Celebrating its 35th anniversary, Danehy Park stands as a shining example of successful urban planning and a vital green space for the Cambridge community.
Renowned for its creative approach to urban spaces, the park has become an integral part of neighborhood life, with residents finding it hard to imagine their community without it, as noted by Beth Folsom, a historian and program manager at History Cambridge.
The park now occupies a 50-acre area that has undergone a remarkable transformation.
Historically, the land was known for its clay deposits, and in the 19th century, it thrived as part of a booming brick industry.
In fact, during its peak, the demand for bricks led to the production of 2,000 bricks daily, making the most of Cambridge clay.
However, the brick industry’s decline marked a shift for the area.
By the mid-20th century, the land had been converted into a garbage dump, a status it would hold until the early 1970s.
A significant turning point came in the late 1970s when the dirt and rock from the MBTA’s Red Line extension project began to fill the site.
This project, which aimed to provide better transit access in North Cambridge and Somerville, allowed for the reclamation of the former landfill.
Charles Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, explained that solving the public liability of the landfill while addressing the need for a place to deposit Red Line tunnel waste was crucial to the park’s creation.
The transformation of Danehy Park helped address the issues of methane gas emissions and toxic runoff that made the land unfit for housing.
Sullivan referred to the integration of tunnel refuse into the landfill reclamation as a
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