William J. Day Boulevard, or Day Boulevard, is a coastal parkway 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 ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. Beginning at

Morrissey Boulevard Morrissey Boulevard is a six-lane divided coastal road in the Dorchester, Boston, Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is owned and maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Route descrip ...

and Kosciuszko Circle at the northern extent of the Dorchester section of the city, it travels in a gently curving northeasterly direction through

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...

along beaches around the west and north shore of Dorchester Bay. It was named for William J. Day. In its eastern part, the road passes through the South Boston Boat Clubs Historic District and Marine Park before ending at Castle Island, site of a historic fort and state park.Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS), Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs - http://www.mass.gov/mgis/dd-over.htm It is owned and maintained 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 i ...

as part of the

Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston The Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston is a system of reservations, parks, parkways and roads under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in and around Boston that has been in existence for over a ...

. Carson Beach, M Street Beach and Pleasure Bay are beaches along Day Boulevard that are part of the park system.

History

Day Boulevard was originally called the Strandway, and was planned beginning in the late nineteenth century as the easternmost link of the

Emerald Necklace The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appear ...

, the string of connected parks and waterways created by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...

.Heart of the City Project, Center for Urban and Regional Policy, Harvard University and Northeastern University
Plans for the connection of Franklin Park across Dorchester via a parkway to be called Dorchesterway to South Boston and Marine Park at the east end of the South Boston peninsula via the Strandway were not realized, and the route was eventually called Columbia Road. The southern roadway of the two roadways that formed Columbia Road was named William J. Day Boulevard in honor of a popular South Boston political figure after he died in 1950. William Day was the father of Louise Day Hicks, U.S. Representative for South Boston from 1971–73. Day Boulevard is 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 ...

as part of the Old Harbor Reservation Parkways.

References

{{Streets and squares in Boston Parkways in Massachusetts Streets in Boston Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts