Walden Street Cattle Pass
Encyclopedia
Walden Street Cattle Pass, also referred to as the cow path, is an historic site adjacent to the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line
right-of-way, under the Walden Street Bridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. It was added to the National Historic Register in 1994.
The site, a tunnel for moving cattle between the railroad and the nearby stockyards of the 19th century, was built in 1857. The cattle yards were closed in 1868 or "about 1871", but the cattle trade continued; "until the 1920s, cows were unloaded here and driven down Massachusetts Avenue, through Harvard Square, and across the river to the Brighton Abattoir".
Restoration (re-pointing) of the tunnel's brickwork was carried out during the 2007-08 replacement of the second-generation bridge dating from 1914. The third-generation bridge opened for traffic in December 2008. The Cambridge City Council has discussed creation of a vantage point for viewing the tunnel.
Fitchburg Line
The Fitchburg Line is an MBTA line that runs from Boston's North Station to Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. It is one of the...
right-of-way, under the Walden Street Bridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. It was added to the National Historic Register in 1994.
The site, a tunnel for moving cattle between the railroad and the nearby stockyards of the 19th century, was built in 1857. The cattle yards were closed in 1868 or "about 1871", but the cattle trade continued; "until the 1920s, cows were unloaded here and driven down Massachusetts Avenue, through Harvard Square, and across the river to the Brighton Abattoir".
Restoration (re-pointing) of the tunnel's brickwork was carried out during the 2007-08 replacement of the second-generation bridge dating from 1914. The third-generation bridge opened for traffic in December 2008. The Cambridge City Council has discussed creation of a vantage point for viewing the tunnel.
