By 1950, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its capital city had fallen on hard times. With the region's railroads in decline and the roads in appalling disrepair, the difficulty of moving people and goods around the state and into its largest port was taking a heavy toll on the economy. The solution came in 1952 from one man and the road he devoted the last decade of his life to building. The man was William Callahan, and the road was the Massachusetts Turnpike. Building the Mass Pike tells the story of the roadÃs planning, construction, and impact on the communities through which it passed. The book includes previously unpublished images from the Turnpike Authority archives and provides a vivid document of the largest public works project in the state's history and the firestorm of controversy that surrounded it. Written by an engineer-historian, Building the Mass Pike will appeal not only to those fascinated by the history of the Commonwealth and its capital but also to those with an interest in construction, urban history, and the politics of old Boston.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Yanni K. Tsipis holds degrees in civil engineering and urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A Boston native, he is the author of Arcadia Publishing's Boston's Central Artery, the bestselling account of the construction of the elevated expressway through the city. Tsipis leads walking tours around Boston and serves on the editorial board of Civil Engineering Practice, the journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great picture and history book,
By
This review is from: Building the Mass Pike (Images of America) (Paperback)
This is a great book to anyone who grew up around the Mass Turnpike. It is very interesting to see the pictures of the land before the Pike. I would have like to have seen more text but that is more the fault of the series and not the author. I own this book and think it is a fine addition to any collection on Boston history.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too Boston Centric!,
By
This review is from: Building the Mass Pike (Images of America) (Paperback)
I wanted to like this book but was disappointed in it. There are 135 miles of the Mass Pike. About 10 or 12 miles of the road are inside Route 128 but out of 120 or more pages in the book about 80 deal with those 10 or 12 miles. For a Western Mass resident like me, that was disappointing but not surprising. We're used to it. Boston is the only place in Mass that matters to some people. Perhaps the most Dramatic structure on the entire Pike is the Westfield River Bridge. It's 150 feet high or more but you don't see that in this book. You don't see it when you drive over it either. It's at the bottom of the steep decline pictured in the book in Russell. You don't see the Bridge unless you get off the Highway and view it from U. S. Route 20, the road the Pike replaced. It is quite dramatic but totally absent from this book. The book is poorer for it.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Photographic History,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Building the Mass Pike (Images of America) (Paperback)
In a way the sparse narrative in what is essentially a photo colelction is a tease because the pictures really pique your interest; and the "rest of the story" is not told. Nonetheless, anybody who rides the Pike, lives in or around the Pike or has an interest in big road building project will find this little book fascinating. The author tries to orient the reader in all of the pictures because so much of what was available for reference is either gone now or because the pictures themselves have a moonscape quality to them. I would have liked a large locator map in the front of the book, with reference to it tagged on each photo. That would have helped me to "put things in place" in my mind. I also would have liked a little more detail on why things went they way they did (why did the Pike not go through Worcester, for example). All that being said, however, I know a lot more about the Mass Pike now than I did before; which is what I hoped would happen when I bought the book.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
In the spring of 1952, neither Boston's actual condition nor its future prospects especially impressed William Callahan. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
initial turnpike, turnpike work, turnpike extension, turnpike construction Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Turnpike Authority, William Callahan, New York, Courtesy Perini Corporation, Central Artery, Washington Street, Back Bay, Massachusetts Avenue, Boylston Street, Huntington Avenue, Kenmore Square, Newton Corner, Harrison Avenue, New Haven, Prudential Center, Beacon Park, Newbury Street, Commonwealth Avenue, Massachusetts Department of Public Works, Beacon Street, Boston University, Center Street, South End Armory, Brookline Avenue, Dartmouth Street New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In the spring of 1952, neither Boston's actual condition nor its future prospects especially impressed William Callahan. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
initial turnpike, turnpike work, turnpike extension, turnpike construction Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Turnpike Authority, William Callahan, New York, Courtesy Perini Corporation, Central Artery, Washington Street, Back Bay, Massachusetts Avenue, Boylston Street, Huntington Avenue, Kenmore Square, Newton Corner, Harrison Avenue, New Haven, Prudential Center, Beacon Park, Newbury Street, Commonwealth Avenue, Massachusetts Department of Public Works, Beacon Street, Boston University, Center Street, South End Armory, Brookline Avenue, Dartmouth Street New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > History > Americas > United States > State & Local
