Furnace Brook Parkway

The Furnace Brook Parkway is a historic parkway in Quincy, Massachusetts. He is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston and serves as a connection between the Blue Hills Reservation and Quincy Shore Reservation at Quincy Bay. First, planned for the end of the 19th century, this is owned by the state of Massachusetts located Parkway by the local Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR ) is maintained. He leads on land that once belonged to the family of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. He runs past several historical sites and ends in the district of Merry Mount, where the settlement of Quincy in 1625 by Captain Richard Wollaston began. The construction of the road was begun in 1904 and completed in 1916. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places ( NRHP) in 2004.

The Furnace Brook Parkway divides the center of Quincy southwest to northeast roughly into two halves and follows the watercourses of Furnace Brook and Blacks Creek, the estuary, in the Furnace Brook and flows through the two waters here several times. On the majority of its length the road is a two-lane road with no median strip, with the exception of carriageway at a roundabout - in New England these are called rotary - at the intersection with Interstate 93

• 2.1 From the Blue Hills to Adams Street
• 2.2 Between Adams Street and Hancock Street
• 2.3 From Hancock Street to Quincy Bay

History

The Parkway has his name, Furnace Brook, which rises from the waters, the course of which he follows on the east side of the Blue Hills, and from there over 6.5 km of water by Quincy flows through the Atlantic Ocean meets the ocean in an estuary called Blacks Creek near Quincy Bay. The creek got its name in the seventeenth century because of its proximity to the Winthrop Iron Furnace, which also known as Braintree Furnace iron foundry, the first blast furnaces for iron in the area of ​​what became the United States. Iron foundry and forge was founded in 1644 by John Winthrop the Younger in the North Precinct of Braintree, resulting in 1792 Quincy was formed.

Design

The exploitation of the country on Furnace Brook was first planned by landscape architect Charles Eliot. This practice, together with Frederick Law Olmsted and took over in 1893, led by Olmsted's architecture office. Olmsted was responsible for the planning of Central Park in Manhattan and worked with Elliot at Boston's Emerald Necklace, a string of connected parks and waters. Eliot was instrumental in the founding of The Trustees of Reservations and the public Metropolitan Parks Commission in the 1890s and had the vision of a network of parks that should go around Boston. Among these, Middlesex Fells, Stony Brook, Blue Hills and Quincy Shore; Furnace Brook was seen as an integral part of this system, it should connect with an urban Parkway, the Blue Hills and Quincy Shore.

Construction

The finances for the proposed Parkway 1901 were released by the Massachusetts General Court. The proposed route at the end of Hough 's Neck in 1902 also used for the planning of a portion of a sewer line from Boston to Iceland groove. The western part of the road was first planned and built, the plans for the section between Wampatuck Road and Hancock Street in 1903 were submitted. The construction of the road began in 1904, during an important building, the bridge, with the Granite - branch line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad travels across the Parkway, was completed in 1906. The substructure of the road between the Blue Hills Reservation and the Adams Street was completed at the same time. The construction of the road between the Blue Hills and the Adams Street and most of the land acquisition, which was necessary for the continuation of the road to Quincy Shore, lasted until January 1908.

Completion

The further acquisition of land and the remaining construction were still ongoing at several years. During this time, several new buildings were in the course of the road, including some buildings in the style of Colonial Revival, which originated in 1910. The construction of a bridge of stone and concrete, which leads to the Parkway on the Blacks Creek, was taken in the fall of 1915 in attack and completed the following year. The comprehensive range of Furnace Brook Parkway was released on November 18, 1916 for traffic.

After the completion of

After the completion of the road a speed limit of 20 mph (32 km / h) was determined. This restriction was later on the present value of 30 miles per hour (48 km / h) raised; a previously passed ordinance against the installation of billboards was enforced from the beginning. 1929 was built in 507 Furnace Brook Parkway a gas station that still exists today.

