Washington Street is a street originating in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, which extends southwestward to the Massachusetts–Rhode Island state line. The majority of its length outside of the city was built as the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in the early 19th century. It is the longest street in Boston and remains one of the longest streets in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Due to various municipal annexations with the city of Boston, the name Washington Street now exists 6 or more times within the jurisdiction(s) of the City of Boston.
The street's great age in the city of Boston has given rise to a phenomenon whereby intersecting streets have different names on either side of Washington Street.
History
Until 1803 and the commencement of large-scale infilling of Boston Harbor and Back Bay, the town lay at the end of a peninsula less than a hundred feet wide at its narrowest point. This was the waist of the strip of land known as Boston Neck. Originally a single street traversed the Neck, joining peninsular Boston to the mainland. This was termed Orange or South-End Street. The route served as the first leg of the Boston Post Road to New York City. Starting in 1631 the narrowest waist of that isthmus was cut to make the town more defensible. To this end fortifications south of Boston were built to control the Post Road, both on the mainland and just beyond the man-made canal cutting through Boston Neck at what is now Back Bay (see map at right). These fortifications were gradually improved over the years, and considerably expanded by the British as the movement for colonial independence moved from widespread discontent to frank military revolution.
In 1789 the name "Washington Street" was given to the section of this road running from the border with Roxbury (then a separate town) to the fortification near the present-day East Berkeley Street MBTA station. This was done in honor of George Washington, who rode the Post Road into Boston during his tour of New England in October of that year.
The name "Washington Street" was extended on July 6, 1824 to include the roads leading north to Dock Square. This consolidated and replaced other names that had been in use along this path since 1706: Orange Street, from the fortification to Essex Street/Boylston Street Newbury Street, from Essex Street/Boylston Street to Summer Street/Winter Street Marlborough Street, from Summer Street/Winter Street to School Street Cornhill, from School Street to Dock Square
Nine months later the name "Washington Street" was extended again. On May 9, 1825 the roads connecting Boston's town line to present-day Roxbury Street in Dudley Square were consolidated into Washington Street. This includes some of the oldest streets in Roxbury, some having been laid out in 1662.
For a period of time afterwards, Washington Street extended westward from Dudley Square to the border with Brookline. Part of this extension (from present-day Columbus Avenue to the Brookline border) was renamed Tremont Street on July 2, 1860. Then the remaining part from Dudley Square was renamed Roxbury Street on June 16, 1874—and at the same time, Washington Street was extended southwestward from Dudley Square along the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike to Rhode Island. The only location where Washington Street deviated from the path of the turnpike was south of downtown Dedham, bypassing what is now School Street and Court Street.
In Boston, Washington Street was extended northward along a new road to Haymarket Square on November 6, 1872. (This extension would later be overtaken by the redevelopment of Haymarket Square and Scollay Square, which became Government Center.)
Charlestown Street, which began in Haymarket Square (where Washington Street ended) and continued northward to the Charlestown Bridge, was renamed North Washington Street on March 1, 1901. The name of the bridge itself was changed to North Washington Street on February 10, 1910.
The first state highway in Boston was the part of Washington Street from Dedham to West Roxbury Parkway (at Lagrange Street). It was taken over by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works in 1908. The short piece in West Roxbury Parkway, to just north of the road through the parkway, was taken over in 1921; the next state highway in Boston was the Southern Artery in 1926.