Let’s hear it for Ed and Nancy

Ed’s my dad! He’s always been so pationate about Boston and it’s history. This is really well done, great job Daniel!

When I moved here to Boston in 1996, there was a enormous billboard facing the Big Dig that read: “Rome wasn’t built in day. If it had been, we would have hired their contractor.”

The biggest failure of the big dig was that they didn’t include a rail connection between North and South Station. This would’ve unified the commuter rail system and actually reduced traffic on the highway Philly did this around the 80’s with their commuter rail and it works surprisingly well despite SEPTA’s severe underfunding

As someone who has grown up 15 miles outside of Boston, I would absolutely watch a 90 minute version of this. Fantastic job!

Boston local here! Loved the video! Though I do want to make a note on the Big Dig and the central artery which came before it. The creation of that first highway was in direct response to an increase in federal interstate funding in combination with wealthy white Bostonians moving to the suburbs as the schools were integrated. Its creation entailed the destruction of growing immigrant neighborhoods to service wealthy white suburbanites, and was the first part of a project which claimed a significant portion of JP and Roxbury (where I live). It was also intended to carve through more working class neighborhoods in Cambridge and Allston, chopping through the heart of what is now central square. That plan ended up being met with such fierce resistance from the local communities that the current governor, the man who has initially signed off on the plan, walked it all back and committed to no more land seizures for highway construction. Tremendous respect for Ed and Nancy and what they do, but the Big Dig is much much more than putting the problem underground. The Big Dig is a testament to the people of Boston who fought to make sure no one would have their home destroyed by unaccountable highway authorities. Cambridge would be unable to create the bike and pedestrian infrastructure it has today if it had the traffic load of an interstate off-ramp in its center. Where I live would be right up against a highway not used by the majority of residents around it. The Big Dig may have a messy legacy, but is a rare example of not just do-no-harm infrastructure, but infrastructure which actively seeks to heal the wounds of the past.

This made me realize (again) how Fallout 4's rendition of Boston is really, really compacted. The Boston Common is just a small park in the game, when it's actually a massive green space.

They said that the "big dig" just moved the problem under ground but I think I would much rather have a more pleasant, walkable city with plenty of green parks with the traffic under my feet than a massive highway.

17:27 as a lifelong mass resident, the Rose Kennedy Greenway is probably my favorite park in the city. We did what so many cities are too scared to do, and made a major change that greatly improved the walkability and enjoyment of the area. The project started before I was born so I never got to see what the highway looked like, but I'm very grateful that its a park and not an eyesore. It would be better for us to not need the highway at all, but at least its out of sight

I think adding in Cambridge in the maps as a way to give a bit of reference to the viewers would have been nice. Nowadays, Cambridge is synonymous with Boston. Back in the 1700s, it was a completely different city that was very very far from Boston as you had to cross through the small piece of land connecting Boston to the continent, go around the Back Bay and cross the Charles River. The mouth of the Charles river was East of Cambridge and it can't even be seen in most of these old pictures, which really gives you an idea of how much the Boston metro has truly grown. Thank you for your research. I appreciate videos like this and I really hope Boston keeps its colonial aesthetics in the future as well

As a land surveyor in Boston I love this video. I think you missed out a bit by not involving the actual laying out of the city. Its fascinating how the street lines were physically established and how surveyors perpetuate that today using work done by those surveyors of the past. Great work!

As a lifelong Boston-area history and infrastructure nerd, bravo on an excellent video! One minor nit: the park immediately west of Boston Common is the Public Garden, _not_ Boston Garden. Boston Garden was the old arena used by the Bruins and the Celtics up to 1995 when it was replaced with what was originally called the FleetCenter and is now the TD Garden. (Fun fact: before the building was completed, Fleet Bank bought Shawmut Bank for less money than Shawmut had paid for the naming rights to the new arena.) Might also have mentioned that the "new" State House was completed in 1798, though it's been expanded quite a bit since then.

