Davis Square

Davis Square is a major intersection in the northwestern section of Somerville, Massachusetts where several streets meet: Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue. The name is often used to refer to the West Somerville neighborhood surrounding the square as well.

Davis Square is located approximately four miles from downtown Boston, and two miles from mid-Cambridge. The square is served by the Davis Square Station, one of the stops on the MBTA Red Line. Davis abuts the Powder House Square, Magoun Square and Spring Hill neighborhoods, as well as Tufts University.

Davis Square is today a vibrant commercial, retail, nightlife and dining district. Davis fell into decline after World War II. After the Red Line was extended to Davis in the mid-1980s, however, the area began to experience a prolonged renaissance.

Davis Square was officially designated as a square by the City of Somerville in 1883. It was named for Person Davis (1819-1894), a grain dealer who moved to the area in 1850 and built his estate near the intersection of Elm, Grove and Morrison Streets. During the 1860s and 1870s, roads were improved and rail connections strengthened, which allowed West Somerville to urbanize.

After the Civil War, between 1870 and 1910, people increasingly chose to live in West Somerville where subdivided land was plentiful for new homes, both modest and substantial, and the commute to Boston for employment was convenient thanks to rail connections. By 1857 horse car railway lines were extended along Massachusetts Avenue from Harvard Square to Arlington, and in 1863 the Somerville Horse Railroad Company connected Union Square with West Somerville via extended tracks along Somerville Avenue. Passenger rail arrived in 1870, when the Lexington and Arlington branch of the Boston and Lowell Railroad (later succeeded by the Boston and Maine Railroad) routed steam rail service through Davis Square. These public improvements stimulated substantial development in the 1870s and 1880s as Davis Square quickly grew into an active commercial center. A boom in residential construction followed in the 1890s.

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