The Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway (referred to locally as the VFW Parkway) is a historic

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

in Boston, Massachusetts. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Washington Street at the Dedham-

West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to the ...

border, from where it travels north and then east, ending at a junction with Centre Street, near the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...

. The highway is almost entirely contained within the West Roxbury neighborhood, although it passes through part of the Chestnut Hill neighborhood near its junction with the

West Roxbury Parkway West Roxbury Parkway is a historic parkway running from Washington Street in Boston, Massachusetts, where the Enneking Parkway runs south, to Horace James Circle in Brookline, where it meets the Hammond Pond Parkway. The parkway serves as ...

. Most of its length, from Spring Street in

to its eastern end, is administered by the

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...

(DCR), a successor to the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) which oversaw the road's construction. The parkway was built in stages between 1930 and 1942, and was designed to provide a parkway connection from the

Upper Charles River Reservation The Upper Charles River Reservation is a Massachusetts state park encompassing portions of the banks of the Charles River between the Watertown Dam in Watertown and Riverdale Park in Dedham and the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The park ...

to other MDC parks via the West Roxbury Parkway. The DCR portion of the road was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2005. The road formerly carried the designation for

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

.http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-8338190.html

Route description

The parkway begins at an intersection with Washington Street and Boston-Providence Highway in Dedham, essentially as a northward continuation of Providence Highway. It soon crosses into Boston, reaching a major junction near the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

with Bridge Street (the eastern terminus of

Massachusetts Route 109 Route 109 is a state highway in eastern Massachusetts. It runs from Route 16 in Milford east to the VFW Parkway in Boston. Most of Route 109 runs along a portion of the Hartford and Dedham Turnpike. Route description Route&nb ...

) and Spring Street. It continues generally northward, flanking parkland adjacent to the river on its left. It crosses the

Needham Line The Needham Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running west from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and the town of Needham. The second-shortest line of the system at just ...

of the

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...

before turning more generally eastward near the junction with Baker Street. The rest of its route is mainly eastward, meeting the West Roxbury Parkway at the Frank R. Kelly Memorial Rotary in Chestnut Hill. It then passes the Allandale Woods on its left before reaching its eastern end at Centre Street, a short way west of the Arnold Arboretum.

History

The parkway was constructed in three stages. The first section, built between 1931 and 1938, connected Spring Street to the West Roxbury Parkway. In 1941 the southern extension to Washington Street was added, and the eastern connection to Centre Street was built in 1942. The initial construction phase resulted in a two-lane road separated by a median and lined with trees. Many of these trees are still standing, providing a canopy over the roadway. A drainage system was installed in the Baker Street area in 1939, and the southbound lanes south of West Roxbury Parkway were reconstructed in 1941. The eastern section of the parkway was built the following year on the right-of-way of an existing city street. Changes to the parkway have been minimal since its construction; repairs have been made with similar materials.

Major intersections

The entire route is in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Suffolk County.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vfw Parkway 1931 establishments in Massachusetts Brookline, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston National Register of Historic Places in Brookline, Massachusetts Parkways in Massachusetts Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Streets in Boston Transportation in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Veterans of Foreign Wars Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts U.S. Route 1 Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic trails and roads in Dedham, Massachusetts

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References