Charlestown Navy Yard

North End, Boston

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The North End of Boston from the Charlestown Navy Yard, in 1870, with the USS Kearsarge in the foreground. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

The scene in 2021:

Boston’s skyline has obviously changed significantly over the past 150 years, but at least one constant remains in both photos: Old North Church, which is barely visible behind some masts, just to the left of the Kearsarge, in the 1870 photo.  The Kearsarge was a famous ship by this point – during the Civil War, she defeated the infamous Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama.  After she was decommissioned, a US battleship was named after her; she is the only non-state to have a US Navy battleship named after her.

View from Bunker Hill Monument, Boston (5)

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The view from the Bunker Hill Monument, sometime between the 1860s and 1880s. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

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The view in 2024:

This view is zoomed in on the Boston Navy Yard, and some of the buildings are easily identifiable in both – in fact, all four of the visible shipyard buildings in the 2010 photo are also in the first photo.  Further away, in East Boston, much of the land in the 2024 is new – the harbor was filled in to create Logan International Airport. One of the runways is barely visible in the upper center.

In the navy yard, the ship visible on the far right of the 2010 photo is the World War II-era destroyer USS Cassin Young.  It contrasts sharply to the wooden sailing ship in the first photo, which I believe is the USS Ohio, a ship of the line built in 1820.  By the time this photo was taken, she was being used as a receiving ship.  The Ohio was in Boston from 1850 until 1883, when she was sold and burned for scrap metal.

View from Bunker Hill Monument, Boston (3)

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The view from the Bunker Hill Monument, sometime between the 1860s and 1880s. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

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The same view in 2024:

These two photos show three sections of Boston – Charlestown in the foreground, East Boston in the distance, and the North End of Boston barely visible to the right.  Other than the approach ramp to the Tobin Bridge, not much has changed in Charlestown – many of the houses in the foreground can easily be identified in both photos.  On the waterfront, many of the buildings at the former Boston Navy Yard are still there, and have been incorporated into the Boston National Historical Park. ln the distance, East Boston has been substantially expanded for Logan International Airport, which is barely visible on the far side of East Boston.

 

Boston Navy Yard Dry Dock

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The USS S-48, entering Dry Dock 2 at Boston Navy Yard in 1929. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The same view in 2021:

Although no longer an active military base, this part of Boston Navy Yard looks much the same as it did in the 1920s, thanks to its preservation as part of the National Park Service’s Boston National Historic Park.  The yard was opened in 1801, and was very active during World War II, when it built a number of destroyers and other smaller warships.  It closed in 1974, and was then turned over to the NPS.

 

The submarine in the first photo is the USS S-48, which was launched in 1921, in the days before the Navy gave real names to its submarines.  Even though it was only a few years old when the photo was taken, the S-48 had already experienced several mishaps; during builder’s trials, a manhole cover was left unsecured, which is generally a bad thing on a submarine.  A few years later, it grounded off the coast of New Hampshire and was out of service until a few months before this picture was taken.  The S-48 would serve in World War II, but by then the obsolete submarine was used primarily for training purposes, and was scrapped shortly after the war ended.