Charles River Esplanade

Aerial view of Back Bay, showing Esplanade at center, 2009 (with Longfellow Bridge and Kendall Square, Cambridge, in distance)

Boston Esplanade, 2009

The Charles River Esplanade of Boston, Massachusetts, is a state-owned park situated in the Back Bay area of the city, on the banks of the Charles River.^[1] Storrow Drive runs alongside it. In the park are walkways, statuary, the Hatch Memorial Shell performance stage, playgrounds, ballfields, and Community Boating. The Esplanade comprises part of the Charles River Reservation state park. Pedestrian access to the park exists at Charles Circle, Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, and Beacon Street.

History

The Esplanade was dedicated as the Boston Embankment in 1910. The Embankment was created as part of the construction of the 1910 Charles River Dam (today the site of the Museum of Science). The parkland was criticized for its lack of shade trees, refreshment stands, recreation facilities, transportation utility, and visitors.^[2] It extended to Charlesgate (upstream of the Harvard Bridge) and connected with Olmsted's Emerald Necklace. To address criticism, trees, a refreshment pavilion, and concerts were brought to the park.^[2]

The Esplanade went through a major expansion from 1928 to 1936, widening and lengthening the park land. These improvements were aided by a one-million-dollar donation from Helen Osborne Storrow, in memory of her husband James. The Storrow Memorial Embankment, designed by Arthur Shurcliff added the first lagoon, boat landings, plazas, playgrounds, and the Music Oval,^[2] where a temporary bandshell was placed. The summer of 1929 was the first year Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops performed on the Esplanade.

In 1941, the construction of the Hatch Memorial Shell gave the Pops, and a wide range of other artists and performers, a first-class stage for popular summer events. In the 2000s, half a million people attend the Boston Pops concert and fireworks display held there every Independence Day. The Hatch Shell also hosts free public concerts and movies, and special events -— walkathons, races, and festivals such as Earth Day -— that draw hundreds of thousands of additional spectators each year.

Sailing on the Charles began in the 1930s, and the boathouse on the Esplanade was built in 1941.^[3] Organized in 1946, Community Boating was the country's first public boating program. For a modest fee, thousands of people have learned to sail on the Charles River.

The next major change to the Esplanade began in 1949, with the construction of Storrow Drive. To make up for park land lost to the new road, additional islands including multiple paths were built along the Esplanade, also designed by Arthur Shurcliff and his son Sydney.^[2] In the 1960s, the Esplanade was linked to Herter Park in Brighton, and other upstream parks, with the construction of the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bike Path. This 18-mile (29 km) loop travels along the entire basin on both the North and South sides of the river, and makes it especially suitable for biking, inline skating, and running.

Images

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charles River Esplanade.

• The Esplanade Association ("formed in 2001 as a park friends group to help restore and enhance the Esplanade in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation")
• Bostonian Society. Photo of Promenaders strolling along the Charles River Embankment in Back Bay, c. 1912
• Library of Congress:
  • Photo of Esplanade, rear of Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts, c. 1900-1920
  • Historic American Engineering Record. View of pier-cap and pedestal at Pier 13, west side, Boston Embankment and pedestrian stairway in background - Harvard Bridge, Spanning Charles River at Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 20th century

Coordinates: 42°21′22.42″N 71°4′33.62″W / 42.3562278°N 71.0760056°W / 42.3562278; -71.0760056