Esplanade
A previous blog entry described the geological depression where the city of Boston is situated as the Boston Basin and the pond between Boston and Cambridge as the Charles River Basin, the crown jewel of a nine-mile basin from Boston and Cambridge to Watertown Square that is part of the seventeen-mile long Charles River Reservation managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. This linear park began in the late nineteenth century with the acquisition of public lands by the Massachusetts Park Commission with the leadership of landscape architect Charles Eliot and journalist Sylvester Baxter. The reservation extends from West Roxbury to Boston, winding its way through Newton, Weston, Waltham, and Watertown, crisscrossed by bridges, bordered by grasses, paved footpaths, and small parks.
The Charles River water park in Boston is often referred to as the Esplanade because of the long walkway that defines most of its border, “Esplanade” being defined as a “waterfront promenade.” Over the years, land was added along with plantings of trees and bushes to create the park we have today.
A favorite of photographers and artists, the Esplanade is best viewed from the Longfellow Bridge by walkers, cyclists, drivers, and riders of the MBTA Red Line train from the MGH stop to Kendall Square in Cambridge. From this vantage point you can see the round dome of the Hatch Shell where summer concerts are staged. This band shell was preceded by a smaller temporary structure in 1928 where Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler conducted the first Boston Pops concert a year later, followed by a metal structure that could not be completed because of the Depression, and then the current Hatch Shell designed by Richard Shaw.
In 1950-51, a period of rapidly increasing auto traffic and efforts by the city to renovate areas of Boston, a roadway that would later be named Storrow Drive was constructed between the Back Bay and the Charles River, a project that created a great deal of controversy and took away part of the land on the Esplanade. To replace some of the land that was lost, civic leaders and landscape architects such as Charles Shurcliff added to the embankment, also creating a series of lagoons by developing long, narrow islands parallel to the grassy border of the Esplanade, including small arched footbridges to allow boats to pass below. Another addition to the Esplanade was the creation of crescent-shaped islands to serve as breakwaters for recreational sailing.
Walkers and cyclists who wish to reach the Esplanade from the Back Bay can cross over Storrow Drive on footbridges at Dartmouth, Fairfield, and Sherborn Streets, and the concrete Fiedler Footbridge connects the Music Oval with Beacon Street and Boston’s Public Gardens.
Downstream from the Longfellow Bridge is parkland that was part of a larger embankment created by landscape architect Frederick Olmsted to provide a space for outdoor recreation for the residents of the crowded tenement buildings in the West End of Boston. Many of these families were made up of immigrants who came to Boston’s shores in the nineteenth century. A portion of this embankment was lost to road building while “Urban Renewal” brought about the destruction of the West End neighborhood in the 1950s. Today on Staniford Street, the West End Museum chronicles the history of this area of the city, and if you go to a production at the Omni Theater in the Museum of Science at the site of the 1910 Charles River Dam, you will hear a voice-over at the beginning from native son Leonard Nimoy a.k.a. Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame who was raised in this close-knit neighborhood.
Also visible from the Longfellow Bridge is the Union Boathouse, the oldest continuous rowing club in Boston. Next to that is the dock for Community Boating, Incorporated in 1946, that originated with the work of philanthropist Joseph Lee, Jr., who built a dock on this part of the river and taught the children of the West End how to sail, helping them construct their own boats. The mission of Community Boating has always been to make sailing accessible for all, offering young people an inexpensive program during the summer while providing membership for adults from April to November. CBI is the longest continuously running public sailing center in the country.
How fortunate we are to have this beautiful area of relaxation and recreation in the City of Boston, the work of many forward-looking individuals, such as James J. Storrow who provided leadership in the construction of the Charles River Dam and basin and his wife Helen who contributed a million dollars to the enhancement of the Esplanade. They are remembered on a large granite disk overlooking a small dock located near the Gloucester Street footbridge, the dock a fitting location because of the couple’s love of boating and the outdoors, and their leadership of Scouting programs.
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