South Station Historical Walking Tour

In this walk, we’ll trace the rich history of South Station. While many Bostonians today think of it simply as a subway and commuter rail station, at the cusp of the 20th century South Station was the city’s main transportation hub, providing a union station for five major railroads and a grand civic landmark. We’ll explore the life of the station in the heyday of rail travel, when the station stretched to Fort Point Channel on the east and Beach Street to the south, with 28 tracks and more than 800 daily trains. We’ll trace its decline in the era of the automobile, its partial demolition, and last-minute reprieve by preservationists 40 years ago. Today, plans are underway to break ground on a mixed-use complex that will be among the city’s tallest buildings.