33-720: The Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell , commonly referred to as the Hatch Shell , is an outdoor concert venue on the Charles River Esplanade in the Back Bay section of Boston , Massachusetts . Built in 1939–1940, it is one of the city's prominent examples of Art Deco architecture. The Hatch Shell is best known for hosting the Boston Pops annually for the Boston Fourth of July celebration, but
66-521: 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 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
99-419: A refreshment pavilion, and concerts were brought to the park. The Esplanade went through a major expansion from 1928 to 1936, widening and lengthening the park land. These improvements were aided by a $ 1 million donation from Helen Osborne Storrow , in memory of her husband James . The Storrow Memorial Embankment, designed by Arthur Shurcliff , added the first lagoon , boat landings, plazas, playgrounds, and
132-557: A substantial portion of her estate in a trust which was to be used for "a park, playground or memorial" in or near Boston that would be "open to the public at such times and under such circumstances as may from time to time best minister to the public need for a beauty spot." The executor of Maria Hatch's estate died before the terms of the trust could be executed, and it remained undiscovered until 1936, when Massachusetts Attorney General Paul A. Dever discovered it and instituted probate action to complete its terms. New trustees, selected by
165-545: 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
198-640: 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 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
231-466: Is 40 feet (12 m) high and 110 feet (34 m) wide. It is fronted by a stone platform with stairs that extend the structure's width to 160 feet (49 m). On the front of this platform are engraved the names of famous (at least through the period of its construction) composers. The exterior of the shell is finished in terrazzo tile, and the interior is finished in wood. The interior floor consists of stepped tiers in semicircular form. The outside of
264-611: 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 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
297-533: Is also used for free concerts most weekends and many weeknights during the summer months. The grass pavilion in front of the stage has no permanent seating. There is a memorial nearby to Arthur Fiedler , first permanent conductor of the Pops. The Hatch Shell is named in memory of Edward Hatch, the descendant of a family with deep roots in colonial Massachusetts and a fortune made in foreign trade. Hatch died in 1910, and his sister Maria died without issue in 1926, leaving
330-566: Is isolated from the nearby Boston neighborhoods by Storrow Drive , a high-speed limited-access road protected by perimeter fencing. A series of eight pedestrian overpasses has been built to connect to the rest of the city, plus two additional bridges at the extreme ends of the park. Listed in order from downstream to upstream, they are: 42°21′22.42″N 71°4′33.62″W / 42.3562278°N 71.0760056°W / 42.3562278; -71.0760056 Storrow Drive Storrow Drive , officially James Jackson Storrow Memorial Drive ,
363-407: Is used for picnics, casual sports and sunbathing, in a manner typical of urban parks. The Hatch Shell underwent a $ 2.4 million renovation in 2018, the first since 1989. The exterior panels of the shell were replaced, which required a laser scan of the shell and fabrication of 673 separate panels in 93 different shapes. The Hatch Shell is a wood-frame structure with a semicircular arched opening that
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#1732776558942396-616: The Boston Embankment in 1910. The Embankment was created as part of the construction of the 1910 Charles River Dam Bridge (today the site of the Museum of Science). The parkland was criticized for its lack of shade trees, refreshment stands, recreation facilities, transportation utility, and visitors. It extended to Charlesgate (upstream of the Harvard Bridge ) and connected with Frederick Law Olmsted 's Emerald Necklace system of parks and open spaces. To address criticism, trees,
429-426: 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
462-565: 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
495-401: 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
528-476: 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
561-608: 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
594-568: The Charles began in the 1930s, and the boathouse on the Esplanade was built in 1941. Organized in 1946, Community Boating was the country's first public boating program. For a modest fee, thousands of people have learned to sail on the Charles River. The next major change to the Esplanade began in 1949, with the construction of Storrow Drive. To make up for park land lost to the new road, additional islands including multiple paths were built along
627-537: The Esplanade, also designed by Arthur Shurcliff and his son Sydney. In the 1960s, the Esplanade was linked to Herter Park in Brighton , and other upstream parks, with the construction of the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bike Path. This 18-mile (29 km) loop travels along the entire basin on both the north and south banks of the river, and makes it especially suitable for biking , inline skating , and running . The Esplanade
660-859: The Music Oval, where a temporary bandshell was placed. The summer of 1929 was the first year Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops performed on the Esplanade. In 1941, the construction of the Hatch Memorial Shell gave the Pops, and a wide range of other artists and performers, a first-class stage for popular summer events. In the 2000s, half a million people attend the Boston Pops concert and fireworks display held there every Independence Day . The Hatch Shell also hosts free public concerts and movies, and special events—walkathons, races, and festivals such as Earth Day —that draw hundreds of thousands of additional spectators each year. Sailing on
693-420: 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
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#1732776558942726-582: The court, determined that a permanent concert shell on the Charles River Esplanade would satisfy the terms of the trust. The original, wooden shell was built in 1928 as a temporary venue for the Pops with expectations of construction of a permanent structure in the near future. It was first used for a concert on July 4, 1929, with Arthur Fiedler conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra . A second, temporary shell, made of metal,
759-495: 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
792-546: The intricate interior paneling of the shell by hand. An 8-foot (2.4 m) bronze statue of George S. Patton , by James Earle Fraser , commemorates the general's June 7, 1945 address at the site before a crowd of 20,000 persons. Uses of the Hatch Shell include concerts, movie showings and speeches, and as a meeting place for large events, such as AIDS Walk Boston and the Larry Kessler 5K Run . The grass pavilion
825-639: The park, with the Charles River marking the northern edge. In the park are walkways, statuary, the Hatch Memorial Shell performance stage, playgrounds, ballfields, and Community Boating . The Esplanade comprises part of the Charles River Reservation state park. The Esplanade was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2009. The Esplanade was originally dedicated as
858-755: 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 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
891-486: 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
924-860: 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
957-477: The shell is ringed by a single-story flat-roof structure housing dressing rooms and storage facilities for performers. Charles River Esplanade The Charles River Esplanade of Boston , Massachusetts , is a state-owned park situated in the Back Bay area of the city, on the south bank of the Charles River Basin . The limited-access parkway Storrow Drive forms the southern boundary of
990-409: Was built in 1934. The permanent shell was designed by architect Richard J. Shaw , and was dedicated on July 2, 1940. In preparation for its 50th anniversary in 1991, it underwent significant renovation and repair along with modernization of its acoustics by Boston architecture firm Notter Finegold & Alexander . Bostonian Howard Brickman, a master craftsman specializing in wood floors, re-created
1023-478: 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
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1056-483: 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
1089-406: 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
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