"Dirty Old Boston"

A lot of fine buildings were still standing in this photo, soon to be demolished. Not very many parking lots either. The whole area should have been preserved, rehabbed, and new high rises mixed in with the original street grid and most buildings left in place. Scollay Square itself could have become a vibrant entertainment district (sans the old strip clubs, etc.). The MBTA kiosk for the old Adams Square station is visible in the lower right.
 
Scollay Square definitely had it fans! You can find plenty of small dedication sites. This is one of the most recent I came across. Welcome to Scollay Square.
Kind of sad that I did not catch any of it, I bet it was a "hoot". But knowing what old theaters and abandon buildings of lower Washington Street looked like for 30 years when I worked downtown; no development moved for many years and it was depressing. I caught the end of the Combat Zone and that place still has long shadows.
 
This is North Union Station (by then commonly "North Station") around 1905. Full-resolution (10,000x8,000), copyright-free image is here:
commons.wikimedia.org

File:North Station from Charlestown Elevated (1), circa 1905.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org commons.wikimedia.org

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chrisbrat said:
I think we can all agree Hub on Causeway is far superior to this. :LOL:🤪🤣
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It would have been a great alternative history if the facade and archway of the original 1905 North Station had been preserved and incorporated into the 2nd North Station (1928), and then when that was demolished, the original 1905 facade and archway again preserved and incorporated into the Hub on Causeway development. Hindsight is always 20/20 as they say.
 
shmessy said:
Damn, 1971. Just LOOK at that HarborWalk desolation!!! As the Harbor Tower NIMBY Docents would prefer..........
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The third Harbor Tower was shown on all the glossy renders of the Waterfront urban renewal plan, but it was never built.

The old elevated Central Artery and the parking lots everywhere along the waterfront were indeed a dystopian hellscape.
 
atlantaden said:

Some very dirty, and some very old pics of Boston in this collection. Boston sure has cleaned herself up over the years, still recognizable but, but oh, so much more beautiful. Such a makeover!
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From the collection, the original North South Rail Link (NSRL) along Commercial Street and Atlantic Ave, connecting the rail lines at North Station and South Station, in place and functional until the Waterfront urban renewal project removed it in the 1960s:

Commercial-Street-Train-Railroad.jpg
 
Charlie_mta said:
From the collection, the original North South Rail Link (NSRL) along Commercial Street and Atlantic Ave, connecting the rail lines at North Station and South Station, in place and functional until the Waterfront urban renewal project removed it in the 1960s:

Commercial-Street-Train-Railroad.jpg
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Haha, good one, never even thought of that. Having said that, I was amazed at this picture, and even more amazed that, as Charlie-mta pointed out, that the tracks were taken out in the 1960's! Hell was was in my teens heading to 20 in the 60's. Yes, I know, I'm a mid-century relic! 😉
 
atlantaden said:
Haha, good one, never even thought of that. Having said that, I was amazed at this picture, and even more amazed that, as Charlie-mta pointed out, that the tracks were taken out in the 1960's! Hell was was in my teens heading to 20 in the 60's. Yes, I know, I'm a mid-century relic! 😉
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I was being a bit cute calling it NSRL, but it pretty much was. The surface line was freight only, but earlier there was an elevated passenger BERY line running above the freight tracks, so there was a complete passenger and freight rail linkage between North and South Stations.
 
Charlie_mta said:
From the collection, the original North South Rail Link (NSRL) along Commercial Street and Atlantic Ave, connecting the rail lines at North Station and South Station, in place and functional until the Waterfront urban renewal project removed it in the 1960s:

Commercial-Street-Train-Railroad.jpg
Click to expand...
Here's another photo of the Union Freight Railroad that ran between North and South Stations until the 1960s. This photo is around 1965, judging from the type of MBTA bus and the "T" symbol. It was a versatile freight line, as its trackage connected directly to the rail lines at both North and South stations.

51982529256_3b66d619aa_c.jpg
 
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