Walden Street Cattle Pass

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Walden Street Cattle Pass
Walden Street Cattle Pass, Cambridge, MA 05.jpg
Usually nearly concealed under the Walden Street Bridge, the tunnel is seen here exposed during 2007-08 bridge reconstruction work.
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Location Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°23′21.9″N71°7′28.8″W / 42.389417°N 71.124667°W / 42.389417; -71.124667 Coordinates: 42°23′21.9″N71°7′28.8″W / 42.389417°N 71.124667°W / 42.389417; -71.124667
Built1857
MPS Cambridge MRA
NRHP reference # 94000554 [1]
Added to NRHPJune 3, 1994

The Walden Street Cattle Pass, also referred to as the cow path, [2] is an historic site adjacent to the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line right-of-way, under the Walden Street Bridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Fitchburg Line branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail

The Fitchburg Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system which runs from Boston's North Station to Wachusett station in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was built across northern Massachusetts, United States, in the 1840s. It is one of the MBTA's more scenic commuter rail lines, passing by Walden Pond between Lincoln and Concord. Weekend service includes a specially equipped seasonal "ski train" to Wachusett Mountain during the winter.

Right-of-way (transportation) right to make a "way" (as in a type of easement) over a piece of land

A right-of-way (ROW) is a right to make a way over a piece of land, usually to and from another piece of land. A right of way is a type of easement granted or reserved over the land for transportation purposes, such as a highway, public footpath, rail transport, canal, as well as electrical transmission lines, oil and gas pipelines. A right-of-way can be used to build a bike trail. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way. In the case of an easement, it may revert to its original owners if the facility is abandoned.

Cambridge, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and part of the Boston metropolitan area.

Contents

The site, a tunnel for moving cattle between the railroad and the nearby stockyards of the 19th century, was built in 1857. The cattle yards were closed in 1868 [3] or "about 1871", [4] but the cattle trade continued; "until the 1920s, cows were unloaded here and driven down Massachusetts Avenue, through Harvard Square, and across the river to the Brighton Abattoir". [4]

The Brighton Abattoir was a slaughterhouse located in Brighton, Boston. It operated across Market Street from the Brighton Stock Yards, as cattle would be located into rail cars of the Boston and Albany Railroad and transported west from the yards.

Restoration (re-pointing) of the tunnel's brickwork was carried out during the 2007–08 replacement of the second-generation bridge dating from 1914. [2] [5] The third-generation bridge opened for traffic in December 2008. The Cambridge City Council discussed creation of a vantage point for viewing the tunnel, ca. 2008, but no action was taken.

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References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
  2. 1 2 Walden Street Bridge, Cambridge Department of Public Works Archived 2009-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge: Northwest Cambridge, 1977, ISBN   0-262-53032-5, Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge, Mass., p. 42
  4. 1 2 "Cambridge Cattle Market", in Cambridge Historical Commission-North Cambridge Stabilization Committee report, 2002
  5. Yelton, Rick. "Bridging the Gap: Passing on tradition". Masonry Construction Magazine. pp. 2 & 3. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2010.