Cambridge Crossing (NorthPoint) | East Cambridge/Charlestown | Cambridge/Boston
- Thread starter awood91
- Start date
Ron Newman
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 30, 2006
- Messages
- 8,395
- Reaction score
- 11
Yes, it responds to this:
Ron Newman said:
I dont mind if they call it Lechmere at Northpoint, as long as they dont include that in the train anouncements.
"The destination of this train is Lechmere at Northpoint"
Too long.
Maybe just have that on the "entering" part.
Also, Im glad to see itll take so long. Im still not happy about the station moving far away from Galleria, and given the Boston contruction schedule, this means a 2011 open, only 3 years before the extention.
The station is moving just across a (very wide) street. Still, as the project gets built up, it will be much denser than the surrounding East Cambridge neighborhood, which justifies moving the station closer to it, to say nothing of the Medford extension.
justin
justin
lexicon506
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2006
- Messages
- 554
- Reaction score
- 262
Oh no, not the corny names! Those names are too long for mere streets. Glassworks Ave is OK, but at least shorten the others to Earhart St. and Child (sounds a bit strange) St. Long, first/last, commemorative names are for boulevards or other big roads! Sorry for making a big deal out of this, it's just really annoying me.
And yah, they should either settle on Lechmere or Northpoint, no Lechmere @ NorthPoint. And considering that this is apparently going to look like a major station, the name Northpoint might get confused with North Station.
Ron Newman
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 30, 2006
- Messages
- 8,395
- Reaction score
- 11
Calling the station NorthPoint says to the existing East Cambridge residents, "this is now our station, not yours". A totally unnecessary thing to do. As I said, it's been "Lechmere" for at least 250 years.
As for long street names, Cambridge already has Bishop Allen Drive (used to be Austin Street) and Cardinal Medeiros Avenue (was Portland Street), not to mention Msgr. O'Brien Highway and John F. Kennedy Street (once Boylston St).
As for long street names, Cambridge already has Bishop Allen Drive (used to be Austin Street) and Cardinal Medeiros Avenue (was Portland Street), not to mention Msgr. O'Brien Highway and John F. Kennedy Street (once Boylston St).
lexicon506
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2006
- Messages
- 554
- Reaction score
- 262
^I like it, very open, well-lit, and welcoming. It will definitely be one of the nicest stations in the entire system if that is the actual design
Ron Newman
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 30, 2006
- Messages
- 8,395
- Reaction score
- 11
Letter I just e-mailed to the Globe:
In his article on NorthPoint (Oct. 23, page E1), Tom Palmer describes the current Lechmere station as "an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a retail store that no longer exists".
In fact, the name 'Lechmere Point' goes back to the 1770s, and was quite familiar to George Washington. Lechmere Canal, Lechmere Station, and the former Lechmere Sales department store were all named for Richard Lechmere, a Loyalist who owned this land before fleeing to England during the American Revolution.
Changing the station's name from Lechmere to NorthPoint might be a good advertisement for a real estate development, but it would be a slap in the face to East Cambridge and Somerville residents who now use the station daily. It could also lead to confusion with North Station, just two stops away. By all means, improve our station, but leave its name alone.
Ron Newman
Somerville
In his article on NorthPoint (Oct. 23, page E1), Tom Palmer describes the current Lechmere station as "an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a retail store that no longer exists".
In fact, the name 'Lechmere Point' goes back to the 1770s, and was quite familiar to George Washington. Lechmere Canal, Lechmere Station, and the former Lechmere Sales department store were all named for Richard Lechmere, a Loyalist who owned this land before fleeing to England during the American Revolution.
Changing the station's name from Lechmere to NorthPoint might be a good advertisement for a real estate development, but it would be a slap in the face to East Cambridge and Somerville residents who now use the station daily. It could also lead to confusion with North Station, just two stops away. By all means, improve our station, but leave its name alone.
Ron Newman
Somerville
I
IMAngry
Guest
Hmmm....
Hmmm.
Here is how the story appears now, online:
When it opens in 2010, it will replace the Lechmere T station, operating on the Green Line across Monsignor O'Brien Highway, an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a neighborhood and a retail store that no longer exists.
I think they changed it!
(Maybe this is how he originally wrote it, and they edited it?)
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/10/23/the_train_comes_to_northpoint/
Hmmm.
Here is how the story appears now, online:
When it opens in 2010, it will replace the Lechmere T station, operating on the Green Line across Monsignor O'Brien Highway, an outdated facility whose name is a legacy of a neighborhood and a retail store that no longer exists.
I think they changed it!
(Maybe this is how he originally wrote it, and they edited it?)
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/10/23/the_train_comes_to_northpoint/
Ron Newman
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 30, 2006
- Messages
- 8,395
- Reaction score
- 11
Well that's even worse, because now he claims that the Lechmere neighborhood no longer exists, either.
lexicon506
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2006
- Messages
- 554
- Reaction score
- 262
There was an article in the Globe today discussing the station's name and whether it should be changed or not.
Familiar name comes under question
Findings leave city councilors wondering whether they should preserve Lechmere's name on the Cambridge T station
By Janice O'Leary, Globe Correspondent | November 12, 2006
It's so us.
Lechmere T Station. Lechmere Square. Lechmere the store that sold washing machines and toasters to generations of Boston-area families. Lechmere the name that's as familiar as a plate of scrod to natives, but that newcomers have to learn to pronounce (leech-meer).
Who knew that the Richard Lechmere who started it all was a distiller of rum, a slave owner, and a Loyalist who rued the slide in his property values at the start of the Revolutionary War and referred to the rebels as "wicked and deluded people"?
Last month Cambridge city councilors passed a resolution urging the MBTA to keep the connection between the T station, the Revolutionary War, and Richard Lechmere's name.
