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Kenmore Square



  
Kenmore Square is a neighborhood or area in Boston that actually only consists of the intersection of several main streets and various other cross streets. The Kenmore Square area includes the intersection of Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue an is also the place where Kenmore Station is located. Kenmore Station is a subway stop that is serviced by the MBTA.

Very close to Boston University, Fenway Park and Lansdowne Street, Kenmore Square is considered the center of Boston nightlife. Originally, Kenmore Square was a swampland alon ght enarrow Charles River which fed into the Back Bay. In 1705, Kenmore Square was part of the colonial settlement and was known as Sewell's Point.

Maps from as far back as 1821 show the Great Dam, Brighton Road which is now Brighton Ave and Commonwealth Ave an Punch Bowl Road which is now Brookline Ave all intersecting at Kenmore Square. During the 1850s, the area of Kenmore Square west of Beacon Street was defined and would intersect with Avenue Street which is now the Allston part of Commonwealth Avenue as well as Mill Dam Road and Western Avenue. Back then, the Boston and Worcester Rail Road as well as the Charles River Branch Rail Road both combined and crossed the Back Bay from the Kenmore Square area.

The railroads still run along their original line through Kenmore Square and into Back Bay toward the Leather District although some minor adjustments have been made throughout the years to accommodate construction of South Station. For the most part, the city and the area of Kenmore Square have continued to develop around the railroads previously established crossings in Kenmore Square.

Kenmore Square apartments were built in 1915 at the corner of Kenmore and Commonwealth Avenue. These apartments would later go on to become the Hotel Kenmore which would include rooms for 400 guests and was primarily known as the baseball hotel. This due to the close proximity of the Fenway Park which was developed in the early 1900s and was the oldest baseball park in major league history.

After many years of being apartments, then a hotel, then a residence hall, the Kenmore Apartments aka Hotel Kenmore would become apartments once again which are now known as Kenmore Abbey.

Kenmore Square is well known for the famous Citgo sign that overlooks the square and stands 60 feet by 60 feet and is seen in many Boston Red Sox baseball televised games. The sign stands as a historical landmark that can be seen over the left field wall of Fenway Park and although there is no Citgo station in the building anymore the sign has been standing in the area since 1965 and likely will not be going anywhere any time soon.