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73-737: The Back Bay Fens , often called The Fens , is a parkland and urban wild in Boston , Massachusetts , United States. It was established in 1879. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fens gives its name to the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood. The Fens is a large picturesque park that forms part of Boston's Emerald Necklace. It is essentially an ancient spot of saltwater marshland that has been surrounded by dry land, disconnected from

146-546: A plate girder bridge; Richardson's contribution was ultimately the design of the decorative metalwork and lamps. The bridge was constructed in 1880–83. It was demolished around 1962 during construction of the Turnpike Extension and replaced by the Bowker Overpass , though the south abutment remains extant. The Agassiz Road Duck House was designed by architect Alexander Longfellow , and built in 1897. It

219-488: A victory garden within the Fens. While these were common in their era, the one in the Fens is now the last continually operating Victory Garden in existence and today is a much-valued community garden of flowers and vegetables. In 1983, the Back Bay Fens were designated as a Boston Landmark. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is headquartered in the park and operates a year-round visitor center. The Back Bay Fens

292-527: A "brilliant collaboration" between architect Henry Hobson Richardson (a frequent Olmsted collaborator) and the Olmsted firm. John Olmsted designed the main stone arch span, while Richardson added the tourelles flanking the arch. The foundation and abutments were built in 1880, though Richardson did not submit his design until July 1881. Cape Ann granite was not chosen as the material that December; although Richardson preferred rough boulders, seam -faced rock

365-809: A 1976 report by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). Urban wilds, particularly those of several acres or more, are often intact ecological systems that can provide essential ecosystem functions such as the filtering of urban run-off , the storing and slowing the flow of stormwater , amelioration of the warming effect of urban development , and generally benefiting local air quality . Typically, urban wilds are home to native vegetation and animal life as well as some introduced species . Urban wilds are vital to species of migratory birds that have nested in

438-554: A central part of the Fenway community and are well known to gardeners across the country. Residents use the plots to grow vegetables or flowers. A passion for public rose gardens swept the country in the early 20th century. In 1930, landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff added a circular formal rose garden and fountain opposite the Museum of Fine Arts where the general public as well as rose enthusiasts could learn about rose culture and enjoy

511-524: A competition to make a statue of Burns , to correspond with that nomenclature as an honor. The winner was artist Henry Hudson Kitson . Kitson completed the statue in 1919, and Governor Calvin Coolidge dedicated it the next year on New Years Day, 1920. The piece was moved from the Fenway to Winthrop Square at Otis and Devonshire Streets, in the Financial District , in the summer of 1975. It

584-577: A former Boston Parks and Recreation Commissioner. The park opened in April 2017. Within the main section of the Back Bay Fens (Boylston Street to Avenue Louis Pasteur), three road bridges and two footbridges cross the Muddy River . The road bridges were designed by John C. Olmsted , Frederick Law Omlsted's adopted son. The largest and most significant is the Boylston Street bridge, designed as

657-463: A foul-smelling tidal creek and swamp into "scenery of a winding, brackish creek, within wooded banks; gaining interest from the meandering course of the water." Olmsted designed the Fens to be flushed by the tides twice daily. However, in 1910 a dam was constructed at Craigie's Bridge , closing the Charles River estuary to the ocean tides and forming a body of freshwater above the dam. Thus,

730-491: A given area since prior to its urbanization . Without formal protection, urban wilds are vulnerable to development. However, achieving formal protection of a large urban wild can be difficult. Land tenure of a single ecological area can be complex, with multiple public and private entities owning adjacent properties. Key strategies used in the preservation of urban wilds have included conservation restrictions that keep complex land tenure systems in place while protecting

803-418: A jacket with a wide, square collar, knee breeches, buckle shoes, and a long cape. He holds his hat down at his side in his right hand. The sculpture rests on a square base that extends from a large granite wall with the inscription "JOHN ENDECOTT 1588–1665". A low granite bench surrounds the base of the wall. According to inscriptions on one side of the monument, it was designed by Architect Ralph Weld Gray, and

