At Station Street the railroad tracks were aligned on the south side of the parking lot, abutting the base of a hill in Hingham Cemetery. As previously noted, the brook is directed through a culvert to Station Street and on to Hingham Harbor. The underpass runs from a point west of Central Street to the back of the sidewalk after the tracks cross under South Street. The line was built in an underpass along the alignment of the brook. In 2007, the MBTA completed reconstruction of the Greenbush Line through Hingham Square. At the time, the Station Street parking area was the Mill Pond, with connections to Hingham Harbor, the Home Meadow and Town Brook. Town Brook was put into an underground culvert with an outlet at Station Street into Mill Pond. The railroad was built at grade on the alignment of the brook from West Street to Station Street. The Station remained in operation until 1959 when the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad discontinued service. The Hingham Station was in Hingham Square on North Street between Main and Central Streets. In 1849 the railroad was built by the Braintree Cohasset Railroad connecting Boston and Cohasset via Hingham Square. The Charter ended in 1864 and with it, tolls were discontinued.Īnother significant impact on the Town Brook area was the construction of the railroad on the alignment of the brook. The turnpike provided faster travel from Hingham Square to Boston than the coast route and diverted traffic on North and South Streets from Fort Hill Street to Beal Street (the Turnpike). In the 1810s the company constructed a turnpike following Beal Street in Hingham to a bridge crossing of Back River, along Bridge Street in Weymouth to a bridge crossing of Fore River continuing the turnpike on Washington Street in Quincy. In 1808 the Hingham, Quincy Bridge Turnpike Company was chartered. Primary settlement of the area around the Town Brook continued through 1675. A historic coastal route to Boston then followed Commercial Street through Weymouth to Independence Street and Adams Street in Quincy, and continued on Adams Street to Milton, and Dorchester and Roxbury Neck. A primary route in Hingham was North/South Streets to Fort Hill Street into Weymouth. The route from Hingham Harbor to Boston followed existing native trails. The normal house lots were about 5 acres. The grants on South Street were made in 1636. The first land grants were made for the land along North Street on Sept. North and South Streets were originally known as Town Street. There is a bronze marker honoring that event on North Street at the foot of Ship Street. Hingham’s original settlers landed in 1635. ![]() The combined culvert begins between Station and Mill Streets and crosses Town Property between 6 Mill Street and 9 Summer Street, and then crosses Summer Street at the intersection with North Street and connects to Hingham Harbor at Whitney Wharf. Today the culvert and another culvert which originates in the Home Meadow and crosses Water Street at the intersection with the railroad tracks, connect to a combined culvert at the north side of the Station Street parking lot. With the construction of the railroad in 1849 the brook was redirected into a culvert on the alignment of the railroad. The brook flows east following the MBTA railroad right-of-way to the parking lot at Station Street. The brook flows through lowlands bounded by uplands along Baker Hill, Bradley Hill and Cottage Street on the north and the hills of the Country Club, Elm Street and the Hingham Cemetery on the south. Town Brook originates on the Hingham Country Club east of Fort Hill and flows through a culvert across South Street into an area east of West Street, once known as “The Swamp”.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |