Dewey Square

Dewey Square is a square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts which lies at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue, Summer Street, Federal Street, Purchase Street and the John F. Kennedy Surface Road, with the Central Artery passing underneath in the Dewey Square Tunnel and Big Dig. South Station is on the southeast corner of the square, with Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail services, as well as Red Line subway trains and Silver Line bus rapid transit underneath.

The square was named in honor of Admiral George Dewey after his decisive 1898 victory in the Battle of Manila Bay. Before the Central Artery demolition of the 1950s, it was simply an intersection with traffic islands and rail infrastructure, surrounded by buildings with no open space. In 1898, Summer Street was extended east as a local road, and in 1899 the Summer Street Bridge was built across Fort Point Channel. Also in 1899, Federal Street was closed south of Dewey Square to make way for the new South Station, and Atlantic Avenue was extended along the west side of the new terminal along with a realignment of the Union Freight Railroad. Around this time, the Boston Elevated Railway reorganized its streetcar tracks into a grand union at the intersection of Summer and Atlantic. The Atlantic Avenue Elevated came in 1901 with an elevated station one block south of Dewey Square. It was closed in 1938 and torn down in the early 1940s; the Union Freight Railroad lasted until 1970.

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