But now City Councilor Denise Simmons, who didn't know at the time that Lechmere was a slave owner, wishes she could take it back. "Having that additional knowledge now, I don't support it being named after Lechmere," she said.
"Going into the future, we wanted to hold on to some piece of the past," she said. "I'm now troubled. But the vote's been taken. If I could take my vote back, I would."
City Councilor Henrietta Davis said she hadn't known all the details of Lechmere's legacy when she and Vice Mayor Timothy J. Toomey proposed the order. "We wanted to keep the historic connections to the area," she said. "We didn't know about the slave ownership."
Work began last month on a new MBTA station in the nascent NorthPoint neighborhood. When it opens around 2010, it will replace the Lechmere stop on the Green Line, but debate over its naming is already raging. Tentatively, it's slated to be called Lechmere at NorthPoint, but NorthPoint's developers hope that the Lechmere tag will fall off.
Davis said the outing of Lechmere as a slave owner doesn't alter her stance that the T stop not be named for a new commercial endeavor. "I still want to keep a connection to history," she said. "There's something to be said for preserving history but not elevating the man."
Lechmere's slave ownership is documented in an early legal case, James v. Lechmere, argued by Harvard graduate and fellow Loyalist Jonathan Sewall. In 1769, a slave named James sued Lechmere for his freedom. Sewall argued that under the colony's charter any man born or residing in the colony was free. The case was resolved before it could go to trial: Lechmere gave James his freedom and tossed in 2 pounds sterling.
"Maybe we should name the T stop after the slave," said Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio when he heard the story, and his colleague Denise Simmons agreed. "Let's call it James Station," she said. "There are so many other people we could name it after."
"Most important," said Galluccio of the naming issue, "is that the decision be left up to the neighborhood and broader Cambridge community. Our biggest challenge here is to be sure NorthPoint is integrated with the rest of East Cambridge."
He said neighborhood residents are feeling a bit overtaken by the new development and the council doesn't want to see that happen.
"When I think of Lechmere," Galluccio said, "I think of Lechmere Station."
The article is much longer. The rest and a short slideshow on Lechmere can be found here http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/12/familiar_name_comes_under_question?mode=PF
Familiar name comes under question
Findings leave city councilors wondering whether they should preserve Lechmere's name on the Cambridge T station
By Janice O'Leary, Globe Correspondent | November 12, 2006
It's so us.
Lechmere T Station. Lechmere Square. Lechmere the store that sold washing machines and toasters to generations of Boston-area families. Lechmere the name that's as familiar as a plate of scrod to natives, but that newcomers have to learn to pronounce (leech-meer).
Who knew that the Richard Lechmere who started it all was a distiller of rum, a slave owner, and a Loyalist who rued the slide in his property values at the start of the Revolutionary War and referred to the rebels as "wicked and deluded people"?
Last month Cambridge city councilors passed a resolution urging the MBTA to keep the connection between the T station, the Revolutionary War, and Richard Lechmere's name.
But now City Councilor Denise Simmons, who didn't know at the time that Lechmere was a slave owner, wishes she could take it back. "Having that additional knowledge now, I don't support it being named after Lechmere," she said.
"Going into the future, we wanted to hold on to some piece of the past," she said. "I'm now troubled. But the vote's been taken. If I could take my vote back, I would."
City Councilor Henrietta Davis said she hadn't known all the details of Lechmere's legacy when she and Vice Mayor Timothy J. Toomey proposed the order. "We wanted to keep the historic connections to the area," she said. "We didn't know about the slave ownership."
Work began last month on a new MBTA station in the nascent NorthPoint neighborhood. When it opens around 2010, it will replace the Lechmere stop on the Green Line, but debate over its naming is already raging. Tentatively, it's slated to be called Lechmere at NorthPoint, but NorthPoint's developers hope that the Lechmere tag will fall off.
Davis said the outing of Lechmere as a slave owner doesn't alter her stance that the T stop not be named for a new commercial endeavor. "I still want to keep a connection to history," she said. "There's something to be said for preserving history but not elevating the man."
Lechmere's slave ownership is documented in an early legal case, James v. Lechmere, argued by Harvard graduate and fellow Loyalist Jonathan Sewall. In 1769, a slave named James sued Lechmere for his freedom. Sewall argued that under the colony's charter any man born or residing in the colony was free. The case was resolved before it could go to trial: Lechmere gave James his freedom and tossed in 2 pounds sterling.
"Maybe we should name the T stop after the slave," said Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio when he heard the story, and his colleague Denise Simmons agreed. "Let's call it James Station," she said. "There are so many other people we could name it after."
"Most important," said Galluccio of the naming issue, "is that the decision be left up to the neighborhood and broader Cambridge community. Our biggest challenge here is to be sure NorthPoint is integrated with the rest of East Cambridge."
He said neighborhood residents are feeling a bit overtaken by the new development and the council doesn't want to see that happen.
"When I think of Lechmere," Galluccio said, "I think of Lechmere Station."
The article is much longer. The rest and a short slideshow on Lechmere can be found here http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/12/familiar_name_comes_under_question?mode=PF
Ron Newman
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 30, 2006
- Messages
- 8,395
- Reaction score
- 11
I'm sure this isn't the only place in greater Boston named after a Loyalist or a slaveholder. History should not be wiped out for such reasons.
Joe_Schmoe
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2006
- Messages
- 374
- Reaction score
- 0
Copley was a loyalist, and he gets a square and a statue.
bosdevelopment
Active Member
- Joined
- May 26, 2006
- Messages
- 727
- Reaction score
- 2
I dont think anybody realizes the sheer magnitude and size of this project. Only one of these buildings is up right now ( believe building U) and it's enormous. Compared to the other structures on this diagram it's average in size.