Boston's Back Bay
Subtitle: the story of America's greatest nineteenth-century landfill project
By: William A. Newman and Wilfred E. Holton
Contributors: Holton, Wilfred E.
Publisher: Northeastern University Press; University Press of New England
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Boston; Hanover
Language: eng
Number of pages: 228
ISBN-13: 9781555536510; 9781555536800
Subjects: Sanitary landfills; History
Description: "This book focuses on the filling of the Back Bay's largest section, the Receiving Basin. By the 1850s, pollution of the former tidal marsh and severe overcrowding in Boston inspired plans to fill the Back Bay. Work on the landfill began in earnest in 1858 and was completed around 1890 - and remains the largest residential and commercial landfill project ever carried out in the United States."

"Opening with a look at the geological history of the Black Bay and its life as a tidal marsh, this narrative examines the roles of planners, politicians, engineers, and contractors who made it possible to dump millions of tons of sand and gravel into the marsh. Innovative new technologies were needed to excavate, move, and grade the heavy loads, and to construct substantial buildings on very soft ground.

Newman and Holton tap into a wide variety of primary sources including rare maps and plans, photography collections, corporate and railroad archives, political documents, deeds, mortgages, and bankruptcy records, all of which underscore the significance of the Back Bay landfill as a central component of Boston's development from a small town to a major metropolis in the nineteenth century."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Also issued online.
Table of contents: title: Prehistory of the Back Bay; title: Why fill the Back Bay?; title: Planning and financing the Back Bay Landfill; title: Locomotives and steam shovels; title: Gravel trains and bold entrepreneurs; title: A shocking development fails to derail the project; title: Environmental problems and zoning.