Scollay Square

Scollay Square plaque on Cambridge Street

NPS Photo/M Mark

Quick Facts

Location:

Cambridge Street

Significance:

Site of former commercial and entertainment hub

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

This area once housed Scollay Square, a bustling commercial and entertainment hub that served as an integral part of Boston’s night life. Scollay Square hosted numerous bars, restaurants, tattoo shops, hotels, and theaters that attracted a wide variety of clientele including locals, sailors on leave, and members of the queer community. Urban renewal efforts of the 1960s led to the demolition of Scollay Square and the creation of Government Center. The only remaining evidence that this area was once Scollay Square is a plaque at One City Hall Plaza and the "Scollay Under" mosaic in the Government Center MBTA Station.¹

Footnotes

1. Improper Bostonians, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998): 182-183.