Three Centuries of Use & Transformation

Three Centuries of Use and Transformation. Charlestown Training Field, also, Winthrop Square. , Three Centuries of Use and Transformation , First noted in the 1640s as a “well-established public place.”, Training fields were an integral part of early New England landscapes. On annual “Muster Days,” the local militia met here for roll call, inspection and parade. The entire town gathered to socialize and watch the citizen-soldiers fulfill their civic obligation., The Charlestown Training Field, one of the "common lands” of the settlement, was first mentioned in the 1640s, making it one of New England's earliest training fields. , In 1775 the British burned Charlestown, including its Training Field. The town's reconstruction in the 1780s created new streets, lanes and squares, and extended older streets, including "Training Field Street," the original lane leading here. , In 1848 the Training Field was renamed Winthrop Square to honor John Winthrop, Puritan clergyman and first Colonial governor of Massachusetts. Although the name never “took" in Charlestown, it marks an important transition in the field's transformation from a utilitarian, semi-rural open field to the urban park you see today. , Captions: , The Training Field School House , A school was built on the Training Field in 1827, and the schoolchildren used the area as a playground. By the mid-19th century, however, the city fathers derided the school building as a "needless destroyer of the symmetry of the park" and moved it across Common Street to its current location. After educating generations of children, the structure was converted into condominiums in the 1960s. , From An Account of the Second Re-union of the Graduates of the Training Field School in Charlestown held January 18, 1882, Boston Public Library, Charlestown Branch, View from the Bunker Hill Monument, Historic New England , The Training Field, circa 1870 , The 1838 map to the left shows buildings at the southwest corner of the Training Field. By 1848, these buildings had been relocated, and the Training Field had become an elegant park graced by an elaborate cast-iron fountain and a flagpole as seen in the later 19th century photo above taken from the Monument. , 1838 map by Thomas Gamaliel Bradford; Boston Public Library, Bromley Atas 1875, Boston Public Library , The Training Field in 1875 , By the 1870s, new paths focusing on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument were created, and the fountain and flagpole had been removed., The Training Field School Class of 1910 , Cutler Collection, Boston Public Library, Charlestown Branch, The Training Field, circa 1910 , This postcard shows how the park looked in the early 20th century. , Friends Collection, Boston Public Library, Charlestown Branch