USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 3
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The filling of the territory on both sides of the neck is but a part of the larger works which have altered the Shawmut Peninsula beyond all recognition. The fabled Danish king failed in his attempt to sweep back the ocean, but when Boston determined not only to stop the Atlantic from gnawing away any more of its area, but to thrust the waters farther back from its shores, it succeeded beyond human expectation. The "heart-shaped" piece of land on which the Puritans settled has long since lost itself in the more regular and very much more extensive borders of modern Boston. The hills on which a beacon was established, or a mill
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was erected, or a fort built, have either disappeared or their outlines greatly modified. The coves that were the first landing places, and along whose shores the early town was built, are no longer touched by the waters of the harbor. Even the memory of where they were is passing along with the knowledge of the landmarks of the olden times.
The Ancient Shore Line-As nearly as the original shore line can be traced from ancient maps, it is as follows: Beginning at Boston Neck, where Dover Street now crosses Washington, the shore line ran between Washington Street and Harrison Avenue, finally touching Washington where it now crosses Kneeland, and then swinging to the east, crossed Beach at Harrison Avenue. The bay washed the Beach Street end of Oxford, Edinboro, Kingston, Lincoln and South streets, and covered East Street to the corner of Atlantic Avenue. Turning northerly, the beach line followed Atlantic Avenue to the corner of Summer Street, and then ran easterly between Atlantic Avenue and Purchase Street, cross- ing Gridley and Pearl streets at Purchase Street, so that the site now occupied by the South Station was originally under water. Going east again, the line of the shore touched Atlantic Avenue at Oliver Street, and then followed Atlantic Avenue to Belcher Lane. The shore then went northwest along the line of Broad Street to Batterymarch Street and curved sharply to the south, crossing Oliver, Pearl, and Congress streets, and reaching Franklin at the corner of Federal Street. It then curved again sharply to the north, crossed Federal, Congress, and Milk streets, and touching Postoffice Square along Congress Street. The beach line swung across Water Street, where the Postoffice and the Shawmut National Bank buildings were erected, and, still curving to the east, reached the present line of Kilby Street, along which it then went north- erly. The bay covered State, at the corner of Kilby, and thence the beach line followed Merchants' Row to Dock Square. "It is evident, therefore, that Oliver Street on one side and Kilby on the other, marked the beginning of a long, narrow indentation where the bay reached to Franklin and Federal streets. Orange Avenue, Dock Square, Elm and Blackstone streets, Salt Lane, North Centre Street and North Street were all washed by the Bay." Leaving the line of North Street at Ferry, the beach bent westerly, following Commercial Street to Charlestown Bridge and Washington Street north. Then the shore made a curve to the east almost touching Prince and Salem streets and reaching Blackstone and Union streets again at Haymarket Square. It then crossed Friend and Portland streets at Sudbury, and reached Bowker Street. Here the bay went westward to Lyman Street, covering Merrimac and South Margin streets, and thence along the line of Wall Street, crossing Minot, Willard, and Barton streets to Leverett. This sweep from Charlestown Bridge
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to Barton Street made the North Cove, also known as Mill Pond. Brighton Street marked another curve of the bay line, which turned here to the southeast, covering most of the land on which the Massachu- setts General Hospital now stands. It crossed Cambridge Street at the corner of Anderson, then, bearing west again, touched Charles Street. Turning east, it crossed Branch Street and reached the Boston Common, covering the southwesterly part of the common and all of Charles Street to Park Square and all of the present public gardens. From Park Square the shore line curved to the east between Pleasant and Church streets, crossed Shawmut Avenue at Osborn Place, touched the neck again at Cherry and Washington streets, and followed closely the line at Wash- ington Street to Dover.
The present ample area of Boston proper is the result of filling in the cove, inlets and marshes found in the original crooked shore line. This work was begun at a very early date, as far as the endeavors of indi- viduals are concerned, by those who desired to extend the boundaries of their lands, and could do so by moving some of the higher land to the marshy shore. There was little done in an organized way by anyone for more than three-quarters of a century after the first settlement. In 1709, permission was given Oliver Noyes and others to build a wharf from Andrew Faneuil's Corner to the low water mark. As completed, the pier was the width of Market or Water Street, now State Street, and was an extension of that thoroughfare. Of the larger coves, Mill Cove, which first had a causeway constructed across it, was filled in behind the cause- way from 1804 to 1829. East Cove on both sides of the famous "Long Wharf" was filled from 1825 to 1874; the South Cove fill dates from 1806 to 1845, and the Back Bay District was made during a period extend- ing from 1857 to 1894.
