fSm Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/reportofcommitte00bost_2 City Document. — No. 128. - • y CITY OF BOSTON. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LAYING OUT AND WIDENING STREETS, ON THE PROPOSED MARGINAL STREET, FROM BROAD STREET AT ROWE'S WHARF TO COMMERCIAL STREET AT EASTERN AVENUE. 1868. CITY OF BOSTON. In Board of Aldermen, Nov. 23, 1868. The Committee on Laying out and Widening Streets, to whom was referred the petitions of Charles G. Nazro and one hundred and thirty-six others, T. Albert Taylor and eighty-eight others, Potter & Demmon and sixty-six others, for' a new street across the wharves and docks, from a point on Broad Street near Fort Hill to Commercial Street near the Eastern Avenue, having carefully considered the subject, beg leave to submit the following REPORT: The Committee have caused a survey of the proposed street, one hundred feet in width, to tie made by the City Surveyor, a plan of which, together with the adjacent streets and wharves, is herewith presented. By reference to the plan, it will be seen that the westerly line of the new street begins at the southwest corner of Belcher's Lane on Broad Street, and running in a direct line in a north- erly direction to the northwest corner of Fleet Street on Com- mercial Street, a distance of about 2,700 feet, or little more than half a mile. It crosses Foster's, Rowe's, India, Central, Long and T wharves, a common highway, and Mercantile, Com- mercial, Lewis and Eastern Avenue wharves. TAKINGS. It takes from Foster's Wharf about . . 1,500 feet of land, and destroys one brick building. 4 City Document. — No. 128. From Rowe's Wharf about .... 17,900 feet of wharf and dock, and destroys five brick stores and a wooden building. From India Wharf about 32,000 feet and destroys eight brick stores and a wooden building. From dock, between India and Central wharves, about 20,500 feet owned by India Wharf, subject to use as a dock by Central Wharf. From Central Wharf about .... 24,100 feet of wharf and dock, destroying five stores, in- cluding the one over the arch. From Long Wharf about 24,200 feet of wharf and dock, destroying five stores, and including the passage way to T Wharf. These stores, together with the land under them, are owned by individuals. The whole land taken on Long Wharf is, however, as stated. From T Wharf about 17,000 feet of wharf and dock, destroying two granite stores, and wooden buildings. From common highway, between T and Mer- cantile wharves, about .... 8,000 feet of open way, it being the approach to the docks at City Wharf. From Mercantile Wharf about .... 37,000 feet of Pile Wharf and dock. From Commercial Wharf about . . . 36,000 feet of wharf and dock, destroying six granite stores. From Lewis Wharf about .... 28,860 feet of wharf and dock, destroying five granite stores, and wooden buildings. Proposed Marginal Street. 5 From dock, beween Lewis Wharf and Eastern Avenue, about 15,000 feet of dock. From owners on Eastern Avenue, about . . 3,300 feet of land, destroying three granite stores and an elevator. Making a total of about .... 274,360 feet of wharf and dock taken for the street. DAMAGES. The Committee estimate that the total damage for wharves, docks and buildings taken, will be eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This estimate does not include any damage to the docks westwardly of the new street, which will have to be discontinued for dock purposes and converted into solid land. The length of the retaiuing wall upon the easterly side of the street, after deducting the distance already built by the solid wharves now crossing the street, is about 1,615 feet. It is estimated that this wall can be built of a proper strength if a pile wharf or platform is placed upon the outside of it, for fifty-five dollars per running foot, making the total cost of the wall eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-five dollars. The number of squares of earth, of two hundred and six- teen cubic feet each, required to fill the street to within two feet of grade, is about 11,682. This earth gan be removed from Fort Hill for six dollars per square, — perhaps by railway .and an excavator at a much less price. Under any circumstances, we believe it will not cost any more than six dollars per square for there can be no doubt that the owners of Fort Hill will be willing to bear a part of the 'expense of removing the surplus earth from their estates, in order sooner to bring them into store property. l* 6 City Document. — No. 128. The petition of William G. Lincoln and fifty others, proprie- tors of real estate on Fort Hill, that this street may be laid out in order to " provide a place to which the city and your peti- tioners can remove the earth now constituting said hill," has been considered by your Committee. The removal of this eleva- tion, to make way for warehouses and other improvements, was commenced in 1866, but owing to the want of a convenient place of deposit, it remains a disgrace to the city and of little or no value to its owners. Being composed of clay, it could not be used for paving or for filling the Church Street territory. And as by law the South Boston flats can only be filled by material excavated from the channel, it cannot be applied to that end. The only place where it can be deposited, except at an immense cost, is the one embraced in this proposed improvement, and this is in its immediate neighborhood. At six dollars the square, the filling will amount to about seventy thousand dollars. The estimate for the two feet of gravel-top to the roadway, and the paving of the street in the best manner, is one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. Making the total expense, as per estimate, as follows : For land damages. $850,000 Retaining wall 88,825 Grading 70,000 Gravel and paving ...... 125,000 $1,133,825 Add for contingencies 66,175 Total cost $1,200,000 Having thus presented the estimated cost of the proposed street, your Committee beg leave to present for the considera- tion of the Board, the position in which they find themselves in regard to this enterprise. Proposed Marginal Street. 7 SHALL THE SIREET BE BUILT? Before any investigations were had relative to this improve- ment, they had supposed that the parties most interested would be the owners of the wharves and docks over which this street would pass. In this they have been almost totally mistaken. A glance at the map will show that almost all of the land to be taken now belongs to the proprietors of eight wharves. These pro- prietors instead of aiding the Committee to a proper solution of the question, have, with the exceptions of Mercantile Wharf and India Wharf, opposed at all hearings both before the Board and the Committee, with the best legal talent of the city, the laying out of this street. We have no right to doubt that they believe that, so far as they are affected by this street, it will be a serious pecuniary injury to their estates, beyond any sum they would be likely to receive for damages. If their view is correct, nothing would be returned to the city from the assessment of betterments, for no property would be improved to assess. The Committee do not agree with the owners, that no benefit would accrue to their property by opening this street; on the contrary, all other parties who have presented their views to the Committee, or with whom they have consulted, coincide with them in the opinion, that all the damages should be assessed upon the land already made, and to be made below India and Commercial streets, between the ends of the new street, and including such other land in the immediate vicinity, as the result shall show to have been benefited. Are the views of the remonstrants correct ? Is it possible that the development of some seven acres of land in the centre of the city, upon deep water, will not prove a good investment ? Has our city reached its greatest magnitude in commerce and trade, and has its prosperity already begun to wane ? We cannot believe it. City Document. — No. 128. Possessing as it does, one of the best harbors on the Atlantic coast, with railroad facilities unsurpassed by any other city, is it possible that with the increase of the population and wealth of our country, our city will not also increase in a corresponding ratio; and when, within a few years, our nation shall contain a population of 00,000,000, Boston will not have doubled her present population and still be, as she now is, second only to New York in the magnitude of her commercial transactions ;* absorb- ing for business purposes not only the area uow under considera- tion, but also Fort Hill, and crossing Fort Point channel devel- oping the South Boston flats and covering them with railroad depots and manufacturing establishments ? BETTERMENTS. The area of land made from the docks and other compara- tively unimproved property, is 346,526 square feet. Of this quantity, lot one, containing 101,851 square feet, sit- uated between India and Long wharves, will not require any new streets to properly develop it for building purposes. Lot two, containing 101,320 square feet, situated between Long Wharf and dock line of Mercantile Wharf, will require for streets and passage-way, 33,000 square feet. Lot three, containing 143,800 square feet, belonging mostly to Mercantile Wharf Corporation, will require 23,740 square feet for streets, according to a plan made by Edmund Quincy, Jr. These lots are valued, for assessment of taxes, as follows : * By the following statement, from the report of the Revenue Bureau, it will be seen that Boston is next to New York in the amount it sells : " The total sales for New York last year were §3,313,618,058 ; for Bos- ton, $928,173,020; Philadelphia, $602,097,090; New Orleans, $526,795,400; Chicago, $312,182,708; Baltimore, $321,966,303; Cincinnati, $213,253,051; St. Louis, $213,031,368; San Francisco, $151,367,720; Louisville, $116,216,- 642; and Milwaukee, $110,675,054. None of the remaining cities reach $] 00,000,000 of sales." Proposed Marginal Street. 9 Lot one at seventy-five cents per foot; it is estimated that it can be filled to proper height for stores for fifty-five cents per superficial foot. This sum, added to the value of the land, together with interest and taxes for two years, makes the value to be per foot one dollar and fifty-seven cents. All land on any street in this vicinity, is valued at from five to ten dollars per foot. Lot two is valued at seventy-five cents per foot ; add to value the amount given for streets, and add to that the filling and interest and taxes, it makes the value to be two dollars per foot. All land in vicinity is assessed from eight to eighteen dollars per foot. Lot three is valued at one dollar per foot; add to value the amount given for streets, and add to that the filling and interest and taxes, it makes the land cost two dollars and twenty-five cents per foot. All land in vicinity is assessed from eight to fifteen dollars per foot. The increased value of the property on the easterly side of the street, and in other localities in its immediate vicinity, can- not be less than five hundred thousand dollars. Making the total betterments to be about two million one hundred thousand dollars. CONCLUSION. Your Committee would say that, if the estimates herewith presented are correct, the whole expense of laying out and building this street can be borne by the property developed thereby, and add one million of dollars besides to the value of these estates. We believe, however, that the street will be of great permanent advantage to our city in its corporate capacity, and that its full share of the expense should be cheerfully borne. Some complaint has been made that this street has been projected by the steam railroads for the purpose of using it for the storage of cars, and to the injury of the abutters. We do 10 City Document. — No. 128. not well see how this can be the case. The idea of connecting the railroad with it in any way is, that large quantities of freight will find here its best place for re-shipment ; and one plan con- templates the owning, by railroads, of nearly all the property abutting upon the street, and to be used: for freight depot, and other railroad purposes. We are not sure that under some contingencies, the railroad corporations should not be assessed for betterments if it facilitates their business and lessens their expenses, and our present betterment law gives us the right to assess all real estate benefited. We cannot, however, recomradnd the city to undertake this enterprise without the full co-operation of the abutters, both in regard to damages and betterments. The experience of the Committee the present year, leads them to believe it to be bad policy to apply the betterment law to the opening of streets where the greater part of the benefit received, as well as the expenses to be incurred, is upon estates taken to make the improvement, unless the owners appear as petitioners for the project; but leave it to the Board to decide what further action, if any, shall be taken. NEWTON TALBOT, n JOSEPH F. PAUL, ( Committee. EDWARD A. WHITE, J BOSTON COLLEGE 3 9031 033 43015 8 MUtnPLE VOLUMES SOUND toofthpp « ODBtlUBRARY BOJTOH COLLEGE