The first ferry across the Charles River linked the peninsulas of Boston and
Charlestown. This water-route offered the shortest route from
Boston to Cambridge and other points west. In 1640, Massachusetts
awared the privilege to operate this ferry to Harvard, to
help the struggling and newly founded college financially.
Harvard leased out the facilities and collected rent until
1785. The amount was probably about 30 pounds at first, and
gradually increased. The ferry privilege provided Harvard's
only regular income from outside sources.
In 1662, the "Great Bridge" opened which connected
Cambridge to Brighton, about where the Anderson bridge carries
JFK street across the river today. It was said to be the first
large bridge in the colonies. Because much of the area below
today's Harvard Square was marshland, a causeway was built
to connect the bridge to more solid ground.
The distance from Harvard to Boston via this bridge was 8
miles, and the route took almost twice as long as taking the
ferry through Charlestown. The major threat to Harvard's ferry
service came in 1785, when John Hancock and 83 others received
a state charter to build the Charles
River Bridge at the site of the ferry. The 1,503 foot-long
bridge opened on the eleventh anniversary of Bunker Hill,
in 1786, and was hailed as the greatest American bridge. It
crushed Harvard's ferry service, but Harvard, claiming that
its grant was perpetual, was paid the equivalent of 200 pounds
per year for 70 years by the corporation running the new bridge.
Several bridges now cross the Charles between Boston and
Charlestown, most recently the appropriately and historically
named Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill
Bridge, created as part of the Big Dig.
|