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Davis (MBTA station)
Encyclopedia
Davis Station is located at the intersection of Holland Street, Elm Street, and College Avenue (Davis Square
), in Somerville, Massachusetts
. It opened on December 8, 1984. Davis Station is named after the Davis family
of Massachusetts, a political dynasty whose members, over 220 years, have held at least 20 federal and state elected offices throughout New England. Its facilities include:
program. Arts on the Line was devised to bring art into the MBTA's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country.
Four of the original twenty artworks are located at Davis station. These works are:
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.- Location :...
), in Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
. It opened on December 8, 1984. Davis Station is named after the Davis family
Davis political family
The Davis family is an Irish-American and British-American family, prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the Whig Party, Federalist Party, and the Republican Party. Harvard and Yale educations have been frequent among them, and most had gone...
of Massachusetts, a political dynasty whose members, over 220 years, have held at least 20 federal and state elected offices throughout New England. Its facilities include:
- a station on the MBTA's Red LineRed Line (MBTA)The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the MBTA running roughly north-south through Boston, Massachusetts into neighboring communities. The line begins west of Boston, in Cambridge, Massachusetts at Alewife station, near the intersection of Alewife Brook Parkway and Route 2...
- a bus terminal for local routes, with a dedicated busway
- bicycle parking
- connections to the Somerville Community PathSomerville Community PathThe Somerville Community Path is a project to build a mixed-use path in Somerville, Massachusetts, from the Cambridge border near Davis Square to the Cambridge border near Lechmere Square. Roughly 0.8 miles of the path is finished and in use...
and the Cambridge Linear ParkCambridge Linear ParkThe Linear Park is a mixed-use path, about one mile long, running through Cambridge and Somerville , and connecting the Minuteman Bikeway and the Fitchburg Cutoff Path near Alewife with the Somerville Community Path at Davis Square. The path is used for bicycling, walking, jogging, and inline... - public artPublic artThe term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
, including tiles made by local school children during station construction and an installation of life-size sculptures. In 2009, a group of local artists attempted to find as many of the tile-makers as possible. The schoolchildren are now 35–45 years old.
Arts on the Line
As a part of the Red Line Northwest Extension, Davis was included as one of the stations involved in the Arts on the LineArts on the Line
Arts on the Line was a program devised to bring art into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arts on the Line was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country...
program. Arts on the Line was devised to bring art into the MBTA's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country.
Four of the original twenty artworks are located at Davis station. These works are:
- UntitledDavis Square statuesThe untitled Davis Square statues are life-sized cast masonry public sculpture, created by James Tyler, located in Davis Square, Somerville, Massachusetts at the Davis, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway station. The statues are based on people that lived near Davis Square in the 1980s...
by James TylerJames TylerJames Tyler is the name of:* James Tyler , American lutenist and early music researcher* James Hoge Tyler , American politician and governor of Virginia* James Manning Tyler , United States Representative from Vermont...
- Life-size people created out of cement placed in areas around Davis Square - Children's Tile Mural by Jack Gregory and Joan Wye - Many tiles created by children placed on the brick wall of the station mezzanine
- Poetry by various poets - Lines of poems are embedded into bricks on the station platform walls
- Sculpture With a D by Sam GilliamSam GilliamSam Gilliam is internationally recognized as one of America's foremost Color Field Painter and Lyrical Abstractionist artists....
- A large scale, brightly colored, abstract work
Attractions
- Tufts UniversityTufts UniversityTufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, about a 10-minute walk north along College Avenue. - Davis SquareDavis SquareDavis 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.- Location :...
, which features:- theater and cinema
- shops and restaurants
- Somerville gallery of the Museum of Bad ArtMuseum of Bad ArtThe Museum of Bad Art is a privately owned museum whose stated aim is "to celebrate the labor of artists whose work would be displayed and appreciated in no other forum". It has two branches, one in Dedham, Massachusetts, and the other in nearby Somerville...
Bus connections
- 87 Arlington Center or Clarendon Hill — Lechmere StationLechmere (MBTA station)Lechmere is the northern terminus of the MBTA Green Line. It is located in Lechmere Square in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the intersection of Cambridge Street and Monsignor O'Brien Highway . The tracks make a loop at Lechmere, with a small yard...
& Green LineGreen Line (MBTA)The Green Line is a streetcar system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the Boston, Massachusetts area of the United States. It is the oldest line of Boston's subway, which is known locally as the 'T'. The Green Line runs underground downtown and on the surface in outlying...
via Somerville - 88 Clarendon Hill — Lechmere Station via Highland Avenue
- 89 Clarendon Hill or Davis Square — Sullivan Square Station & Orange LineOrange Line (MBTA)The Orange Line is one of the four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It extends from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston in the south to Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts in the north. It meets the Red Line at Downtown Crossing, the Blue Line at State, and the Green...
via Broadway - 90 Davis Square — Wellington StationWellington (MBTA station)Wellington is a MBTA station on the Orange Line, located in Medford, Massachusetts, USA on the Revere Beach Parkway slightly east of its intersection with Route 28....
& Orange LineOrange Line (MBTA)The Orange Line is one of the four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It extends from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston in the south to Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts in the north. It meets the Red Line at Downtown Crossing, the Blue Line at State, and the Green...
via Sullivan Square Station & Assembly Square Mall - 94 Medford Square — Davis Square Station via West Medford & Medford Hillside
- 96 Medford Square — Harvard Station via George St. & Davis Square Station