Charlestown

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.

 

View from Bunker Hill Monument, Boston (2)

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

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The view in 2010:

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Looking west from the Bunker Hill Monument, the approaches to the Tobin Bridge dominate the landscape in the 2010 photo.  In the foreground, there is a stark contrast between the 19th century buildings to the right and the 1960s era redevelopment to the left.  Many of the buildings are easily recognizable in both photos, especially the ones along the street in the lower center of the 2010 photo.  In the background, beyond the approaches to the bridge. is the site of the former navy yard, which was still in active use in the first photo.

View from Bunker Hill Monument, Boston (1)

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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 2010:

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The view from the top of the Bunker Hill Monument, looking east across the Mystic River.  The bridge in the first photo was the Chelsea Bridge, which was built in 1803.  It was replaced by the present-day Tobin Bridge, and much of the Charlestown neighborhood in the foreground was redeveloped in the 1960’s, giving it a far different appearance from the 19th century photo.

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.