Neponset River
Encyclopedia
The Neponset River is a river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in eastern Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 in the United States. The headwaters of the Neponset are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near the Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 21 miles southwest of downtown Boston and from downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for the New England Patriots football team and the New England Revolution...

. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for approximately 29 miles (46.7 km) to its mouth at Dorchester Bay
Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor)
Dorchester Bay is the smallest of the three small bays of southern Boston Harbor, part of Massachusetts Bay and forming the south shoreline of the South Boston neighborhood and northeast shoreline of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, as well as the north shore of the city of Quincy in...

 between Quincy
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

 and the Dorchester section of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, near the painted gas tank
Rainbow Swash
The Rainbow Swash is a work by Corita Kent in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The rainbow design painted on a tall LNG storage tank is the largest copyrighted work of art in the world...

.

The Neponset River forms the southern boundary of the city of Boston, through the neighborhoods of Readville
Readville, Massachusetts
Readville, called Low Plains from 1655 until renaming in 1847 after Mr. James Read originally part of Dedham until 1867 but now a part of Boston, is considered either a part of the Hyde Park neighborhood, or a neighborhood in its own right. It is served by Readville station on the MBTA Commuter Rail...

, Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Massachusetts
Hyde Park is a dissolved municipality and currently the southernmost neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Hyde Park is home to a diverse range of people, housing types and social groups. It is an urban location with suburban characteristics...

, Mattapan
Mattapan, Massachusetts
Mattapan is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Historically a section of neighboring Dorchester, Mattapan became a part of Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 36,480...

 and Dorchester
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents. Dorchester, including a large...

, with the northern border of the city of Quincy
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

. In addition, the Neponset touches the towns of Foxborough, Walpole
Walpole, Massachusetts
Walpole is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located about south of Boston and north of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was 24,070 at the 2010 census. Walpole was first settled in 1659 and was considered a part of Dedham until officially incorporated in 1724...

, Sharon
Sharon, Massachusetts
Sharon is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,612 at the 2010 census. Sharon is part of Greater Boston, about 17 miles southwest of downtown Boston....

, Norwood
Norwood, Massachusetts
Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,602. The community was named after Norwood, England...

, Canton
Canton, Massachusetts
Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,561 at the 2010 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles southwest of downtown Boston.- History :...

, Westwood
Westwood, Massachusetts
Westwood is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 14,618 at the 2010 census. In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Westwood 13th on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States. Boston Magazine listed Gay Street in Westwood on its...

, Dedham
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,729 at the 2010 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest by Westwood and on the southeast by...

, and Milton
Milton, Massachusetts
Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 27,003 at the 2010 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and architect Buckminster Fuller. Milton also has the highest percentage of...

.

The Neponset River is fed by a drainage basin
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 or watershed of approximately 130 square miles. The Neponset River watershed includes numerous aquifers, wetlands, streams and surrounding upland areas. In addition to the towns listed above, the watershed includes portions of Stoughton
Stoughton, Massachusetts
Stoughton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,962 at the 2010 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, and from Cape Cod.-History:...

, Medfield
Medfield, Massachusetts
Medfield is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,024 according to the 2010 Census. Medfield is an affluent community about 17 miles southwest of Boston....

, Dover
Dover, Massachusetts
Dover is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,589 at the 2010 census.Located about southwest of downtown Boston, Dover is a residential town nestled on the south banks of the Charles River. Almost all of the residential zoning requires or larger...

, and Randolph
Randolph, Massachusetts
The Town of Randolph is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 32,112. Randolph adopted a new charter effective January 2010 providing for a council-manager form of government instead of the traditional town meeting...

. Altogether some 250,000 people live in the Neponset River watershed.

History

The falling waters of the Neponset provided the energy for the country's first water-powered grist mill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...

, gunpowder mill, paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

 and the Revere Copper Company
Revere Copper Company
The Revere Copper Company was North America's first rolled copper mill. It was started by Paul Revere in 1801 in Canton, Massachusetts and developed a commercially viable process for manufacturing copper sheets....

, among others.

The river's recorded history begins in 1619 when fur trading started by the English on Thompson's Island, and Native Americans used the Neponset River to bring skins for sale.

