By Katie Koenig
The Boston Common has existed since before the Revolutionary War. Early on, it was used for military training, farming, and even cattle grazing. It has remained a major green space in Boston largely due to community advocacy, much like with the Esplanade. One such community organization is the Friends of the Common which started in 1970. Although there have been different proposals to build transit and develop buildings across the Common, locals’ protests maintained it as a preserved space.
In fact, the Common itself has long been used for other protests and civic engagements, including the abolitionist movement before the Civil War, the women’s suffrage movement, the Civil Rights movement, and more. Today, it is still one of the most commonly used spaces for protest, with engagements occurring nearly every week.
In the 1970s, it was actually added to the National Register of Historic Places and eventually added as an official Landmark, as the 1977 Boston Landmarks Commission Study proposed it be added. This study explicitly details that it was originally placed under town jurisdiction for use as a pasture, park and military training ground.
The Common’s greatest claim to fame is that it is America’s first public park, set aside as public land for pasture and recreation in 1634. Despite sparse records—the first town report is September 1st, 1634—citizens’ depositions from the 1680s report that 1634 is the official year the original owner, William Blackstone, sold his acreage to the town.
The main reason the study gives that the Common has remained relatively unchanged over the last four centuries is two government ordinances from its original acquisition and later in the 1800s that none of the land be sold or used to develop residences or shops.
Since its conception, it has always been considered a public area of concern and maintenance. In fact, the earliest practical considerations for conservation were limitations on the number of cattle each family could bring to graze on the grass, a prime example of natural resource economics’ “tragedy of the commons.” Throughout the 1800s, the land was more firmly established as a park, with current iconic statues and landmarks commemorating historical people and events. This accompanied Boston beginning to acquire other lands to officially establish other public parks for citizens’ use.
The Frog Pond itself has existed for centuries. Although in the 1920s it was paved over for sanitary reasons, the park replaced it with a spray pool in the 1970s and an ice rink in 1996. Also in the 1920s, many trees were specifically planted to spruce up the park, and more work to maintain the condition and greenery continued throughout the 1900s. In the late 1900s, as the 1977 study reports, the Boston government was concerned with maintaining the greenery and devising plans to maintain its health despite mass urban travel and visiting. Around this same time, they even replaced the lighting with fixtures that were more reminiscent of older styles to maintain the ambiance.
Nowadays, the Common hosts a variety of visitors from the immediate area, farther out in Massachusetts, and even international visitors. It’s a major attraction both as a green space but as a place to relax in a public, populated area. Hundreds of people visit per day to spend time in the sun, meander through the park, and, of course, watch (or walk) all the dogs throughout the space!