Reclaimed Boston

Today, about half of Boston’s urban core is reclaimed land. This map illustrates three stages in the history of the city’s engineered expansion.

1775: At the start of the American Revolution, Boston is a fortified port occupying the small Shawmut Peninsula.

1850: Industrialization has driven land reclamation from Boston Harbor to create new manufacturing and commercial zones along the port and rail lines. Later in the nineteenth century, luxury neighborhoods are developed from the Back Bay and neighboring wetlands.

1935: Newly reclaimed areas in the early 1900s include Boston’s densely developed seaport, airport, road system and harbor tunnels.

Print / pen plotter drawing