The Reclamation of Back Bay-All the reclamation projects which gave Boston the larger part of its land area are worthy of extended notice, but it is the Back Bay fill, more than any other, which stands out in the history of the city, and which attracted the attention of a larger audience than that of the "Hub." Then, too, its story extends over a long period, it has more of romance about it, and the section was the largest ever added to Boston proper. The public improvement was one of the best paying things the city ever engaged in; the reclaimed lots sold for three times all the cost of the improvement. The Back Bay Sec- tion, where it was once believed no one would build, is one of the most beautiful residential districts in this country. It is somewhat difficult to realize that these miles of paved avenues and luxurious dwelling houses are now where once there were stinking tidal flats and waters, a region
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condemned as a nuisance. "It is still more difficult to realize," says Howe, "that only a year or two before 1860, the western boundary of the Public Garden was a brown picket fence, with a muddy beach at its foot."
All this remarkable and valuable change was not brought about easily or without opposition. When Uriah Cotting organized, in 1814, the Bos- ton and Roxbury Mill Corporation and secured a charter giving the company certain rights in the Back Bay, he was not thinking of a place to fill in and sell for lots, but of a mill dam which could hold, and open the way for use of, the nine-foot tide with which the harbor was blessed. Back Bay was but "an expanse of water and marsh that extended from the foot of the Common to the uplands of Brookline, and from the Charles River to Boston's only connection with the mainland by Boston Neck and Roxbury." The corporation was given the right to build two dams, one from the end of Beacon Street at Charles, to Sewall's Point at Brook- line, and a cross dam from the main one to Roxbury. These dams were to carry on their crests a turnpike, the toll collected on which was expected to pay some of the costs of construction. In 1821 the Mill-Dam Road, or Western Avenue as it was soon named, was opened for traffic, the event being an occasion for much congratulation, since Boston now had two turnpike connections with the mainland.
The original purpose of the Mill Corporation was to sell water power. The dams were to create a flood basin, while a cut was to be made through the neck about where the Dover Street Bridge now is, and tidal mills erected. It was found that the corporation had enough on its hands to care for the roadways it had built, and the Dover Street idea was never carried out. The corporation was divided; one section, known as the Boston Water Power Company, was chartered to purchase the water power, while the original corporation managed the roads. In 1832 the Boston company took over all the water power and the lands south of the main dam, the mill corporation retained the roads and the property north of the dam. The conflicting interests of the two companies, the city and abutting private land owners, led to the first of the long series of controversies which had to be adjusted before the completion of the Back Bay fill. Before long the railroads were drawn into the difficulties, and later the State. The Providence and Worcester Railroad companies, incorporated in 1831, ran their rails diagonally across both the receiving basins made by the dams, thereby causing a depreciation of the Boston Water Power Company's stock of fifty per cent. It did what was far worse, for the embankments constructed for the railroad further impaired the flowage of the Back Bay waters, until the section became, as reported to the city council in 1849, "nothing less than a great cesspool."
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The Commonwealth Takes Control-Without going into intricate details, the question of sanitation, and the larger one of finding room for Boston's growing population, was solved by the Commonwealth. Under an ancient right, claim was made by the State to all the lands formerly in marsh or covered by water, below the lines of private rights. The city opposed this claim and "pursued a general policy of obstruc- tion." The affair dragged along for years after it was realized that the Back Bay could not be left in its filthy condition without serious detri- ment to the city. Adjustments were made, or forced, and in 1858 the actual work of filling had been begun. It was not until the so-called Tripartite agreement of 1864, that the work could be carried on to a speedy conclusion.
