Aerials

[vanshnookenraggen]

Yeah I have a bunch of those too. No idea where they came from.

 

[Beton Brut]

...and Day Square-Orient Heights area, can't seem to find more...

Please post...I'm curious.

 

[JohnAKeith]

West End, then and now.

http://johnakeithrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/west_end_2010.png

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Please post...I'm curious.

After I posted, I had a feeling you'd ask

I'm trying to figure out what happened on the right side of the railyard?

Razed for 1A (which is what this photo was for, I believe, 1A planning)? Burned down in fire?

 

[Beton Brut]

That is an astonishing photo. Dead-center is the confluence of Bennington Street and Neptune Road. I'll date it (wild-ass guess) at 1955.

The Railyard laid fallow for years before it was redeveloped into parking lots for Logan; much of it is now parkland.

 

[Pierce]

I relied heavily on that photo for a proposal we did in that area a few years ago-- nice to see it again. BB, if memory serves it was 1943 (or was it 47?). Anyway you're very close with your estimate

 

[BostonUrbEx]

it was 1943 (or was it 47?)

I would say 47. I believe all of these photos, and the others, were within '46 to '55.

 

[Beton Brut]

I'll date it (wild-ass guess) at 1955.

So my brain was turned off last week...

This aerial shot is from the 40s. My initial date of 1955 is impossible, as the Blue Line was running in its current alignment and neither Wood Island Station nor the tracks are in the photo.

 

[JSic]

Dont know if these were posted but here's some nice Cambridge views:

http://www.lesvants.com/stock/Cambridge/Cambridge_2010/Cambridge_10-10-10/index.htm

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Whoever put this massive surface arteries all along the Charles should be shot.

Well- I assume they're dead now... but before they died, they should have been shot...

 

[JohnAKeith]

JEFFERSON'S BROTHER: My brother's gonna kill us! He's gonna kill us! He's gonna kill you and he's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill us!
JEFF SPICOLI: Hey man, just be glad I had fast reflexes!
JEFFERSON'S BROTHER: My brother's gonna shit!
JEFF SPICOLI: Make up your mind, dude, is he gonna shit or is he gonna kill us?
JEFFERSON'S BROTHER: First he's gonna shit, then he's gonna kill us!

 

[Charlie_mta]

Whoever put this massive surface arteries all along the Charles should be shot.

Well- I assume they're dead now... but before they died, they should have been shot...

Back in the mid 1960's the MDC was ready to turn Memorial Drive into an expressway similar to Soldiers Field Road, with underpasses and ramps planned at River Street, Western Ave and JFK Street. The scheme was halted by the public protesting the loss of sycamore trees that would have occured.

 

[Pierce]

BPL posted an incredible collection of historic aerials to flickr

 

[Boston02124]

those are some of the best I've seen!

 

[Pierce]

i havent stopped looking through these, they are incredible.....
over 100 photos, all but a handful I've never seen before, not your typical angles either

I had no idea that the Christian Scientist Mother Church wasn't originally on Mass Ave.....

St Mary's Street Bridge? When did we lose that?

Castle Island as an island

Logan Airport as a newborn

....and as a toddler

....an adolescent

....teenie bopper

And some shots as a followup to the bennington street aerial discussion above:

oh god i'm not going to get anything done today

 

[BostonUrbEx]

It's all so... so... so fucking beautiful. :')


Only thing I have to say is FUCK INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS.

 

[Boston02124]

like^

 

[Ron Newman]

I had no idea there was ever a bridge across the Charles River to BU, east of the current BU (Cottage Farm) bridge. What year was that photo taken?

The Grand Junction railroad bridge in that photo looks entirely impassible to boat traffic; it must have been a swing bridge.

 

[jass]

Wow at st marys street bridge.

 

[Beton Brut]

Epic post, Pierce. I need to print some of these and send them to my dad.

The "teenie bopper" photo looks to be from the early 50s; Orient Heights Station is brand new, and there are no trees in my yard.