Boylston Station, First Subway
The first subway in the country cost part of a graveyard and a street corner before it carried anyone.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
A worker digging a trench here picked up what he took for a twig, and it was a human bone. The first subway in the United States was being cut along the edge of Boston Common, and it had run into an old burying ground. At least nine hundred bodies had to be moved. People were already frightened of the idea. One newspaper editorial called subway riding "living in a tomb." A citizen said it gave him a "buried alive"
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
Boylston and Tremont Streets. Boylston station is still in use on the Green Line, fare required below ground; platforms are not step-free. The MBTA lists a Green Line suspension for 7 to 15 November 2026 between North Station and the western branches, a stretch that appears to include Boylston. The Central Burying Ground is on the Boylston Street side of the Common, open daily from about nine to four according to the city.
Photos
Sources
- Boston University, 125 Years Ago, Like Today, Many Bostonians Feared Their Subway System (2022)
- When and Where in Boston: Tremont Street Subway opens
- Lost New England, Explosion, Corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets
- City of Boston, Central Burying Ground
- Wikipedia, Boylston station (status, six dead)
- Ogden, Gravestone Inscriptions of the Central Burying Ground (1917), Internet Archive
- Cemetery Travel, Central Burying Ground (2013)
- MBTA, Boylston station page (updated 2 November 2026)
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