North End getting squared away
A centuries-old square on the Freedom Trail in the North End will soon get a 21st century update with new cobblestones, a green space and improved accessibility.
“Regardless of how the North End changes over time, it does remain the same,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said yesterday during a groundbreaking for North Square. “The North End is one of the most remarkable and historic communities in America.”
The square, which was last redone in the 1970s and is outside the Paul Revere House, was the site of a market in the early days of Boston, a protest over the Stamp Act in 1765, and hosted a Mass by Cardinal Richard Cushing in 1963.
The new $2.5 million square was designed in part with input from residents, and is expected to be completed in a year. Improvements will include replacement of the current cobblestones, each of which is now accompanied by grass pocking, and redone nautical chains, which border the triangular square.
Chris Osgood, the city’s chief of streets said the project “is going to make sure we’re celebrating history ... and anchoring this neighborhood.”