Lt. D. Amory Square, Boston, MA (photo by author)
Site bounded by Clarendon St., Dartmouth St., St. James St., Charles River
Figure 1: Boston 2013, Google Maps
Given the very nature of the humans and the changeability of human society it is evident that the environments which a given population inhabits will transform in response to, and to reflect, the developments of the population. By necessity, a given environment will adapt, or be altered, to fit the aesthetic, functional, or paradigmatic demands of the population. As a consequence of the dynamic environment, many such developments occurring in concert may obfuscate the underlying motivations and driving factors behind them; it is, however, often possible to discern trends and patterns of causation with the help of historical maps and or context. This methodology proves useful in developing a better understanding of the chronological developments to the area of Boston’s eastern Back Bay bounded in modern day by Clarendon, Dartmouth, and St. James Streets, and the Charles River Esplanade (Fig 1) from the 1700’s to the present.
Figure 2: Boston 1722, The Town of Boston in New England, Bonner
As of 1722, ninety-two years after the founding of Boston, the land that would eventually become Boston’s Back Bay was nonexistent; where the massive land fill project that would create the Back Bay took place was then the Roxbury Mudflats. A map of Boston in 1722 (Fig 2) indicates that in this time period, the future of the Back Bay was still concealed by these original, tidal mudflats. The first indication of any development in this area occurred with the construction of the Mill Dam across the section of the Charles River extending level with the northern edge of the Boston Common from Beacon Street, connecting the Boston Peninsula to the main body of Massachusetts (Fig 3). Between 1837-8 construction of the Worcester and Providence Rail Roads, connecting northern and southern Roxbury respectively with Boston, as well as the paving of Mill Dam to create Western Avenue (later an extension of Beacon St) (fig 4), also connecting to northern Roxbury, must have taken place. This is evidenced by the sudden appearance of these three features on the 1838 map (fig 4) and absence on the 1837 map (fig 3). It is notable that these three features share a common purpose of increasing accessibility of the Boston peninsula to and from the main body of the state. Western Avenue would have allowed for more direct public/commuter transportation to Boston and though the rail lines may have facilitated industrial development and transport of raw materials, it is likely that they were also commuter rails; that these developments all took place within the span of about a year indicates that there was likely a common movement or grant dedicated to increasing transportation in the area which prompted them.
Figure 3: Boston 1837, The American Traveller, Tanner; Figure 4: Boston 1838, An Illustrated Atlas, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the United States, and the Adjacent Countries, Bradford
This is consistent with the Kenneth Jackson’s observations in Crabgrass Frontier, indicating that between 1815-1875 the introduction of such means of transportation as the commuter railroad resulted in a restructuring of America’s major cities (Jackson 20). Between 1830-40 the rate of population increase in Boston suburbs overtook that of the city (Jackson Table A-1) indicating “population growth on the periphery [of Boston]...[as well as] an increase in average journey to work” (Jackson 2.20); as such, the demand for transportation options connecting the suburbs and the city would also have increased. The introduction of the omnibus to Boston in 1835 by Abraham Brower (Jackson 2.34) provides further evidence that the functional preoccupation of the time, with regards to the environment, was to expand transportation. The 1838 map (Fig 4) also indicates that at this time most of the area of these tidal mudflats bounded by the Mill Dam was under the domain of Roxbury and not yet part of Boston as it is in modern day.