I’ve never been to Boston, but to me it’s very similar to Montreal! A piece of ancient history in the US. Looks beautiful.

As a Bostonian, I learned some things from this I didn't already know! Thank you for giving the world a tour of our city ❤

THANK YOU for your focus on the West End. My family lived there and were forced out by the redevelopment. The ghosts of my ancestors thank you for telling their story!

I love the intimacy with the interviewees and their expertise. As noted, there are so many other aspects of Boston to learn about, including the Revolutionary War events and locations.

I hate cities, but I lived in Back Bay for a year and, as far as I can be said to have "a City", Boston is *my* City. This is the best, most respectful, most insightful deconstruction of the history of the personality of Boston I've ever watched. Kudos, Daniel.

Great video. The lamps in Beacon Hill are still lit via gas. There is a discussion going on right now about replacing them with LEDs, but due to the expense it has not yet happened. This is why you will see the lamps continuously lit even in daylight (there is no off switch to the gas).

I grew up in Boston, and this is pretty cool to learn. In Dorchester on the Red Line, there's a stop called Shawmut. I never knew that it was named that because of the little strip of land connecting old Boston to the main land until right now.

17:45 - the tall white spires / panels behind Ed are remaining vertical beams from the original raised highway! Really cool to walk through that section of the park and recognize just how much space used to be taken up by that road. I was born the year the big dig began, but I never heard the full history of Boston’s public works projects. Thanks for bringing these stories together!!

Quickest sub ever. Excellent presentation. Could’ve easily watched another 30 mins of this!

I grew up in Needham Heights and was often told by my dad how they used the land in our part of town to fill in back bay. One time I was in the yard and found a horseshoe, probably from some old farm who knows how long ago. As you get older you appreciate the history more and more.

I have lived in Boston since 1997, and this is the first time that I have seen a lucid explanation of how Boston was laid out and filled in to the state that it is today. So many little beats of history and culture that influenced the city's development that go well beyond the *cow paths* story that most everyone repeats. As far as American cities go, it looks to be one that is the most built up that I am aware of when it comes to terraforming itself into existence in the midst of other historical developments.

Awesome video. Your subscriber count is criminally low for this level of quality. I am hoping that me seeing this is a sign that the youtube algo gods are gracing you with an influx of well deserved views. Keep up the great work. Storytelling, characters, video work, pacing, cuts, animation.... all great.

Maps are my guilty pleasure, and its amazing how much history is tucked away within. Keep up the good work. Id love an episode on Chicago, and its suburbs, or Houston. In fact, just keep doing you. I'm going to watch regardless.

Okay... can I just take a moment to say this. WHY do you not have more subscribers? Only 6k??? Your storytelling, your style, the way you shoot, the quality of your camera, the editing, SFX, and your audio quality... all are A-level stuff! Johnny Harris-level. Seriously. You are so talented and I can't wait to see what else you do! Subbed!

I moved to Boston well before the big dig. I chuckle to myself about how when I first moved here, like most other new arrivals, I'd drive with a huge map book in my car, with each pair of pages laying out a town or section of the cities (greater Boston is a collection of cities and towns). When I would get lost, which happened frequently, I'd pull up to a stop light and open up that book and frantically try to figure out where the heck I was before the light turned. And it always seemed like the street signs would tell me what road I was on, but never the name of the cross street (or vice versa)! Now with GPS, it's no problem finding your way, but man, it was a challenge back in the not so distant past to find your way around - I can't even count how many times I helped tourists find their way. And of course, I never remembered street names, it would be "...when you get to the hardware store, take a right - not the sharp right, but the gradual one, and then a left at the building with the green awning... you can't miss it!"😄