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876-797: A junction with the Harvard Bridge ( Route 2A , Massachusetts Avenue ). Both Storrow Drive and Soldiers Field Road are maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and are part of the parkway system interconnecting the Emerald Necklace in Boston and Brookline . Together with Memorial Drive and the Cambridge Parkway, Storrow Drive is also part of the Charles River Basin Historic District (listed in

949-598: A parkway to Tremont Street and over Parker Hill , but high lands prices prevented that design. The Emerald Necklace and its parkways were instead built along the Muddy River, and the Tremont Entrance was only built to Huntington Avenue. The Huntington end of the entrance was "obliterated" by expansion of Boston State College (now occupied by the Massachusetts College of Art and Design ) in

1022-454: A public-private partnership between the City of Boston and Emmanuel College , the field was extensively renovated to collegiate standards, which necessitated the demolition of one of the stone bleachers. Urban wild One of the most expansive efforts to protect and foster urban wilds is the aptly titled "Urban Wilds program" conducted in Boston, which had its start in 1977 off the back of

1095-545: A truck full of scissors became stuck and spilled its cargo, causing more than 30 cars to get flat tires. There is a 10 foot (3.0 m) height limit for the entire parkway. Local media has taken to referring to these kinds of accidents as a truck being "Storrowed", and the city of Boston has annual advisories in August to those renting box trucks for college move-ins to avoid the city's low-clearance parkway system, including Storrow Drive. Traditionally, locals have often blamed

1168-489: Is a 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) stone marker inset with a large bronze relief of Clemente and a short inscription in Spanish and English, "Roberto Clemente: His three loves; Puerto Rico, baseball, and children." The adjacent baseball diamond, which is part of the athletic field, is also dedicated in his honor. The Katharine Lee Bates monument is a freestanding granite tablet inset with a bronze plaque on Agassiz Road overlooking

1241-459: Is a neoclassical limestone building in the shape of a villa, with large ornate bronze entry doors to one side. Its facade is inscribed: erected by the citizens of boston to fortify and extend the principle of organized resistance to the scourge of fire, consecrated and dedicated to the service through which this principle is so nobly perpetuated. A monument was dedicated in 1973 to baseball player and humanitarian Roberto Clemente (1934–1972). It

1314-485: Is a small installation, compared to the World War II memorial nearby. This memorial has a stone plaza area, with a map of the country of Korea embedded in it. Flanking the map are two stone slabs for use as benches. The memorial is a squarish monument that has three columns with names engraved in them. On top is the word, "Korea" and the years, "1950–1953." The Vietnam War Memorial is a small installation, compared to

1387-457: Is dedicated to baseball player and humanitarian Roberto Clemente with a cast stone monument featuring a brass relief & dedication plaque. The other was dedicated to neighborhood residents Brian and David Cobe in 1984 with a bronze plaque inset into a Roxbury puddingstone boulder adjacent to the diamond. Sometime in the 1970s two basketball courts were also added alongside the playground and dedicated in honor of Jim Bradley . In 2010, as part of

1460-503: Is original; however, the roof design was simplified when it was reconstructed following the 1986 fire. The Stony Brook Gatehouse was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson . The building features a slate roof with distinctive wooden beams and walls of smooth stones of varying cuts. The red mortar used between the stones is similar to that of many of Richardson's other works. A similar companion building, designed by Richardson protege Edmund Wheelright , sits directly next to this structure. It

1533-485: The Hatch Shell , many drivers park their cars in the outbound lanes of Storrow Drive. The free concerts and fireworks displays attract 200,000 people, and many take advantage of the free parking. There is an abundance of signs giving road clearance height. Despite the signs, a truck or other large vehicle will periodically get wedged under a bridge , which causes traffic to back up for several miles. In one incident

