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The Charles River was once a tidal estuary. In the 19th century, its basin was dammed for mills and encircled by factories, prisons, and slaughterhouses, all of which polluted the slow-moving river. By the 1890s, local residents demanded a change, and in 1893 the newly created Metropolitan Park Commission and the State Board of Health tasked the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot with improving the river. This map reflects Charles Eliot’s vision of tree-lined promenades, playgrounds, gymnasia, and performance spaces. The Charles River Dam, completed in 1908, made Eliot’s dream a reality, and transformed the stinking tidal estuary into a scenic waterfront park.

Page data

Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
82ab748bc47c1dab
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
wd376209x
Core
obj
Type
map
DTO data
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    "id": "wd376209x",
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:wd376209x",
    "contentType": "map",
    "stage": "normalized",
    "title": "Sketch plan showing the existing and proposed public reservations upon the banks of the Charles between Waltham line and Craigie Bridge",
    "description": "The Charles River was once a tidal estuary. In the 19th century, its basin was dammed for mills and encircled by factories, prisons, and slaughterhouses, all of which polluted the slow-moving river. By the 1890s, local residents demanded a change, and in 1893 the newly created Metropolitan Park Commission and the State Board of Health tasked the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot with improving the river. This map reflects Charles Eliot’s vision of tree-lined promenades, playgrounds, gymnasia, and performance spaces. The Charles River Dam, completed in 1908, made Eliot’s dream a reality, and transformed the stinking tidal estuary into a scenic waterfront park.",
    "date": "[\"1894\"]",
    "year": 1894,
    "citationUrl": "https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:wd376209x",
    "rights": "No known copyright restrictions.",
    "rightsUri": "No known restrictions on use.",
    "reuseAllowed": "no restrictions",
    "language": "English",
    "identifierLocal": "06_01_002652",
    "institution": "Boston Public Library",
    "collections": [
        "Boston and New England Maps",
        "Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center Collection"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Recreation areas--Massachusetts--Maps",
        "Charles River (Mass.)--Maps"
    ],
    "subjectsGeographic": [
        "Charles",
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        "North and Central America",
        "United States"
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    "pageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "pubPlace": "Boston, Mass",
    "publisher": "[Massachusetts Metropolitan Park Commission?]"
}

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Document identity
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    "localId": "wd376209x",
    "label": "Sketch plan showing the existing and proposed public reservations upon the banks of the Charles between Waltham line and Craigie Bridge",
    "core": "obj",
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Document source metadata
{
    "id": "wd376209x",
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:wd376209x",
    "contentType": "map",
    "stage": "normalized",
    "title": "Sketch plan showing the existing and proposed public reservations upon the banks of the Charles between Waltham line and Craigie Bridge",
    "description": "The Charles River was once a tidal estuary. In the 19th century, its basin was dammed for mills and encircled by factories, prisons, and slaughterhouses, all of which polluted the slow-moving river. By the 1890s, local residents demanded a change, and in 1893 the newly created Metropolitan Park Commission and the State Board of Health tasked the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted, and Eliot with improving the river. This map reflects Charles Eliot’s vision of tree-lined promenades, playgrounds, gymnasia, and performance spaces. The Charles River Dam, completed in 1908, made Eliot’s dream a reality, and transformed the stinking tidal estuary into a scenic waterfront park.",
    "date": "[\"1894\"]",
    "year": 1894,
    "citationUrl": "https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:wd376209x",
    "rights": "No known copyright restrictions.",
    "rightsUri": "No known restrictions on use.",
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    "language": "English",
    "identifierLocal": "06_01_002652",
    "institution": "Boston Public Library",
    "collections": [
        "Boston and New England Maps",
        "Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center Collection"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Recreation areas--Massachusetts--Maps",
        "Charles River (Mass.)--Maps"
    ],
    "subjectsGeographic": [
        "Charles",
        "Massachusetts",
        "North and Central America",
        "United States"
    ],
    "genreBasic": [
        "Maps"
    ],
    "typeOfResource": [
        "Cartographic"
    ],
    "country": "United States",
    "state": "Massachusetts",
    "iiifBase": "https://iiif.digitalcommonwealth.org/iiif/2/commonwealth%3Awd376210p",
    "iiifManifest": "https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/wd376209x/manifest",
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    "largeImageUrl": "https://iiif.digitalcommonwealth.org/iiif/2/commonwealth%3Awd376210p/full/max/0/default.jpg",
    "pageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "pubPlace": "Boston, Mass",
    "publisher": "[Massachusetts Metropolitan Park Commission?]"
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Document source extras
{
    "url": "https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/wd376209x",
    "institutionArkId": "sf268508b",
    "collectionArkId": "dn39z223t",
    "schema:latitude": 42.3667,
    "schema:longitude": -71.05,
    "extent": "1 map ; 33 x 114 cm.",
    "notes": [
        "March, 1894.",
        "\"Plan No. 3.\"",
        "Inset of key map.",
        "From: Massachusetts House document 775, 1894.",
        "Reprinted from the report of the Joint Board upon the improvement of Charles River for 1894."
    ],
    "hasTranscription": false,
    "dcId": "wd376209x",
    "type": "map"
}
Page context
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