The history of the Chestnut Hill Reservation,
which includes the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and surrounding public
land, is closely tied to the development of Boston's water supply
system. As the city's population grew over the course of the nineteenth
century, so did its need for a steady supply of safe drinking water
and an effective means of fighting fires. What would eventually
become an extensive network of reservoirs, gatehouses, pumping stations,
distribution pipes and other infrastructure traces its origins to
the 1820s, when a committee was appointed to study the City's water
supply needs and recommend solutions. It was not until the 1840s,
however, that construction on the system began, with the erection
of a 14.5 mile-long aqueduct linking Long Pond (now Lake
Cochituate) in Natick with the Brookline Reservoir. This project
was completed in 1848.
Demand for water continued to grow, however,
and the need to expand the water supply system became apparent soon
after the completion of the aqueduct and reservoir. In 1865, the Cochituate
Water Board was granted authorization to develop a distribution reservoir
at Chestnut Hill, to supplement the Brookline Reservoir. The site
was chosen for its location between the water source and the City
of Boston and for its topography, as it had the appropriate intermediate
elevation for gravity flow. There was little existing development
in the area, which consisted primarily of marshes and meadowland,
and by 1867, through nineteen separate transactions, the entire site
had been acquired. The Chestnut Hill Reservoir included two basins,
separated by an impervious earth and stone dam. The 37.5-acre Lawrence
Basin was completed in 1868 and was named for Amos A. Lawrence, first
president of the Cochituate Water Board and former owner of the site.
Bradlee Basin was over twice as large, occupying 87.5 acres, and was
completed in 1870. It was named for Nathaniel J. Bradlee, the Board
president at the time.
Chestnut Hill Reservoir not only played a critical
role in the distribution of water to Boston, it also served as a
public park, providing a respite for those seeking a break from
urban living. The dual role of the reservoir was no accident; while
the basins were being constructed, so, too, was an extensive carriage
road that encircled both bodies of water. The 80 ft-wide, winding
drive afforded views of the water and surrounding grounds, and was
a popular destination for pleasure drives. Contemporary guides noted
the tree-covered hills and flowering shrubs along the reservoir
banks, referring to the reservoir as a "great pleasure resort"
and to the drive as "the most popular drive in the city."
The drive survives, at least in part, as the present-day Chestnut
Hill Driveway, which runs along the north side of the reservoir.
Several buildings were constructed at the site to facilitate the
distribution of water. Gate House #1 was completed in 1869-1870,
designed by Edward R. Brown of the City Engineer's Office. This
was followed in 1887 by the High Service Pumping Station, designed
in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by Arthur Vinal, City Architect
(with an 1897-1898 addition by Wheelwright & Haven). Massive
pumps inside the building provided water to newly annexed parts
of Boston, located at higher elevations, and sent water to the Fisher
Hill Reservoir in Brookline.
The Low Service Pumping Station, which
supplied water to the expanding downtown, was built to the east
in 1898-1899 and designed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge in the
Beaux Arts Classical style.Gate House #2 was erected in 1899-1901, across
from the pumping stations. Wheelwright & Haven designed the
small structure in the Renaissance Revival style.
Many of the historic buildings and landscape
elements remain at the Chestnut Hill Reservation, though there have
been some changes over time. In 1928, Bradlee Basin was enclosed
by a decorative iron fence, intended to limit access and prevent
dumping at the property, so as to maintain water quality. A fence
of the same design was erected around Lawrence Basin in 1931. Perhaps
the most significant change occurred in 1948-1949, when Lawrence
Basin – phased out of use after the construction of Quabbin
Reservoir and the City Tunnel, which connected Quabbin to Boston
– was sold to Boston College. The reservoir was filled and
an athletic stadium was erected in 1951.
Ten years later a skating rink and swimming
pool were constructed to the east of Bradlee Basin by the Metropolitan
District Commission (MDC), whose Water Division had jurisdiction
over the property from 1919-1985. The Chestnut Hill Reservoir was
taken off-line in the 1970s, as it was no longer needed for regular
water supply distribution. Extensive work at the site in 1977 included
the construction of an overlook and stone wall entrances on Chestnut
Hill Driveway, along with other landscaping. In 1985, the Massachusetts
Water Resources Authority (MWRA) was created and became responsible
for the reservoir, though the MDC continued to manage the surrounding
parkland. In 2002, the MWRA transferred certain management responsibilities
back to the MDC, which has since been succeeded by the Department
of Conservation and Recreation.
The Chestnut Hill Reservation is notable for its
association with the development of Boston's extensive water supply
system, its excellent examples of public architecture designed by
prominent architects and its incorporation of a public park and
carriage road. The Boston Landmarks Commission has called the property
"the finest and most intact 19th-century complex of the metropolitan
water system" and referred to the grounds as the "first
large-scale rural park-like setting to be developed by the City
of Boston." The site's historical significance has been recognized
through its inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places
and its designation as a City of Boston Landmark.
Information included in this brief history was obtained primarily
from the Report of the Boston Landmark Commission on the Potential
Designation of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Pumping Stations
as a Landmark (September 1989) and the National Register
of Historic Places Nomination for the Water Supply System of Metropolitan
Boston (1989).
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