Figure 5: Boston 1855, Map of Boston and Adjacent Cities, Bolton
Figure 6: Boston 1865, Boston and Adjacent Cities, Colton
The beginning of the process of filling land which would create Back Bay was taking place by 1856 and centered around the body of Mill Dam (Fig 5). Within the decade, the mudflats enclosed by Mill Dam were filled to form the main body of what is now the Back Bay (Fig 6); the modern grid was for the most part set, but the street layout along the Charles River was still developing. The grid itself is an interesting feature amidst the Boston landscape, in which this type of orthogonal organization is a rarity; however, it is likely that the decision to implement this type of organization was in large part due to the ubiquity and influence of the public transportation revolution during the mid 1800s. In Boston, the complex and “integrated transportation systems…connected [horsecars] with the omnibuses which provided crosstown service, with the steam railroads which provided long distance commuter service, and with the ferries” (Jackson 41). The complexity of this interconnected system would lend itself to the development of a structured, easily navigable street layout. Moreover, the linear, side-by-side, structure of the popular row house, the “basic form of residential building in…Boston [by 1800]” (Jackson 55) would have provided further reasoning for a grid.
Figure 7: Boston 1869, Boston and Adjacent Cities, Colton
Figure 8: Boston 1871, Map of the Compact Portions of Boston and the Adjacent Cities and Towns, Gray and Walling
By 1869 the boundary, formerly the western edge of the Public Garden, of the continuous stretch of road where Western Ave became Beacon Street had moved farther west (Fig 7), beginning the process by which Western Ave would simply become agglomerated into Beacon Street. 1871 saw the completion of the Back Bay up to Back Street, realignment of Western Avenue to become Beacon Street, construction of a grid of streets running parallel to the Providence R.R and set diagonally into the main Back Bay grid, and the extension of the land surrounding the former Mill Dam up to the newly constructed Back Street (Fig 8). The intersecting grid bounded by Huntington and Columbus Avenues, though unusual, was constructed as the land just to the southwest of the Back Bay was finally filled in and would have served to integrate the grids of the two areas. A three dimensional map of Boston in 1879 (Fig 9) depicting building layout reveals that the land in the site bounded by Clarendon, Dartmouth, and St. James Streets, and the Charles River was well developed; the density of structures on the eastern side of Back Bay and relative sparseness on the western side indicates that development likely expanded out from Boston, east to west. By this time Copley Square, Trinity Church, the First Baptist Church, and the brownstones making up the residential blocks, were all completed, though not necessarily in the same state as their modern counterparts; Huntington Avenue extended all the way to Clarendon Street, running northeast from St. James to Boylston and segregating Copley Square from the Trinity Church diagonally (Fig 10).
Figure 9: Boston 1879, The City of Boston, Bailey and Co.
Figure 10: Boston 1888, Map of Boston, Showing Detail of Back Bay Area, Sampson, Murdock and Co.
Within the immediate vicinity was the intersection of the two major rail lines then known as the Boston and Providence Rail Road and the Boston and Albany Rail Road one block to the south of Trinity Church, the building that would originally house the Museum of Fine Arts just across St. James Street from Trinity Church, The Old South Church between Newbury, Boylston, Exeter, and Dartmouth Streets, and a grouping of buildings labeled as ‘Institute of Technology’ and ‘Natural Historical Society’ bounded by Berkley, Clarendon, Newbury and Boylston Streets (Fig 10). Based on these observations the general trend of land use in this area seems to be divided by Newbury Street, with the land south of its border devoted to institutions and public spaces, and the land to the north devoted to residential property. This trend is visibly continued by the1895 map (Fig 11), which depicts Harvard Medical College, the Boston Public Library (which will later expand into the space occupied by Harvard Medical College, increasing its size twofold), and Boston Athletic Association one block to the west of Copley Square, as well as a structure labeled as Massachusetts Institute of Technology just north of the Providence R.R and to the west of Harcourt Street. Also notable is the presence, just to the west of the railroad junction, of a structure owned by the city of Boston which is labeled simply as ‘Armory’; there are also a few institute gymnasiums, parks, and hotels in the vicinity at this time. The clustering of these buildings and the nearby residential area around the railroad junction, and the fact that these buildings filled in around the preexisting railroad, suggests that the location of the junction was largely responsible for this trend in land use; this would have been a high traffic area with two commuter rails and depots so close by. The presence of railroads was particularly influential in the city of Boston which “had a larger proportion of suburban riders than any other community...railroads and realtors propagandized together in behalf of suburban living…As a result, there were fifty-nine commuter rails coming into Boston every day from fifteen miles or less…as early as 1849” (Jackson 37). In summation, the area in, and surrounding, the southern half of the site very clearly displays a high concentration of land use devoted to institutions, academia/education, spirituality/theology, and public spaces, while the northern area is still occupied by a large residential neighborhood. This is quite different from the contemporary division of land use in that the southern area is now largely commercial; the removal of the railroad junction and its replacement with MBTA subway lines and Copley Square stop, and or relocation of MIT later on may have set a trend of commercialization of this space as institutions began to leave and the area became more residential.
