Lines remaining in 1940. See also 1953 map.

As with many large cities, a large number of Boston-area streetcar lines once existed. However, only a few remain, namely the four branches of the Green Line and the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, with only one (the Green Line "E" Branch) running regular service on an undivided street.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed on August 3, 1964, taking over operations from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). The MTA itself was formed in 1947 to take over operations of the private Boston Elevated Railway (BERy), which ran rapid transit, streetcars and buses in the Boston area.

In 1936, the BERy assigned numbers to its routes for map use, but route numbers were not used on buses until the late 1960s (when the colors were assigned to the remaining rail lines). [1] Additionally, the numbers were only kept the same on and after the 1942 revision of the map; before that they were changed with each new version. A few routes were renumbered around 1967, but most routes have kept their original numbers. Routes were numbered roughly clockwise from South Boston to East Boston.

This is a table of when each streetcar line was converted to trackless trolley or bus. Only information post-1940 is complete.

Boston-area streetcar lines/old[link]

As in many large cities, a large number of streetcar lines once existed in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and itsinner suburbs. Only a few remain, namely the four branches of the Green Line and the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, with only one (the Green Line E branch) running regular service on an undivided street.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed on August 3, 1964, taking over operations from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). At that time, only the following streetcar and rapid transit lines still operated:

• 1 Harvard-Ashmont, renamed the Red Line on August 26, 1965
• 2 Everett-Forest Hills, renamed the Orange Line on August 26, 1965
• 3 Wonderland-Bowdoin, renamed the Blue Line on August 26, 1965
• 4 Riverside-Lechmere, renamed the Green Line "D" Branch on August 26, 1965
• 28 Mattapan-Ashmont, renamed the Red Line Mattapan line on August 26, 1965
• 39 Arborway-Park Street, renamed the Green Line "E" Branch on August 26, 1965
• 57 Heath Street-North Station, renamed the Green Line "E" Branch(short-turn trips) on August 26, 1965
• 61 Cleveland Circle-North Station, renamed the Green Line "C" Branchon August 26, 1965
• 62 Boston College-Government Center, renamed the Green Line "B" Branch on August 26, 1965
• 69 Watertown-Park Street, renamed the Green Line "A" Branch on August 26, 1965

Since then, Green Line "E" service to Arborway has been replaced by the 39 bus, and Green Line "A" service has been replaced by the 57 bus.

Older routes[link]

Prior to that, the following streetcar lines existed; this list is only complete from 1953 on. All lines were connected via trackage to the Tremont Street Subway (Green Line), but only the 9 and 43 actually operated in the subway.

7[link]

See 7.

9[link]

See 9.

10[link]

See 10.

29[link]

The 29 Mattapan-Egleston via Blue Hill Avenue and Seaver Street ran from Mattapan north on Blue Hill Avenue and Seaver Street (both parts of Route 28) to Egleston. Streetcars last operated on September 9, 1955, and buses began the next day.

In May 1987, the Orange Line was relocated, and the 29 was extended from Egleston to Jackson Square; some off-peak service extends to Ruggles. The route is now the 29 Mattapan-Jackson Square via Blue Hill Avenue and Seaver Street, with extended service as the 29 Mattapan-Ruggles via Blue Hill Avenue, Seaver Street and Jackson Square.

30[link]

The 30 Mattapan-Roslindale via Cummins Highway ran from Mattapan along Cummins Highway to Roslindale Square. Streetcars last operated on April 24, 1953, and buses began the next day.

Since 1995, the MBTA has been extending an increasing number of trips to Forest Hills; now only Sunday trips still end at Roslindale. Forest Hills trips are thus 30 Mattapan-Forest Hills via Roslindale Square and Cummins Highway.

40[link]

The short 40 Arborway-Egleston via Washington Street ran under the Washington Street Elevated between Egleston and Forest Hills, with streetcars last running December 17, 1955 and buses beginning the next day. The route was discontinued in June 1971, and in April 1981 the 42 was extended to cover the former 40 route.

