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Photograph of Alewife Brook Parkway
Photograph by User:Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Alewife Brook Parkway

Built in 1916. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. 16 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1893.

From the record

One of 1,353 National Register listings published here for Middlesex County · listed in 2004 · category: District · built in 1916.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • Address. Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge
  • When was it listed? March 2004
  • Category. district
  • Also known as. Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
  • When was it built? 1916
  • National Register reference number. 04000249 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

77 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 77 fires within 5 miles of Alewife Brook Parkway between 2015 and 2020, burning about 104 acres in total. None started naturally. 28 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism28
Missing data/not specified/undetermined20
Debris and open burning12
Recreation and ceremony10
Smoking5
Misuse of fire by a minor2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMELROSE

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Alewife Brook Parkway: 6 plants, 4 past producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
C. J. MabardySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mahoney:S Rocky LedgePeatPast ProducerPeat
Rocky Ledge PitClayPast Producer
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.SilicaPlant
Us Gypsum Co--BostonGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
(Facility) Cambridge Smelter CoLeadPlant
Somerville Smelting Co.LeadPlant
Austin Hastings--Woburn, Ma.IronPlant
Industrial Serv. Centers--CambridgeIronPlant
Wheelock-Lovejoy--Cambridge, Ma.IronPlant

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Maps showing this location

16 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Thomas Cook House0.2 miles1989
Mystic Water Works0.3 miles1989
Mystic Pumping Station0.3 miles1990
Mystic Valley Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS0.4 miles2006
Robinson House0.5 miles1985
W.W. Kimball House0.5 miles1985

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 04000249 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Middlesex CountyAll 1353 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.