Figure 11: Boston 1895, Part of Wards 10, 11 & 12, City of Boston, Bromley
Figure 12: Boston 1895, Part of Ward 11, City of Boston, Bromley
Upon closer examination of portion of the site to the south of Newbury Street, the individual ownership of the lots becomes discernible. For the most part the structures are individually owned homes with many, reoccurring surnames, likely indicating the proximity of family members who bought homes in the area, hotels (4 within the site; 3 between Comm. Ave and Boylston), public/rental housing: towers (apartments and flats), and House Rental Subsidies, (Fig 12). The depiction of a few homes, each relatively large in comparison to the surrounding homes, under the ownership of the Amory family, likely locally wealthy and influential, is notable for its correlation to the modern day Lt. D. Amory Square (see photograph above) at the corner of Dartmouth and Commonwealth Avenue (first hand observation from Natural Processes assignment research).
Figure 13: Boston 1905, Location of the Buildings of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Archives
The expansion of MIT through the eastern Back Bay during the late 19th and early 20th century is of particular interest. Between 1895-1905 the campus went from a few scattered buildings to encompassing multiple blocks (Fig 13). The sudden acquisition of a significant area of lots and subsequent development/construction resulted in a sudden shift in the urban environment. What would eventually become a relatively influential institution on a national, and even global scale, would have caused a shift in the distribution of the population and type of traffic in the area. This shift would in turn result in a change in the paradigmatic values of the population and hierarchical, relative importance of various elements of the environment; thus altering the conception of how spaces would and should be used, which would then be reflected by the changes to the land use in the surroundings. For instance: the increase in certain types of land use and the decline of others. An alteration to the transportation system also took place during the period of MIT’s founding and expansion in the Back Bay; as of 1905 the railroads were truncated to their junction at Dartmouth Street at the newly erected Back Bay and Trinity Stations and the State Armory (Fig 13). The rail lines now took passengers directly into the MIT campus, which was now a center for technological, industrial, and academic advancement for the city. It is possible that this alteration to the rail lines was caused by the development of MIT; however, it may also have correlated the “142 operating consolidations [in Massachusetts] between 1890and 1915, the most important of them in Boston….[which] led to heavy debt from buying out competing routes and from enormous outlays to install and to repair the new technology over the short run” (Jackson 109), and MIT simply took advantage of the newly available land. An unlabeled structure from the 1905 map (Fig 13) which can be determined to be The Trinity Court House from the 1908 map (Fig 14), plus the appearance of the Huntington Chambers and the Boston Art Club add to public-use land and institutions.
Figure 14: Boston 1908, And This is Good Old Boston
However, another pattern begins to emerge around this time period, in which the beginnings of the commercialization and deinstitutionalization of east Back Bay took place. Harvard Medical College, as of 1908 had relocated and was then occupied by Boston University (Fig 14); moreover, the number of hotels in the area increased dramatically: within a one block radius of Copley Square there are at least seven hotels (Fig 14).
Figure 1: Boston 2013, Google Maps
Within the last century the composition of the site changed dramatically. The Storrow Drive underpass and the Charles River Esplanade extended the boundary of filled land from Back Street into the Charles River (Fig 1). Storrow Drive and the construction of the MBTA subway and bus system further increased traffic and accessibility of Back Bay for commuters to and from the area, with the Copley Square Green Line subway stop providing direct service to the Copley Square/ Trinity Church area (Fig 1). The Esplanade expanded the residential appeal of the area by creating a recreational space which includes paved walking and bike paths. From the beginning the Back Bay was likely a more expensive place to live. Not only was Back Bay a large and expensive land fill project, but it was completed relatively recently in the historical timeline, providing brand new properties and buildings in a time when white collar workers were seeking homes on the periphery of cities (Jackson), to what would become suburbs (Boston’s ‘railroad suburbs’ (Jackson 100). The creation of the Back Bay itself was likely intended to provide housing in the form of a family friendly, residential neighborhood near enough to the city to be convenient for workers to commute back and forth. The choice to construct row houses , preferred by wealthy Americans of the mid 1800s (Jackson 55), further indicates that this region was likely intended for upper middle class families, as “A large home on a tiny lot in a densely-settled neighborhood was considered a perfectly appropriate residence for a high-status family prior to 1875” (Jackson 55). The development of the surrounding areas would naturally reflect the needs of this type of population: religious buildings, educational institutions, dining options, recreational space, commercial properties, convenient and efficient transportation, etc. Moreover, as the development of the area around the residential neighborhoods led to a high concentration of institutionally owned lots, the area would have attracted more educated, skilled laborers. With the area becoming a hub for public and recreational spaces (art museum, art clubs, natural history clubs, athletic associations), the number of hotels increased as well, further increasing the traffic of wealthier, white collar Americans. This in turn likely led to the commercialization of the area as properties opened up due to the relocation of many institutions that originally drew people to the area., likely pushed out by the very process of commercialization that they initiated.
Clearly the Back Bay as a whole saw a great diversity of development and land use through its history, the site bounded by the Charles River, St. James, Clarendon, and Dartmouth Streets in particular capturing a relatively complete sampling of property types. At the time of Boston’s original settlement, the site was entirely undeveloped with what would have seemed to be very little potential at the time, as it was entirely occupied by tidal mudflats. As the landmass of the Boston peninsula was expanded, the precedent of Boston’s many land fill projects was set. The construction of Mill Dam, the first structure of what became Boston’s Back Bay, set the framework for the development of this area. Once the Providence and Albany Rail Roads were built, connecting Boston more directly the rest of Massachusetts, it became feasible to expand Boston outward in the direction of the new transportation. After the land was filled, the lots filled in, expanding westward from central Boston, with residential, privately owned properties, followed by institutions, and public properties owned by the city of Boston which were eventually replaced with the commercial properties of the contemporary Back Bay, following the trend of suburbanization.
Historical Maps:
Site bounded by Clarendon St., Dartmouth St., St. James St., Charles River
Figure 1: Boston 2013, Google Maps
Figure 2: Boston 1722, The Town of Boston in New England, Bonner
Figure 3: Boston 1837, The American Traveller, Tanner
Figure 4: Boston 1838, An Illustrated Atlas, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the United States, and the Adjacent Countries, Bradford
Figure 5: Boston 1855, Map of Boston and Adjacent Cities, Bolton
Figure 6: Boston 1865, Boston and Adjacent Cities, Colton
Figure 7: Boston 1869, Boston and Adjacent Cities, Colton
Figure 8: Boston 1871, Map of the Compact Portions of Boston and the Adjacent Cities and Towns, Gray and Walling
Figure 9: Boston 1879, The City of Boston, Bailey and Co.
Figure 10: Boston 1888, Map of Boston, Showing Detail of Back Bay Area, Sampson, Murdock and Co.
Figure 11: Boston 1895, Part of Wards 10, 11 & 12, City of Boston, Bromley
Figure 12: Boston 1895, Part of Ward 11, City of Boston, Bromley
Figure 13: Boston 1905, Location of the Buildings of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Archives
Figure 14: Boston 1908, And This is Good Old Boston
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