Cleveland Circle, an area of Boston, Massachusetts, is located in Boston's

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

neighborhood, and more specifically the Aberdeen section of Brighton, in very close proximity to

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri * Brookline, New Hampshire * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookline, Vermont See ...

and

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Chestnut Hill is an affluent New England village located west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is located within one or more incorporated municipal entities. It is located partia ...

, at the intersection of Beacon Street and Chestnut Hill Avenue. Cleveland Circle is the commercial "town center" of Aberdeen, a residential area of apartment buildings and free-standing homes, populated primarily by working professionals of all ages, as well as seniors. The area also has student rentals inhabited primarily by students from nearby

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, but nevertheless, student renters are the smallest segment of the area's population. This part of Brighton is a historical streetcar suburb. The

Cleveland Circle Cleveland Circle, an area of Boston, Massachusetts, is located in Boston's Brighton neighborhood, and more specifically the Aberdeen section of Brighton, in very close proximity to Brookline and Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, at the intersectio ...

station is the terminus of the

Green Line C branch The C branch, also called the Beacon Street Line or Cleveland Circle Line, is one of four branches of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Green Line light rail system in the Boston, Massachusetts metropolitan area. The line begins ...

of the MBTA's Green Line. Reservoir station on the

Green Line D branch The Green Line D branch (also referred to as the Highland branch or Riverside Line) is a light rail line in Newton, Brookline, and Boston, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. ...

is one block to the south. Chestnut Hill Avenue on the

Green Line B branch The B branch, also called the Commonwealth Avenue branch or Boston College branch, is a branch of the MBTA Green Line light rail system which operates on Commonwealth Avenue west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts. One of four branches of the Gr ...

is a short walk away.

History

Chestnut Hill Avenue was laid out in 1845, and Beacon Street in 1850. Reservoir opened as a commuter rail station on the

Charles River Branch Railroad The Charles River Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It ran from a connection with the end of the Charles River Branch Railroad in Dover to Bellingham through the current-day towns of Medfield, Millis, and Medway. Charles River Branch ...

(by then merged into the Charles River Railroad) in November 1852. In 1883, the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pa ...

bought the line between Brookline Junction and Cook Junction and extended it to Reservoir as its

Highland branch The Highland branch, also known as the Newton Highlands branch, was a suburban railway line in Boston, Massachusetts. It was opened by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1886 to serve the growing community of Newton, Massachusetts. The line was ...

, running Newton Circuit service beginning in 1886. The addition of the

West End Street Railway The West End Street Railway was a streetcar company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century. Originally an offshoot of a land development venture, the West End rose to prominence ...

on Beacon Street in 1887 caused a construction boom in Brookline and Cleveland Circle, by making it easy for residents to commute into work in downtown Boston.Cleveland Circle history
from the BAHS. The line was electrified in 1889 and in 1896 extended to Boston College (Lake Street) via Chestnut Hill Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue. Around 1932 it was cut back to Cleveland Circle. The

Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway The Middlesex and Boston Street Railway (M&B) was a streetcar and later bus company in the area west of Boston. Streetcars last ran in 1930, and in 1972 the company's operations were merged into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA ...

also opened in 1896, extending rail service from Boston College to

Norumbega Park Norumbega Park was a recreation area and amusement park located in "Auburndale, Massachusetts, Auburndale-on-the-Charles" near Boston, Massachusetts. The associated Totem Pole Ballroom became a well-known dancing and entertainment venue for big ...

(on the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

near present-day

Route 128 The following highways are numbered 128: Canada * New Brunswick Route 128 * Ontario Highway 128 (former) * Prince Edward Island Route 128 Costa Rica * National Route 128 India * National Highway 128 (India) Japan * Japan National Route 128 ...

). This outer streetcar line was converted to bus service in 1930. In 1900, the West End Street Railway, renamed the

Boston Elevated Railway The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street Rai ...

, laid tracks along Commonwealth Avenue from Chestnut Hill Avenue to its existing tracks at

Packard's Corner Packard's Corner is located in Boston, Massachusetts at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Brighton Avenue. Packard's Corner is serviced by the Packards Corner stop on the B branch of the MBTA's Green Line, a light rail line that r ...

. The new Commonwealth Avenue line, which was electrified in 1909, prompted another local building boom along its length until around 1930. The BERy line is the predecessor of the present-day

. The Highland branch was closed in 1958 and reopened as a light rail line, connecting to the Boylston Street subway at Kenmore, a year later. In 1967 the Beacon Street line was designated the Green Line C branch, and the Highland branch as the D branch. Construction on the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, which consolidated the city's four smaller reservoirs, began at the end of the Civil War in 1865 and was completed in 1870. Englewood Avenue and Sutherland Road were laid out in 1872, but the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

delayed development of the new streets.

References

External links

The history of Cleveland Circle
from the BAHS. Accessed 4 September 2006. {{Streets and squares in Boston Neighborhoods in Boston Streetcar suburbs Geography of Suffolk County, Massachusetts