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47-514: At its completion, it was the longest (615 ft [187 m]) and tallest (70 ft [21 m]) railroad viaduct in the world; today, it is the last surviving viaduct of its kind. It has been in continuous service for 189 years; it now carries high-speed passenger and freight rail service. It supports a train deck about 65 feet (20 m) above the Canton River that passes through six semi-circular portals . The Canton Viaduct

94-520: A Mason's mark to identify who cut the stone. Each course is 22" - 24" high and laid in a pattern closely resembling a Flemish bond . Exterior stone for the walls, wing wall abutments , portals, deck arches, coping, parapets and the foundation stone are riebeckite granite mined from Moyles quarry (a.k.a. Canton Viaduct Quarry) located on the westerly slope of Rattlesnake Hill in Sharon, Massachusetts; now part of Borderland State Park . The majority of

141-434: A VIP of the organization, or a local celebrity or community leader , will be invited to conduct the ceremony of figuratively beginning the foundations of the building, with the person's name and official position and the date usually being recorded on the stone. This person is usually asked to place their hand on the stone or otherwise signify its laying. Often still, and certainly until the 1970s, most ceremonies involved

188-570: A Master Plan that identifies what should be preserved and enhanced to meet evolving needs and improve the quality of life. Canton River (United States) The Canton River is a river passing through Canton, Massachusetts . It flows into the Neponset River , connecting Bolivar Pond and Forge Pond. It traces down Washington and Neponset Streets (flowing under the Canton Viaduct ), and continues down Walpole Street. It

235-422: A building which is in course of erection may hear a warning cry, Beware lest they take thy shadow! Not long ago there were still shadow-traders whose business it was to provide architects with the shadows necessary for securing their walls. In these cases the measure of the shadow is looked on as equivalent to the shadow itself, and to bury it is to bury the life or soul of the man, who, deprived of it, must die. Thus

282-412: A four-foot gap between them joined with occasional tie stones. More construction details are available in the original specifications . When the viaduct had a single set of tracks, the rails were placed directly over the longitudinal walls as the cavity's width is less than standard gauge . When the viaduct was double tracked in 1860, the inside rails were placed directly over the longitudinal walls and

329-532: A letter to Canton's Board of Selectmen on February 27, 2002, former Police Chief Peter Bright noted that Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency training for worst-case situations highlights the destruction of the Canton Viaduct for its disruption of the national railroad system; the Federal Government also considers the viaduct a high-risk target. In June 2004 the town of Canton developed

376-617: A pure mind shall lend aid to the building of this church may obtain soundness of body and the healing of their souls. Through Christ Our Lord, Amen." After this, the Litany of the Saints is said, followed by an antiphon and Psalm 126 ( Psalm 127 in the Hebrew numbering), which appropriately begins with the verse, "Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it". Then the stone

423-603: Is a tributary of the Neponset River , with a few tributaries on the side. It is also called the East Branch of the Neponset River . The viaduct, built in 1835, became part of the path for the Boston and Providence Railroad . The Canton River was home to several gunpowder mills and gristmills as early as 1703, as the area that would become Canton was first settled. In 2011, a public fish consumption advisory

470-443: Is lowered into its place with another prayer and again sprinkled with holy water. More antiphons and psalms follow, while the bishop sprinkles the foundations, dividing them into three sections and ending each with a special prayer. Finally, Veni Creator Spiritus is sung, and two short prayers. Then the bishop, if he deems it opportune, sits down and exhorts the people to contribute to the construction, appointments and maintenance of

517-612: Is only four feet deep. The deck arches support the spandrels , deck (extending beyond the walls), coping and parapets ; they are adjacent to the longitudinal walls. The only arches extending through the viaduct to the other side are six river portals and two roadway portals. The 20 ' buttresses ' are also unique in that they extend through to the other side, so they are actually transverse walls. The Canton Viaduct contained 14,483 cubic feet (15,800 perches ) of granite, which weighs approximately 66,000,000 pounds (33,000 short tons ) prior to its concrete redecking in 1993. Each stone has

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564-407: Is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation . All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure . Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or replica , set in a prominent location on the outside of a building, with an inscription on the stone indicating the construction dates of the building and

