Boston Garden
The arena where every seat was close enough to see sweat on the boxers' brows — and visiting NBA teams hated every inch of it.
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Tex Rickard built this arena above North Station in 1928 with one rule: no seat too far from the action. That philosophy turned Celtics home games into an ordeal for opponents — 40 wins and a single loss in the 1985–86 season, still an NBA record. JFK rallied here in November 1960. The Garden was demolished in 1998; TD Garden now occupies the same spot above the commuter rail concourse.
What to look for
- North Station below — originally the Boston and Maine Railroad hub, now MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak terminus
- TD Garden, the successor arena that opened three years before the original was torn down in 1998
- Any surviving references to the parquet floor, which was built for Boston Arena and moved to the Garden in 1952
Reach it via North Station on the MBTA Green or Orange Line; TD Garden shares the building and hosts Bruins and Celtics games today.
Boston Garden is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Boston, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Boston pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Boston
- Museum of Fine Arts BostonFour hundred and fifty thousand works of art under one roof — one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas.
- TD GardenThe subway stops underneath it — TD Garden is built directly above MBTA's North Station, so you step off the train and you are already at the door.
- Harvard College ObservatoryOn the night of July 16-17, 1850, astronomers here made the first daguerreotype of a star — Vega — through a telescope that was the largest in North America.
- Fenway ParkThe oldest active ballpark in MLB, where a cramped city block accidentally invented some of baseball's most famous features.
- Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIn 1990, thieves walked out with thirteen works worth $500 million — none have ever come back, and the case is still open.
- Boston Public LibraryJohn Adams' personal 3,800-volume library lives here — and any Massachusetts adult can walk in and access it.