Back in the 1900s, Pike and Pine were opened up to give unblocked entry from downtown to Capitol Hill. Cars became so popular that the city engineer went looking for another way, finally conceiving a new bent route up the hill from Olive Street’s dead end at Bellevue to the intersection of John and Boylston. After a few years of gestation and fighting it out in courts, construction finished in June 1923. Olive Way was born.

Auto Row, Mowed over by Autos
Of course a whole bunch of buildings stood in the way, including a dozen homes. One of the others we know today as City Market.

The building was completed in 1919 for Ajax Rubber Company of Delaware. They gave it a couple of display windows for retail and a garage door to pull the cars in for new tires. Cantilevered windows provided ventilation as well as plenty of sunlight to work on the cars. Continue reading →