Arlington Center is, as one might imagine, Arlington’s town center. Many of its governmental buildings and public resources are located here: the town hall and the main branch of the library, the housing authority, the farmers’ market. The main street, Massachusetts Avenue, runs through the Center, intersecting with Pleasant Street, which provides access to MA Route 2. The MBTA’s 77, 79, 87, and 350 buses serve the area. The Minuteman Bike Path crosses the main intersection. High traffic from both drivers and cyclists has caused some animosity between the two. In 2017, the town updated the lights at the main intersection and added a new crosswalk before the intersection as part of the Arlington Center Safe Travel Project and with the intention of making the Center safer and more navigable for pedestrians and cyclists.

Two of Arlington’s churches are here, the Highrock Covenant Church and the First Parish Universalist Unitarian church. Reminders of history, mostly colonial, are everywhere. Notable are multiple stone monuments commemorating moments in the American Revolutionary War, a nearly 300-year-old cemetery, two war memorials, a museum dedicated to sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin, a statue of Uncle Sam, and a 1911 statue by Dallin of a Native American hunter which acknowledges the indigenous people who lived here before colonists displaced them.

Arlington Center is also a retail hub. A number of restaurants and businesses, chains and locally owned, rent storefronts there. Some storefronts in the Center turn over frequently, likely in part because of rising rent prices. One ice cream store has gone through at least five iterations since the 1990s, housing the Ben and Jerry’s and JP Licks chains and some independent businesses. In 2018, it became Abilyn’s Frozen Bakery.

Many of the posts on this site are about places in Arlington Center. Check this link to see them all. If you’re visiting Arlington, the Center is a good place to start, especially if you’re on foot or on a bicycle. Come by some time.