Topic: Transportation & Industry
Bridges, trains, train stations, public transportation, motor vehicles, factories, light industry, mills, ropewalks
In the Early Republic period, the newly independent Commonwealth of Massachusetts allowed private mill owners, turnpike corporations, and landlocked landholders to use eminent domain to kickstart industrial development. Mills, canals, and roads were important to the development of the industrial revolution and eminent domain proved to be the best tool to make them possible.
Redeveloping The Seaport, Part 1: Warehouse and Rail to Innovation District Boston’s newest neighborhood sprung up from a rail and wharf district along the South Boston Waterfront. After decades as a sparsely populated industrial and fishing district, the Seaport has quickly become a destination for business, luxury condos, and tourists. How did this rapid change…
Urban Renewal, Highways, and the West End: The Federal-Aid Highway Act at 70 The 1956 federal act which created the modern Interstate Highway System turns 70 this year. Highway construction, like urban renewal, disproportionately affected low income and minority communities. However, highways have not always seen the same criticism as urban renewal. This article considers…
The Inner Belt: The Highway Massachusetts Didn’t Build Modern Boston has been shaped by its finished highway projects: the Central Artery, the Southeast Expressway, the Big Dig. But just as key to the character of the city today is a highway that was NOT built: the Inner Belt. This article explores how people fought to…
The Columbia Rediviva: The Boston Ship that Sailed the Globe, Twice The ship known as the Columbia Rediviva was among the maritime pioneers that can trace their origins to Boston. Having sailed around the world, not once but twice, to participate in the fur and China trades, the ship accomplished several firsts. The ship’s adventures…
The Omnibus: Boston’s First Horse-Powered Public Transit System Boston established its first form of urban public transit—a large horse-drawn carriage known as the omnibus – in 1833. The omnibus was an early step in the creation of Boston’s public transportation system. With lines crossing the West End, and a hub on Brattle Street, the omnibus…
How The West End Meets the World: Mass Transit that Shapes the Neighborhood Tens of thousands of people traverse the West End neighborhood every day without even knowing it. The West End has been home to rail links connecting Boston with North Shore communities and the rest of northern New England for over a century.…
Destruction and Disappointment: The Legacy of Boston’s Central Artery Boston’s Central Artery promised relief to the city’s traffic dilemma, but as with most major building projects of the mid-20th century, it brought demolition, displacement, and ultimately disappointment. Less than 20 years after the first automobiles hit the dirt roads of Boston, traffic congestion had become…