The route of the Parkway has remained unchanged since its completion in 1916, with the exception of the destruction of a section through the construction of Interstate 93 in the 1950s. The exit 8 of the Southeast Expressway, proceed to Interstate 93 and U.S. Highway 1 and Massachusetts Route 3, was built from 1956 to 1957 on the right of way of the former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The old railway bridge was demolished and part of the Parkway was replaced by a large roundabout with a system of entries and exits to the highway. The southward driveway to the highway was relocated in 1997 to 450 m to the north, to cope with the unexpectedly long lines of trucks that were used in connection with the Big Dig to transport the excavated soil material. The excavated soil was used to fill former granite quarries and as a golf course in Quarry Hills north of the parkway at Ricciuti Drive, which ends at the south exit of the motorway situated on Furnace Brook Parkway.

Route description

From the Blue Hills to Adams Street

The Furnace Brook Parkway begins at the east end of the Wampatuck Road, one of the Blue Hills Reservation Parkways, on a provided through a gate entrance to the Blue Hills Reservation at the Bunker Hill Road in West Quincy. The gates to the sanctuary are open during the day and closed from 20:00 bis 07:00 clock. From the Bunker Hill Road Parkway leads to approximately 400 m eastward to northeastward before it connects to the Willard Street, a northern section of the Massachusetts Route 37 used to be. The two roads is leading to the roundabout, which is known as Furnace Brook Rotary, where they encounter more roads without separate carriageways. The roundabout is connected on both sides of the motorway access and exit ramps to the Southeast Expressway; on the northeast side of the pass leading to the east under the highway roundabout turn from the Furnace Brook Parkway. The westbound traffic leads to a bridge over the highway of time.

Then the Parkway runs through a comprehensive industrial park four blocks representing the only commercial buildings in the course of the road with the exception of two gas stations. Although the road throughout has a north-eastern course, it swings after crossing the Copeland Street to the northwest. Near the Cross Street it passes only eighty meters at the Winthrop Iron Furnace, which ultimately gave its name to the Parkway. Between Cross and Quarry Street, the northern, Boston facing side of the road in open country, through which the stream flows, while the southern side consists of a residential area converts. At the Quarry Street to the Parkway turns north and follows a north-east direction. Between the Quarr Street and Adams Street, both sides of the street are provided with residential development.

Between Adams Street and Hancock Street

From the Adams Street to Willow Avenue is located on the north side of the Parkway, a golf course, the south side consists of a residential area. The Charles A. Bernazzani Elementary School is surrounded by parts of the golf course. This section of the Furnace Brook leads directly west of Willow Avenue under the Parkway through. From the Willow Avenue to Newport Avenue are on the north side of the road houses, to the south is a nursing home as well as the largest part of the Adams National Historical Park with the Old House, the residence of the Adams family from 1788 to the early 20th century.

One block further leads the Parkway under the Red Line and the Greenbush and Old Colony Line of the MBTA passes, which run parallel to Newport Avenue. In this area are located north of the road houses, the stream runs on the south side.

From the Hancock Street to Quincy Bay

There is an armory of the National Guard, the Quincy National Guard Armory on the southeast corner of the intersection with Hancock Street. To the south is the Dorothy Quincy Homestead, a National Historic Landmark and the Dorothy Q Apartments, which are also entered in the National Register of Historic Places. In the region between Hancock Street and Southern Artery (Massachusetts Route 3A) crosses the Parkway Blacks Creek there, where the stream pours into the estuary. North of it are the Merrymount Park with the estuary, south of it extends a residential development.

The final section extends from the Southern Artery Quincy Shore Drive to. Here the Furnace Brook Parkway traverses the northwestern edge of Merry Mount, where Quincy was founded in 1625. After that, the view left hand opens northward over Blacks Creek and the march to the Quincy Bay and behind the Boston Harbor Islands. The Furnace Brook Parkway ends at the intersection with Quincy Shore Drive, where he eventually merges into the Shore Avenue.

Documents

General references for this article are:

• Bing Maps ( English ) Microsoft Corporation. Accessed on 17 September 2010.
• Historic USGS Maps of Quincy, MA ( English ) University of New Hampshire Library., 2001. Accessed on 17 September 2010.
• Quincy, Massachusetts Historical and Architectural Survey ( English ) Thomas Crane Public Library. In 1986. Accessed on 17 September 2010.
• Porter Sargent: A Handbook of New England ( English ). Porter Sargent / George H. Ellis Co., Boston, 1917.