Under the Overpass - A Visual History

#ArborwayMatters

Have you ever wondered what the Arborway in Forest Hills looked like before the Casey Overpass was built? Or what the Overpass was built to span? (All images will enlarge if you click on them)

photo: Jamaica Plain Historical Society

In 1898, these handsome trolleys rode through Jamaica Plain heading for Forest Hills Square:

 But soon the elevated subway line now known as the Orange Line ran down Washington Street to the end of the line at Forest Hills.

photo: Boston Public Library

photo: Boston Public Library

photo: Boston Public Library

By 1910, Frederick Law Olmsted's Arborway parkway was barely hanging on just north of the new elevated line's Forest Hills Station. The Arborway itself was not yet paved, since motor vehicles were still uncommon.

 

Further west past South Street, the Arborway was a green parkway heading for the Arboretum and Jamaica Pond, lined with Red Oaks and flowering shrubs.

Past this handsome granite heavy rail viaduct carrying the Boston & Providence line, South Street continued towards the southwest much as it does today near the present day VFW hall and the State Lab. Two carriage ways, two bridle paths and a pedestrian path traveled under these five arches originally.

photo: Jamaica Plain Historical Society

The trolleys on South St had grown larger and longer by 1939 as they bustled under this viaduct and the El on their way to the Arborway Yard.

photo: David Wilson

photo: Marty Bernard, www.railpictures.net

photo: Paul Joyce, railroad.net

All these transportation hubs - trolleys to the Yard, heavy rail passenger and freight traffic, elevated subway lines, two side-by-side train stations, taxi stands, buses and yes, private vehicles - came together in a very small space, all weaving through and around each other to get where they were trying to go. Above, a trolley way winds under the elevated lines from Arborway Yard on it's way to South St - approximately where New Washington Street is today.

1929 aerial view of Forest Hills. The Arborway is where the trees are in the upper left.

photo: Library of Congress/HAER

Arborway under the El, 1948. photo: Boston City Archive

Hyde Park Ave, one-way north beside El Station, 1948. photo: Boston City Archive

The elevated trains and embankments made ground-level navigation difficult for other modes. With metal supports substituting for the massive cement piers found closer to the station (under where the Overpass was built), pedstrians, cars, cabs, trolleys and buses jostled for space.

photo: Anthony Sammarco/Jamaica Plain Historical Society

By mid-century, the post-war growth in private vehicle ownership led to Eisenhower-era plans to span Forest Hills with an overpass, but it's huge piers and abutments made things even worse for local traffic on the ground, and further severed the northern portions of the Emerald Necklace parks from Olmsted's and the City's crown jewel: Franklin Park.

Atop the heavy rail viaduct of the New Haven line with the Casey above, 1962. photo: Tom O'Toole

Arborway trolley en route to South St. 1984  photo: Paul Joyce

Casey Overpass high above (back to front) Hyde Park Ave, the El, the B&O rail and South St
photo: Jamaica Plain Historical Society

The El's Forest Hills Station from the west near Bussey Woods, Casey Overpass on left
 photo: Library of Congress/HAER

photo: David Wilson

Massive cement piers of both the El and the Overpass make the ground-level almost impassable
photo: Library of Congres/HAER

A trolley heads for South St under the Olmsted-era rail viaduct, Casey Overpass above. Photo: Richard Heath

Through the S-curve to the Yard  photo: Jamaica Plain Historical Society

All three: El, Overpass above, viaduct in background
photo: Library of Congress/HAER

The last days of the viaduct, in 1986
photo: Richard Heath

 The heavy rail viaduct and the elevated lines lasted until both lines were sunk into the Southwest Corridor trench and the current MBTA station was built beside the original:

Today the El is gone. The trolley no longer runs down South Street to the Yard. The massive rail viaduct has been demolished, it's granite blocks re-purposed in Southwest Corridor Park - the nearly five mile long ribbon of greenways, footpaths and bikepaths that runs from the Back Bay to Forest Hills. And the Orange Line and the Amtrak run in a sunken trench beside and beneath the park.

But the broken connection in Boston's Emerald Necklace remains.

The surface roads here are handicapped by the ramps and massive supports of the 60 year-old Overpass. They take up so much space that the Overpass cuts off Forest Hills from the rest of Jamaica Plain, and Jamaica Plain from Roslindale and West Roxbury. The pedestrian and vehicular navigation required to get around and under it makes for a complex mess of frustration for drivers, walkers and cyclists alike.

photo: author

photo: author

photo: author

photo: author

This is the legacy that the Casey Arborway project addresses, straightening and rationalizing routes throughout the area; coordinating traffic signals; dedicating paths for cars, bikes and pedestrians; returning trees and sky to an area long-overshadowed by an outdated and now crumbling Overpass.

photo: author

#ArborwayMatters