thousands of residents who currently live in the West End. Shouldn't our neighborhood have a name, like the north end, south end, back bay, beacon hill, etc.
3. If you do not know what the West End is, you should go to the West End Museum (yes, we have our own museum) or walk through our neighborhood to witness that in fact we are a neighborhood.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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