![Boston Childrens Museum P1000509](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Boston_Childrens_Museum_P1000509.JPG)
Children's Wharf (until recently known as Museum Wharf) is a
wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
on
Congress Street in
Boston, Massachusetts, on the
Fort Point Channel
Fort Point Channel is a maritime channel separating South Boston from downtown Boston, Massachusetts, feeding into Boston Harbor. The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by the South Bay rail yard and several highways (specif ...
with views of the
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
and
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
. The wharf has sitting areas, patches of
lawn
A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...
, and several
tourist attractions
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural b ...
.
By way of the Congress Street Bridge, Children's Wharf is a short walk from
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...
, one of Boston's principal
transportation hub
A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...
s. The wharf is one of the more easily accessible locations on the
Harborwalk
Harborwalk is a multi-use recreational trail located in Punta Gorda which runs along the Charlotte Harbor and the Peace River.
Route description
Beginning at Adrienne Street near Bayfront Health Punta Gorda on Marion Avenue, the mostly co ...
, a newly established walking tour akin to the
Freedom Trail
The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston, Massachusetts, that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. Marked largely with brick, it winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston through the North End to the Bu ...
, intended to take advantage of the change in
landscape brought about by the
Big Dig
The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4&n ...
.
Boston Children's Museum
The wharf takes its name from
Boston Children's Museum (founded in 1913), which moved here from
Jamaica Plain
Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...
in 1979.
The museum is housed in a former industrial building expanded and renovated by
Cambridge Seven Associates
Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. (stylized as CambridgeSeven, and sometimes as C7A) is an American architecture firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Buildings designed by the firm have included academic, museum, exhibit, hospitality, transpo ...
to take full advantage of the dramatic waterfront site.
In 2007 the museum completed a $47 million renovation and expansion. The improvements include
green features such as
green roof
A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...
s, storm
water reclamation
Water reclamation (also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling) is the process of converting municipal wastewater (sewage) or industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a variety of purposes. Types of reuse include ...
to reduce run-off into Fort Point Channel, and building materials that are
recycled, local, and low-emitting to qualify the Museum for the
U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...
's
LEED certification.
Au Bon Pain
Au Bon Pain (, meaning "at (or 'to') the Good Bread") is an American fast casual restaurant, bakery, and café chain headquartered in Richardson, Texas and operates 175 locations in the United States, and Thailand. The company is currently ow ...
is located on the ground floor of the museum in a space formerly occupied by
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
.
Hood Milk Bottle
![Boston, Museum Wharf, Hood Milk Bottle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Boston%2C_Museum_Wharf%2C_Hood_Milk_Bottle.jpg)
At tall and in diameter, the structure now known as the
Hood Milk Bottle was originally constructed in 1933 on the banks of the
Three Mile River
The Three Mile River or Threemile River is a river in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is formed by the junction of the Rumford and Wading rivers in the town of Norton. It flows in a southeasterly direction for U.S. Geological Survey. Nation ...
in
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the seat of Bristol County. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. At the 2020 cen ...
.
Abandoned in 1967 and photographed by
Walker Evans
Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from ...
in 1974, the bottle was cut into three sections and moved by barge to Boston in 1977. Reassembled on the wharf, the
Depression-era
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
structure resumed its original function as an
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
stand and
snack bar
A snack bar usually refers to an inexpensive food counter that is part of a permanent structure where snack foods and light meals are sold.
Description
A beach snack bar is often a small building situated high on the sand. Besides soft dri ...
.
In 2006, the bottle was "uncapped" (its original top half was sliced off and preserved) so that its base could be moved slightly and rebuilt on a newly renovated Children's Museum Plaza. It was officially re-dedicated by
Boston Mayor
The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four-y ...
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 53rd mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three ...
on April 20, 2007, thirty years to the day after it was moved to the wharf.
Computer Museum
The Computer Museum, founded in 1979 with the help of
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president un ...
, opened to the public here in the fall of 1984. The Computer Museum shared space with the Children's Museum and featured exhibits such as a
virtual fish tank
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amp ...
, a
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...
theater, and a two-story tall representation of a
computer through which visitors could walk.
In 1999. The Computer Museum closed this location. Much of its collection moved to
Mountain View, California
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376.
Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...
and became the
Computer History Museum. The rest of its collection merged with that of the
Museum of Science
The Museum of Science (MoS) is a science museum and indoor zoo in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 700 interactive exhibits, the museum features a number of live presentat ...
.
Tea Party Ship
![Fort Point Channel June 2011 Tea Party Ship Construction](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Fort_Point_Channel_June_2011_Tea_Party_Ship_Construction.jpg)
A "floating museum" focusing on the
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell t ...
, the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum was moored on Congress Street in close proximity to the wharf. The vessel was a replica of the ''Beaver'', one of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
s ransacked by the
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...
during events leading up to the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
.
Nation Geographic: Boston Highlights
/ref>
Established in 1973, the site has hosted millions of visitors and was long the site of an annual Boston Tea Party historical reenactment
Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a historical event or ...
each December 16. It has also been used a staging area for tax protest
A tax protester is someone who refuses to pay a tax claiming that the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid. Tax protesters are different from tax resisters, who refuse to pay taxes as a protest against a government or its policies ...
s and political rallies. The museum was closed for eleven years after a fire, but reopened in June 2012.
References
{{coord, 42.3528, -71.0495, region:US-MA, display=title
Wharves in Boston