Park Square, the small fence-enclosed park that housed the statue for 141 years, is nestled between the busy intersection of Charles Street, Columbus Avenue, and Boylston Street. Park Square had long been the terminus of the Boston & Providence Railroad, continuing to serve as a major transportation center with the Union Bus Terminal in the mid twentieth century. Fashionable shops and restaurants once lined its streets, including a four-sided clock tower that today is a Four Seasons Hotel. In the 1960s, Park Square found itself on the edge of the adult entertainment district downtown known as the Combat Zone.