43[link]

The 43 North Station-Egleston via Tremont Street was one of two routes to use the Pleasant Street Incline. Before December 5, 1953, when the 9 operated into the same incline, the 43 used the two west tracks. Afterwards, it was realigned to use the two east tracks, allowing for a larger bus transfer area to the west.

The 43 came out of the portal and used Tremont Street and Columbus Avenue to Egleston. The tracks south of the loop at Lenox Street were last used on June 14, 1956, and the next day Route 43 buses started running from Lenox Street south to Egleston. The rest of the surface tracks were last used November 17, 1961, and the bus route was extended to the portal, where a short-lived subway shuttle connected to Boylston. At the same time, the route was extended on the surface to Boylston.

In February 1966, the buses were removed from Boylston Street, but they were extended around the Boston Common in June 1972. In May 1987, the south end was truncated from Egleston to the new Rugglesstation, forming the current 43 Ruggles Station-Park & Tremont via Tremont.

47[link]

The 47 Massachusetts Station-Dudley was a short route, beginning at Massachusetts Avenue station (now Hynes Convention Center) and running south along Massachusetts Avenue, southwest one block on Columbus Avenue, southeast on Northampton Street and southwest on Washington Street to Dudley. Streetcars last operated September 12, 1953, with buses running the next day.

In September 1962, the route was merged with the 76 Harvard-Massachusetts Station to form the 1 Harvard-Dudley via Massachusetts Avenue. The old 47 service has since been slightly rerouted.

71[link]

See 71.

72[link]

See 72.

73[link]

See 73.

77[link]

The 79 Arlington Heights-Harvard via Massachusetts Avenue ran between Arlington Heights and the Harvard Bus Tunnel via Massachusetts Avenue. Streetcars last ran November 18, 1955, buses began running the next day, and it was renumbered to the 77 Arlington Heights-Harvard via Massachusetts Avenue in the late 1960s.

77A[link]

See 77A.

92[link]

The 92 Sullivan-Scollay Square via Main line ran from Sullivan south on Main Streetunder the Charlestown Elevated (using Park Street and Warren Street northbound nearCity Square), then over the Charlestown Bridge, west on Causeway Street, and into the Tremont Street Subway via the Causeway Street Incline, turning around at the Brattle Loop at Scollay. Streetcars last ran on April 2, 1948, but the tracks were kept until 1962 to access the 100 tracks and Everett Shops.

Bus service on the 92 Sullivan-Haymarket via Main began April 3, 1948, and has changed very little. Aside from a few realignments nearCity Square in Charlestown, and an extension to Assembly Square Mall in June 1982, the only real change has been the extension of early morning weekday service to Downtown Crossing in December 2002, operating as 92 Assembly Square Mall-Downtown via Main (normal service is 92 Assembly Square Mall-Haymarket via Sullivan and Main).

93[link]

The 93 Sullivan-Scollay Square via Bunker Hill Street line was a variant of the 92, using Bunker Hill Street and Chelsea Street in Charlestown. Streetcars last ran July 1, 1949, and the 93 Sullivan-Haymarket via Bunker Hill Street bus route began operation the next day, using Washington Street between the Charlestown Bridge and Haymarket. Due to the construction of the Tobin Bridge, which opened in 1950, the route in Charlestown was immediately realigned. Not much has changed since then, except in June 2004, when early morning weekday trips were extended to Downtown Crossing as the 93 Sullivan-Downtown via Bunker Hill Street.

100[link]

The 100 Elm Street-Sullivan via Fellsway streetcar line last operated on December 16, 1955, running between Elm Street on Fellsway West in Medford and Sullivan, and was bustituted the next day. When the newWellington station opened in September 1975, the route was rerouted east on Revere Beach Parkway to terminate there; the 100 now operates as Elm Street-Wellington via Fellsway.

