HISTORY
In the 1950s, the Boston's downtown waterfront was no longer the vital
focus of the city's economic activity as it had been for more than two
centuries. Its massive 19th century granite wharf buildings, symbols of
strength and prosperity, were underutilized and derelict. The elevated
Central Artery divided the Waterfront from the rest of the downtown. The
water's edge between Long and Commercial wharves (the future site of Waterfront
Park) was walled off by chain link fence and rows of tin warehouses, with
four lanes of traffic on Atlantic Avenue. Like many other cities, Boston
had ignored its waterfront.
Reacting to post-WWII stagnation and suburbanization, Boston's leaders saw new possibilities. As part of urban renewal planning, a civic design group convened by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) envisioned a concept for a "Walk to the Sea". This walk extended from the emerging new Government Center to the historic waterfront.
While Boston's urban renewal program, one of the first and most dynamic in the country, began in earnest in the 1960s, it was in the 1970s that waterfront revitalization matured.
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