BGuthrie Photos: MA -- Charlestown -- Winthrop Square

MA -- Charlestown -- Winthrop Square:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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[1] WINTHR_190810_001.JPG	[2] WINTHR_190810_004.JPG	[3] WINTHR_190810_008.JPG
[4] WINTHR_190810_010.JPG	[5] WINTHR_190810_012.JPG	[6] WINTHR_190810_016.JPG
[7] WINTHR_190810_018.JPG	[8] WINTHR_190810_022.JPG	[9] WINTHR_190810_024.JPG
[10] WINTHR_190810_027.JPG	[11] WINTHR_190810_031.JPG	[12] WINTHR_190810_035.JPG
[13] WINTHR_190810_040.JPG	[14] WINTHR_190810_042.JPG	[15] WINTHR_190810_045.JPG
[16] WINTHR_190810_047.JPG	[17] WINTHR_190810_049.JPG	[18] WINTHR_190810_052.JPG
[19] WINTHR_190810_057.JPG	[20] WINTHR_190810_060.JPG	[21] WINTHR_190810_063.JPG
[22] WINTHR_190810_067.JPG	[23] WINTHR_190810_072.JPG	[24] WINTHR_190810_075.JPG
[25] WINTHR_190810_078.JPG	[26] WINTHR_190810_081.JPG	[27] WINTHR_190810_086.JPG
[28] WINTHR_190810_089.JPG	[29] WINTHR_190810_094.JPG	[30] WINTHR_190810_096.JPG
[31] WINTHR_190810_098.JPG	[32] WINTHR_190810_107.JPG	[33] WINTHR_190810_116.JPG
[34] WINTHR_190810_120.JPG	[35] WINTHR_190810_126.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. WINTHR_190810_001.JPG: Winthrop Square
2. WINTHR_190810_004.JPG: Charlestown Training Field / Winthrop Square Three Centuries of Use & Transformation First notes in the 1640s as a "well-established public place" Training Fields were an integral part of early New England landscapes. On annual "Muster Days" the local Militia here for roll call, inspection, & parade. The entire town gathered to socialize and watch the citizen-soldiers fulfill their civic obligation. The Charlestown Training Field, one of the "common lands" of the settlement, was first mentioned in the 1640s, making it one of New England's earliest training fields. In 1775 the English, including burned Charlestown, including its Training Fields. The towns reconstruction in the 1780s created new streets, lanes & squares and extended older streets, including "Training Fields Street" the original lane leading here. In the 1848 the Training Field was renamed Winthrop Square to honor John Winthrop, a Puritan clergyman and first Colonial governor of Massachusetts. Although the name never "took" in Charlestown, it marks an important transition from a utilitarian semi-rural open field to the urban park you see today.
3. WINTHR_190810_035.JPG: Charlestown Training Field/Winthrop Square The Training Field's Struggle for Survival Road projects in two centuries endangered the "communitie's meeting place." Despite the Training Field's historical importance, road projects in the 19th and 20th centuries threatened to destroy what was once called the "communitie's meeting place." In 1869, George Washington Warren, president of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, proposed building 60-foot-wide avenue from City Square to Monument Square, which would have destroyed some of the Training Field. Charlestown residents successfully resisted the plan. In 1930 and again in 1947, plans for the Mystic River Bridge -- now the Tobin Bridge -- called for a connecting ramp that would have effectively marooned the Training Field inside a traffic circle. The Reverend Wolcott Curler, Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Charlestown, launched an impassioned and ultimately successful campaign to relocate the ramp and save the Training Field.
4. WINTHR_190810_042.JPG: 19th Century Grandiose Boulevard A view of the proposed Park Avenue, as seen from City Square (lower left). This grand boulevard, intended to mirror the style wide Paris streets, would have provided a sweeping view of the Bunker Hill Monument while destroying a portion of the Training Field and houses in its path.
5. WINTHR_190810_045.JPG: 20th Century Near Miss This proposed configuration of the Mystic River Bridge ramp would have isolated the Training Field within a traffic circle.
6. WINTHR_190810_047.JPG: The Training Field Today The current layout of the Training field dates from the early 20th century, when the Boston Parks Department took ownership of the park. Benches now lined the new triangular lawn surrounding the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, and the granite entrance posts were moved to the corners. In 1954 a fifth entrance and walkway were added at the southwest corner. Community efforts raised funds to restore the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in 2008.
7. WINTHR_190810_049.JPG: Farmer's Market & Doll Carriage Parade Today, the Training Field is Charlestown's beloved "outdoor living room," where citizens regularly gather for annual fairs, parades and memorial services. Hundreds of Charlestown residents, veterans and Freedom Trail visitors enjoy it every day.
8. WINTHR_190810_052.JPG: The Reverend Wolcott Cutler seated fourth from left, of St. John's Episcopal Church, led community members in a successful effort to defeat the proposed Mystic River Bridge ramp.
9. WINTHR_190810_081.JPG: Charlestown Training Field/Winthrop Square A Landscape of War & Commemoration Training fields were a familiar sight in early New England in an era of constant alert. American colonist formed militias for protection and trained in open fields also known as commons. Charlestown Training Field dates from the 1640s after the town's 1629 settlement.It played a part in the American Revolution when Colonial troops marched on Charlestown to prevent the advance of British soldiers and hastily built earthworks on Breed's Hill, just upslope of the Training Field. On June 17th, 1775, in what became known as the Battle of Bunker Hill, British troops attacked the Breed's Hill fortifications, some troops likely approaching through the Training Field. After the Revolution, the Training Field continued to serve as a mustering ground; a gunhouse was built there in 1832. Military used ceased in the mid-19th century, and became an urban park and a memorial to American servicemen. The two bronze tablets in front of you, erected in 1889, bear the names of the Colonial soldiers who fell in the battle. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument behind you commemorates the nearly 3,000 Charlestown men who fought for the Union in the Civil War (1891-65). The Battle of Bunker Hill The map shows where the British likely marched through the Training Field before they encountered fierce resistance to the north on Breed's Hill. Numerous British and Colonial soldiers were buried after the battle, some possibly in the Training Field, but their bodies were later reclaimed and moved elsewhere.
10. WINTHR_190810_094.JPG: The Battle of Bunker Hill The map shows where the British likely marched through the Training Field before they encountered fierce resistance to the north on Breed's Hill. Numerous British and Colonial soldiers were buried after the battle, some possibly in the Training Field, but their bodies were later reclaimed and moved elsewhere.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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