The tracks used to continue north, owned by the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, and later became the 100Abus.

Track connections to the rest of the system were provided by the otherwise unused streetcar tracks under the Charlestown Elevated from Sullivan south to the Causeway Street Incline, once used by the 92.

Eastern Massachusetts routes[link]

These routes were operated by the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway. They were only given numbers on March 30, 1968, when the MBTA took over, and long after buses replaced them. The numbers refer to the later bus routes.

Only two lines were left in 1937.

100A[link]

This streetcar line ran between Stoneham and Sullivan Square, via the tracks of the 100. It ran from the north end of the 100 through the Middlesex Fells on a privateright-of-way west of Fellsway West, and then to Stoneham center. Until around 1940, it continued north to Farm Hill on the Stoneham Branch Railroad.

The line was bustituted in 1946. In 1968 the MBTA took it over as the 430, and from March 1969 to the end of its service in September 1971, it was the 100A Reading-Sullivan via Main Street and Fellsway.

Quincy routes[link]

Two Quincy routes left Fields Corner on Adams Street and Neponset Avenue, running to Quincy center and then splitting. One line continued to Hough's Neck, and the other to Quincy Point and the Fore River Shipyard. The lines were bustituted in 1948.

References[link]

• Carlson et al. (1986), The Colorful Streetcars We Rode, Bulletin 125 of the Central Electric Railfans' Association, Chicago, Il. ISBN 0-915348-25-X
• Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA District 1964-Present (PDF)
• m00209, MBTA Green Line -- unused tunnel at Boylston station, rec.railroad May 5, 1994
• RTSPCC, Boston Trolleys, misc.transport.urban-transit June 4, 1998
• TIMEPOINTS VOL 3 NO 2 August 1951
• Trackless Trolley Routes
• rtspcc, More Boston streetcar questions, ne.transportation May 20, 2005

See also[link]

• Middlesex and Boston Street Railway
• Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway

v t e Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Subway lines (List of stations)      Blue Line      Green Line "B" Branch "C" Branch "D" Branch "E" Branch      Orange Line      Red Line Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line      Commuter Rail lines (List of stations) Fairmount Fitchburg Framingham/Worcester Franklin Greenbush Haverhill Kingston/Plymouth Lowell Middleborough/Lakeville Needham Newburyport/Rockport Providence/Stoughton Bus routes (List of routes)      Silver Line Crosstown routes Key routes Trackless trolleys Routes in East Boston, Chelsea, and Revere Routes in Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, and Wakefield MBTA bus routes in North Shore, Massachusetts Routes in South Boston Under construction South Coast Rail Proposed lines Green Line Extension North–South Rail Link Urban Ring Project Former lines Atlantic Avenue Elevated Boston Elevated Railway Charlestown Elevated Green Line "A" Branch Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Middlesex and Boston Street Railway Washington Street Elevated Other Accessibility Arts on the Line Boat Boston-area streetcar lines "Charlie on the M.T.A." CharlieCard History Police Nomenclature Newton rail accident The Ride

