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Boston's Maritime Industrial History

Waterfront Neighborhoods

We have many collections that detail Boston’s early maritime history, however the material related to the time frame of the Lane/Mead Collection, mid-19th to late 20th century, is rather spotty.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has conducted studies of Boston’s industrial past and Boston’s waterfront history which are helpful in charting the Port’s maritime industrial history during the relevant time.  Searches of BPL holdings are linked with the properties studied by the MHC, if available at the BPL. 

We hold hundreds of documents prepared by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA).  As the City’s planning agency from the mid-20th century, it has had significant impact on the development of the Port of Boston through its waterfront planning and development decisions.  Many of the BRA’s studies include a history of the area under consideration.  A few of the reports are included in this section but researchers may find additional searches for BRA waterfront development projects by neighborhood to be useful.


Selected Boston Public Library holdings related to this topic:

East Boston

The East Boston Company, which developed East Boston in the early 19th century, planned for it to be a great maritime community.  The company built the wharfs, piers and warehouses; encouraged the development of industries such as sugar refining on the waterfront; and even purchased a forest in upstate New York to provide lumber for its ship building yards.

Samuel Hall, Donald McKay, the Atlantic Works, and Bethlehem Shipyards built wooden, iron, and then steel hulled ships in East Boston yards.  In the mid-19th century, steam-power began use as ship propulsion and East Boston’s Hodge Boiler Works and Atlantic Boiler Works manufactured the necessary machinery.  Carpenters, forges, paint shops, rope walks, outfitters, and chandlers located near the shipyards. 

The Massachusetts Historical Commission has published studies of East Boston’s maritime:

Our holdings include very little about the specific maritime businesses identified in the MHC studies.

Today, the primary East Boston maritime business is operated by Boston Towing & Transportation.  Logan  Airport is supplied with jet fuel from an East Boston marine terminal. The East Boston Shipyard , located at a former Bethlehem Shipyard drydock, hosts numerous small businesses but the dry dock is inoperable. Much of the rest of the waterfront has been converted to parks and residential development.


Selected Boston Public Library holdings related to this topic:

Charlestown

Charlestown’s maritime industrial history is intimately related to railroads as it was the eastern terminus of several lines bringing agricultural goods and coal from the west to the docks. The city held major sugar refineries and was a port of departure for ice shipped to the Caribbean.  Though now transformed to upscale residential and commercial uses, the Boston Naval Shipyard, developed in 1801, offers a drydock and is home to the USS Constitution, still on active duty to the U.S. Navy.

Massachusetts Historical Commission studies include:


Selected Boston Public Library holdings related to this topic:

North End/Wharf District

The eighteenth-century Port of Boston was the busiest in North America and the North End’s Long Wharf was the center of maritime trade. By the 19th century customs houses, warehouses, and transportation infrastructure, notably the Customs House Block at Long Wharf, Commercial Wharf, Lewis Wharf, the Eastern Railroad Transfer Station (the Pilot House), Union Wharf, and the Lincoln Elevated Railroad Power Station had been built out along Atlantic Avenue. The Union Freight Railroad ran at street level connecting rail yards in South Boston and near North Station. 

As the Port of New York overtook Boston’s mercantile pre-eminence, the uses of waterfront buildings changed and eventually they fell into disrepair.  The Boston Redevelopment Authority played a key role by designating the properties for slum clearance and opening the way for adaptive re-use as residential and commercial properties.  With the exception of the United States Coast Guard Base, maritime uses are generally limited to yacht yards and commuter boat berth.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission published several studies of historic waterfront buildings:

Our holdings range from early 19th century records of ships docking at Lewis Wharf to the development proposals that have transformed the area in recent decades. 


Selected Boston Public Library holdings related to this topic:

South Boston

Much of the South Boston waterfront is on made land and, as such, it got a later start in the maritime than other Boston neighborhoods. The neighborhood made up for lost time with the intensity and diversity of its marine uses:

  • On the corner of Fort Point Channel, several rail lines built out to the docks at Fan Pier. 
  • The Boston Wharf Company built warehouses for sugar and molasses on adjacent land (NOTE: we hold a very large collection of Boston Wharf Company documents, though they have not yet been cataloged. Contact Special Collections for more details).
  • Warehouses for additional sugar products and for wool were constructed along Fort Point Channel. 
  • As more fill was added, Commonwealth Pier and the Boston Fish Pier were built, and railroads pushed along to the east to serve them. 
  • In 1920 the U.S. Department of Defense began construction of the South Boston Naval Annex which included a large graving dock (now operated by Boston Ship Repair, LLC warehousing, machine shops, a power plant, and barracks. The South Boston Army Base operated along the Reserved Channel as point of departure for troops going overseas in WWII. The facilities were closed in 1974.  Some of the buildings are now owned by Massport, which operated the Cruise Terminal at Black Falcon pier.
  • Formerly an oil tank farm, the east side of the Reserved Channel is now operated by Massport as Conley Terminal, Boston’s largest container port.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission has prepared several studies of the South Boston seaport district:

We hold numerous reports about South Boston but almost all of them are related to recent reuse of the properties.


Selected Boston Public Library holdings related to this topic: