Kostachuk Square.

Kostachuk Square

Kostachuk Square is a historic city square in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It has historically been one of the intellectual and cultural vanguards of the vibrant communities of North-South Central East Boston. (NOTE) Today, Kostachuk Square is primarily residential, although it has been host to highly successful urban renewal projects that assisted in reasserting Kostachuck Square's waning role in the region's cultural and intellectual scene (NOTE).

History and Boundaries

Kostachuk Square is a sprawling piazza located at the intersection of Parker Hill Avenue and Calumet Street, at one the highest naturally occurring points in the metro area. "Kostachuck" is believed to be a Wampanoag word meaning "Fertile Eyelashes of the Raven". From Kostachuk Square one may observe spellbinding views of downtown Boston, Boston Harbor, the Blue Hills, Jamaica Plain, The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Roxbury, and the Fort Hill Mounument in Roxbury (which locals affectionately call "The Spire".)

Originally part of a landed estate, the land that is now Kostachuck Square was originally developed in the 19th century as part of the broader urban development works that filled in the Back Bay and other parts of downtown Boston. Kostachuk Square remained unassuming yet prosperous throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Great Depression hit Kostachuk Square particularly hard, and the Square's famed cafe's and jazz nightclubs were forced to close, not to reopen for 70 years.

Kostachuk Square's economic fortunes remained bleak following the Depression and never quite recovered, despite the prevailing favorable economic conditions in post-war Boston. However, due to Mission Hill's rapidly gentrifying population and the recent (August 2007) influx of a dedicated group of resident intellectuals, Kostachuk Square has been targeted as the location for numerous new nightlife ventures, as part of the broader urban development of the region.