Under Boston · STOP 13 · Bay Village / Theatre District
Under this park is the sealed southern mouth of the first subway, and the tunnel to Boylston is still there.
Under a small park where Shawmut Avenue leaves Tremont Street is the sealed mouth of a streetcar tunnel from 1897. A historian called the grade the Boston roller coaster. It closed in 1962, and the tunnel behind it is still there, with 1960s fallout-shelter supplies inside. Nobody walks it. A bench on the lid is as close as you get.
This is stop 13 of Under Boston. Walk it - any two stops are free.
The plate
The Roller Coaster, Sealed
Collected on site
Tremont St at Shawmut Ave and Oak St West, Boston, MA 02116
Directions
In these collections: Under Your Feet
Near Tufts Medical Center · Near Boylston · Near Chinatown · Near Arlington
Sources (10)
- Pleasant Street inclineWikipedia · accessed 2026-10-10
- Fourth Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission (year ending Aug 15 1898)Boston Transit Commission · 1898
- Second Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission (year ending Aug 15 1896)Boston Transit Commission · 1896
- Tremont Street Subway - National Historic Landmark nomination (Rettig)National Park Service, NPGallery 66000788 · 1976
- Transit archeology: Tour of abandoned subway network offers a glimpse of how the T was builtNoah Bierman, Boston Globe · 2009-12-26
- Boylston stationWikipedia (following citations: Clarke 2015; Chasson, Headlights 1987; MBTA 2025) · accessed 2026-10-10
- Elliot Norton Park is dedicatedWhen and Where in Boston · n.d.
- Elliot NortonWikipedia · accessed 2026-10-11
- One of the Deans of Theater Criticism, Elliot Norton, Exits the StageJay Collier, WGBH Alumni · 2003-10-20
- Tremont Street subwayWikipedia (citing Boston Daily Globe Sept 1 1897 'First Car off the Earth'; NHL Jan 29 1964) · accessed 2026-10-10