{"nrhp_refnum":"04001432","name":"VFW Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"VFW Parkway, bet. Spring And Centre Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.29637350000007,"lon":-71.14461589218925,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-01-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Conservation","Engineering","Landscape Architecture","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2.5-mile, four-lane divided parkway in Boston and a small part of Brookline, Massachusetts, running from Centre Street to Spring Street. It was built between 1931 and 1942 as part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.","why_significant":"The parkway is presented as a relatively unaltered connecting boulevard designed for the Metropolitan Parks Commission. It linked the Charles River Reservation with West Roxbury Parkway and on to other reservations. It is significant for community development and planning, engineering, landscape architecture and transportation at the state level.","narrative":"VFW Parkway is a 2.5-mile divided roadway running through West Roxbury in Boston and a short stretch of Brookline, from Centre Street to Spring Street. Built in sections between 1931 and 1942, it connects the Charles River Reservation with West Roxbury Parkway, which leads to other reservations in the regional park system. The road has four asphalt lanes separated by a median, granite curbs, and sidewalks. Its best-known feature is a canopy of oaks planted along the edges and median to form a formal allee. Other contributing elements include a clay pipe culvert, the Frank R. Kelly Memorial Rotary of 1934, and a railroad bridge built for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Work by the Works Progress Administration added beautification and drainage improvements. The parkway is recognized for its largely unaltered design and its role in community development, engineering, landscape architecture and transportation, with a period of significance of 1931 to 1956.","period_of_significance":"1931-1956","architect_builder":"Charles Eliot, Olmsted Brothers","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still owned and administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation; remains a heavily traveled arterial route with mostly maintenance-related changes using in-kind materials.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.874584-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/91/7927/63792791/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/04001432.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001432/7fa0e95432-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001432/7fa0e95432-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VFW_Parkway_near_the_Educational_Complex,_West_Roxbury_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VFW_Parkway_near_the_Educational_Complex,_West_Roxbury_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792791","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_of_Foreign_Wars_Parkway","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1156117"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/vfw-parkway-metropolitan-park-system-of-greater-boston-04001432/"}