Talk:Government Center, Boston

Couple bits...

One, I did not mean to keep the broken-link on "college" to point to Harvard University. That was NPOV of me. The sources for this article must have gotten some glee out of pointing fingers at Harvard for having horny male students -- but it is NPOV to suggest that only Harvard kids were going to the Howard for strip shows. There are literally dozens of colleges in Boston that likely had students making trips to Scollay.

Also, I excised this edit from Wetman:

Proper Bostonians and the affluent intellectuals called "Boston Brahmins" resided on the opposite side of Beacon Hill, away from the early hours, lively noise and market tang of Scollay Square..

which was a correction of my earlier statement:

The area rapidly became a cultural status symbol for the affluent intellectual Brahmin class.

My source material (see references section) suggests that early Scollay Square grew to become a cultural center for the Boston intellectual elite, which in my experience is more or less synonymous with the Boston Brahmin class.

Certainly in the square's days as a red light district later on (1920s[?]-1950s), proper Brahmins would have stayed far away, but my statement referred to the period before all that (1850s-1890s). I'm not sure either Wetman's or my statements re Brahmins are necessarily incorrect, it just depends on the timeframe of context.

KeithTyler 17:10, May 24, 2004 (UTC)

Government Square protest in 1971

During the Vietnam War, Government Square was the scene of a number of protests. One of the more dramatic ones occurred on May 16, 1971 when 5,000 protesters trained by a group inspired by radical Boston University professor, Howard Zinn massed in Government Square. They surrounded the federal building with the goal of "shutting down the U.S. government (in Boston)for the day." For all intent and purposes, they succeeded as every window in the building was crowded with the faces of government workers watching the proceedings below them. The protesters, committing civil disobedience, surrounded the building to prevent employees from entering the building. Some hearty souls insisted on approaching the building, in which case police escorts pushed their way through the throng who were linked arm and arm. Authorities put up with the protest throughout the morning. Sometime in mid afternoon a mass of police arrived at the scene equipped with shields and rubber trungeons. They marched into the crowd swinging their clubs causing a number of injuries. A large number were arrested, which was the objective and intent of the organizers.

Source: Firsthand account by author who was present at the scene on this date.

--Olearyscow 06:01, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

One of the worst examples of sixties urban renewal

This article should address Government Center's failure as a public space and catalyst for historic preservation in Boston. What an atrocious architectural creation. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.237.84.142 (talk • contribs) .

If you can do it in a WP:NPOV way, please be bold!

Atlant 12:38, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

If memory serves, the building was constructed in the Brutalism architectural style. --JSleeper 06:59, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Your memory serves you correctly.

Atlant 12:38, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Name Problem

Scully Square NOT Government Center. It is 'Government Center AT Scully Square' as any long time resident of Metro Boston could tell you. The Article Should be titles for the Square, include more of the history of the area, and should not over emphasize the relative 'newcomer' of the Government Center Grotesque (the name for the architectural style that now dominates it thanks to the 1960s reconstruction).

Joeteller July 24 2011 —Preceding undated comment added 12:47, 24 July 2011 (UTC).

Incorrect location

The listing in the first sentence of streets that border Government Center ("bounded by Cambridge, Court, Congress, and New Sudbury Streets") is wrong. Several of the government buildings mentioned in the article are either west of Cambridge Street (e.g., the state office buildings and courthouse) or northwest of New Sudbury Street (e.g., the Government Service Center). I suggest rewriting the first sentence to read "is an area in downtown Boston that includes City Hall Plaza and several adjacent blocks." I'd also add a map.NewtonCourt (talk) 16:14, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

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History?

Why is the “history” section limited only to a quote from 1958? Morganfitzp (talk) 11:28, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

Ah…because someone previously blanked the section. It has now been restored with its content as it was pre-blanking. Morganfitzp (talk) 11:45, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

References for Destruction and redevelopment?

Ugh. This isn't a great section. No references. " .. to remove lower-income residents"? Was that a stated goal? Said whom? And, "20,000 residents were displaced"? In Scollay Square or the entire West End? And, "peppering"?

Destruction and redevelopment[edit]

As early as the 1950s, city officials had been mulling plans to completely tear down and redevelop the Scollay Square area, in order to remove lower-income residents and troubled businesses from the aging and seedy district. Attempts to reopen the sullied Old Howard by its old performers had been one of the last efforts against redevelopment; but with the theater gutted by fire, a city wrecking ball began the project of demolishing over 1000 buildings in the area; 20,000 residents were displaced.

With $40 million in federal funds, the city built an entirely new development on top of old Scollay Square, renaming the area Government Center, and peppering it with city, state, and federal government buildings. JohnAKeith (talk) 18:04, 23 March 2024 (UTC)