The Old Maps Thread

Wow, that's a real treasure trove! Do you have any pictures or plans of the old Harvard station?

justin
 
Whats there is what I have. I spent hours going through those books at the Transportation Library and the Harvard GSD Library but I don't think I ever saw ones for the Red Line stations.
 
Thanks Van!

I love the one with the black background. It's not even remotely accurate. I hope it wasn't used as an official map anywhere.
 
Damn, what a collection. Thanks for all these!
 
vanshnookenraggen,

Thanks for scanning and posting these.

The 1945 extensions proposed by the old MTA are very interesting. The Red Line extension 1945 proposal takes a very different route than what was finally built. Starting at Harvard Square, it goes west on Mt. Auburn Street, then follows the Watertown Branch north via Fresh Pond to Alewife, then uses the current Minuteman Trail alignment to Arlington and beyond. That would be a good route today for light rail. An additional light-rail branch could go to Watertown Square and Waltham, using the Watertown Branch RR right-of-way. The existing bus tunnel at Harvard could accommodate mixed use of light rail, bus and trackless trolley.

This light rail line could tie into a light rail line under the Charles River, utilizing the section of abandoned Red Line tunnel under Brattle Sq., continuing on to Allston and Longwood as part of the Urban Ring.
 
Yes, thanks for posting these. I had never seen the one with the small diagrams of the stations.
 
These are absolutely fascinating. I felt compelled to register just to say thank you for sharing them!
 
This deserves a higher profile than General. Great find.
 
Here's some of my favorites (all linked to their file page on Wikimedia Commons) that I've found and uploaded recently.

Stony Brook drainage basin, 1863
1863_map_of_Stony_Brook_drainage_basin.jpg
 
His 1887 plan for the Back Bay Fens. Note that the Fens were very wild as first built - their primary purpose was as a holding basin for Muddy River and Stony Brook storm flows, flushed by the tidal Charles. This plan was very quickly nullified by several changes, most significantly the 1910 construction of the Charles River dam that changed the Charles River Basin to freshwater. The Fens were then replanted with freshwater plants (and soon the invasive reeds), and the non-wild elements (Roberto Clemente Field, the Kelleher Rose Garden, and the Victory Gardens) were filled in and created over the next several decades.

December_1887_plan_for_the_Back_Bay_Fens.jpg
 
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