In January of 1857, the commissioners who had been appointed to represent the State in the Back Bay matter, reported that the way was practically cleared to begin work. The report made at this time is the best exposition of the whole affair up to that time (1857) that is now extant. Barely enough to show what was the commission's appreciation of the need of what it proposed will be repeated here: "The territory in question (Back Bay) is now a useless and unsightly waste. There is, at the same time, a palpable lack of room for dwelling houses in and near the city of Boston. Stores are usurping the streets formerly occupied by mansions, rents are enormously high, and it is becoming a serious problem where the people whose business draws them to the metropolis of New England and the capital of the State shall be accommodated. The Commonwealth's lands in the Back Bay are situated in precisely the most eligible location for dwelling houses. The conversion of a waste of water into a magnificent system of streets and squares, with dwelling houses for a numerous population, is a transformation dictated by the soundest statesmanship and the wisest political economy."
Some Objections Made to the Filling of Back Bay-Some of the notions held by those opposing the improvement seem very foolish to those of today,-probably just as foolish as some of the objections raised against any progressive movement of today will seem to future genera- tions. It was not expected that more than a dozen houses would be built in the area in twenty years. A newspaper article suggested that large amounts of the land would remain unsold for fifty years, or by 1910. It was thought that there were not enough in the whole of Boston prepared to build "first-class houses." Objections were raised to the creation of such a wide flat area since it would be too hot for comfort during the summer when the winds could not penetrate its depths. One of the schemes of the day was to have a long basin where Commonwealth Ave- nue was built. The State proved to be good realtors, making three mil-
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lion dollars out of the transaction, and added about five hundred and seventy acres to the city. This is, however, only about a fifth of the total of the filled lands in Boston. Other projects have been larger, and the work now being carried on at East Boston will, when completed, give the city the largest acreage of made land ever reclaimed from sea and marsh.
Boston's Growth by Annexation-Coincident with the expansion of the Boston Peninsula by filling in the flats, and other radical changes of topography, was the growth of the city by the absorption of the adjoining municipalities. The annexations of fully developed towns were con- fined, for the greater part, to the period after the establishment of a city government in Boston in 1822. But it must not be forgotten that in very early times Boston reached out for the outlying territory and held juris- diction over a very wide area. In colonial times this control held over some seventy thousand acres, or more than twice that contained within the present large limits of the city. To the town was granted, in 1641, the "Muddy River" section, now the noted town of Brookline, for under this title was Muddy River set off in 1705. This territory had been annexed by the pioneers of Boston for its fine farm lands. Residents of the city built summer farm houses in the region; these often partaking of the nature of elaborate suburban estates. For years no better name was given it than "Muddy Creek Hamlet" or "Boston Commons."
In 1634, as the ancient record has it, "Boston shall have convenient enlargement at Mount Wooliston"; later in the same year Wynetsemit (Winnisimmet) was "ordered to belong to Boston." On September 25, 1634 (Old Style), Mount Wollaston and Rumney Marsh were annexed. In 1635, Dear, Hog, Long, and Spectacle islands were granted to Boston ; Noddle's Island being annexed two years later. Mount Wooliston is now a part of Quincy ; Winnisimmet has become Chelsea; Rumney Marsh is the present Revere; Pullen's Point has become Winthrop; and Nod- dle's Island is at present better known as East Boston. Noddle's Island was granted, in 1633, to Samuel Maverick, who was then living on it in his fortified home, and is usually to be found in the old records as Mave- rick's Island. This bit of territory is about the only land which remained permanently attached to Boston, but was practically undeveloped until well within the last century.
Among the other areas once a part of Boston, but no longer within the fold, might be mentioned the one thousand acres, which in 1660, was set off for a school in the "wilderness" north of the Merrimac River, incorporated in Haverill in 1664; three townships six miles square, or sixty-nine acres in all, 1735, in abatement of the province tax (these townships later became the towns of Charlemont, Colerain, and Pitts- field, Boston selling its interest in them in 1736); a township of land in
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Maine, containing twenty-three thousand and forty acres, was granted in 1794, to build a public hospital, and was sold by the city in 1833, for $4,200. Muddy River was set off as Brookline, November 13, 1705; Rumney Marsh, as the town of Chelsea, January 8, 1739; Mount Wollas- ton, as the town of Braintree, May 13, 1640. This data has been given at length, that it might be made clear that Boston was once an even larger place, considering only the area then under its jurisdiction, than it will be if the movement now gathering impetus brings about a consolidation of the adjoining towns into a real Greater Boston.
For two paragraphs the attention has been upon expansion in what might better be called the "reverse," since they contain the history of the growth of a former period which failed to hold. The exception noted was Noddle's, or Maverick's, Island with which little was done for two centuries, but which under a land boom starting in 1833 led to its rapid and permanent development. The whole island was bought for only eighty thousand dollars and consisted of six hundred and sixty-six acres of land and several hundred acres of marshes. It became the terminus of the Eastern Railroad in 1837; docks were built there for the new Cunard Steamship Line in 1840; and in 1851, the Grand Junction Rail- road was opened. A large hotel had been erected in 1836, several impor- tant manufacturing concerns established plants, notably the East Boston Sugar Refinery, ship building followed the coming of the Cunard service, and a hundred and seventy vessels were launched within a decade (1848- 1859). This latter industry has been displaced by other manufactories, but docks for the convenience of shipping have multiplied. In the multi- plication of wharves, and the increase of trackage for marine railways, the acres of marshes have been filled and used until now the area of East Boston is more than nineteen hundred acres, with additions being made annually.
Dorchester Added-When, on March 6, 1804, the part of Dorchester known as Dorchester Neck or South Boston was annexed to Boston, it was the first permanent taking of territory from a neighboring town. This came about as the result of a land speculation, much like that of East Boston. The difference lay in the fact that land was bought up by Metropolitan capitalists and pressure was brought to bear to separate it from Dorchester and join it to the city of Boston. There was great oppo- sition, but the enabling act went through in 1804. Dorchester Neck was separated from the town by a cove over which the only passage was by ferry. The first Dover Street Bridge was opened in 1805, and this and the annexation led to a rapid rise in the value of the five hundred and seventy acres that comprised the village. The actual sales of property were few, however, and not until other bridges were built twenty years
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and more later did the development of the section take on any great speed. By 1830 the population of South Boston had risen to twenty- eight hundred. In 1825 the city began the establishment of its reforma- tory institutions, which brought many who were busy with the erection of the buildings required. Here, as in East Boston, a fine hotel, the Mount Washington, was erected and became the center of a summer resort. This later passed to the Perkins Institute and Massachusetts School for the Blind. Foundries, iron works, machine companies, cord- age manufactories, sugar refineries, all gradually located their plants in the area, and again the need of more land led to the filling of the low places. "With the filling of the flats, which was begun early and pursued at intervals through a long course of years, the area of the district by 1900 had been increased to two thousand and seventeen acres, the growth that caused the establishment of the terminal piers of the New York and New England Railroad before the latter's absorption by the New York, New Haven and Hartford System, and foreign steamship docks, enlarged the importance of South Boston; while the subsequent erection of the great Commonwealth Pier rendered it the chiefest terminal of the port of Boston."
Summary of the Growth of Boston-In 1822, Boston became an incor- porated city, the act being accepted by the town on March 4, 1822. The first of the new city's enlargements by annexation took in Washington Village, a part of Dorchester. This was in 1855, the remaining part of Dorchester being absorbed in 1870. Roxbury was annexed, January 5, 1868; Charlestown, Brighton and West Roxbury became parts of the city by the one act of January 5, 1874; and on May 24, 1911, Hyde Park was annexed by an act accepted by both city and village. These annexa- tions, which added 24,312 acres to the original land of Boston were, by area as follows: East Boston, 1,435; South Boston, 795; Roxbury, 2,450 ; Dorchester, 5,600 ; West Roxbury, 8,075 ; Brighton, 2,664; Charles- town, 424; Hyde Park, 2,869. Filled land increased the area later by 1,396 acres. As has been pointed out, these expansions of the territory of Boston were coincident with the filling in of great coves and the reclamation of the marshes which surrounded the peninsula. The rugged little piece of land on which the Puritans set up their homes has been enlarged from its original 783 acres by fills totaling 2,944 acres. In 1927, the whole area of Boston is given as 30,598 acres (947.81 square miles), 2,944 acres being filled land, 1,143 acres water area, and 1,436 acres of flats. The net land area is, therefore, 28,019 acres (43.78 square miles). Included in the latter are 160 acres of filled land recently added to the land area of South Boston, and 175 acres to that of East Boston.
