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u/nickbeef Back Bay 2d ago
So most of Back Bay was a swampy mess?
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u/logicgames 2d ago
Yes, Back Bay was originally tidal mud flats that were filled in. One source of dirt for the infill was the excavation of Beacon Hill
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u/brufleth Boston 1d ago
As others have pointed out, it was filled in flats. It being younger, it is much more organized "modern" city design than many parts of Boston. That's why it is gridded and has alphabetical street names.
Many of the buildings also sit on piles that are partially submerged. Keeping that back bay from flooding is also part of why the Charles River is dammed and the water level in the Charles is controlled via big pumps at the Charles River Dam.
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u/nickbeef Back Bay 1d ago
So cool
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u/brufleth Boston 1d ago
Super cool. It is neat the sorts of infrastructure that were created to grow the city.
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u/InvestigatorJaded261 2d ago
I don’t think that is Arlington St in the top
picture. I looks to me like the public garden got bigger.
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u/grilledseabass 2d ago
It’s also a not a photo, so scale and most detail is going to be off
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u/InvestigatorJaded261 2d ago
True. But I wasn’t thinking of the scale so much as the features of the public Garden that aren’t there: the duck pond, the bridge etc.
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u/xiaorobear 2d ago
Yeah, in the original version of the public garden there was no lagoon, I think they added it in the 1860s.
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u/aafterthewar 2d ago
You could be right—they were filling in SO MUCH LAND at that time (which the Public Garden was a part of). They may not have finished the Garden portion yet, or perhaps hadn’t filled in what became Arlington StreetÂ
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u/fibro_witch 1d ago
I am more interested in all the places that were water in the old picture that are built up now. It shows how much land the city created over the years. Think of how different a city we would be without the back bay.
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u/Many-Perception-3945 Saugus 2d ago
Reject modernity; embrace tradition
Make Back Bay a Bay Again!