Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston

553 Pages·2003·25.541 MB·English

by  Nancy S. Seasholes

Gaining Ground Fully one-sixth of Boston is built on made land. In Gaining Ground historian Nancy Seasholes gives us the first N G G a i n i n g G r o u n d
A History of Landmaking in Boston complete account of when, why, and how this land was created. The story of landmaking in Boston is presented
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Nancy S. Seasholes geographically; each chapter traces landmaking in a different part of the city from its first permanent settlement a
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with a new foreword by Bud Ris to its present configuration. Seasholes introduces findings from recent archaeological investigations in Boston,
and relates landmaking to the major historical developments that shaped it. A separate chapter discusses the c i
A H i s t o r y o f L a n d m a k i n g i n B o s t o n
technology of landmaking in Boston, explaining the basic method used to make land and the changes in its y n
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
various components over time. The book is copiously illustrated with maps that show the original shoreline
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 S
in relation to today’s streets, details from historical maps that trace the progress of landmaking, and historical i
http://mitpress.mit.edu
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drawings and photographs. n with a new foreword by Bud Ris
Cover art: B. F. Nutting, Bird’s Eye View of Boston (Boston: Nancy S. Seasholes is a historian and historical archaeologist. She is the author of Walking Tours of Boston’s Made S
B. B. Russell & Co., 1866). (Courtesy of the Trustees of the Land (MIT Press), the companion to Gaining Ground. e g
Boston Public Library/Rare Books Department) a
“A stunning compilation of material that documents over three centuries’ worth of ... changes. No previous
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study of Boston or any other North American city comes close to the detail its pages afford.” h G
—Richard Longstreth, American Studies International
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“Gaining Ground will undoubtedly long serve as the authoritative source on the topic.” r
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—Lawrence W. Kennedy, The New England Quarterly
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“Seasholes has provided a document that brings history alive.” s
N a n c y S . S e a s h o l e s
—Civil Engineering u
“A book of great import. Gaining Ground makes clear that land-making is inextricably linked to Boston.”
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—Martin Zimmerman, Landscape Architecture
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978-0-262-53483-3
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9 780262 534833
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A I N I N G R O U N D

G G
A I N I N G R O U N D
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I S T O R Y O F A N D M A K I N G I N O S T O N
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A N C Y E A S H O L E S
The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
© 2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic
or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and
retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Adobe Garamond by the MIT Press.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Seasholes, Nancy S.
Gaining Ground / Nancy S. Seasholes
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-19494-5 (hc : alk. paper) —978-0-262-53483-3 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Boston (Mass.)—History. 2. Boston (Mass.)—Historical geography. 3. Fills
(Earthwork)—Massachusetts—Boston—History. 4. Landscape—Massachusetts—
Boston—History. 5. City planning—Massachusetts—Boston—History. 6. Land
use—Massachusetts—Boston—History. 7. Boston (Mass.)—Antiquities. I. Title.
F73.3.S46 2003
911’.74461—dc21 2003044509
Frontispiece: Detail from A. E. Downs, Boston 1899 (Boston: George H. Walker and
Co., 1899). (Courtesy of the State Library of Massachusetts)

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O N T E N T S
FOREWORD BY BUD RIS ix
PREFACE xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 LANDMAKING TECHNOLOGY 13
3 CENTRAL WATERFRONT 21
4 BULFINCH TRIANGLE 73
5 WEST END 107
6 BEACON HILL FLAT 135
7 BACK BAY AND SOUTH END 153
8 FENS, FENWAY, AND BAY STATE ROAD 211
9 SOUTH COVE 237
10 SOUTH BAY AND SOUTH END 257
11 SOUTH BOSTON 287
12 DORCHESTER 335
13 EAST BOSTON 355
14 CHARLESTOWN 385
AFTERWORD 419
APPENDIX 1: TABLE OF MADE LAND IN BOSTON 423
APPENDIX 2: NOTE ON SOURCES 425
ABBREVIATIONS 445
NOTES 447
FIGURE REFERENCES AND CREDITS 503
INDEX 517

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O R E W O R D
When Nancy Seasholes first published Gaining Ground in 2003, will cause it to experience more sea level rise than the global aver-
few would have guessed that the line showing Boston’s shoreline age. (Sea level rise is caused by thermal expansion of the oceans, the
as it was in 1630, which appears in many of the book’s illustra- melting of glaciers, and the melting of ice that covers Greenland
tions, would gain new prominence fourteen years later. Today, and Antarctica.)
as the potential impacts of climate change have become better But what makes Boston really vulnerable is that so much
understood, it has become virtually impossible to have a serious of the city is built on low lying, “made land.” As Ms. Seasholes
conversation about the future of Boston without thinking about describes so carefully in her chronicle of the private initiatives and
how sea level rise might return much of the city to its original land public works projects that created the downtown waterfront, all
form. Indeed, as Boston approaches its 400th birthday in 2030, a of Back Bay, much of East Boston, and the area known today as
central question facing the city’s planners is not how much land the South Boston Seaport, much of Boston sits only a foot or two
have we gained, but how much will we lose? above high tide. That was all that was needed for profitable com-
The scientific analysis conducted by the Boston Research mercial enterprise and residential development at the time. And, of
Advisory Group (BRAG) for the Climate Ready Boston project, course, no one had any idea that human beings would, ultimately,
a project I helped to design and implement over the last year, disrupt the climate on a global scale.
concluded that Boston faces a significant challenge in the decades The vulnerability assessment conducted for the Climate
ahead. The BRAG team projects up to one-and-a-half feet of sea Ready Boston project suggests that nearly 20,000 people and
level rise by 2050, with three feet or more likely by the end of this 2,000 buildings in Boston will be exposed to significant flooding
century. (The tide gauge near the entrance to Fort Point Channel around 2030 or soon thereafter. Later in the century, annual dam-
already shows that the level of the harbor has increased by nearly ages from flooding are projected to run close to $1 billion—most
a foot over the last one hundred years.) The city’s problem is com- of that occurring on “made land.” Clearly, Boston faces a substan-
pounded by a variety of geographic and oceanographic factors that tial challenge in the decades ahead.