William J. Day Boulevard, or Day Boulevard, is a coastal parkway in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Beginning at

Morrissey Boulevard Morrissey Boulevard is a six-lane divided coastal road in the Dorchester, Boston, Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned and maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). ...

and Kosciuszko Circle at the northern extent of the Dorchester section of the city, it travels in a gently curving northeasterly direction through

South Boston South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...

along beaches around the west and north shore of Dorchester Bay. It was named for William J. Day. In its eastern part, the road passes through the South Boston Boat Clubs Historic District and Marine Park before ending at Castle Island, site of a historic fort and state park.Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS), Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs - http://www.mass.gov/mgis/dd-over.htm It is owned and maintained by the

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. Th ...

as part of the

Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston The Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston is a system of reservations, parks, parkways and roads under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in and around Boston that has been in existence for over ...

. Carson Beach, M Street Beach and Pleasure Bay are beaches along Day Boulevard that are part of the park system.

History

Day Boulevard was originally called the Strandway, and was planned beginning in the late nineteenth century as the easternmost link of the

Emerald Necklace The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appears ...

, the string of connected parks and waterways created by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

.Heart of the City Project, Center for Urban and Regional Policy, Harvard University and Northeastern University
Plans for the connection of Franklin Park across Dorchester via a parkway to be called Dorchesterway to South Boston and Marine Park at the east end of the South Boston peninsula via the Strandway were not realized, and the route was eventually called Columbia Road. The southern roadway of the two roadways that formed Columbia Road was named William J. Day Boulevard in honor of a popular South Boston political figure after he died in 1950. William Day was the father of

Louise Day Hicks Anna Louise Day Hicks (October 16, 1916 – October 21, 2003) was an American politician and lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for her staunch opposition to desegregation in Boston public schools, and especially to court-ordered ...

, U.S. Representative for South Boston from 1971–73. Day Boulevard is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as part of the Old Harbor Reservation Parkways.

References

{{Streets and squares in Boston Parkways in Massachusetts Streets in Boston Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts