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There is a Secret Tunnel to Harvard Square coming out of the ground in Flagstaff Park, Cambridge, if you follow the Trolley Cables overhead. Be careful, watch for outgoing buses! There used to be Trolley Stations underground at many Subway T stops in Boston, before city buses were common. The trolley cables can be seen going into the ground in Flagstaff Park and go completely under the street and some of the University, and they come out of the ground in the restaurant district in Brattle Square, a few blocks away. Alternatively, if you are in the restaurant district in Brattle Square, you can see where the buses come from the underground tunnel to start the run Westbound. I imagine this used to, or still does, connect to the T station somehow. Google Maps lists this as "Harvard Bus Tunnel." Nowadays, we catch multiple Buses above ground about 5-10 minute walk from the Harvard T stop, mostly West of Harvard Square.
Harvard Rail Station was built in 1849 to compete with the horse & carriage routes that had been primary transportation since 1826. The Cambridge Railroad setup a horsecar street railway in 1856 from Harvard Station to connect University students with the rest of the Boston and Western Suburbs like Watertown & Mt. Auburn. In 1889, horse-drawn streetcars disappeared as the streetcars went fully electric and overhead cables were installed all over the city. In 1897, Boston built the US first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway. In 1906, Boston suggested building an elevated railway over the Charles River and over Cambridge rather than under it, Cambridge wasn't interested. By 1912, the Subway, called the T after Tremont, was extended through Beacon Hill out to Cambridge and ended at Harvard. This allowed areas further West to build new subway lines to Harvard, rather than to Boston directly. Harvard Station was remodeled underground into a split-level station with NorthWest Trains on the top level, and SouthEast Trains on the bottom level. They modified the Streetcar Tunnels, so North Bound Streetcars & Trolleys would use the top Tunnel and exit Flagstaff Park, while WestBound Trolleys & Streetcars would use the bottom tunnel and exit Brattle Square on Mt. Auburn St. By 1922, 104 Streetcars per hour ran through the Tunnel, and by 1938, the Electric Streetcars were replaced with trackless trolleys (todays autobus). By 1955, all Electric Streetcars and Trolley were replaced with gasoline or diesel buses. Today, Diesel Buses are banned from the Tunnel due to exhaust fumes and explosion risks, and most of the modern MBTA buses are electric hybrids and can use the tunnel safely.
By 1971, the Red Line (which ended at Harvard) ran through Boston all the way South to the suburbs of Dorchester & Quincy. From 1979-83, work was done at Harvard Station which extended the Red Line further to Alewife & Arlington by 1985. Harvard was no longer the main Bus stop for destinations West, commuters could stay on the Red Line further West, or catch one of the other Subway Lines which had been built by now. Most commuters riding to Harvard for bus transfers are headed to historic Watertown, Mt. Auburn, Waltham or Waverley Square, and if you find yourself in that area today, waiting for the bus, chances are if you look up, the Trolley wires are still overhead, and look down, you can see the trolley tracks in the street. They were removed from downtown as an eyesore, but the suburbs kept some of theirs as historic. Specifically, I found myself waiting for the bus at Watertown Square near the Charles River Arsenal, and realized the entire station had its tracks still and the streets close to the station still had their overhead cables.
Today, Boston is the only place in the world with an URBAN underground Trolley station connected to a Subway station, that is still in use, and it has TWO! The other is in South Boston, the last operating underground Subway-Trolley connector station was closed in Seattle in 2006, the last one prior to that closed in Germany in 1995. Philadelphia has similar setups but you have to leave the Underground Subway station to access the Trolleys, which run at street level.
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