Looking up Park Street from Tremont Street, around 1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
Park Street in 2014:
Not much has changed on Park Street in the past century. Boston Common is still there, fence and all. The Massachusetts State House still dominates the top of Beacon Hill, and to the right Park Street Church still looks almost the same. Even the storm drain and manholes are still there.
The entrances to the Park Street station, taken from in front of Park Street Church, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
The scene in 2014:
The entrances to the subway are still there, as is Boston Common, but the background is very different, with the skyline of Boston’s Back Bay rising above the trees on Boston Common. Boston’s two tallest buildings can be seen here: the John Hancock Tower, which is in the center of the photo, and the Prudential Center, barely visible to the right of the John Hancock Tower. The Freedom Trail passes through this intersection, with the brick path echoing the cobblestone rows that once crossed Park Street.
A woman feeding pigeons along the Boston Common next to Park Street station, sometime between 1900 and 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
The same scene in 2014:
The first photo was probably taken not long after Boston built its subway network, and the Park Street station was where it all began. As mentioned in these posts (Post 1 and Post 2) of the interior of the station, Park Street and Boylston were the first two subway stations in North America, and today Park Street is still a major hub on the “T”, where passengers can transfer between the Red and Green lines. It is also near the start of the Freedom Trail and the Massachusetts State House, so it is frequented by tourists as well.
I don’t know who the woman in the picture was, but it is safe to say that everyone in the photo has probably been dead for over 30 years. And, unlike the people in the two photos, the pigeons that still inhabit Boston Common are still dressed pretty much the same way.