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Post Office Square
The Langham Hotel is situated along the northeastern edge of the square. Norman B. Leventhal park is also visible in the foreground.
The Langham Hotel is situated along the northeastern edge of the square. Norman B. Leventhal park is also visible in the foreground.
State  Massachusetts
City Boston
District Financial District
Boundaries Franklin Street, Congress Street, Milk Street, Pearl Street
Historical features Norman B. Leventhal park
Post Office Square in Boston 143042168
Post Office Square is a popular lunchtime destination for workers in Boston's Financial District

Post Office Square (est. 1874) in Boston, Massachusetts is a square located in the financial district at the intersection of Milk, Congress, Pearl and Water Streets. It was named in 1874 after the United States Post Office and Sub-Treasury which fronted it, now replaced by the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse.

The square is almost entirely occupied by a privately owned and managed but publicly accessible park, Norman B. Leventhal Park, named for the Boston building manager and designer who designed it. It sits above a parking garage, named "The Garage at Post Office Square." The garage descends to 80 feet (24 m) below the surface, at the time one of the deepest points of excavation in the city. Revenues from parking fund the maintenance of the park. The 1.7-acre (0.69 ha) park is a popular lunchtime destination for area workers. It features a café, fountains, and a pergola around a central lawn, and the management provides seat cushions for visitors during the summer. Designed by landscape architects The Halvorson Company, the park is also home to "125 species of plants."

History

1883 Walker map Boston
Detail of 1883 map of Boston, showing Post Office Square and vicinity
Post office square, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views 2
Post Office Square, Boston, 1876
Post Office Square Garage Boston in 1980s
Garage in Post Office Square that was demolished to make way for the creation of Norman B. Leventhal Park.

Post Office Square was the site of a 1964 speech by Lyndon B. Johnson.

There was a transformer explosion and fire in the One Post Office Square building in December 1986. An electric company worker was killed but fortunately it was after normal business hours and the building was able to be evacuated with only a few injuries.

It was also the site of the now-closed Boston Claim Assistance Site of the September 11th Victim Compensation Program.

Major buildings

Significant buildings on the square include the following:

  • John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse
  • New England Telephone and Telegraph Building is a historic structure built in 1947 at 185 Franklin Street. It is a Pending Boston Landmark. A developer purchased the building in 2011 and renamed it "50 Post Office Square." In this building, the laboratory in which the first telephone was built has been reconstructed.
  • Langham Hotel Boston, a building that until 1977 housed the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston In 1978 it was designated a Boston Landmark.
  • One Post Office Square
  • 100 Federal Street
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