Neptune Road

Neptune Road

The remaining stub of Neptune Road viewed from Lowell Street in February 2016
Location	East Boston, Massachusetts
Postal code	02128
Coordinates	42°22′43″N 71°0′24″W / 42.37861°N 71.00667°W / 42.37861; -71.00667

Neptune Road is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.^[1] The road is fragmented, bisected by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Blue Line which surfaces from the subway southwest of the road. Much of the portion southeast of the train tracks is encompassed within Logan International Airport.

History

Neptune Road - May 1973

Neptune Road once was a residential street that also served as the entrance to Frederick Law Olmsted's Wood Island Park, a 47-acre waterfront park designed by Olmsted in the 19th Century. An elegant tree-lined road with center islands, The Boston Globe referred to the street as a “miniature Commonwealth Avenue”.^[2]

The expansion of Logan Airport in the late 1960s and early 1970s displaced families along Neptune Road, which is now used for warehouses and rental car property. As the airport expanded, planes flew in low over the residential blocks and conflicts with airport officials escalated. Wood Island Park was leveled early one morning in 1967.^[3] On April 23, 1969, 35 workmen with 35 chain saws toppled 35 elms along the road. The Massachusetts Port Authority, under the reign of then-director and later Governor of Massachusetts Edward J. King, seized by eminent domain some 720 feet of the street, and evicted families with the help of US Marshalls.^[2]

The airport has since implemented four "airport edge buffers," which include parks and greenery.^[4] Some of Boston’s last surviving elm trees are still located on Neptune Road, resisting the Dutch elm disease that have felled most of the Boston-area elms in the 20th Century.

See also

• East Boston
• Logan International Airport
• Massachusetts Port Authority

References

Image gallery

• 
  An American Airlines DC-10 comes in for landing at Logan International Airport over Neptune Road in East Boston in May, 1973.
• 
  An outbound Blue Line train (erroneously signed as "Boston") passes Neptune Road in 1967.
• 
  Neptune Road and Frankfort Street. (May 1973)
• 
  Anthony Bruno affixes a protest sticker to the front door of his Neptune Road House while Joseph Porzio looks on. (May 1973)
• 
  MBTA tracks cut across Neptune Road. (May 1973)
• 
  Once Neptune Road led to Wood Island Park and the sea. Now it is bounded by a fence and the Logan Airport runway area. (May 1973)
• 
  Jet zooms over southwestern side of Neptune Road. (May 1973)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neptune Road.

• 40-Year-Old Images Show East Boston Grappling With an Expanding Logan Airport
• Ghosts of East Boston past and present
• East Boston Neighborhood Close to Destruction After 40 Year Fight
• The disappearance of Neptune Road | Looking Backward
• The final days of 18 Neptune Rd

Streets and squares in Boston
Streets	Arborway Atlantic Avenue Beacon Street Bennington Street Blue Hills Parkway Bowdoin Street Boylston Street Brattle Street Brookline Avenue Charles Street Columbus Avenue Commonwealth Avenue Congress Street Court Street Day Boulevard Dorchester Avenue Federal Street Fenway Franklin Street Gallivan Boulevard Hanover Street Huntington Avenue Jamaicaway Massachusetts Avenue Melnea Cass Boulevard Memorial Drive Milk Street Morrissey Boulevard Morton Street Neptune Road New Chardon Street Newbury Street North Street Park Street Park Drive Riverway School Street Soldiers Field Road State Street Stony Brook Reservation Parkways Storrow Drive Summer Street Tremont Street Truman Parkway Union Street Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway Washington Street West Roxbury Parkway Winter Street Yawkey Way
Squares, circles, crossings and corners	Adams Square Andrew Square Blackstone Square Brigham Circle Central Square Chester Square City Square Cleveland Circle Codman Square Copley Square Day Square Dewey Square Dock Square Downtown Crossing Dudley Square Egleston Square Fields Corner Franklin Square Haymarket Square Hyde Square Jackson Square Kenmore Square Louisburg Square Maverick Square Packard's Corner Park Square Peabody Square Post Office Square Roxbury Crossing Scollay Square Sullivan Square Teele Square Thompson Square Union Square Uphams Corner
Italics denote streets and squares that no longer exist. See also Neighborhoods in Boston Transportation in Boston