1930: Rep Birmingham Backs Bill to Extend Subway under Governor Square

Governor Square (now Kenmore Square) in 1930

Rep. Birmingham spoke in favor of a bill to extend the Boylston St. subway under Governor Square (now Kenmore Square) to a place on Beacon St. east of the railroad bridge and to a place on Commonwealth Ave. opposite Temple Israel (Boston Globe, March 20, 1930, pp. 1, 25).

The House Committee on Metropolitan Affairs held a March 19 hearing on the bill. The bill was opposed by several municipalities, whose representatives testified that the subway extension would establish a dangerous precedent by requiring outlying cities and towns to contribute to maintenance of a measure intended to solve traffic problems in Boston, not to improve the regional transit system.

The bill, they argued, would also compel the municipalities to be responsible for any deficits in the operations of the subway, the paper reported.

In support of the bill, Birmingham said that the proposed subway extension was necessary. Corporation Council Samuel Silverman, representing Mayor Curley, testified in favor of the bill, noting that it came out of conference committee composed of Silverman, Boston Elevated representative Frederick E. Snow, and counsel for the public trustees of the road, H. Ware Barnum.

Silverman said that the extension would cost $3 million and would be paid for by bonds of the city of Boston, which would contract with the company for annual rental of not less than 4½ percent. Any deficit would be met by the cities and towns in the Metropolitan Transit District; the cities and town would not be reimbursed, he admitted.

Rep. Luke D. Mullen of Boston asked Silverman why the bill had not been referred to the Metropolitan Council, which had been established to rule on extensions of the transit system. Silverman said that the committee was concerned that referring the bill to the council would only cause delay.

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