Deer Island Timeline and Map
Mar. 29th, 2007 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanThis is primarily for the benefit of the Urban Nature Walk participants, but other readers of this journal may find it interesting. It's a timeline and map of Deer Island, a Boston Harbor Island with a rich (if sad) history of human use. We will be walking there this Sunday.
Deer Island Timeline
1634: “The island is so called because of the deer which often swim thither from the main[land] when they are chased by wolves. Some have killed 16 deer in a day upon this island.” 1
1635-1655: Residents of Boston are allowed to come to Deer Island to chop wood. 1
1641: An animal pound (for “swine and goats found roaming around Boston”) is built on the island.1
1675: When colonists and American Indians fall to warring with each other (King Phillips war), Indians who had converted to Christianity and had been living in settlements in Natick and Marlborough were forced to live in internment on Deer Island. As many as half of the 500-1000 interned Natives die of starvation and exposure.2
Early 1847: A hospital is built on Deer Island and is used as a quarantine facility for sick immigrants, intercepting large numbers of people fleeing the Great Potato Famine. 3
1852-1869: Deer Island becomes the location of an “almshouse” (for paupers) a “House of Reformation” (for wayward youngsters) and a “House of Industry” to give these unfortunate souls purpose and labor. A farm was set up, and later, a stone-dressing operation. 1, 3, 4
1889-1895: Municipal sewers constructed: Sewage from 18 cities and towns is held at Moon Island and Deer Island. Sewage is discharged, unprocessed, into the harbor at high tide. 5
1896: Suffolk County House of Corrections moved to Deer Island. The prison operates on the island until 1992.
1919-1933: Repeated instances of shellfish contamination from sewage-related pollution force the call for sewage treatment modernization. By 1939, 250 million gallons of untreated sewage was discharged into the harbor, daily. Treatment plant built on Nut Island in 1952. 5, 6
1938: Hurricane beach erosion fills in “Shirley Gut,” the waterway that had separated Deer Island from the Town of Winthrop. 3
1968: Sewage treatment plant built on Deer Island. Later studies would show that 15-20% of discharged sewage returned to the harbor shores with the next incoming tide. 6
1983-1985: The Town of Quincy and the Conservation Law Association file suits against the MDC and the EPA for the “chronic, unauthorized, and massive discharge of partially treated, often raw sewage into Boston Harbor,” and violations of the 1977 Clean Water Act. 7
1985: Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) created to respond to Clean Water Act violations. Federal Court mandates the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant.5, 6
1991: New primary treatment plant completed.
1997: Deer Island Sewage treatment plant meets Clean Water Act standards for the first time. The plant now handles the sewage from 43 cities and towns.
1. Snow, Edward Rowe. The Islands of Boston Harbor, 1630-1971. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. 1971. pp 197-212.
2. Boston Harbor Islands Partnership Official Website. “Park In-Depth, History and Culture: Native Americans.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://www.bostonislands.org/manage/manage_park_cultural2.html
3. Boston Harbor Islands Partnership Official Website. “Deer Island Facts.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://www.bostonislands.org/factsheet_template.asp?rsIslands__MMColParam=deer
4. Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Images of America: Boston’s Harbor Islands. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing. 1998. pp.58-68.
5. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Online. “A History of the Sewer System.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/03sewer/html/sewhist.htm
6. MIT Sea Grant. “Boston Sewage Tour: Wastewater History.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://web.mit.edu/seagrant/edu/res/bostonsewage/history/index.html
7. Conservation Law Foundation. “Early History of CLF's Fight to Cleanup Boston Harbor: 1983-1986.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://clf.org/programs/cases.asp?id=188
Deer Island Timeline
1634: “The island is so called because of the deer which often swim thither from the main[land] when they are chased by wolves. Some have killed 16 deer in a day upon this island.” 1
1635-1655: Residents of Boston are allowed to come to Deer Island to chop wood. 1
1641: An animal pound (for “swine and goats found roaming around Boston”) is built on the island.1
1675: When colonists and American Indians fall to warring with each other (King Phillips war), Indians who had converted to Christianity and had been living in settlements in Natick and Marlborough were forced to live in internment on Deer Island. As many as half of the 500-1000 interned Natives die of starvation and exposure.2
Early 1847: A hospital is built on Deer Island and is used as a quarantine facility for sick immigrants, intercepting large numbers of people fleeing the Great Potato Famine. 3
1852-1869: Deer Island becomes the location of an “almshouse” (for paupers) a “House of Reformation” (for wayward youngsters) and a “House of Industry” to give these unfortunate souls purpose and labor. A farm was set up, and later, a stone-dressing operation. 1, 3, 4
1889-1895: Municipal sewers constructed: Sewage from 18 cities and towns is held at Moon Island and Deer Island. Sewage is discharged, unprocessed, into the harbor at high tide. 5
1896: Suffolk County House of Corrections moved to Deer Island. The prison operates on the island until 1992.
1919-1933: Repeated instances of shellfish contamination from sewage-related pollution force the call for sewage treatment modernization. By 1939, 250 million gallons of untreated sewage was discharged into the harbor, daily. Treatment plant built on Nut Island in 1952. 5, 6
1938: Hurricane beach erosion fills in “Shirley Gut,” the waterway that had separated Deer Island from the Town of Winthrop. 3
1968: Sewage treatment plant built on Deer Island. Later studies would show that 15-20% of discharged sewage returned to the harbor shores with the next incoming tide. 6
1983-1985: The Town of Quincy and the Conservation Law Association file suits against the MDC and the EPA for the “chronic, unauthorized, and massive discharge of partially treated, often raw sewage into Boston Harbor,” and violations of the 1977 Clean Water Act. 7
1985: Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) created to respond to Clean Water Act violations. Federal Court mandates the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant.5, 6
1991: New primary treatment plant completed.
1997: Deer Island Sewage treatment plant meets Clean Water Act standards for the first time. The plant now handles the sewage from 43 cities and towns.
1. Snow, Edward Rowe. The Islands of Boston Harbor, 1630-1971. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. 1971. pp 197-212.
2. Boston Harbor Islands Partnership Official Website. “Park In-Depth, History and Culture: Native Americans.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://www.bostonislands.org/manage/manage_park_cultural2.html
3. Boston Harbor Islands Partnership Official Website. “Deer Island Facts.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://www.bostonislands.org/factsheet_template.asp?rsIslands__MMColParam=deer
4. Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Images of America: Boston’s Harbor Islands. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing. 1998. pp.58-68.
5. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Online. “A History of the Sewer System.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/03sewer/html/sewhist.htm
6. MIT Sea Grant. “Boston Sewage Tour: Wastewater History.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://web.mit.edu/seagrant/edu/res/bostonsewage/history/index.html
7. Conservation Law Foundation. “Early History of CLF's Fight to Cleanup Boston Harbor: 1983-1986.” Accessed 2/12/07. http://clf.org/programs/cases.asp?id=188
