Under Tremont Street: How Boston Built America’s First Subway

Every day, Green Line riders pass through tunnels and stations that are older than most of the buildings above them. The Tremont Street Subway, opened in 1897, was the first subway in the United States, and parts of it still carry trains today.

A traffic problem

By the late 1800s, downtown Boston’s streets were jammed. Electric streetcars, along with horse-drawn wagons and carriages, crowded Tremont Street and Washington Street. At rush hour, long lines of streetcars crept along, sometimes barely moving.

City leaders considered several solutions, including elevated railways like those in New York. Many Bostonians objected to the idea of tracks running above Tremont Street and blocking the view of Boston Common. A tunnel offered a way to move the streetcars off the street without casting the area into shadow.

The state created the Boston Transit Commission to plan and build the project. Construction began in 1895 using a method called cut and cover: crews dug trenches in the street, built the tunnel, then covered it over. It was hard, disruptive work in a dense city, and digging along the edge of the Common uncovered old burial remains, which were moved and reinterred.

Opening day

The first section opened on September 1, 1897, running between Park Street and the Public Garden area near Boylston Street. Streetcars entered from the surface, ran underground through downtown and came back up at the other end. Crowds lined up to ride. Within a short time, the subway was carrying large numbers of passengers and noticeably easing traffic on the streets above.

New York’s first subway line did not open until 1904, giving Boston a lasting place in transit history.

What survives

Much of the original tunnel is still in daily use by the Green Line. Some notable features:

• Park Street and Boylston stations are original 1897 stations, and their granite headhouses on the Common are recognizable landmarks.
• Boylston station has at times displayed historic streetcars on an unused track.
• The tunnel was designated a National Historic Landmark for its role in American transit history.

From subway to system

The Tremont Street Subway was only the beginning. Elevated lines and more tunnels followed in the early 1900s, including the East Boston Tunnel under the harbor and the Washington Street Tunnel. Over the century that followed, these lines became the Green, Orange, Blue and Red Lines that make up much of today’s MBTA rapid transit system.

Riding a piece of history

The next time you wait at Park Street, look at the station’s arched ceilings and old tile and remember that you are standing in the oldest subway station in America. Boylston, a short ride away, gives an even stronger sense of the original look. For service updates and accessibility information, check the MBTA’s official website.

It is easy to complain about the T, and Bostonians do. But the city’s decision to put its streetcars underground in the 1890s was a bold piece of public works, and it set a model that cities across the country would follow.