Being from Boston, this is a great video and covers a lot of what happened and their results. There are two major topics I'm surprised you didn't touch on. 1) Storrow Drive. This is one of the major roads through the city and was a huge change to how the land along the Charles was laid out. 2) 128/93. When you talk about the big dig moving that road underground there is even more to the history of it. 128 and 93 were never intended to be the same road. They were supposed to be two separate roads to bring in traffic from the north east and north respectively. I don't know how true it is, but I remember hearing as a kid that you can still see the dirt mounds of where the road was supposed to be built in what is now the Saugus marsh. While this project never game to fruition, the land moved to start the project had an impact on the shoreline. As a side note, despite being a giant quagmire, the Big Dig was very successful. The new parks and roadways are great in that area. Yes the traffic is still bad, but for anyone who remembers the old system, it used to be terrible.

My housemate just dropped this video on me, and it was a wild coincidence. I am a volunteer docent at a historical site, and just today was using Nancy Seasholes' newest book to explain some of the things we need to cover. It is 100% related to the old structure of Boston as almost an island. And I explain to people how Governor Gage sent his troops to our Powder House (now in Somerville) up the Mystic River instead of going the long way around by foot. Great explanations! Thanks so much for this, and now I'm off to check out Ed's maps too.

This video was fantastic!! I would love to see a part 2 where you cover the areas moving away from downtown. For example, I live in Fenway and would love to know more about how this neighborhood was planned. Or Jamaica Plain or Dorchester. Also, the main Public Library has a room called the Map Room and it’s this massive display of Boston maps over time. Highly recommend it (you can also do a high tea or get a beer while at the library).

Awesome video. I grew up and live in Dorchester and worked downtown for 30 years. This video has an excellent feel for the city. I knew, of course about the land fill in the harbor and Back Bay, also South Bay, but never knew the details so well presented here.

As someone who grew up 30 mins north of Boston who only found out about the land making earlier this year, this was incredibly fascinating! Great job, I was also shocked to see you didnt have hundreds of thousands subscribers, keep up the great work and you'll get there!

This is fascinating. I have worked in downtown Boston for over 40 years, and have always wondered how these strange streets came to what they are today. As I sit here now, in the Bulfinch triangle, where I have worked for the past 10 years and seen enormous change, it's interesting to imagine what Boston looked like 300 years ago.

Excellent video. I have lived in Boston for over 20 years and I still learned things about the evolution of the city. Thank you for this. If you wanted to take a deeper dive, the impact of the Central Artery on neighborhoods and later the completion of the Big Dig could be a good video all on its own. Used to be you'd get on and immediately come to a halt in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour or more, no matter what time of day or night. Now it is exponentially better. Still has backups but nothing like the old days. And the neighborhoods that have been reconnected to the city thanks to the Greenway have thrived as well. Again, thanks for this. Great job!

This is EXCELLENT! One of the glorious reasons that KZfaq is useful! I purchased an old Paul Revere Map of Boston and it shows all of these contours you speak of. Thank you so much for the background on my own map

First time watcher. Great video. I live in South Boston. In fact most of the “new land was south Boston and the seaport district which came at an ever later date - not to mention all of Logan airport too. You have a PT 2 video idea now ! I’ll be subscribing and looking out for it.

I've been to Boston more than any other city, living in Maine and Mass my entire life. I love the city, even with all of it's quirks and strange decisions made in the past. This was a fantastic video, and I'm really glad KZfaq fed it to me! Thank you very much, instantly subscribed!

The quality of this video is amazing, u should have way more attention 🙏

The gas lamps were leaking a lot. It was really bad for the air quality and environment. The shift to the LEDs was a necessary upgrade. Also they aren't the original gas lamps, they were installed in the 70s to make the neighborhood feel more historic

Really like your video, very clear, and fun. Both guests works very nicely together, one from professional view, one feels part of the city. Living here for so long haven’t really thought of these questions, makes me wanna explore more.

Really good production work, please make more videos like these ones!

Such a fantastic video! You're an amazing storyteller, I go to college in Boston right now and knew nothing about boston's land expansion! Great job, looking forward to the next!

This is so crazy because I was LITERALLY just thinking about how crazy it is that Boston used to be a little island type set up today and this video popped up in my recommended like it read my mind.

This was absolutely fascinating! I've lived in Boston since 2014 (and was born and raised about an hour west of Boston), and I didn't know almost anything that was covered in this video. I did know that much of Boston's land was "made", but I didn't realize how much, or the fact that in was done in chunks to make new neighborhoods. Really cool video!

Very interesting and extremely well presented video. Just stumbled on your channel for the first time and you deserve more views, keep it up!

The Blake House is also in Boston, still stands, and is from the 1600s. There are others, as well.

I wish this was explained in my Massachusetts schools growing up. This was extremely fascinating. Some great shots from the past and present too. Well done.

My dad was born in Boston and grew up in West Roxbury…he became a marine and landscape artist and painted many paintings of Quincy Market in 1830…and the hills of Boston that were cut down are there in the background. He told me years ago the hills were cut down for land making…and I’m glad I just stumbled upon your video and seeing the drawings of the hills being cut. My great grandparents’ farm in Newton actually supplied Quincy Market with produce (when it was an actual market) and my dad drove their truck and delivered there as a teenager.

What a great video Daniel! Just discovered your channel and I appreciate all the work you put into research and visuals Cheers from Montreal!

Wonderful historic and travel video. I visited Boston for the first time last year. It a very walkable city with decent mass transit. Most of the historical sights in central are all available by foot. Neighborhoods are well defined, with their own unique locally owned. Businesses. Convenient airport and train terminal. I highly recommend visiting!

This video is awesome Daniel. Quality, quality stuff. Ed is the best!

This is likely the most accurate, concise, and well edited video I have ever seen on this topic. Instant subscribe.

Awesome format and production - first I've seen of yours and would love more!

As a local who’s read a lot of Boston history, kudos for making such a great overview - I’ll use your video to help friends get oriented when they visit! 😊 Had never heard about the rope walk theory, that’s extremely cool. Small nitpick, “Boston Garden” is the old name for where the Celtics played, we just call the actual gardens in the Back Bay the “Public Garden”. 😂

Went to BU graduating in 1991 so I saw the end of the elevated highway. I love going back to the city and seeing how it has changed. To me, one of the most interesting cities I know in this respect. Thank you for this!

Daniel, this is the best video I've seen in a while. Thanks for putting the time into making it.

Great work on getting this video done man! History of such a significant city for the US is fascinating! There’s so much character and so much to learn from these east coast cities, especially those located in the New England states!

Great video! I briefly lived in Boston and it gave me joy to further understand the history and recognize many of the places

Boston Back Bay alphabet streets, East to West: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, Hereford, Ipswich, Jersey, Kilmarnock. Mass Ave doesn't count (!), and the Back Bay Fens disrupted the gridding. I learned it that way from my dad.

Between this video, a few other Boston videos, but particularly the GBH series on the Big Dig, I might just visit Boston later this year.

I was born and raised in Massachusetts -- to this day at almost 27 years old I still don't think I've ever spent longer than 3 weeks at a time outside of the Commonwealth. Needless to say, Boston is one of my most beloved cities on the planet. This video is remarkably enlightening about the city's history, and does phenomenally well to tell the story of its map. I am SO proud of you for jaywalking at 15:30. #oneofus As a onetime BU student, I do need to pick one nit -- it's Comm Ave, not Com Ave. Not sure if that was a typo or just writing what you heard, but that second m belongs in there when abbreviating, which we do 99% of the time. Fun fact, we also abbreviate Massachusetts Avenue (a main north-south thoroughfare which intersects with Comm Ave and runs continuously as far north as the town of Arlington) to Mass Ave 99% of the time. Thank you so much for visiting our lovely city and for taking the time to make such an excellent video on it.

As a fellow Bostonian who was born and raised in Boston I thought I knew everything about Boston and it's development over the years but thank you because I learned a lot. Boston is so rich in history. Best city in the US.

