Community Corner
What if the El Came Down in 1917?
The elevated train was slated to come down in 1917 -- decades before it actually did. One writer asks how the neighborhood be different today if it had.
In 1899 Main Street was alive with residents “promenading” to and from stores and greeting friends and neighbors according to the local newspaper that published back then, the Charlestown Enterprise.
But life in the town was about to change in a way that would have a detrimental outcome on all of Charlestown.
The Boston Transit Commission started construction of an elevated rail line (the El) in 1899 that was completed in 1901. The El ran from a large elevated terminal station at Sullivan Square down Main Street to elevated stations at Thompson Square and at City Square and then proceeded to Boston above the new Charlestown Bridge.
Find out what's happening in Charlestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In many respects the El was progress in that it was a faster and easier way to travel but it came with very noisy elevated trains that took daylight off of Main Street and that also terrified children and animals.
The El was referred to residents as the “devil’s xylophone.” The neighborhood quickly organized and with the help of the Charlestown Improvement Association led by George T. Horan, began the fight through the court system to have the unwanted El replaced with a subway that would have run under Main Street.
Find out what's happening in Charlestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
An agreement was reached to replace the El with a subway in 1917. At the last minute a fare increase of 5 cents was removed from the bill in the state legislature forcing the issue back to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts who said the 5-cent fare must be restored. That decision meant the issue would need to be revisited by the legislature in 1918.
Unfortunately, the United States entered World War I later that year and the issue was not revisited.
The El wasn’t removed until 1975.
Interesting question: What if the El had been removed by the legislature’s bill in 1917? What would that have meant to Charlestown? Would that have saved a lot of buildings from going to decay and eventually removal? Would that have meant the elevated highway that was over City Square would have been rebuilt instead of being put in a tunnel under the City square area?
Win or lose the residents who fought the El deserve much applause.