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City Dimensions-The form of Boston has undergone as radical changes as its area. Where the peninsula was the widest part of the city, is now one of its narrowest sections; and the narrow "Necke," hardly wide enough to allow the building of a road, is one of the widest districts. The greatest length of the present Boston is 13.8 miles, from the northern end of East Boston to the southern end of Hyde Park. The greatest width, 7.75 miles, is from Marine Park shore to the western end of Brighton. The median transverse width, 5.75 miles, is from the Charles River at Harvard Bridge to the Neponset River at Blue Hill Avenue. The width of the business center is only 1.2 miles, i. e., from the Charles River at Cambridge Bridge to the Fort Point Channel at Summer Street, forming one of the most compact business districts in the United States. The geographical center of Boston lies in Roxbury, at the corner of Walnut and Westminster Avenues. The population of Boston, according to the census of 1925, was 779,620.
"Greater Boston"-Boston suffers in area and population and busi- ness comparisons with other cities because the name stands for but a small part of an area which is geographically, topographically, commer- cially, industrially, and almost every other way except politically, Boston -The Greater Boston, or the Metropolitan District. The real Bos- ton extends far beyond the municipal boundaries. Other places have increased their size and loom large in all sorts of statistics given out by themselves or the National Government, by taking in vast sections that are little more than the sleeping quarters of the inhabitants of the natural center. What is called the Metropolitan Area of Boston is something more than the bedroom district of the city. It is inherently a connected part of the commerce, business and industries of the city. The forty towns and cities which now make up the district have their economic interest bound inextricably with the banking, railroad and port facilities of the center ; it is an economic unit, "the natural centre for the manufac- turing and trading interests of New England, one of the richest industrial regions of the world. There is no break in the widening circle of stores, warehouses, and factories which are thickly spread over the whole area of Metropolitan Boston District."
Metropolitan Districts' Commissions-The interests of many of the forty municipalities already are associated with many developments of which no one of them was capable of handling by itself. In 1893, thirty- eight cities and towns formed a Metropolitan Park District, covering about 390 square miles, in which at an initial cost of more than $27,000,- 000, and an annual maintenance expense of over $2,000,000, some II,000 acres of reservation and parkways, and 75 miles of boulevards are cared
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for. Previous to this, 1889, the Metropolitan Sewerage District was organized with thirteen cities and eleven towns, covering and area of 200 square miles. In 1895 the Metropolitan Water District was formed, including seven cities and six towns. The water works now serves twenty municipalities, and has cost since its inception, $50,000,000. The Charles River Basin District was established in 1903, and includes thirty- eight municipalities. The Fire Prevention District was the fifth of the inter-related organizations of "Greater Boston," being made up of twenty- six towns and cities. If there comes a time when these forty municipali- ties decide to throw their lot in with the present metropolis of the region, Boston, instead of rating seventh in population and ninth in area, would rank first in point of land covered (409.5 square miles), and fourth, pos- sibly third, in population, the figures for Greater Boston being 1,808,845 in 1925. What is of far more importance is that Boston would receive the recognition at large of which she is worthy.
Altitudes in the Metropolis-The possibilities of a Greater Boston is something which concerns the future. While statistics are being grouped here, two may be added which have to do with the natural setting of the city, which might have been given earlier in the chapter. One has to do with altitudes in the Hub; the other with its weather. Boston statistics is the authority for the statements that the highest point in Boston is the peak of the custom house tower, that landmark seen by the approaching traveler by sea or land, which is given as exactly 510.71 feet above mean low water, or 495 feet above the surface of the street. Bunker Hill Monu- ment is 307.84 feet above sea level, the top of Breed's Hill, upon which it rests, having a height of 86.44 feet. Bellevue Hill, West Roxbury, is the highest natural point in the city, about 320 feet ; the top of the new reservoir is 376.3 feet above the water level mentioned, which is often spoken of as the "City Base." Slocum Hill, near Allandale Street, Jamaica Plain, is about 300 feet ; the High Fort Observatory, Highland Park, Roxbury, 291, the hill upon which it rests being 158 feet high. Telegraph Hill, South Boston, is 145 feet high, the Revolution Memorial upon it increasing this height to 270. There is a hill between Poplar and Dale streets, near Hyde Park, which has been measured as 258; Peters' Hill, in the Arnold Arboretum, is 237 feet; Fairmount Hill, Hyde Park, is about 220 feet; and famous Beacon Hill is now only 107.89 feet high, although it once rose as high as the base of the State House dome. The top of the State House dome is 261 feet above the "City Base."
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