Standing under the 143 foot long formal garden trellis in the Norman B. Leventhal Park on an early spring Sunday, in the middle of Boston’s financial district, you would not give much thought to the history and reality of Post Office Square where the park is located. To find a beautiful 1.7 acre green area in the midst of Boston’s sky scrapers is a true joy. It is an ideal place to relax inside the downtown landscape and except for Sundays in early spring, the square is most often busy with people taking a break from their urban chores.
The park is actually the street-level top of a massive, underground parking complex that contains space to park 1,400 cars.
Originally marshland, the area was first occupied by manufacturing facilities that served the maritime industry in the 1700’s. It converted to a wealthy residential neighborhood and by the mid 1800’s transitioned to tenements and warehouses which were all destroyed in Boston’s great fire of 1872. On this patch of land was built the ornate New England Mutual Life Insurance Building that stood until 1945. An above ground, 4-story parking garage took it’s place and stood until 1988 when Norman B. Leventhal with the Friends of Post Office Square, Inc. Began building the present parking facility and public park with the idea that it would be privately maintained and operated with proceeds from the parking garage beneath it.
To learn more about the park with its free wireless internet access, summer music concerts and Café, go to:

www.normanbleventhalpark.org/