Flagstaff Park, originally part of the Cambridge Common, was landscaped at the time of subway construction in It contains a flagstaff base designed by prominent architects Peabody and Stearns, and a statue of Charles Sumner by Anne Whitney, one of the first successful female American sculptors. The park is central to the traffic pattern of Harvard Square, and introduced an element of Beaux-Arts formalism into the common area. PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION # A. History of the Park: Flagstaff Park is a portion of Cambridge Common, which was originally established in I63O.
The Common was enclosed and improved as a park by the Massachusetts Legislature in The park was originally one of three triangular sections of the Common located to the east of Massachusetts Avenue (see Walling map of These have been traversed by various highways since the settlement of Cambridge, but were never built upon. A view taken from the tower of Memorial Hall in shows them enclosed with post-and-rail fences and planted with elm trees. This configuration was maintained with minor changes until subway construction began in The plans for Flagstaff Park, prepared by the Boston Elevated Railway, were reviewed and accepted by the Cambridge Board of Park Commissioners in The design revised the street layout and bisected the park with six foot high brick walls for the streetcar ramp.
A twelve foot wall was erected across the south end of the park; a section of this forms the tunnel entrance. MA-999 Page 2)1 FLAGSTAFF PARK HABS No. MA-999 (Page 3) Behind the tunnel portal wall is a small paved plaza containing a statue of Charles Sumner on a limestone pedestal. The statue was designed by Anne Whitney, and is signed and dated Whitney originally submitted the design to a competition for a statue of Sumner to be erected in the Boston Public Garden in Her model was ohosen as one of the best three out of twenty-six entries. When it was revealed that Whitney was the sculptor there was much consternation over the fact that a woman had placed in the competition. Whitney was awarded as was Martin Milmore, and Thomas Ball received the commission.
In Whitney produced the full size statue, which was cast by Mosman, a founder in Chicopee, Massachusetts. With the support of several Harvard professors the statue was placed at the delta at Kirkland Street and Cambridge street in Completion of the Sumner statue was Whitney's last major undertaking befor her death in at the age of 93* The statue was made the centerpiece of the plaza at Flagstaff park 30on after the completion of subway construction. The flagpole, which gave the park its new name, was designed by prominent Boston Architects Peabody and Stearns, and was commissioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution. It was erected within the new park in after construction was completed.
The design of Flagstaff Park introduced an element of Beaux Arts formalism into the rural atmosphere of Cambridge Common. The designers used the walls to enclose the previously open vistas from the east and south, and in so doing altered the traditional perspectives north from Harvard Square and east from the Common. Richardson's Austin Hall had been sited to terminate the view from Harvard Square, while Memorial Hall and the Harvard buildings around the delta between Kirkland and Cambridge Streets were visually extensions of the Common. These vistas were obscured by the intrusion of the ramp walls and portal.
Except for paving to accommodate a parking lot between the bus ramp and Massachusetts Avenue, Flagstaff Park remained essentially unchanged until the beginning of new subway construction in B. Sources of Information: 1. Old Views: View of Harvard Yard from the northeast, ca. photographer unknown, Cambridge Historical Commission Collection. FLAGSTAFF PARK HABS No. MA-999 (Page 4) View of Cambridge Common from the east, taken from the tower of Memorial Hall, photographer unknown, Cambridge Historical Commission Collection. View of Flagstaff Park from the southwest, taken between and Cambridge Planning Board Photo, Cambridge Historical Commission collection. 2.
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