Boston
—  State Capital  —
City of Boston
Clockwise: Skyline of Back Bay seen from the Charles River, Fenway Park, Christian Science Church, Boston Common and the Downtown Crossing skyline, skyline of the Financial District seen from the Boston Harbor, and Massachusetts State House
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Beantown,[1] The Hub (of the Universe),[1] The Cradle of Liberty,[2] The Cradle of Modern America,[1] The Athens of America,[2] The Walking City[1]
Motto: Sicut patribus sit Deus nobis (Latin "As God was with our fathers, so may He be with us")
Location in Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Boston Location in the United States
Coordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°03′42″W / 42.35778°N 71.06167°W / 42.35778; -71.06167Coordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°03′42″W / 42.35778°N 71.06167°W / 42.35778; -71.06167
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Suffolk
Settled	September 17, 1630
Incorporated (city)	March 4, 1822
Government
• Type	Strong mayor – council
• Mayor	Thomas M. Menino (D)
Area[3][4][5]
• State Capital	89.63 sq mi (232.14 km2)
• Land	48.43 sq mi (125.43 km2)
• Water	41.21 sq mi (106.73 km2)
• Urban	1,774 sq mi (4,595 km2)
• Metro	4,511 sq mi (11,683 km2)
• CSA	10,644 sq mi (27,568 km2)
Elevation	141 ft (43 m)
Population [6][7][8][9]
• State Capital	617,594 ('10 census)
• Density	12,752/sq mi (4,924/km2)
• Urban	4,032,484 ('00 census)
• Metro	4,522,858 ('08 est.)
• CSA	7,609,358 ('09 est.)
• Demonym	Bostonian
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code(s)	53 total ZIP codes:[10] 02108–02137, 02163, 02196, 02199, 02201, 02203, 02204, 02205, 02206, 02210, 02211, 02212, 02215, 02217, 02222, 02228, 02241, 02266, 02283, 02284, 02293, 02295, 02297, 02298
Area code(s)	617 and 857
FIPS code	25-07000
GNIS feature ID	0617565
Website	www.cityofboston.gov

Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts,^[11] and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region.^[12] The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census.^[6] Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country.^[8] Greater Boston as a commuting region^[13] is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.^[9][14]

In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula.^[15] During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center,^[15] and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year.^[16] The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635),^[17] and the first subway system in the United States (1897).^[18]

With many colleges and universities within the city and surrounding area, Boston is an international center of higher education and a center for medicine.^[19] The city's economic base includes research, manufacturing, finance, and biotechnology.^[20] As a result, the city is a leading finance center, ranking 12th in the Z/Yen top 20 Global Financial Centers.^[21] The city was also ranked number one for innovation, both globally and in North America,^[22] for a variety of reasons.^[23][24] Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the United States,^[25] though it remains high on world livability rankings, ranking third in the US and 36th globally.^[26]

History[link]

Boston in 1772, compared with Boston in 1880

Boston was founded on September 17, 1630, by Puritan colonists from England.^[15] The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony are sometimes confused with the Pilgrims, who founded Plymouth Colony ten years earlier in what is today Bristol County, Plymouth County, and Barnstable County, Massachusetts. The two groups, which differed in religious practice, are historically distinct. The separate colonies were not united until the formation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691.

The Shawmut Peninsula was connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus and was surrounded by the waters of Massachusetts Bay and the Back Bay, an estuary of the Charles River. Several prehistoric Native American archaeological sites that were excavated in the city have shown that the peninsula was inhabited as early as 5000 BC.^[27] Boston's early European settlers first called the area Trimountaine, but later renamed the town after Boston in Lincolnshire, England, from which several prominent colonists had emigrated. Massachusetts Bay Colony's original governor, John Winthrop, gave a famous sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity", popularly known as the "City on a Hill" sermon, which espoused the idea that Boston had a special covenant with God. (Winthrop also led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, which is regarded as a key founding document of the city.) Puritan ethics molded a stable and well-structured society in Boston. For example, shortly after Boston's settlement, Puritans founded America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635),^[17] and America's oldest school in continuous existence, Roxbury Latin School (1645). Over the next 130 years, Boston participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their native allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British North America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid 18th century.^[28]

Map showing a British tactical evaluation of Boston in 1775

In the 1770s, British attempts to exert more-stringent control on the thirteen colonies—primarily via taxation—led to the American Revolution.^[15] The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and several early battles—including the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston—occurred in or near the city. During this period, Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride. After the Revolution, Boston had become one of the world's wealthiest international trading ports because of the city's consolidated seafaring tradition. Exports included rum, fish, salt, and tobacco.^[29] During this era, descendants of old Boston families were regarded as the nation's social and cultural elites; they were later dubbed the Boston Brahmins.^[30]

The Embargo Act of 1807, adopted during the Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812 significantly curtailed Boston's harbor activity. Although foreign trade returned after these hostilities, Boston's merchants had found alternatives for their capital investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the city's economy, and by the mid-19th century, the city's industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance. Until the early 20th century, Boston remained one of the nation's largest manufacturing centers and was notable for its garment production and leather-goods industries.^[16] A network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region made for easy shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a dense network of railroads facilitated the region's industry and commerce. From the mid-19th to late 19th century, Boston flourished culturally. It became renowned for its rarefied literary culture and lavish artistic patronage.^[31][32]

View of Boston from Dorchester Heights, 1841

Boston also became a center of the abolitionist movement.^[33] The city reacted strongly to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,^[34] which contributed to President Franklin Pierce's attempt to make an example of Boston after the Burns Fugitive Slave Case.^[35][36]

Scollay Square in the 1880s

In 1822,^[37] the citizens of Boston voted to change the official name from "the Town of Boston" to "the City of Boston", and on March 4, 1822, the people of Boston accepted the charter incorporating the City.^[38] At the time Boston was chartered as a city, the population was about 46,226, while the area of the city was only 4.7 square miles (12 km²).^[38] In the 1820s, Boston's population began to swell, and the city's ethnic composition changed dramatically with the first wave of European immigrants. Irish immigrants dominated the first wave of newcomers during this period, especially following the Irish potato famine. By 1850, about 35,000 Irish lived in Boston.^[39] In the latter half of the 19th century, the city saw increasing numbers of Irish, Germans, Lebanese, Syrians,^[40] French Canadians, and Russian and Polish Jews settle in the city. By the end of the 19th century, Boston's core neighborhoods had become enclaves of ethnically distinct immigrants—Italians inhabited the North End, Irish dominated South Boston and Charlestown, and Russian Jews lived in the West End. Irish and Italian immigrants brought with them Roman Catholicism. Currently, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community,^[41] and since the early 20th century, the Irish have played a major role in Boston politics—prominent figures include the Kennedys, Tip O'Neill, and John F. Fitzgerald.^[30]

Haymarket Square, 1909

Between 1631 and 1890, the city tripled its physical size by land reclamation—by filling in marshes, mud flats, and gaps between wharves along the waterfront^[42] —a process that Walter Muir Whitehill called "cutting down the hills to fill the coves". The largest reclamation efforts took place during the 19th century. Beginning in 1807, the crown of Beacon Hill was used to fill in a 50-acre (20 ha) mill pond that later became the Haymarket Square area. The present-day State House sits atop this lowered Beacon Hill. Reclamation projects in the middle of the century created significant parts of the South End, the West End, the Financial District, and Chinatown. After The Great Boston Fire of 1872, workers used building rubble as landfill along the downtown waterfront. During the mid-to-late 19th century, workers filled almost 600 acres (2.4 km²) of brackish Charles River marshlands west of Boston Common with gravel brought by rail from the hills of Needham Heights. Also, the city annexed the adjacent towns of South Boston (1804), East Boston (1836), Roxbury (1868), Dorchester (including present day Mattapan and a portion of South Boston) (1870), Brighton (including present day Allston) (1874), West Roxbury (including present day Jamaica Plain and Roslindale) (1874), Charlestown (1874), and Hyde Park (1912).^[43][44] Other proposals, for the annexation of Brookline, Cambridge,^[45] and Chelsea,^[46][47] have been unsuccessful.

On January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood, a large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore, known as The Boston Molasses Disaster.^[48]

By the early and mid-20th century, the city was in decline as factories became old and obsolete, and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere.^[15] Boston responded by initiating various urban renewal projects under the direction of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), which was established in 1957. In 1958, BRA initiated a project to improve the historic West End neighborhood. Extensive demolition was met with vociferous public opposition.^[49] BRA subsequently reevaluated its approach to urban renewal in its future projects, including the construction of Government Center. In 1965, the first Community Health Center in the United States opened, the Columbia Point Health Center, in the Dorchester neighborhood. It mostly served the massive Columbia Point public housing complex adjoining it, which was built in 1953. The health center is still in operation and was rededicated in 1990 as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center.^[50]

The John F. Kennedy Library, located on the Columbia Point peninsula, 2007

By the 1970s, the city's economy boomed after 30 years of economic downturn. A large number of high rises were constructed in the Financial District and in Boston's Back Bay during this time period. This boom continued into the mid-1980s and later began again. Boston now has the second largest skyline in the Northeast (after New York) in terms of the number of buildings reaching a height of over 500 feet (150 m). Hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital lead the nation in medical innovation and patient care. Schools such as Boston University, the Harvard Medical School, Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Boston Conservatory attract students to the area. Nevertheless, the city experienced conflict starting in 1974 over desegregation busing, which resulted in unrest and violence around public schools throughout the mid-1970s. In 1984, the City of Boston gave control of the Columbia Point public housing complex to a private developer, who redeveloped and revitalized the property from its rundown and dangerous state into an attractive residential mixed-income community called Harbor Point Apartments, which opened in 1988 and was completed by 1990. It was the first federal housing project to be converted to private, mixed-income housing in the United States, and served as a model for the federal HUD HOPE VI public housing revitalization program that began in 1992.^[51]

The North End has been experiencing gentrification since the completion of the Big Dig in the early 2000s (decade), which moved the elevated Central Artery freeway mostly into tunnels. This has also been changing the traditional Italian American culture of the area.^[52]

In the early 21st century, the city has become an intellectual, technological, and political center. It has, however, experienced a loss of regional institutions,^[53] which included the acquisition of The Boston Globe by The New York Times, and the loss to mergers and acquisitions of local financial institutions such as FleetBoston Financial, which was acquired by Charlotte-based Bank of America in 2004. Boston-based department stores Jordan Marsh and Filene's have both been merged into the New York–based Macy's. Boston has also experienced gentrification in the latter half of the 20th century,^[54] with housing prices increasing sharply since the 1990s.^[25] Living expenses have risen, and Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the United States,^[55] and was ranked the 99th most expensive major city in the world in a 2008 survey of 143 cities.^[56] Despite cost of living issues, Boston ranks high on livability ratings, ranking 36th worldwide in quality of living in 2011 in a survey of 221 major cities.^[57]

Geography[link]

Simulated-color satellite image of the Boston area taken on NASA's Landsat 3

Owing to its early founding, Boston is very compact. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 89.6 square miles (232.1 km²)—48.4 square miles (125.4 km²) (54.0%) of land and 41.2 square miles (106.7 km²) (46.0%) of water. Boston is the country's third most densely populated city that is not a part of a larger city's metropolitan area.^[58] This is largely attributable to the rarity of annexation by New England towns. Boston is surrounded by the "Greater Boston" region and is bordered by the cities and towns of Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton, and Quincy. The Charles River separates Boston proper from Cambridge, Watertown, and the neighborhood of Charlestown. To the east lies Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (BHINRA). This includes part of the city's territory, specifically Calf Island, Gallops Island, Great Brewster Island, Green Island, Little Brewster Island, Little Calf Island, Long Island, Lovells Island, Middle Brewster Island, Nixes Mate, Outer Brewster Island, Rainsford Island, Shag Rocks, Spectacle Island, The Graves, and Thompson Island. The Neponset River forms the boundary between Boston's southern neighborhoods and the city of Quincy and the town of Milton.^[59] The Mystic River separates Charlestown from Chelsea and Everett, and Chelsea Creek and Boston Harbor separate East Boston from Boston proper.^[60] Boston's official elevation, as measured at Logan International Airport, is 19 ft (5.8 m) above sea level.^[61] The highest point in Boston is Bellevue Hill at 330 ft (101 m) above sea level, and the lowest point is at sea level.^[62] Boston is the only state capital in the contiguous United States with an ocean coastline.