Neptune Road is located in the

East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and do ...

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

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 language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. The road is fragmented, bisected by the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

's Blue Line which surfaces from the subway southwest of the road. Much of the portion southeast of the train tracks is encompassed within

Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...

History

Neptune Road once was a residential street that also served as the entrance to

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- ...

's ''Wood Island Park'', a 47-acre waterfront park designed by Olmsted in the 19th Century. An elegant tree-lined road with center islands,

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

referred to the street as a “miniature Commonwealth Avenue”."Final chapter in the taking of Neptune Road" ''

'', City Weekly section page 1, April 27, 1997. The expansion of Logan Airport in the late 1960s and early 1970s displaced families along Neptune Road, which is now used for warehouses and rental car property. As the airport expanded, planes flew in low over the residential blocks and conflicts with airport officials escalated. Wood Island Park was leveled early one morning in 1967. On April 23, 1969, 35 workmen with 35 chain saws toppled 35 elms along the road. The

Massachusetts Port Authority Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is an American port authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It owns and operates three airports—Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, and Worcester Regional Airport—and public terminals in ...

, under the reign of then-director and later

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts ...

Edward J. King Edward Joseph King (May 11, 1925 – September 18, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 66th Governor of Massachusetts from 1979 to 1983. A member of the Democratic Party until 1985, he then became a member of the Republican ...

, seized by eminent domain some of the street, and evicted families with the help of US Marshalls. The airport has since implemented four "airport edge buffers," which include parks and greenery. Some of Boston's last surviving elm trees are still located on Neptune Road, resisting the

Dutch elm disease Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a member of the sac fungi (Ascomycota) affecting elm trees, and is spread by elm bark beetles. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease was accidentally introduced into Americas, America ...

that have felled most of the Boston-area elms in the 20th Century.

References

Image gallery

File:Jet over Neptune Road, East Boston, Massachusetts.jpg, An

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...

comes in for landing at Logan International Airport over Neptune Road in East Boston in May, 1973. File:Blue Line at Neptune Road in 1967.jpg, An outbound Blue Line train (erroneously signed as "Boston") passes Neptune Road in 1967. File:NEPTUNE ROAD AND FRANKFORT STREET. MBTA (METROPOLITAN BOSTON TRANSIT AUTHORITY) PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE IN BACKGROUND... - NARA - 548478.jpg, Neptune Road and Frankfort Street. (May 1973) File:ANTHONY BRUNO AFFIXES A PROTEST STICKER TO THE FRONT DOOR OF HIS NEPTUNE ROAD HOUSE WHILE JOSEPH PORZIO LOOKS ON. MR.... - NARA - 549285.jpg, Anthony Bruno affixes a protest sticker to the front door of his Neptune Road House while Joseph Porzio looks on. (May 1973) File:MBTA (METROPOLITAN BOSTON TRANSIT AUTHORITY) TRACKS CUT ACROSS NEPTUNE ROAD - NARA - 548474.jpg, MBTA tracks cut across Neptune Road. (May 1973) File:ONCE NEPTUNE ROAD LED TO WOOD ISLAND PARK AND THE SEA. NOW IT IS BOUNDED BY A FENCE AND THE LOGAN AIRPORT RUNWAY AREA - NARA - 548473.jpg, Once Neptune Road led to Wood Island Park and the sea. Now it is bounded by a fence and the Logan Airport runway area. (May 1973) File:JET ZOOMS OVER SOUTHWESTERN SIDE OF NEPTUNE ROAD - NARA - 548484.jpg, Jet zooms over southwestern side of Neptune Road. (May 1973)

External links

40-Year-Old Images Show East Boston Grappling With an Expanding Logan Airport

Ghosts of East Boston past and present

East Boston Neighborhood Close to Destruction After 40 Year Fight

The disappearance of Neptune Road , Looking Backward

The final days of 18 Neptune Rd
{{Streets and squares in Boston , state=collapsed Streets in Boston History of Boston East Boston Logan International Airport

History

See also

References

Image gallery

External links