I’m a quarter way way through the video and am so grateful someone has done this. I’ve been curious my whole life. Thank you

I enjoyed the video you deserve more views and subs so i helped with both!

This was such a great video. Like many other commenters, I would happily watch a much longer version. I'll say a couple of things in defense of some elements of what was discussed. 1. re the West End and the flattening of all the housing and moving people out. Much of that area is now filled with the many many buildings that comprise Mass General Hsp and all its associated buildings. It is not just one of the best hospitals in the US, but in the world. Though my family comes from Boston, I moved back to the area, and one of key reasons was Mass General. That hospital, and the people who work there, have, literally, saved my life, several times. It is an absolutely vital and important resource for the people of Boston and New England generally. The people of this area are so incredibly lucky to a modern, utterly fantastically clean, and well organized hospital in the middle of our city. The hospital and its setting are quite unique. What are seen as the best hospitals in NYC, they are terrible compared with Mass General. 2. Keeping monied people in a city isn't simply an act of social snobbery. It is a VERY important fiscal move. Most cities struggle with their finances. I lived in New York in the 70s when it went bankrupt. The fellow who made this video is so young he wouldn't remember it. But imagine, the city that is (& especially was then) the financial centre of the world, declared bankruptcy. Keeping a city economically diverse (by which I mean there is fancy high income housing, mixed in with all other types) helps to keep the city functioning, and it stops ghetto-fication. Plus having monied people around tends to put pressure on institutions to function better. People with cash are infamous for being affective complainers. If local government lets roads, utilities, schools, etc..fall into disrepair, people with cash will get them unelected or make their life hell. Or both. 3. Big dig wise. I love it. Yup there's still traffic, but I prefer it underground. And much of the time it isn't all that bad. The new space in the city is nice, and makes a walkable city still more pleasant to walk around. 100% an improvement. 4. I come from one of those Irish families that came to Boston in the early mid 1800s. I can tell you, I wouldn't have wanted my relatives living anywhere near me either. Hell I wouldn't have wanted me living near me. I have standards!

Well done Danie! Having been in and around Boston all my life it was nice to get the history behind all the quirkiness that makes it so cool. Your video popped up after I'd finished the 9 part GBH podcast on the Big Dig....which I highly recommend.

Love that you found a map enthusiast who can tell us some info with the authentic accent

best video you ever made, i want a Chicago one pls & ty

I lived and went to school and worked in Boston for 8 years and loved it. I grew up in the South in a much newer city so it was planned and mostly laid out on a grid. That makes it easier to navigate but the charm (and challenge) of the meandering streets is wonderful.

What a great video. Well done Daniel, you’ve done amazing work here especially with Ed and Nancy filling gaps in the knowledge bank, but best is the walking and visuals of all the maps and using older maps and footage to show the transformations of Boston!!!

Shame there's not a mention of the true benefit of the Big Dig: reconnecting the North End and the waterfront to the rest of Boston

I'm from near Boston and am somewhat of a cartographer myself, but still learned some new things from your video. Really cool you Nancy & Ed to help you out. Well-researched, well-produced. I guess I'll subscribe even if you are from NYC

Such a well done video! Really appreciate all the hard work put into this. Can't wait to watch more of your vids like this

Fantastic video - loved the deep dive, visuals and research that went into this. Look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

3:39 This is incorrect. The Paul Revere House isn't even the oldest house in Boston. James Blake House at 735 Columbia Road was built in 1661. Thomas Mayo House and Tavern at 2549 Centre Street was also built around 1680 and may predate the Paul Revere House (both are "circa" 1680). Would have been worth talking to the Boston City Archaeologist, Joseph Bagley on this one.

Dan, you did a amazing job with the research! It's not easy to get up to speed on a complex topic like Boston's development, but you really hit a lot of the points that gave the city character. Glad you pointed out that not all of those were necessarily great in hindsight, like demolishing the West End, adding huge highways etc. I lived for about a decade in the North End and truthfully I do miss it sometimes, being able to walk from my apartment to the water's edge.

