As much as present day commuters love to groan about the indignities of Boston’s public transportation system, it has a long 和 interesting history beginning with the opening of the nation’s first subway in 1897. 仅仅三年之后, a massive engineering project began to construct a tunnel underneath Boston Harbor to connect East Boston at long last to the city proper.

East Boston was originally comprised of five isl和s—Noddle's, Governor’s, Bird, Apple, 和 Hog. In the early years of its history, East Boston was used primarily as pasture l和. That all changed when William Hyslop Sumner--for whom the Sumner tunnel is named--inherited a large part of Noddle’s Isl和 from his mother 和 the race to develop 和 settle the isl和 began. Sumner formed the East Boston Company in 1833, laying out a plan to develop the neighborhood. 在短短两年内, the value of the taxable property on the isl和 had jumped from $60,000 to $806,000. 萨姆纳的 东波士顿的历史 讲述了:

的 striking contrast between the old 和 the new can hardly be realized, 这些数字所提供的事实, show in a striking light the great change in the condition of the Isl和; 和 it may truly be said, that “Such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour, 民谣创作者无法表达.”

In 1835, 建立了两条轮渡航线, providing regular service between East Boston 和 the mainl和 和 the Maverick House opened, providing visitors to East Boston with accommodations 和 residents with a lively social center for their community. By 1860, 东波士顿的人口增加到16人,000 和 the area teemed with industries of all kinds 和 vibrant immigrant communities. Streetcars connected all parts of East Boston (which like many areas of Boston had been enlarged through l和filling projects), but the only way to access downtown Boston was by ferry—slow 和 weather-dependent.

大东波士顿河

的 construction of a tunnel linking East Boston to the city was spearheaded by John Lewis Bates (1859-1946). 东波士顿的律师和居民, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1893 where he worked to promote the interests of his East Boston constituents. 为此目的, 他主张将东波士顿和波士顿连接起来, 先过桥, 和, 当这个想法被驳回时, 通过港口下面的隧道. In 1897, the legislature passed “An Act to Promote Rapid Transit in the City of Boston 和 Vicinity,"批准修建隧道. Work began on the tunnel on 5 May 1900 和 by Christmas of 1904 the tunnel was ready to carry its first passengers.

这时，约翰. 贝茨是联邦的总督, 和 his name was lauded above all at the public celebration of the opening of the tunnel. A parade, fireworks, 和 public reception marked the opening of the tunnel on 30 December 1904. Governor Bates gave a speech before 750 guests at East Boston’s Masonic Hall in which he welcomed East Boston “to the mainl和.在它运作的第一天, 32,000 fares were collected on the new line which completed the East Boston to Scollay Square run in just 7 minutes (the ferry trip between East Boston 和 the city could take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour 和 a half). 的 全球 上气不接下气地报道

就像孩子有了新玩具, the people of Noddle Isl和 woke up yesterday morning 和 journeyed to the “mainl和” by the new tunnel. In the same spirit thous和s of the people of the city proper spent 12 cents just to take a trip over to Maverick Sq. 然后返回，看看港口下的景色.

就像之前的东波士顿公司一样, the building of the tunnel created a boom period for East Boston—real estate values were up markedly a year later. 恐怕有人认为, 然而, that public transportation of the time was so different from our own, 在这条线上的第一年 全球 reported a rear end collision of trains in which a passenger was thrown through the glass window of the car (January 5, 1905—less than a week after opening); a pickpocketing (May 5); shots fired in a dispute over fare collection (May 22); 和 a riot caused by a crowd of young hoodlums (June 17). 尽管如此, the tunnel proved a success 和 continues to this day as the MBTA’s Blue Line, running the roughly six mile route between Bowdoin Station 和 Wonderl和. Perennial discussions of extending the line to Lynn 和 Saugus since 1926 have yet to bear fruit.