{"nrhp_refnum":"08000089","name":"Dorchester Park","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Bounded by Dorchester Ave., Richmond, Adams & Richview Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.27759270650006,"lon":-71.06474019258961,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-02-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Dorchester Park is a 28.45-acre municipal park in the Lower Mills area of Dorchester, Boston, established in 1891 as part of the Olmsted-designed Boston park system. It is a naturalistic woodland park bounded by Dorchester Avenue and Richmond, Adams and Richview Streets.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the park as a well-preserved example of the Olmsted firm's naturalistic neighborhood park design, with curvilinear paths, woodland and rock outcrops intended as relief from the city. It also has strong ties to the Dorchester Lower Mills community. A 1734 mile marker set into the Adams Street wall is described as a rare surviving feature of early Dorchester.","narrative":"Dorchester Park is a 28.45-acre city park in the Lower Mills section of Dorchester, Boston, laid out beginning in 1891 as part of the Olmsted-designed park system. It was conceived as a natural woodland retreat from the growing city, and it still reads that way: rolling ground, outcrops of Roxbury puddingstone, many oaks, and curving paths that follow the terrain with mowed edges that open views. Built features include granite walls along Dorchester Avenue and Adams Street from 1899, and fieldstone retaining walls added by the WPA in the 1930s beside the baseball field. A sandstone mile marker carved in 1734 is set into the Adams Street wall. Later additions include a playground, tennis courts and a Little League field, which remain subordinate to the woodland. The park is described as well preserved, with particularly high integrity in its western and central woodlands, and it has been in continuous use by neighbors and nearby school children.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Olmsted firm (Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.); WPA built the 1930s fieldstone walls","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Remains in active use as a neighborhood park with woodland, paths, playground, tennis courts and ball fields; the northeastern leg is described as overgrown with some dumping.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.499743-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/58/7970/63797058/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/08000089.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000089/a6b000af8d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000089/a6b000af8d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorchester_Park_Boston_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Dorchester_Park_Boston_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797058","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorchester_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5297616"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/dorchester-park-08000089/"}