Warren Bridge

Last updated
Procession crossing Warren Bridge, depicted in 1843 Warren Bridge, Boston (4016599215).jpg
Procession crossing Warren Bridge, depicted in 1843

The Warren Bridge connected downtown Boston, Massachusetts with Charlestown from its construction in the 1820s until its demolition in 1962. It was replaced by the Charles River Dam in 1978.

Contents

Warren Bridge (highlighted in red), 1842 Warren Bridge - Charlestown-Boston - 1.jpg
Warren Bridge (highlighted in red), 1842

The Warren Bridge was requested in 1823 and chartered in 1828 by John Skinner and Isaac Warren, in response to the politically unpopular tolls on the 1786 Charles River Bridge. Its proprietors were authorized to collect tolls until they were reimbursed the cost of building the bridge and the other necessary expenses, with five per cent interest thereon, when the bridge was to revert to the Commonwealth. They were expressly limited from taking tolls for a longer period than six years.

The bridge opened for travel on December 25, 1828. It connected Beverly Street in the North End of Boston to the then-independent city of Charlestown at City Square. The Charles River Bridge also terminated at City Square, with the Boston side at Charlestown Street (now North Washington Street, the site of the current Charlestown Bridge). [1] [2] This prompted a lawsuit, in which Daniel Webster served as attorney for the Charles River Bridge proprietors, which eventually reached the United States Supreme Court as Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge.

The Commonwealth in 1833, assumed the control of the bridge, and tolls were received to its use until April, 1836, when the bridge was declared free. The Warren Bridge devolved to a state-owned, toll-free bridge on March 2, 1836. [3] The receipts from tolls charged by the State on the Charles River Bridge and Warren Bridge, were sufficient to establish a fund of $850,000; and on the 1st December, 1843, the bridges were declared free, and so remained until June 1, 1854, when the income of the fund being found insufficient to sustain the bridges, and a large portion of the principal having been expended, tolls were again imposed on both bridges, to continue until a sufficient sum should be received to rebuild the Charles River Bridge, and repair the Warren Bridge, and to leave in the treasury of the Commonwealth a fund of $100,000 for the future maintenance and repair of the bridges. This was accomplished in 1858, and since April 30, 1858, both bridges were free.

Related Research Articles

Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; all adult residents of the commonwealth are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In fiscal year 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.

Charlestown, Boston Neighborhood of Boston in Massachusetts, United States

Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusett tribe, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins the Mystic River and Boston Harbor waterways. Charlestown was laid out in 1629 by engineer Thomas Graves, one of its earliest settlers, in the reign of Charles I of England. It was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Longfellow Bridge

The Longfellow Bridge is a steel rib arch bridge spanning the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bridge carries Massachusetts Route 3, US Route 3, the MBTA Red Line, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic. The structure was originally known as the Cambridge Bridge, and a predecessor structure was known as the West Boston Bridge; Boston also continued to use "West Boston Bridge" officially for the new bridge. The bridge is also known to locals as the "Salt-and-Pepper Bridge" due to the shape of its central towers.

Samuel Turell Armstrong American printer and politician (1784–1850)

Samuel Turell Armstrong was a U.S. political figure. Born in 1784 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, he was a printer and bookseller in Boston, specializing in religious materials. Among his works were an early stereotype edition of Scott's Family Bible, which was very popular, and The Panoplist, a religious magazine devoted to missionary interests.

John Davis (Massachusetts governor) Massachusetts congressman and governor (1787–1854)

John Davis was an American lawyer, businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He spent 25 years in public service, serving in both houses of the United States Congress and for three non-consecutive years as Governor of Massachusetts. Because of his reputation for personal integrity he was known as "Honest John" Davis.

Tobin Bridge Bridge in Boston, Massachsetts, US

The Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans more than two miles (3 km) from Boston to Chelsea over the Mystic River in Massachusetts. The bridge is the largest in New England. It is operated by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and carries U.S. Route 1. It was built between 1948 and 1950 and opened to traffic on February 2, 1950, replacing the former Chelsea Bridge. The 36-foot (11 m)-wide roadway has three lanes of traffic on each of the two levels with northbound traffic on the lower level and southbound traffic on the upper level.

