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 a connector between
Stony Brook Reservation and
Hammond Pond Reservation (via Hammond Pond Parkway). West Roxbury Parkway was built between 1919 and 1929 and added to 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 ...
in 2006. The parkway is distinctive in the roadway system developed by the
Metropolitan District Commission beginning around the turn of the 20th century in that it was built in collaboration with the City of Boston, and is maintained by the city.
At the northern end of the Stony Brook Reservation, the parkway runs through
Bellevue Hill Park. The boundary roads of Bellevue Hill Park (Bellevue Hill Road, East Border Road, and West Border Road), which flank the parkway, are also listed as contributing properties to the West Roxbury Parkway.
The West Roxbury Parkway also intersects with the
Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway.
History
Although land was taken for the construction of the parkway as early as 1894, construction did not begin on its southernmost section until 1919, when the section from Washington Street to Belgrade Avenue was built. It was extended to Centre Street in 1920, providing access via that road to the
Arnold Arboretum, one of the city's objectives in the development of the parkway. The segment to Weld Street was completed in 1924, and the last section, to its terminus at Newton Street in Brookline, was completed in 1929. In 1924 construction of Bellevue Hill Road (originally called West Border Road) was completed.
[
During the 1930s four rotaries were built on the parkway in order to improve traffic flow with the major cross streets: Centre Street, the VFW Parkway, Grove Street, and Newton Street in Brookline. The last of these is considered a part of the Hammond Pond Parkway, and does not contribute to this parkway's historic designation.][
]
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.
See also
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* National Register of Historic Places listings in Suffolk County, Massachusetts
References
{{Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Parkways in Massachusetts
Transportation in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Transportation in Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Streets in Boston
Brookline, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Boston
National Register of Historic Places in Brookline, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts