Longfellow Bridge and the Charles River, Boston, Massachusetts

Longfellow Bridge, completed in 1906 and renamed for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1927, viewed upstream from a window inside the Museum of Science at Science Park in Boston, Massachusetts. The museum occupies the site of the 1910 Charles River Dam Bridge. Downstream of this location is the modern Charles River Dam, completed in 1978, which houses the USGS streamgage New Charles River Dam at Boston, MA (USGS 01104715). The Charles River, flowing 80 miles from Hopkinton to Boston Harbor, is one of Massachusetts’ most intensively managed urban rivers, supporting flood control, navigation, recreation, and long‑term water‑quality restoration. The bridge, river surface, and shoreline vegetation shown here illustrate the interaction of hydrologic management and urban infrastructure along the lower Charles River corridor.