Levi Lincoln Jr. Massachusetts Governor and Congressman (1782–1868)

Levi Lincoln Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the 13th Governor of Massachusetts (1825–1834) and represented the state in the U.S. Congress (1834–1841). Lincoln's nine-year tenure as governor is the longest consecutive service in state history; only Michael Dukakis, John Hancock and Caleb Strong served more years, but they were not consecutive.

Boston Public Garden United States historic place

The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street and Boston Common to the east, Beacon Street and Beacon Hill to the north, Arlington Street and Back Bay to the west, and Boylston Street to the south. The Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America.

Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway

The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving northern and southern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Its precursor company was the Bay State Street Railway, which it absorbed in 1919. It was acquired by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which still runs some of its routes, in 1968.

The Charles River Dam Bridge, officially the Craigie Bridge, also called Craigie's Bridge or the Canal Bridge, is a six-lane bascule bridge across the Charles River in the West End neighborhood of Boston. The bridge, maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, carries Massachusetts Route 28 next to the Green Line's Lechmere Viaduct. The Museum of Science is located on the dam and nearby piers. Charles River Dam Road connects Leverett Circle in the West End to East Cambridge, but most of the road is fixed, and the asymmetrically sited drawbridge is a short span entirely on the Boston side of the river.

Fitchburg Railroad

The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main line from Boston to Fitchburg is now operated as the MBTA Fitchburg Line; Pan Am Railways runs freight service on some other portions.

East Cambridge, Cambridge, Massachusetts Neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts

East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to in modern times as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River and the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston on the east, the Somerville border on the north, Broadway and Main Street on the south, and the railroad tracks on the west. Most of the streets form a grid aligned with Cambridge Street, which was laid out to directly connect what is now the Charles River Dam Bridge with what in 1809 was the heart of Cambridge, Harvard Square. The northern part of the grid is a roughly six by eight block residential area. Cambridge Street itself is retail commercial, along with Monsignor O'Brien Highway, the Twin Cities Plaza strip mall, and the enclosed Cambridgeside Galleria. Lechmere Square is the transportation hub for the northern side. The southern half of the grid is largely office and laboratory space for hundreds of dot-com companies, research labs and startups associated with MIT, biotechnology firms including Genzyme, Biogen and Moderna, the Athenaeum Press Building, light industry, an NRG Energy power station, and various small businesses. This half of the neighborhood is generally identified with Kendall Square. Along the waterfront are several hotels and taller apartment buildings.

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, 36 U.S. 420 (1837), was a case regarding the Charles River Bridge and the Warren Bridge of Boston, Massachusetts, heard by the United States Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney.

Lechmere Canal

Lechmere Canal is a short canal in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It opens onto the Charles River and used to be an active port for Boston Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean.

Charlestown Bridge

The Charlestown Bridge, officially named the North Washington Street Bridge, is located in Boston and spans the Charles River. As the river's easternmost crossing, the bridge connects the neighborhoods of Charlestown and the North End. Completed in 1900 and given its current official name in 1910, the bridge carries a portion of the Freedom Trail linking to the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. To the north of the bridge, Route 99 begins and the street becomes New Rutherford Avenue.

Warren Tavern

The Warren Tavern is reportedly one of the oldest taverns in the state of Massachusetts and one of the most historic watering holes in America. The Warren Tavern was founded in 1780 in Charlestown, Massachusetts and still stands in that block of land today. In the early years of the Warren Tavern it was frequented by many American Revolutionary War heroes such as Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, Sergeant David Turner and George Washington.

North Point Park (Massachusetts) Park in Massachusetts, United States

North Point Park is an 8.5-acre (3.4 ha) park located along the north side of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Boston's West End, created as mitigation for the taking of planned parkland for the construction of the Big Dig.

Sullivan Square

Sullivan Square is a traffic circle located at the north end of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after James Sullivan, an early 19th-century Governor of Massachusetts. Sullivan Square station on the MBTA Orange Line is located just west of the square.

1827 Massachusetts gubernatorial election Gubernatorial elections were held in Massachusetts April 1, 1827

The 1827 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on April 1.

References

  1. "Photo". bostonhistory.typepad.com.
  2. "Map" (JPG). groups.csail.mit.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  3. Inventing the Charles River by Karl Haglund, 2002. p. 25.

Sources

Coordinates: 42°22′8″N71°3′42″W / 42.36889°N 71.06167°W / 42.36889; -71.06167