Walden Street Cattle Pass
Walden Street Cattle Pass | |
![]() Usually nearly concealed under the Walden Street Bridge, the tunnel is seen here exposed during 2007-08 bridge reconstruction work. | |
Location | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°23′21.9″N 71°7′28.8″W / 42.389417°N 71.124667°W |
Built | 1857 |
MPS | Cambridge MRA |
NRHP reference No. | 94000554[1] |
Added to NRHP | June 3, 1994 |
The Walden Street Cattle Pass, also referred to as the cow path,[2] is an historic site adjacent to the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line right-of-way, under the Walden Street Bridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The site, a tunnel for moving cattle between the railroad and the nearby stockyards of the 19th century, was built in 1857. The cattle yards were closed in 1868[3] or "about 1871",[4] but the cattle trade continued; "until the 1920s, cows were unloaded here and driven down Massachusetts Avenue, through Harvard Square, and across the river to the Brighton Abattoir".[4]
Restoration (re-pointing) of the tunnel's brickwork was carried out during the 2007–08 replacement of the second-generation bridge dating from 1914.[2][5] The third-generation bridge opened for traffic in December 2008. The Cambridge City Council discussed creation of a vantage point for viewing the tunnel, ca. 2008, but no action was taken.
References
[edit]- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ a b Walden Street Bridge, Cambridge Department of Public Works Archived 2009-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge: Northwest Cambridge, 1977, ISBN 0-262-53032-5, Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge, Mass., p. 42
- ^ a b "Cambridge Cattle Market", in Cambridge Historical Commission-North Cambridge Stabilization Committee report, 2002
- ^ Yelton, Rick. "Bridging the Gap: Passing on tradition". Masonry Construction Magazine. pp. 2 & 3. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
Gallery
[edit]-
Another view of the Cattle Pass during restoration
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The rebuilt bridge, looking north
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The rebuilt bridge, looking south
External links
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- Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
- Tunnels on the National Register of Historic Places
- Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places
- National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
- Cambridge, Massachusetts Registered Historic Place stubs