Morton Street, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston

Morton Street is a parkway about two and a half miles long that crosses southwestern Boston, from the Arborway rotary in Jamaica Plain to Fairmont Street near Gallivan Boulevard in Dorchester. Built in the 1930s by either the state Department of Public Works or the City of Boston, it linked the Emerald Necklace with Gallivan Boulevard and served the Forest Hills Cemetery and Franklin Park. The first segment runs between the park and cemetery, with two lanes each way, a turf median, granite curbs, bicycle lanes and rows of oaks. The second segment passes through dense neighborhoods of triple-decker houses and commercial blocks. In 1956, financial pressures led Boston to hand nearly twenty local parkways, including this one, to the Metropolitan District Commission. Its configuration and materials match the commission's parkway design approach. It was recognized for its role in planning, engineering, landscape architecture and transportation, with a period of significance from the 1930s to 1956.