Stony Brook (Charles River tributary, Boston)

Stony Brook
Stony Brook in Jamaica Plain in 1898
Location
City	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Physical characteristics
Source	Turtle Pond, Stony Brook Reservation
• coordinates	42°15′56″N 71°08′30″W / 42.265499°N 71.1418°W / 42.265499; -71.1418
Charles River Basin
• coordinates	42°21′07″N 71°05′32″W / 42.35187°N 71.092215°W / 42.35187; -71.092215
Length	8.5 miles (13.7 km)
Discharge
• average	10 cu ft/s (0.28 m3/s)
• maximum	>1,000 cu ft/s (28 m3/s)

Stony Brook is a 8.5-mile (13.7 km)-long

A new conduit was built from Roxbury Crossing to the Fens in 1887–89, for use with Frederick Law Olmsted's plan to use the Fens as a holding basin for Stony Brook overflows. Due to upstream sanitation issues, storm flow was directed along a new conduit to the Charles in 1905. Conduits were extended south from the 1890s to the 1950s, leaving only the first 1 mile (1.6 km) of Stony Brook above ground. Sewer improvements in the 21st century reduced sewage flow into the Stony Brook during storms, in turn improving water quality in the Charles.

Route

Stony Brook originates at Turtle Pond in the Stony Brook Reservation. It flows about 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast through the park, then enters a conduit near the intersection of Enneking Parkway and Gordon Avenue.^[2][1] The conduit zig-zags under residential areas, then follows the Northeast Corridor railroad line north for about 0.8 miles (1.3 km). It wanders north through residential areas of Hyde Park, Roslindale, and Jamaica Plain, largely paralleling the railroad line. Several streets are located on top of the conduit in this section, including American Legion Highway, Brookway Road, Stonley Road, and Meehan Street.^[2] From Green Street to Tremont Street, the conduit is adjacent to the railroad alignment.^[2]

North of Tremont Street, the conduit is located under Gurney Street, Parker Street, and Forsyth Way.

Stony Brook originally fed into the

In 1873, the city of West Roxbury channelized Stony Brook through the Roslindale and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods.[3] After the 1873 annexation of Hyde Park, a similar channel was extended south from Roxbury Crossing to Jamaica Plain in 1880–84.^[3] In 1881–82, a 7-by-7-foot (2.1 m × 2.1 m) conduit was constructed from Bryant Street under the east bank of the Muddy River to the Charles River. The Stony Brook Gatehouse controlled the flow of the Stony Brook; under normal conditions, the full flow was directed into the new conduit.^[4] The four decades of channelizing and culverting the river were done haphazardly, with varying cross sections and slopes resulting in inconsistent attainable flow rates along the river.^[3] Heavy rain and melting snow in February 1886 resulted in flows of 500 cu ft/s (14 m³/s), overwhelming the capacity of the culvert north of Roxbury Crossing. This resulted in flooding of 63 acres (25 ha) and 1,437 buildings, showing the inadequacy of the existing culverts.^[3][4]

Sanitary channels

In 1887–89, a bypass conduit (the Commissioner's Channel) was constructed from Roxbury Crossing to Huntington Avenue, largely under Parker Street. It was built at a cost of $650,000 (equivalent to $20 million in 2023) and was among the largest storm sewers in the country.^[3][11][4] From Huntington Avenue to the Muddy River, Stony Brook ran in a 42-foot (13 m)-wide open canal.^[3] In the 1880s and 1890s, the Muddy River channel was reconstructed in the Fens under the direction of Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a holding basin for storm overflow from the Muddy River and Stony Brook.^[4] Connected to the tidal Charles River, it would be sanitized by seawater with the twice-daily tides.^[12]

The railroad was

In 1897, the full flow of Stony Brook (rather than merely storm overflow) was redirected into the Commissioner's Channel and into the Fens.[12] Although a separate sewer had been built in the Stony Brook valley by the 1890s, it was inadequately sized to handle even small storms and was prone to breakage, resulting in sewage often entering the Stony Brook.^[12][16] In 1898, the city was forced to dredge accumulated sewage from the Fens.^[4][12] A new 12-by-12-foot (3.7 m × 3.7 m) conduit, paralleling the 1881-built conduit, was built in 1903–05 to carry the whole Stony Brook flow directly to the Charles River.^{[12][17][18][19]} A second gatehouse was built to control flow into the new conduit.^[12][4] The bridge carrying the Fenway over the no-longer-used canal was demolished with explosives in October 1905; the canal was filled in (partially with the bridge rubble) to create Forsyth Way.^[12][20]

The construction of the

Stony Brook Reservation, which includes Turtle Pond and the first 1 mile (1.6 km) of Stony Brook, was established as a park in 1894.^[26] The remaining part of the river from Hyde Park to Jamaica Plain was gradually placed in conduits. Work began to extend the conduit south from Boylston Street in 1897, and reached Green Street in 1901.^[27][28] The conduit was extended south through Forest Hills Yard to Forest Hills Square in 1910–11.^[29][30] Work around 1921 added a section of conduit south of Forest Hills, plus a conduit for the Roslindale Branch as far as Roslindale Square.^[31][32][33]

The remaining surface sections in Roslindale and Hyde Park (outside the Stony Brook Reservation) were placed in conduits in the 1930s to 1950s.