Proposed parks and parkways - Vintage map, Norman B. Leventhal Collection

In 1876, a group of concerned Bostonians held a public meeting in Faneuil Hall to address the public health issues facing the city: an ever-rising population, widespread illness, a surging death rate, air pollution, and diminishing public space. The solution, they determined, lay in a public park system. This map shows the Boston Park Commissioners’ early vision of a system of connected parks and parkways winding through the city. Two years later, Boston tasked Frederick Law Olmsted with creating such an urban park system; once completed, his “Emerald Necklace” would be the country’s first integrated system of public parks.

Courtesy of Boston Public Library

norman b leventhal map center collection boston public library norman b leventhal map center parks massachusetts boston maps boston mass suffolk county atlases english boston mass park commissioners ultra high resolution high resolution pollution ecology air pollution

1876

Boston Public Library

https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/

Public Domain