The Ryder Street Parking Lot offers a clear view of the mural on the back of the Shop Therapy building, 286-288 Commercial Street. [2024, Dunlap]
Green and gray tones superimposed on a 1919 street atlas show how Ryder Street was realigned, creating an open lot out of two abutting backyards.
The only parcel on Ryder Street with a Ryder Street address is a 26-space municipal parking lot. In 1921, Ryder Street was widened and its roadbed was moved eastward to create better axial views of Town Green, the Signing the Compact bas relief, and the Pilgrim Monument. The first lots on the east side of Ryder Street were condemned and cleared. As a result, what had been the cloistered backyards of the abutting 274-278 Commercial Street and 280-282 Commercial Street now opened directly on to Ryder. The backyards were combined into a single lot that is now owned by the Town.