Winthrop Square is a public square in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, Massachusetts. It is located in the city's financial district, in a small plot between Otis Street to the west and Devonshire Street to the east. It is three blocks south of the Old State House and two blocks west of Post Office Square.

Dedication

The square is named for John Winthrop (1587/1588–1649), an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony."John Winthrop describes life in Boston, 1634"
– Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Design

Situated in front of the 1873-constructed One Winthrop Square, the columns on the building's façade were used as the inspiration for the square's paving pattern, which contains strips of granite that "project in varied ways into the space to define entry, seating areas and diagonal circulation." A case study was undertaken in 2003 to determine whether the square and its two adjacent streets should be widened to make a better connection to Lincoln Street and improve the traffic flow from Devonshire Street to the South End.''The Limits of Power: Great Fires and the Process of City Growth in America, Christine Meisner Rosen (2003)

Businesses

The Boston Flower Exchange, founded in 1892, opened a flower market at the corner of Otis Street and Winthrop Square in February 1913. They launched the new location, in what was known as the Wholesale Flower District, with a reception and flower show.

Newspapers and publishers

'' The Atlantic Monthly'' had its Boston offices at 220 Devonshire Street in Winthrop Square in the 19th century. The magazine was established in the city in 1857.

James R. Osgood James Ripley Osgood (1836–1892) was an American publisher in Boston. He was involved with the publishing company that became Houghton Mifflin. Life and work James Ripley Osgood was born in Fryeburg, Maine, on February 22, 1836. A reputed child ...

and Company inherited ''The Atlantic Monthly'' and its office location. In 1878, publishers Houghton, Osgood and Company were based in the square. Robert Burns Winthrop Square

In early years of the 20th century, the

pressroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...

s of '' Boston American'' were located here.

Statue of Robert Burns

The square was home to a statue of Scottish poet Robert Burns for 44 years, having been moved from Boston's Back Bay Fens in 1975. It was returned to its original location in 2019.

References

External links

"Winthrop Square Boston skyscraper downsizes, switches to apartments, cuts affordable-housing cash"
– ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'', July 16, 2020 {{Streets and squares in Boston Landmarks in Financial District, Boston Squares in Boston