611-638: The Moscow–Saint Petersburg Railway , on which two viaducts were modeled after the Canton Viaduct. A scale model viaduct of similar design is on display at the Oktyabrsky Railroad Museum in St. Petersburg. This Canton Viaduct is the only known structure using blind arcades in combination with a cavity wall to form a hollow bridge. Although the deck arches appear to extend through to the other side, they do not; each deck arch

658-727: The Wayback Machine ) in Rhode Island (incorporated May 10, 1834) which owned the Rhode Island portion of the Boston and Providence rail line. The B&P RR&T Co. merged with the B&;P on June 1, 1853. During the 1993 deck renovation, two 18-inch-deep troughs were discovered recessed into the granite deck stones running the entire length of the viaduct and spaced at standard gauge width ( 56 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches). The troughs contained longitudinal baulks and were part of

705-421: The bishop —or a priest delegated by him for that purpose—will bless holy water and with it sprinkle first the cross that was erected and then the foundation stone itself. Upon the stone he is directed to engrave crosses on each side with a knife, and then pronounce the following prayer: "Bless, O Lord, this creature of stone ( creaturam istam lapidis ) and grant by the invocation of Thy holy name that all who with

752-656: The patron saint of the new church is inserted ); in the rule of ( here the name of the ruler is inserted ); in the episcopacy of ( here the name of the bishop is inserted ); in the Year of the World _____ ( Anno Mundi ), and from the Birth in the flesh of God the Word _____ ( Anno Domini ). In the top of the stone a cross-shaped space is hollowed out into which relics may be placed. Relics are not required, but they are normally placed in

799-537: The Massachusetts Board of Directors of Internal Improvements describes how the railroad from Boston to Providence was to be built. The report states, "It consists of one pair of tracks composed of long blocks of granite, about one foot square, resting upon a foundation wall extending to the depth of 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 ' below the surface of the ground, and 2' wide at the bottom". The report also calls for using horse-drawn wagons and carriages at 3 MPH on

846-431: The base or near some constructions as a prayer to ensure the buildings against disasters or enemy attacks. Historically, Freemasons sometimes performed the public cornerstone laying ceremony for notable buildings. This ceremony was described by The Cork Examiner of 13 January 1865 as follows: ...The Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Munster, applying the golden square and level to the stone said ; " My Lord Bishop,

893-501: The building from falling apart. Many of the more ancient churches will place relics of the saints , especially martyrs , in the foundation stone. According to the pre- Vatican II rite of the Roman Catholic Church : Before the construction of a new church begins, the foundations of the building are clearly marked out and a wooden cross is set up to indicate where the altar will stand. Once preparations have been made,

940-455: The building. But sometimes, instead of killing an animal, the builder entices a man to the foundation-stone, secretly measures his body, or a part of it, or his shadow, and buries the measure under the foundation-stone; or he lays the foundation-stone upon the man's shadow. It is believed that the man will die within the year. The Roumanians of Transylvania think that he whose shadow is thus immured will die within forty days; so persons passing by

987-614: The church is to be constructed of wood or of stone. Even when a church is built of wood, the cornerstone must in fact be made of stone. The cornerstone is a solid stone cube upon which a cross has been carved. Below the cross, the following words are inscribed: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, this church is founded, in honour and memory of ( here the name of

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1034-692: The corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment, and the oil of joy, Amen. So mote it be.' The choir and congregation then sang the Hundredth Psalm . The initiate (Entered Apprentice ) in Freemasonry is placed in the north-east corner of the Lodge as a figurative foundation stone. This is intended to signify the unity of the North associated with darkness and the East associated with light. Normally,

1081-408: The cornerstone. If no relics are inserted in the stone, the inscription may be omitted, but not the cross. After the foundations for the new church have been dug and all preparations finished, the bishop (or his deputy) with the other clergy vest and form a crucession to the building site. The service begins with a moleben and the blessing of holy water . Then a cross is erected in the place where

1128-441: The custom is a substitute for the old practice of immuring a living person in the walls, or crushing him under the foundation-stone of a new building, in order to give strength and durability to the structure, or more definitely in order that the angry ghost may haunt the place and guard it against the intrusion of enemies. Ancient Japanese legends talk about Hitobashira (人柱, "human pillar"), in which maidens were buried alive at

1175-446: The east wall producing a slight keystone shape in the cavities. Originally unnamed, it was referred to as "the great stone bridge" and "the viaduct at Canton" before it was eventually named after the town. The foundation stone was laid on Sunday, April 20, 1834 in the northeast corner with a Masonic Builders' rites ceremony. The Canton Viaduct cost $ 93,000 to build ($ 2,746,800 today). Construction took 15 months, 8 days from laying of

1222-606: The entire length of the road. An iron parapet was placed on the viaduct in 1878. Aside from seasonal vegetation control and occasional graffiti removal, the viaduct requires no regular maintenance other than periodic bridge inspections from Amtrak. The dedication stone's capstone, in the south end of the west parapet was the last stone to be laid in the viaduct. The Dedication Stone is actually two stones now held together with two iron straps on each end. The overall dimensions are approximately 60" long × 36" high × 18" wide, and it weighs approximately 3,780 lbs. The Dedication Stone

1269-494: The equivalence of the shadow to the life or soul come out more clearly than in some customs practised to this day in South-eastern Europe. In modern Greece, when the foundation of a new building is being laid, it is the custom to kill a cock, a ram, or a lamb, and to let its blood flow on the foundation-stone, under which the animal is afterwards buried. The object of the sacrifice is to give strength and stability to

1316-413: The foundation stone on April 20, 1834, to completion on July 28, 1835. The transverse walls are 5 feet, 6 inches wide. The wing wall abutments are 25 feet wide where they meet the viaduct; they are curved and stepped and were excavated by William Otis using his first steam shovel . From the top of the wing walls to midway down, the stones are of 2' wide; from midway down to the bottom of the wing walls

1363-444: The names of architect , builder , and other significant individuals. The rite of laying a cornerstone is an important cultural component of eastern architecture and metaphorically in sacred architecture generally. Some cornerstones include time capsules from, or engravings commemorating, the time a particular building was built. The ceremony typically involved the placing of offerings of grain , wine and oil on or under

1410-571: The new church, after which he dismisses them with his blessing and the proclamation of an indulgence . In the Eastern Orthodox Church the blessing of the bishop must be obtained before construction on a new church may commence, and any clergyman who ventures to do so without a blessing can be deposed . The "Rite of the Foundation of a Church" (i.e., the laying of the cornerstone) will differ slightly depending on whether

1457-617: The old white horse who had hauled the empty railcars back to Sharon, Massachusetts (4 miles), was placed upon a flat car and hauled across the viaduct by the workers, thus becoming the first "passenger" to cross the structure. A June 6, 1835, article in the Providence Journal describes it. As reported by the Boston Advertiser and the Providence Journal , "Whistler" was the first engine to pass over

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1504-699: The original construction. The baulks supported the rails without the need for transoms as the gauge was maintained by the longitudinal troughs. This is the only known instance of transomless baulks recessed in granite slabs; the original tracks before and after the viaduct used baulks making the B&P originally a baulk railroad. A 1910 photo taken atop the viaduct shows dirt between the cross ties and tracks, so this material may have been used before traditional gravel ballast. Baulks were used to support strap rails or bridge rail. These early rails would have been replaced with flanged T-rails by 1840. These photos show baulks at Canton Junction in 1871. An 1829 report from

1551-559: The outside rails were supported by the deck arches. The viaduct was "substantially complete" in June 1835 from various accounts of horse-drawn cars passing over it during that time. The viaduct was built before the advent of construction safety equipment such as hard hats and fall arrest devices. Surprisingly, no deaths were recorded during the construction, but deaths have occurred at the viaduct since completion; mainly from people crossing it while trains passed in opposite directions. Charlie,

1598-452: The rail line, not steam locomotives. The Canton Viaduct was constructed in the following sequence: Spillway Dam at Neponset Street, also known as Canton Viaduct Falls, impounds Mill Pond. It is a weir or low head dam that is owned by the MBTA. The 16' high by 90' long granite dam was built in 1900; as of 2009, it averages 78 cu ft/s (2.2 m/s) annual discharge. Water power

1645-596: The stone after Bishop Gregg had declared it to be 'duly and truly laid'. The Provincial Grand Chaplain of the Masonic Order in Munster then read out the following prayer: 'May the Great Architect of the universe enable us as successfully to carry out and finish this work. May He protect the workmen from danger and accident, and long preserve the structure from decay; and may He grant us all our needed supply,

1692-478: The stone has been proved and found to be 'fair work and square work' and fit to be laid as the foundation stone of this Holy Temple".' After this, Bishop Gregg spread cement over the stone with a trowel specially made for the occasion by John Hawkesworth, a silversmith and a jeweller. He then gave the stone three knocks with a mallet and declared the stone to be 'duly and truly laid'. The Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Munster poured offerings of corn, oil and wine over

1739-512: The stone. These were symbolic of the produce and the people of the land and the means of their subsistence. This in turn derived from the practice in still more ancient times of making an animal or human sacrifice that was laid in the foundations. Frazer (2006: pp. 106–107) in The Golden Bough from 1890 charts the various propitiary sacrifices and effigy substitution such as the shadow , states that: Nowhere, perhaps, does

1786-419: The stones are 4' wide. The west wing walls served as staircases for passengers to ascend and descend while the viaduct was being constructed. These wing wall stones have holes drilled in them where railings were attached. The coping is supported by 42 segmental deck arches (21 on each side) that span the tops of 20 transverse walls beyond the longitudinal walls. The longitudinal walls are five feet thick with

1833-410: The uncle and father of the artist James McNeill Whistler . The viaduct was built by Dodd & Baldwin from Pennsylvania; the firm was established by cousins Ira Dodd and Caleb Dodd Baldwin. Around this time, Russia was interested in building railroads. Tsar Nicholas I sent workmen to draw extensive diagrams of the Canton Viaduct. He later summoned Whistler to Russia as a consulting engineer to design

1880-427: The use of a specially manufactured and engraved trowel that had a formal use in laying mortar under the stone. Similarly, a special hammer was often used to ceremonially tap the stone into place. The foundation stone often has a cavity into which is placed a time capsule containing newspapers of the day or week of the ceremony plus other artifacts that are typical of the period of the construction: coins of

1927-411: The viaduct is over land (71%), while 29% is over water. In addition to the six river portals, one roadway portal was originally provided. The distance between the transverse walls at this section is wider than all the other sections of the viaduct. The overall length is 615 feet (187 m) with a one degree horizontal curve that creates two concentric arcs. This makes the west wall slightly shorter than

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1974-525: The viaduct) reckoned from Pennsylvania Station in New York City. The Canton Viaduct was erected in 1835 by the Boston and Providence Railroad shortly after its founding in 1831. It was designed by William Gibbs McNeill, a Captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and West Point graduate. He was assisted by engineers, George Washington Whistler (McNeill's brother-in-law), Isaac Ridgeway Trimble and William Raymond Lee . McNeill and Whistler were

2021-538: The year may also be immured in the cavity or time capsule. A cornerstone ( Greek : Άκρογωνιεîς, Latin : Primarii Lapidis) will sometimes be referred to as a "foundation-stone", and is symbolic of Christ, whom the Apostle Paul referred to as the "head of the corner" and is the "Chief Cornerstone of the Church" ( Ephesians 2:20 ). A chief or head cornerstone is placed above two walls to keep them together and prevent

2068-572: Was issued for the river due to on high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls and DDT . 42°09′27″N 71°09′47″W  /  42.1576°N 71.1631°W  / 42.1576; -71.1631 This Norfolk County, Massachusetts geography–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Massachusetts is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone )

2115-528: Was originally topped with a 63" long × 8" high × 24" wide capstone with double beveled edges, creating an irregular hexagonal profile. Due to its breaking in 1860, the Dedication Stone is about 1" shorter today than its original height. The damage obscured two directors' names, W. W. Woolsey and P. T. Jackson . Woolsey was also a Director of the Boston & Providence Railroad & Transportation Co. ( B&P RR&T Co. Archived 2008-05-11 at

2162-493: Was supplied to nearby businesses via water wheel from the canal starting at the waterfall and continuing about 200' under the Neponset St. bridge. There were also two channels located between the viaduct and the waterfall (one on each side) referred to as sluices , headraces and flumes in various maps. They were filled in sometime after 1937 (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams No. MA03106 ). In

2209-413: Was the final link built for the B&P's then 41-mile (66 km) mainline between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. Today, the viaduct serves Amtrak 's Northeast Corridor , as well as Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Providence/Stoughton Line commuter trains. It is located 0.3 miles (0.48 km) south of Canton Junction , at milepost 213.74 (at the north end of

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