Oak Square Photos

Oak Square
Images From the Past

Brought to you by Oaksquare.com. Some photos may take awhile to download

Go back to OakSquare.com

The Great White Oak, and the Oak Square School about 1840

By 1890, there were still only 300 structures in the Oak Square - Faneuil Street area. These were located mostly on lower Bigelow Street, and between Nonantum and Tremont Streets. Another cluster of buildings lay near the Faneuil Railroad Station that was on lower Brooks Street. The rest of the area at that time consisted of farms, estates, and a few horticultural businesses.

The introduction of the electric street car connecting this area to Boston, and the building of the very large West End Street Railway car barns at the eastern part of Oak Square in the late 19th century, soon changed all that.

This community is lucky enough to have people like William P. Marchione. PhD and Charlie Vasiliades, who have researched its history and hunted up old photos. This has been part of a larger effort to gather oral and documentary history about the entire Brighton area. The Brighton Allston Historical Society is a wonderful resource and has been involved with this work for over twenty years. It continues to provide workshops and public educational events. This page is the start of an ongoing effort to share some of the historical information that is particular to Oak Square.

For more information, find a copy of the book Images of America: Allston-Brighton, available in most of our neighborhood stores, or check out the Brighton History 1600 - 1900 and the Important Allston Brighton Dates sites.

The Great White Oak measured 30 ft. at its base at the time of its destruction in 1850. It could hold up to 20 children in the cavity of its trunk and an 1845 report noted that, "it had probably past its prime centuries before the 1st English voice was heard on the shores of Mass."

Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.

The very first Oak Square School was built in 1832, right under the Great Oak. In 1855, when the tree was removed due to ill health, a larger school was built. This was the community school until a new one was built in 1894. The old school structure was then enlarged, converted into a home, and moved up the hill to 16 Bigelow Street, where it still stands.
(Thanks to Brighton Allston Historical Society for graphic.)

Breck Nurseries Between Tremont and Nonantum Streets, circa 1850's
(Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for graphic.)

Breck Mansion, corner of Tremont and Nonantum Streets, circa 1895.

Oak Square School. at the time of Contruction, 1894 One of the last two wooden school structures in Boston. Saved through community effort in 1982. Converted into 10 middle-income condo units.
(Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.)

Oak Square looking up toward Champney and Washington Streets, circa 1910.

Oak Square carbarns and one of the earliest electric cars from the Brookline & Brighton Line. Probably Washington Street entrance, circa 1888-89.
(Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.)

Oak Square Carhouse, 1893
(Thanks to Beverly Historical Society & Museum for photo.)

Interior of Oak Square Car Barns, circa 1910.

Thanks to Kevin Farrell of Railroad & Trolley Books for photo.

Thanks to Kevin Farrell of Railroad & Trolley Books for photo.

Carbarns viewed from the corner of Breck Ave. and Washington Street, circa 1910.

Carbarns as seen from Nonantum Hill (now Langley Road), circa 1910.

Thanks to Kevin Farrell of Railroad & Trolley Books for photo.

Postcard from 1913 showing carbarns on Washington Street
(Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.)

610-618 Washington Street - trolley is in front of Moore's drugstore (now the Village Greenery).
(Thank you to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities for photo.)

Oak Square looking East,1908-1912. Picture taken from Washington Street with Tremont Street behind fence on the right.

Byrne's Oak Square Market on Washington Street, near Brackett, circa 1915. Note that the car facing away has been superimposed on the photo.
(Thank you to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities for photo.)

559 - 569 Washington Street, including Tigue Real Estate.
(Thank you to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities for photo.)

Oak Square 10/29/1943. Note that the carbarns have been removed since at least 1938 and the common is still in the 1910 alignment.
(Thank you to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities for photo.)

Oak Square, circa 1940.

Note the old VFW bungalow at the far right.

Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.

Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.

Oak Square Loop, circa 1940's.

View toward Brighton Center down Washington Street from Oak Square, circa 1940's.

Storeblocks on the right burned and are now site of the Sunoco gas station.

Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.

Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.

Presentation School, Gray's Market, and an example of the vanishing New England "spa" (which, for those new to the area, is a small food and convenience market).

Oak Square Loop, 1952.

Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.

10/29/1943 This is the grounds of the old Faneuil estate, along Faneuil Street, which burned down in 1919.

You can still see the ruins of the cellar hole and Crittendon - Hastings House at the top of Bigelow Hill.

This is looking up from the baseball field.

Thank you to Charlie Vasiliades for photo.

This is what the mansion looked like in better times. Benjamin Faneuil, brother of Peter, bought 70 acres of land on Bigelow Hill in 1760. This photo shows Faneuil and Washington (foreground) Streets. George Washington and General Arthur Lee dined at the Faneuil Mansion while the Continental Army was headquartered in Cambridge.
(Thanks to Bill Marchione and his book, Images of America: Allston-Brighton for photo & information.)