Charles River

For the UK monkey importation facility that was run by Charles River, see Shamrock Farm.
The Charles River from the Boston side, facing Cambridge and the main campus of Harvard University.
The Charles River from the Boston side, facing Cambridge and the main campus of Harvard University.

The Charles River is a small, relatively short Massachusetts (USA) river that separates Boston from Cambridge and Charlestown. It is fed by some 80 brooks and streams, and several major aquifers, as it flows snakelike for 80 miles, starting at Echo Lake in Hopkinton, through 58 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts, before emptying into Boston Harbor. Its watershed contains 33 lakes and ponds, mostly manmade. Despite the river's length, and relatively large drainage area (308 square miles), its source is only 26 miles from its mouth, and the river drops only 350 feet from source to sea. It is the most densely populated river basin in New England.

Harvard University, Boston University, Brandeis University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are all located along the Charles River; at Boston proper it opens out into a broad basin and is lined by parks such as the Charles River Esplanade (in which stands the Hatch Shell where concerts are given in summer evenings). The river is well known for its rowing, sculling, and sailing, both recreational and competitive. The Head of the Charles Regatta is held annually, in October.

Despite its famous water pollution, making the Charles "Swimmable by 2005" became an important EPA goal1. While this promise was not reached in time, swimming and fishing are progressively re-emerging as about 90% of the length of the river is now considered safe for swimming2. Health risks remain however, particularly after rainstorms and when walking in certain riverbeds stirs up toxic sediment.

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Early history of the Charles River

The river's name, before the English, was once thought to be Quinobequin (meandering), though that attribution has been discredited by, among others, the Harvard University Librarian in 1850. The river was used by Native Americans for local transportation and fishing, and as part of the way from southeastern Massachusetts to northern New England. Captain John Smith gave the river its current English name in honor of Charles I of England, his reigning monarch. Subsequent European settlers harnessed the river for industrialization, and by 1640 entrepreneurs on the Neponset River had diverted its water to power their mills.

Waltham was the site of the first factory in America, built by Francis Cabot Lowell in 1814, and by the 19th Century, the Charles River was one of the most industrialized areas in the United States. Its hydropower soon fueled many mills and factories. By the century's end, 20 dams had been built across the river, mostly to generate power for industry. An 1875 government report listed 43 mills along the 9.5-mile tidal estuary from Watertown Dam to Boston Harbor.

In portions of its length, the Charles drops slowly in elevation and has relatively little current. Despite this, early settlers in Dedham, MA found a way to use the Charles to power mills. In 1639, the town dug a canal from the Charles to a nearby brook that drained to the Neponset River. By this action, a portion of the Charles River flow was diverted, providing enough flow for several mills. The new canal and the brook together are now called Mother Brook. The canal is regarded as the first industrial canal in North America. Today it remains in use for flood control.

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Today's design of the Charles River

A rainy day at the Charles River Esplanade, in Boston, Massachusetts.
A rainy day at the Charles River Esplanade, in Boston, Massachusetts.
A sunny day on the Charles River Esplanade.
A sunny day on the Charles River Esplanade.

Today's Charles River basin between Boston and Cambridge is almost entirely a work of human design, and forms one of the finest planned landscapes in the United States. Its design was the work of noted landscape architects Charles Eliot and Arthur Shurcliff, both of whom had apprenticed with Frederick Law Olmsted, and by the architect and landscape architect Guy Lowell. This designed landscape now includes over 20 parks and natural areas along 19 miles of shoreline, from the New Dam at the Charlestown Bridge to the dam near Watertown Square.

Eliot first envisioned today's river design in the 1890s, but major construction began only after his death with the damming of the river's mouth at today's Museum of Science, an effort led in 1902-03 by James Jackson Storrow. The new dam, completed in 1910, stabilized the water level from Boston to Watertown, eliminating the existing mud flats, and a narrow embankment was built between Leverett Circle and Charlesgate. After Storrow's death, his widow Helen Storrow donated one million dollars toward the creation of a more generously landscaped park along the Esplanade; it was dedicated in 1936 as the Storrow Memorial Embankment. In the 1950s a highway (Storrow Drive) was built along the edge of the Esplanade to connect Charles Circle with Soldiers Field Road, and the Esplanade was enlarged on the water side of the new highway.

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The Charles in popular culture

Looking towards Boston across the Charles in winter
Looking towards Boston across the Charles in winter

The Charles River is an icon for Boston and is featured in the song Dirty Water by The Standells:

Down by the River...
Down by the banks of the River Charles
(Oh, that's what's happenin' baby)
That's where you'll find me
Along with lovers, muggers, and thieves.
(Ahh, but they're cool people)
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Charles River crossings (Partial List)

The following bridges and tunnels cross the river from east to west.

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See also

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References

  • Inventing the Charles River, by Karl Haglund, MIT Press, 2003, in collaboration with the Charles River Conservancy.
  • Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston, by Nancy S. Seasholes, MIT Press, 2003.
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External links