Qualla: Boston: The City Built on Landfill and Revolution

Boston: The City Built on Landfill and Revolution: Introduction

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Elijah8192, CC BY 4.0. Boston was a peninsula when the Puritans arrived in 1630 - the Shawmut Peninsula, connected to the mainland by a narrow neck that flooded at high tide. The city that exists today is largely artificial: the Back Bay neighborhood sits on fill dumped over 40 years beginning in 1857; the Seaport District is built on waterfront landfill; about a third of modern Boston is land that didn't exist at founding. The city that pioneered American independence continues to resist convention: driving here is notoriously confusing, the accent is impenetrable to outsiders, and the sports fans are among America's most devoted and difficult. Boston is old enough to be historic and stubborn enough to stay that way.

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Image: Elijah8192 | CC BY 4.0

Boston: The City Built on Landfill and Revolution: The Revolution

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0. Boston was the crucible of American independence. The Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre, the Tea Party - the provocations that led to revolution concentrated here. Samuel Adams and Paul Revere organized resistance; British occupation radicalized the populace; the shots at Lexi...

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Image: Daniel Schwen | CC BY-SA 4.0

Boston: The City Built on Landfill and Revolution: The Big Dig

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit F. G. Sidney and R. P. Smith., CC BY 2.0. The Central Artery/Tunnel Project - the 'Big Dig' - was the most expensive highway project in American history when completed in 2007, costing roughly $24 billion (originally budgeted at $2.8 billion). The project buried an elevated expressway that divided downtown from the water...

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Image: F. G. Sidney and R. P. Smith. | CC BY 2.0

Boston: The City Built on Landfill and Revolution: The Universities

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ingfbruno, Public domain. Harvard University, founded in 1636, is America's oldest. MIT, founded in 1861, is among the world's most influential engineering schools. Boston University, Northeastern, Tufts, Boston College - the metropolitan area contains more than 35 colleges and universities with over 250,...

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Image: Ingfbruno | Public domain

Boston: The City Built on Landfill and Revolution: The Sports

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ktr101, CC BY 3.0. Boston sports fans are notoriously passionate and historically tortured - until recently. The Red Sox ended their 86-year World Series drought in 2004, attributed to lifting the 'Curse of the Bambino' (from selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees). The Patriots became a dynasty, winning...

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Image: Ktr101 | CC BY 3.0

Boston: The City Built on Landfill and Revolution: Visiting Boston

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ian Howard, CC BY 2.5. Boston is compact and walkable - the Freedom Trail covers 2.5 miles through downtown. The North End is Boston's Italian neighborhood, its restaurants famous for old-school red sauce. Beacon Hill's brick rowhouses and gaslit streets preserve 19th-century ambiance. The Back Bay's b...

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Image: Ian Howard | CC BY 2.5