page_title: Mother Brook
section_title: Industrialization of Mother Brook
hierarchical_section_title: Mother Brook / Industrialization of Mother Brook
caption_attribution_description: English: Old gears seen on the banks of Mother Brook near Centennial Dam and the Stone Mill condos
context_page_description: Mother Brook is a stream that flows from the Charles River in Dedham, Massachusetts, to the Neponset River in the Hyde Park section of Boston, Massachusetts. Mother Brook was also known variously as East Brook and Mill Creek in earlier times. Digging the brook made Boston and some surrounding communities an island, accessible only by crossing over water, making Mother Brook "Massachusetts' Panama Canal."
  Dug by English settlers in 1639, it is the first European-made canal in the United States. Mother Brook was important to Dedham as its only source of water power for mills, from 1639 into the early 20th century.
  Today, Mother Brook is part of a flood-control system that diverts water from the Charles River to the Neponset River. The brook's flow is under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and is used for flood control on the Charles. There are three remaining dams on the stream, plus a movable floodgate that controls flow from the Charles into Mother Brook.
context_section_description: Eventually, dams and mills were constructed at five locations called "privileges" in Dedham and in what is now the Readville section of Hyde Park, which was originally part of Dedham.  Mother Brook provided water power at various times for industrial mills of several types, for the manufacture of cotton, wool, paper, wire, and carpets.  They also produced corn, fulled cloth, stamped coins, sawed lumber, cut and headed nails, manufactured paper, wove cloth, and leather. There were mills operating on Mother Brook until some time in the 20th century.  At least one mill located on Mother Brook was equipped with a steam engine as an energy source, probably to supplement the water power when the water supply was insufficient but possibly to supplant the water power entirely.  The brook may also have served for cooling the steam machinery.
  The development of industry spurred the production of housing in the area for the mill workers, and churches, shops, and other businesses followed.  The East Dedham Firehouse was also built to protect the area.  Dating to 1855, it is still in operation as As of 2018.
caption: Old gears on Mother Brook
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