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1606-812: The National Register of Historic Places ). Prior to 1989, Storrow Drive also carried the U.S. Route 1 designation; US 1 is now routed concurrently with Interstate 93 through the O'Neill Tunnel . The road is notorious for speeding and aggressive driving because police enforcement along the road is difficult without a breakdown lane. Radio traffic reports have warned motorists about "ponding" on Storrow Drive, which occurs when snow and frozen ground prevent water from draining properly into storm drains. The underpasses also commonly flood during heavy rains, sometimes stalling low-riding cars. Additional problems include narrow lanes and very limited visibility on short entrance ramps. During some summer night concerts at

1679-646: The Riverway . Roadway widenings in the 1950s covered over much of the river between Avenue Louis Pasteur and Brookline Avenue. Phase 1 of the Muddy River Restoration Project, which lasted from 2013 to 2016, daylit this section of the river and restored much of the former Longwood Entrance. The section between the Riverway and Avenue Louis Pasteur (including the former Longwood Entrance) was renamed as Justine Mee Liff Park in 2013, honoring

1752-401: The "Storrowing" incidents on college students, but many accidents have involved professional truck drivers using phone GPS units meant for passenger cars. Many companies local to Boston train their drivers on how to avoid "Storrowing", but truck drivers from other areas may not know about the low clearances. Because Storrow Drive is a high-speed road way, pedestrian access is limited to only

1825-497: The 1960s and 1970s. The remaining section north of Tetlow Street is now Evans Way Park. The park and eponymous street were named for Robert Evans, whose wife Marie Antoinette Evans funded a new wing of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1915 in his memory. The Longwood Entrance follows the Muddy River from Brookline Avenue at the west end of the Fens. Narrower than the main section of the Fens, the Longwood Entrance connects it to

1898-731: The Agassiz Bridge, overlooking the war memorials across from the Kelleher Rose Garden . The Temple Bell , a bronze bell cast in 1675 by Tanaka Gonzaemon under the supervision of Suzuki Magoemon , was dedicated to Bishamon , a Buddhist god of children and good luck. The bell was contributed to the Japanese war effort in 1940 but ended up on a scrap heap in Yokosuka . Sailors from the USS Boston (CA-69) salvaged

1971-521: The Agassiz Road bridge, its abutments are granite supported by spruce piles and the facing is reused Roxbury puddingstone. Construction lasted from February to November 1891; the bridge opened with Audubon Road (now Park Drive) on January 3, 1892. The cost of the bridge was $ 27,699 (equivalent to $ 849,000 in 2023). The triangular median at the south end of the bridge was designated Higginson Circle after Henry Lee Higginson in 1920. The west parapet

2044-482: The Charles River side of the road. Boston drivers use the route for quick access to downtown locations. The parkway is named for James J. Storrow , an investment banker who led a campaign to create the Charles River Basin and preserve and improve the riverbanks as a public park. He had never advocated a parkway beside the river, and Helen Storrow , his widow, publicly opposed it. The segment between

2117-551: The Charles River side of the road. To connect the Charles River Esplanade and Storrow Drive (a popular park and recreational area along the south bank of the river) to adjacent Boston neighborhoods, a number of pedestrian overpasses have been constructed. Listed in order from downstream to upstream, they are: Between 1958 and 1971, Storrow Drive was designated Massachusetts Routes C1 and C9 . James Storrow had been instrumental in earlier projects along

2190-608: The Charles River, in particular the Charles River Dam. Additions to the Charles River Esplanade had been made during the 1930s only by omitting an important part of the project, a proposed highway from the Longfellow Bridge to the Cottage Farm (Boston University) Bridge, which had provoked tremendous protest. After Helen Storrow , the wife of the now deceased James Storrow, supported a group opposed to

2263-612: The Esplanade in 1951–55, severing the connection with the Beacon Entrance. The construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike Extension in the 1960s caused the removal of the curved bridge, separating the entrance (now Charlesgate Park) from the rest of the Fens. It was replaced with the Bowker Overpass , which overshadows the remaining parkland; the Muddy River was moved to a small side channel, and

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2336-638: The Fens became a freshwater lagoon regularly accepting storm water from the Charles River Basin . Soon after, noted landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff , a protégé of Olmsted, added new features such as the Kelleher Rose Garden and employed the more formal landscape style popular in the 1920s and 1930s. An athletic field was also added. In 1941, at the outbreak of United States involvement in World War II , citizens planted

2409-470: The Fenway and paths over the brook. The entrance was rebuilt several times as the Stony Brook was placed in conduits; the canal was filled in 1905 and the bridge demolished. The Tremont Entrance is a wide formal lawn on the southwest corner of the Fens. It originally ran to the Fenway from Huntington Avenue at Longwood Avenue, in the direction of Tremont Street. Initial plans called for it to continue as

2482-661: The George Robert White Fund in 1948, this is a grouping of three war memorials arranged around a circle, adjacent to the Keller Rose Garden, the Agassiz Bridge, and a concert grove that overlooks two gatehouses across the Muddy River. This World War II memorial features a granite monument designed by architect Tito Cascieri. It is composed of a plinth stage and lectern backed by a semi-circular wall, with names set in bronze tablets. A large bronze statue of an angel sculpted by John F. Paramino sits atop

2555-601: The Massachusetts Turnpike, two bridges carrying Commonwealth Avenue, Beacon Street, and Storrow Drive, as well as the elevated Bowker Overpass and its ramps. The west border of the Fens (where it meets the Riverway) is Brookline Avenue, which crosses the Muddy River on a wide bridge completed in 2016. Along with the Evans Way footbridge, two road bridges are no longer extant. The Fenway originally crossed

2628-696: The Muddy River and Stony Brook gatehouse. The plaque gives brief information on Bates and includes the lyrics of " America the Beautiful ", which she wrote at the turn of the 20th century. Close to the Westland Gate is the John Boyle O'Reilly Memorial. This memorial, sculpted in 1894 by Daniel Chester French memorializes the Irish poet and editor of the Catholic newspaper The Pilot . In the front of

2701-475: The Stony Brook canal at the Huntington Entrance on a five-arched bridge designed by the firm of Walker & Kimball . The outer arches were occupied by footpaths, allowing pedestrians to cross under the road. The bridge was faced with red brick ornamented with Milford granite ; the archways were faced with patterns of colored glazed bricks. A small iron footbridge crossed the canal just north of

2774-422: The World War II memorial nearby. This memorial has a stone plaza area, with a map of the country of Vietnam embedded in it. Flanking the map are two stone slabs for use as benches. The memorial is a squarish monument that has three columns with names engraved in them. On top is the word, "Vietnam" and the years, "1962–1975." The Victory Gardens are now named after Richard D. Parker, one of the original organizers of

2847-526: The addition of a bridge for the Ipswich Street line in 1898. A bust of Patrick Collins was added shortly after the mayor's 1905 death. The Charles River Esplanade , completed in 1910, connected with the Beacon Street end of the entrance. The bridge carrying Commonwealth Avenue was replaced with two bridges for separated eastbound and westbound traffic in 1917. Storrow Drive was built along

2920-637: The bell after World War II, and offered it to the city of Boston in 1945. In 1953, Japanese officials presented the bell to Boston as a symbol of peace. Across from the Forsyth Dental Institute and Museum of Fine Arts on Forsyth Way, originally called the Huntington Avenue Entrance to The Fens, this is a large red granite monument and white granite statue of John Endecott . The statue is a standing portrayal of John Endecott dressed in early colonial attire, consisting of

2993-546: The bust was relocated east along the Mall. Isolated from the Fens, Charlesgate was included with the Commonwealth Avenue Mall in its 1978 Boston Landmark designation. The Boylston entrance is located just southeast of the Beacon Entrance, where Boylston Street meets the Fenway. A statue of John Boyle O'Reilly was added in the triangular center of the junction in 1894. The intersection was rebuilt in 1982, with

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3066-420: The chaos this project would cause to drivers, it also could present an opportunity for the city to improve the area. For example, former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino proposed covering Storrow Drive near the pedestrian Arthur Fiedler Bridge, replacing the old overpass with a wide, ground-level park space that would better connect the green space of Boston's Public Garden with the Esplanade. Other plans for

3139-462: The city in terms of enhancing ecosystem function. Storrow Drive Storrow Drive , officially James Jackson Storrow Memorial Drive , is a major crosstown parkway in Boston, Massachusetts , running east–west along the southern bank of the Charles River . It is restricted to cars; trucks and buses are not permitted on it, while pedestrian access is available via walking paths on

3212-551: The early 20th century, but was gone by 1915. A replacement was designed during the 1920s work and finally built in 1939. The bridge was disassembled in 1979 with the other footbridges, but it was never rebuilt, possibly due to funding shortfalls created by Proposition 2½ . North from Boylston Street in Charlesgate Park, the Muddy River is crossed by Ipswich Street, the Worcester Main Line railroad bridge,

3285-578: The entire landscape . Public/private partnerships have also been successful in protecting urban wilds. The urban wilds prioritized by municipalities tend to be partial wetlands that perform a range of ecological services while contributing to the biological diversity of the region. There is some discussion about whether natural areas that are not at an appropriate scale to perform significant ecosystem services should instead be categorized as passive parks as opposed to urban wilds. Smaller urban wilds are used for passive recreation and have less value to

3358-522: The flowers. The garden was expanded in 1933 when the rectangular section was built. At the south end of the rectangular portion of the garden is a statue that is a copy of the famous El Desconsol which was a gift to the City of Boston by Barcelona, Spain. In 1975, the garden was named the James P. Kelleher Rose Garden to honor the Boston Parks and Recreation Department's Superintendent of Horticulture. By

3431-514: The garden, who gardened there until his death in 1975. The Victory Gardens in the Fenway are one of only two remaining victory gardens in the U.S. dating back to World War II, during which President Franklin Roosevelt encouraged Americans to grow their own vegetables. The City of Boston set up 49 areas to grow gardens, including plots on Boston Common and Boston Public Garden . The Fenway Victory Gardens were established in 1942. These gardens are

3504-495: The highway, it was dropped; part of the funding was to have come from a million-dollar gift from her. Soon after Helen Storrow's death in 1944, a new proposal for the construction of the highway was pushed through the Massachusetts Legislature. In spite of still strong opposition, and through some dubious parliamentary procedures, the bill approving construction of the highway and naming it after James Storrow

3577-506: The interchange with Route 28 near Copley Square and Leverett Circle , the road is officially David G. Mugar Way (formerly Embankment Road ), although still signed as Storrow Drive. The entirety of this segment is concurrent with Route 28. To the west, Storrow Drive ends and becomes Soldiers Field Road at its partial junction with the Boston University Bridge ( Route 2 ). In between, westbound Storrow Drive has

3650-481: The late 20th century, The Kelleher Rose Garden was in decline and needed a complete restoration. In 2001, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy , in cooperation with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, convened landscape architects, horticultural specialists, and rosarians to develop a master plan for its renewal. Paths and planting beds were recut according to the original plans; the soil

3723-540: The marsh. The bridge is faced with Roxbury puddingstone salvaged from old walls in Franklin Park . Construction began in 1887 and was completed in February 1888; parapets were added when the road was paved in 1891. The Fen Bridge connects Park Drive and the Fenway at the west end of the Fens opposite Avenue Louis Pasteur. Also designed by John Olmsted, it is a masonry arch with a 15-foot (4.6 m) span. Like

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3796-467: The memorial sits the bust of O'Reilly while the backside depicts a statue of Erin weaving a wreath of laurel and oak for her sons Poetry and Patriotism with Celtic calligraphy as a backdrop. Several streets surrounding the Fens (Kilmarnock, Queensbury) were given names of Scottish peerages and towns mentioned in Robert Burns 's literary works. In 1910 The Burns Memorial Association of Boston held

3869-500: The memorial, along with an obelisk capped with bronze stars. It is the oldest and largest of the three memorials on the site, with the Korean and Vietnam war memorials flanking it. The lectern has a plaque, added during the 1990s, rededicating the entire memorial as Veterans Memorial Park and honoring Sergeant Charles Andrew MacGillivary , a World War II Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who enlisted in Boston. The Korean War Memorial

3942-457: The road bridge. The bridges were removed when the canal was filled in 1905; the road bridge was demolished with explosives . At the Beacon Entrance, a curved bridge crossed the Boston and Albany Railroad (and after the 1890s, Ipswich Street). Its south end connected to Boylston Street at Gaston Square, while its north end met Commonwealth Avenue. Although Richardson sketched designs for truss and suspension bridges , Frederick Olmsted insisted on

4015-486: The road propose closing it to traffic on Sunday mornings in the summer, much as is done across the river on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. This would create a recreational area for walking, biking and roller blading on weekends, though this has been criticized as unnecessary due to the presence of the nearby Esplanade paths and the existing Memorial Drive road closure. Regardless, Storrow Drive east of Massachusetts Avenue

4088-860: The roadway near the BU bridge. The pedestrian overpass near the Longfellow Bridge was constructed in 1962. A "Reverse Curve" sign near downtown was vandalized to say "Reverse the Curse", a reference to the Curse of the Bambino ; the sign was removed after the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series . The Storrow Drive Tunnel, through which Storrow Drive runs along the Esplanade just north of Clarendon, Berkeley and Arlington Streets, has been deteriorating since it

4161-426: The statue relocated into the park. The Westland Entrance is on the east side of the Back Bay Fens, with lawns lining a block of Westland Avenue between the Fenway and Hemenway Street. Westland Gate , a pair of marble monuments with lion's-head fountains feeding horse troughs on the side, frames the entrance. It was designed by Guy Lowell and funded by Ellen Cheney Johnson as a memorial to her husband. Westland Gate

4234-501: The statue was sculpted by Carl Paul Jennewein in 1936. The rear of the monument features a large inscription, "Bequest George Augustus Peabody Esquire of Danvers, Massachusetts". The main inscription features the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the quote "STRONG, VALIANT JOHN WILT THOU MARCH ON, AND TAKE UP STATION FIRST, CHRIST CAL'D HATH THEE, HIS SOLDIER BE, AND FAIL NOT OF THY TRUST -EDWARD JOHNSON 1654". Created by

4307-587: The tides of the Atlantic Ocean, and landscaped into a park with fresh water within. The park is also known as the Fens or the Fenway. The latter term can also refer to either the surrounding neighborhood or the parkway on its southern border . When Boston was settled in the early 17th century the Shawmut Peninsula on which it was built was connected to Roxbury by a spit of sandy ground called " The Neck ." The adjacent area of marshland to

4380-443: The west was a tidal flat of the Charles River . The area became malodorous with time as it became tainted with sewage from the growing settlement. For the dual purpose of eliminating the health and aesthetic problem created by the polluted bay waters and creating new and valuable Boston real estate, a series of land reclamation projects was begun in 1820 and continued for the rest of the century. The filling of present-day Back Bay

4453-621: Was added at a later date to contain pump equipment for the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. The Stony Brook Gatehouse has since been decommissioned and in 2010 was converted into the headquarters for the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and a visitors' center by Ann Beha Architects. Dedicated on December 27, 1925, the Fire Alarm Office is near the intersection of Westland Avenue and Hemenway Street. It

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4526-478: Was built in 1951. By mid-2007, the Department of Conservation and Recreation determined that repairing the tunnel may be impossible because it was not waterproofed when it was built, and damage in the intervening years has been significant. Consequently the tunnel may have to be rebuilt at a cost upward of $ 200 million, a project that would require closing critical sections of Storrow Drive to traffic. Despite

4599-522: Was completed around 1905, at which time it replaced the Beacon Entrance as the main entrance to the Fens. The Huntington Entrance runs along Forsyth Way from Huntington Avenue to the Fenway on the south side of the Fens, just east of the Museum of Fine Arts . As originally laid out by Olmsted, it had twin roadways framing a canal that carried the Stony Brook into the Muddy River, with a bridge carrying

4672-421: Was completed by 1882. Filling reached Kenmore Square in 1890 and finished in the Fens in 1900. These projects more than doubled the size of the Shawmut Peninsula. Olmsted's challenge was to restore the spot of marsh which was preserved into an ecologically healthy place that could also be enjoyed as a recreation area. Combining his renowned landscaping talents with state-of-the-art sanitary engineering , he turned

4745-404: Was constructed but later removed, leaving an island of greenspace between the inbound and outbound carriageways. Overpasses to Fenway via Charlesgate and in the vicinity of Massachusetts General Hospital were completed a few years later; the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge was completed in 1953. In 1960, high-pressure air from a sewage tunnel under construction caused a geyser-like eruption and damaged

4818-429: Was constructed in 1923. Two massive cast stone bleachers were completed in 1926 followed shortly in 1928 by a field house designed by William D. Austin . The original field house was demolished in the 1980s, due to neglect, and replaced with a simple Gothic styled storage structure. The 420m athletic track and field was later dedicated as the Joseph Lee Playground. At some point two baseball diamonds were added. One of them

4891-461: Was designed with six entrances, with straight roads and formal lawns that contrasted with the more wild Fens. The original main entrance was the Beacon Entrance, running from Beacon Street to Boylston Street, bounded by Charlesgate East and Charlesgate West. A crescent-shaped bridge crossed over the Boston and Albany Railroad , connecting the Commonwealth Avenue Mall with the Fens at Gaston Square. The entrance has been wholly modified, beginning with

4964-406: Was passed in 1949. Construction took place in the years 1950–1951. As part of the attempt to preserve park land, any land used by the highway had to be replaced by reclaiming new land along the shoreline. Storrow Drive was officially opened in a ribbon cutting ceremony by Governor Paul A. Dever on June 15, 1951. An on-ramp leading from southbound Massachusetts Avenue to eastbound Storrow Drive

5037-465: Was rejuvenated and new turf laid. An irrigation system was installed and new signs were placed to help visitors learn from the garden. The restoration was completed in 2008. In 2014 the Emerald Necklace Conservancy completed restoration of the original ornamental fountain and had the descendant of the original sculpture manufacturer replicate missing ornamental cherub statues. As part of Arthur Shurcliff's alterations to The Fens, an athletic track and field

5110-480: Was removed in the 1950s when the Muddy River was culverted through the Longwood Entrance. A pair of footbridges are located on opposite sides of the Museum of Fine Arts: one across from Forsyth Way, the other north of Museum Road. They were built in the 1920s (the Forsyth Way bridge replacing an earlier crossing) as part of Arthur Shurcliff's reconfiguration of The Fens, and rebuilt as concrete bridges with granite facing in 1979. A third footbridge at Evans Way existed in

5183-436: Was restored and returned to its original location on October 30, 2019. A memorial commemorating the radio operators who lost their lives on merchant ships during the Second World War depicts a sinking ship with "End of service" in Morse Code around the base. It was moved in the 1990s to Peddocks Island at the request of veteran operators, as Peddocks was where they trained. Its plinth remains located on Agassiz Road adjacent to

5256-530: Was used exclusively as a public restroom facility, and was closed after a damaging fire in 1986. The Duck House is sited within a prominent landscape in The Fens adjacent to the Agassiz Road bridge—the only building along that roadway. Agassiz Road is a significant pedestrian link between the East and West Fenway neighborhoods though it provides only one-way vehicular circulation. Much of the building that we see today

5329-569: Was used. The arch was constructed in 1883, and the bridge opened in 1884. The bridge was "totally different from any other masonry bridge of its day", and Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge applied its scale and materials to later structures along the Emerald Necklace. The Agassiz Road bridge, which connects Park Drive and the Fenway through the middle of the Fens, was designed by John Olmsted. It has five small brick arches, with granite abutments and piers supported by spruce piles driven into

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