The upper stretch of the Neponset River, in Foxborough, Walpole and Norwood, is steeply sloped, however, dropping about 228 feet (69 m) over its first 12 miles (19 km) and so the earliest years of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

 truly brought the Neponset to prominence. In 1635, Israel Stoughton
Israel Stoughton
Israel Stoughton was an early English colonist in Massachusetts, and later a Parliamentarian officer in the First English Civil War.-Life:...

 built the first dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 on the Neponset (only the second dam in entire New World) for his grist mill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...

. It was the first of three mills for flour, gun powder and paper making. In 1640 shipbuilding began at Gulliver's Creek Wharf, and in 1673 John Trescott built a lumber mill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 on the river.

In 1765, a chocolate mill was established by Dr. James Baker and Irish immigrant John Hannon (later known as Baker's Chocolate
Baker's chocolate (brand)
Baker's Chocolate is a brand name for the line of baking chocolates made by the Kraft Foods corporation. Products include a variety of bulk chocolates, including white and unsweetened, and sweetened coconut flakes...

) in the Lower Mills
Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District
Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial District is an historic district on both sides of the Neponset River in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts and the Town of Milton, Massachusetts...

 section of Dorchester
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents. Dorchester, including a large...

, and in 1770 Daniel Vose's Wholesale Shipping Warehouses at the second Milton Town Landing at Lower Mills were at the peak of their operation. Ship building and commercial shipping were the major river industries at the estuary. In 1773 George Clark built a paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

 on remnants of Trescott's Lumber Mill, which became the Tileston and Hollingsworth Paper Mill in 1836. And in 1826, the river became the terminus of the Granite Railway
Granite Railway
-References:** privately printed for The Granite Railway Company, 1926.* Scholes, Robert E. , .******Dutton, E.P. Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines around Quincy and Milton including the Granite Railroad.* * *...

, the first commercial railway in the United States. This river was central to the establishment of the town of Walpole.

Tributaries

A tributary of the Neponset River located in Canton, Massachusetts, is called the Canton River
Canton River
The Canton River cuts through downtown Canton, Massachusetts tracing down Washington and Neponset Streets , and continues down Walpole Street, and is a tributary of the Neponset River, with a few tributaries on the side. It is also called the East Branch [of the] Neponset River....

, which flows under the Canton Viaduct
Canton Viaduct
Canton Viaduct is the oldest blind arcade cavity wall bridge in the world and it was the longest and tallest railroad bridge ever built when it was completed in 1835. It is the last surviving bridge of its kind and has been in continuous service for years; it now carries high-speed passenger and...

.

Pollution and cleanup

After much remediation, the Neponset is now cleaner than it has been for almost two centuries. At present two dams block fish from entering the river; there is some pressure for their removal.

Recreation

Today the Neponset River and its watershed are increasingly being protected and opened up as a recreational destination for the benefit of local residents. Several recommendations of the 1966 Lower Neponset River Reservation Master Plan have been implemented, including the reclamation of the former Hallet Street landfill and the old Neponset Drive-In to provide the 66 acres (267,092.8 m²) Pope John Paul II Park
Pope John Paul II Park Reservation
Pope John Paul II Park Reservation, also known as Pope Park, is a Massachusetts state park located in Dorchester. The park is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation...

, which opened to the public in 2001. At Squantum Point in Quincy
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

, phase one of Squantum Point Park
Squantum Point Park
Squantum Point Park is a park located on the Squantum peninsula of Quincy, Massachusetts. It is located on the site of the former Squantum Naval Air Station. All that remains of the former air station is part of a runway which runs for 2,700 feet....

, 25 acres (101,171.5 m²) of a 50 acres (202,343 m²) former U.S. Navy Airfield, was developed as waterfront parkland with assistance from National Grid plc
National Grid plc
National Grid plc is a multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom and northeastern United States and it is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world.National Grid is listed on...

 and dedicated in the spring of 2001. Also 2.4 miles (3.9 km) of the Lower Neponset River Trail opened in 2003.

External links


Massachusetts°N date=June 2009°W
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