I'm a native Bostonian and history buff... This was excellent...I, actually, learned a thing or two....great job my man...thanks...

I live in Boston, but I learned a lot from your video, Thanks for making it !!!

Another victim of the urban renewal projects of the 50s and 60s was Scollay Square, immortalized in the Kingston Trio song "M.T.A." If you noticed that an MBTA electronic fare card is called a "CharlieCard", that's because the main character in the song was named Charlie, doomed to forever ride the train because he didn't have the nickel to pay the exit fare. (Scollay Square is where Charlie's wife goes every day to hand him a sandwich as his train passes through. Left unanswered is why she never handed him the nickel he needed. My personal suspicion was that she was having an affair with the train conductor. 🙂)

One thing, the Boston Public Garden is referred to as the “Public Garden”, whereas the “Boston Garden” was a basketball arena that closed in 1995 (replaced by the current TD Garden)

I've now watched two of your videos back to back and I gotta say your content is great! Neither New York's or Bostons layout was news to me, and yet I learned so much! Subscribed! And one additional sentence with an exclamation mark!

My dude, I don’t know who you are or how you have the production quality you do, but I sure am excited that I’ve now found your work and I look forward to seeing your channel grow and grow and grow!!! Great job

The Big dig was an absolute marvel of engineering, it made the city so much more enjoyable in the harbor area, and made getting to the airport way easier. Traffic never goes away in a city that is constantly growing, but the big dig was 100% worth it.

But for real Boston is incredible. Fav city

Loved this video!! Usually the city planning/city related content that gets recommended to me on youtube is so snarky and negative, so this was a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed hearing from Ed and Nancy too :)

What an incredible video man. Can't wait to see you grow.

Nice video, thanks for posting. Just a quick note: It's called the "Public Garden" not "Boston Garden." If you're interested in the history of the Big Dig, there's a recent series by the KZfaq channel GBH News on the subject.

If Ed has millions of fans I am one of them. If Ed has ten fans I am one of them. If Ed has only one fan, that is me. If Ed has no fans, that means I am no longer on the earth. If the world is against Ed, I am against the world.

Great video. For those who want to learn more about The Big Dig, there is a new podcast by that name from the local public broadcasting station that covers it all in detail. One nitpick, Comm Ave is abbreviated with two Ms and not one. Also, when folks think of the lanterns in the Old North Church for Paul Revere secretly announcing “one if by land, two if by sea” that was the secret code to inform if the British regulars were going to leave Boston that night by boat across the flats or by land across the skinny isthmus.

Amazing video Daniel, you deserve a lot of credit for this. I've lived here my entire life and know about 50% of the information here, but man this was awesome. I learned so much!

You need to come back and spend time in the Leventhal Map center at the Boston Public Library. Also, find the book “Streetcar Suburbs” so you can learn about the rest of Boston.

Great job on the video! The hard work really shows.

Came across your channel through your short about NYC and im glad i stuck around. Your content and presenting are really good.

Ed’s my dad! He’s always been so passionate about Boston and it’s history. This is very well done, great job Daniel!

This was so interesting! I've always been fascinated with maps, and knowing the history of why things are they way they are has made me even more interested! Great job Daniel :)

Amazing video ! I really hope that your channel gets the traction it deserves. Wish you the best !!

Great job on this, Daniel. I grew up just south of the Massachusetts border and have been to Boston several times but most of this was new to me. Great stuff!

Bostonian here, it is a nightmare to drive anywhere in the Greater Boston Area, but the erratic street layout makes downtown Boston and Cambridge absolutely beautiful and lovely to walk around.

I can see why this video has exploded for you. Wonderfully done! Very insightful and loved the commentary and guests.

Great job on this! You've done a better job assembling people that understand the history of Boston than most