54 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 



balls. It seems too bad that a few scores of people should be allowed practically to monop- 

 olize a hundred acres, or perhaps two hundred acres, of the most beautiful park pastures, 

 excluding, or at any rate causing discomfort to, thousands of other visitors. 



COLUMBIA ROAD 



Following the connected chain of parks and parkways, the next link is Columbia 

 Road. Owing to certain exigencies of local politics and city finance, this avenue was laid 

 out under the authority of the street department, and subsequently its maintenance 

 was put upon the Park Commission. Like Huntington Avenue and Blue Hill Avenue, 

 it was laid out with a central grass-plot occupied by a double-track railway, but so narrow 

 that there is no room for trees, making the central trolley-poles and wires very conspic- 

 uous. The two roadways, although wide enough for present traffic and even for that 

 of the near future, are certainly not wide enough to afford any adequate expression of 

 dignity or liberality. One of the roadways is reserved for pleasure traffic, while the other 

 is open to commercial traffic. There is a grass strip between the two roadways wide enough 

 for a double track electric railway and one row of trees. In this respect it is markedly 

 superior to Huntington Avenue, which has a grassy reservation for car-tracks between 

 two roadways but no trees. Without shade trees to afford a picturesque umbrageous- 

 ness which would make the narrowness of the roadways a minor matter (to the eye 

 at least), the duplex narrow parkway is assuredly an esthetic faiture compared with an 

 avenue of the same total width, but with one wide roadway with flush car-tracks in the 

 middle, and with the trolley-poles on the curb along with the sidewalk row of trees. 

 However, whatever its defects, this parkway does actually perform a useful link in con- 

 necting Franklin Park with Marine Park. It was built mainly by widening previous 

 streets — Columbia Street and part of Boston Street. It runs through a well built up 

 part of Dorchester and is and will be very citified in the character of buildings along it. 

 Other routes for a parkway from Franklin Park to the shore were carefully studied; but 

 this, as the shortest route, was preferred in spite of its expense. It connects with the 

 next link of parkway at one of the civic centers of Dorchester — Edward Everett Square. 



DORCHESTERWAY 



This connects with Columbia Road at Edward Everett Square, and extends to The 

 Strandway, having been laid out by the Park Commission. It crosses the Old Colony 

 Railroad by a simple but substantial bridge, and then turns abruptly toward South Bos- 

 ton. The original design was to have it extend by a long curve to the shore of Dor- 

 chester Bay, but the city, having acquired the road-bed and right-of-way of the former 

 location of the Old Colony Railroad in this locality, the less desirable route was followed 

 as a matter of economy. 



THE STRANDWAY 



This will certainly be a very imposing parkway when completed and when the trees 

 have grown. It has two roadways, one on the landward side for access to house-lots, 

 the other adjoining a wide, gently sloping gravel beach, artificially formed. There are 

 fine views over Boston Harbor except where it was thought best to locate several yacht- 



