Porter Square, Wilson Square and Western Somerville Avenue
from White Street to Elm Street

Location
Porter Square is the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Somerville Avenue on the border between Somerville and Cambridge. Major streets in the area include Somerville Avenue, Beacon Street and Elm Street. The neighborhood around the Square is split between the 2nd and 5th Wards. 

Access
Conveniently located on the MBTA Red Line and Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line, Porter Square is also serviced by 83, 87, 77, and 93 bus lines. The Square is the western end of both Somerville Avenue and Beacon Streets. 

History
Porter Square gets its name from Zachariah B. Porter who build and operated the Porter House Hotel in the 1840's and for whom the porterhouse steak is named. Porter moved to the area after operating the Cattle Fair Hotel in the Brighton Stock Yards. Porter's stockyards and rail head was an important connection for local farmers how exported their beef across the country. 

Prior to Porter's arrival, the area was an important link in the roadway network that connected the original settlements of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; Charlestown, New Town (later Cambridge) and Watertown to each other. 

In 1775 the Square was the scene of one of the many skirmishes along the "Bloody Gauntlet," the path the British soldiers took as they retreated from Lexington and Concord back to Boston. 

General Information
Porter Square, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Somerville Avenue in Cambridge just south of the Somerville City line, sits on top of an important transit hub. The neighborhood is serviced by both the MBTA Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line and the MBTA Red Line subway. The Square, home to a wide variety of local and regional retailers, is anchored by a 45,000 square foot Shaw's Supermarket, as well as the campus of Lesley University and the new location of the Art Institute of Boston. 

The Somerville side of Porter Square is primarily residential in nature but there is potential for redevelopment along the newly enhanced streetscape of Somerville Avenue and the soon to be rebuilt Beacon Street. The neighborhood has been split in two by the MBTA commuter rail line making large scale development difficult to this point. 

Somerville Avenue connects Wilson Square (the intersection of Somerville Avenue and Elm Street) with Porter Square and runs parallel to the MBTA commuter rail line. Beacon Street begins as Hampshire Street in Cambridge's Inman Square and intersects Somerville Avenue mid way between Porter Square and Wilson Square. 

In 2009 the City worked with neighborhood residents and property owners to develop a vision and strategy to bridge the scar formed by the railroad and to knit the community back together with catalytic projects and improved roadway and pedestrian access. The collective vision for the area is as follows: 

“Somerville Avenue, Elm Street, White Street and Beacon Street should be safe, pedestrian oriented streets lined with mixed use buildings that have first floor retail and upper floor residential space. The development of significant sites and the MBTA air rights adjacent to the Porter Square Station should be signature buildings that create gateways into the community. Furthermore development over the MBTA air rights should provide pedestrian access from one side to the other.” 

In December 2010 the City returned to residents and property owners to implement the community-centered vision statement. A community-based planning process followed over the next six months where participants analyzed and synthesized visual data, and articulated a proposal that allows for new mixed-use development in key gateways such as Wilson Square, Somerville Avenue, the MBTA Air Rights Site, White Street at Elm Street, and the surrounding neighborhood. Four community meetings were held in 2010 and 2011 where approximately 110 attendees worked out the establishment of a conceptual framework for new development guidelines and policies. 

On June 13, 2011, after an extensive period of collaborative work, the City returned to the neighborhood and presented a draft rezoning proposal integrating the overall elements for new development that participants had reached consensus on as appropriate for the scale and fabric of the neighborhood. Key community principles such as facilitating development in opportunity areas; respecting the transition between commercial and residential districts; balancing circulation amenities; ensuring design quality and compatibility; providing greater certainty to applicants and abutters; and encouraging sustainable development; were incorporated into the rezoning proposal. 

OSPCD Planning and Economic Development staff has accepted and reviewed comments, inquiries, and concerns from the public over past few months regarding this initiative. City staff refined the rezoning proposal based upon the comments and suggestions that were received and reported back to the community on September 14, 2011. The proposal has since been forwarded to the Board of Aldermen where it was referred to the Land Use Committee for a joint public hearing with the Planning Board on December 15, 2011.