The Hoosac Stores Warehouse: Remembering Charlestown's Industrial Past (U.S. National Park Service)

A worn-down brick building in the background of the bow of USS Constitution. — Hoosac Stores Warehouse stood nearby USS CONSTITUTION.
NPS Photo

For years, the 1895 Hoosac Stores Warehouse towered over the main deck of USS Constitution. Its tired, weather-beaten brick walls served as a reminder of the Charlestown waterfront's industrial past.

During the 1900s, this building stood as part of the Hoosac Tunnel Docks complex. This complex contributed to an expansive trade network centered in Boston. However, as time passed, the Tunnel Docks, including the warehouse, fell out of use. When Hoosac Stores Warehouse became part of Boston National Historical Park in 1981, the worn building stood as a symbol of a bygone era.

The NPS tried to find ways to restore or adapt the building over the following decades. However, due to challenges the structure presented, NPS determined to dismantle Hoosac Stores Warehouse in 2024.

Learn about the rise and fall of Charlestown's waterfront industry, and the role the Hoosac Stores Warehouse played in this story.

Boston's Port

Throughout the 1700s, Boston grew into a major maritime port. Expanding its role in international trade, Boston dramatically transformed its waterfront. A similar transformation occurred in nearby Charlestown.

In 1800, the United States Navy purchased pasture and tidal flats along the Charlestown waterfront. This area became one of the nation’s first navy yards.  

Color painting of small sailing ships in a harbor. A navy yard is to the left in the foreground with a large city across the water in the background to the right. — Boston as a busy port town.
"Boston: From the Ship House West End of the Navy Yard," 1833. William James Bennett. National Gallery of Art.

Outside the Charlestown Navy Yard’s gates, private industry exploded. Railroads, such as the Fitchburg Railroad and the Boston & Maine Railroad, developed rapidly. They stretched across New England, transporting goods and passengers to and from Boston. At waterfront terminals in Boston, these rail lines met increasingly larger and faster steamships in Boston Harbor.

As industry grew, a major geographical challenge arose. A mountainous terrain divided New England from the west. This obstacle hindered the growth of Boston's maritime trade for decades. After years of fits and starts, workers completed a tunnel through the Hoosac mountain range. The Hoosac Tunnel connected the Fitchburg Railroad to upstate New York and beyond.

This new western link ended at the Charlestown waterfront. Just steps outside the Navy Yard, this complex became known as The Hoosac Tunnel Docks.

Hoosac Tunnel Docks Expansion

This major industrial terminal stored and transferred goods. Goods traveling via rail arrived at the docks from as far away as the Canadian Prairie. Moved to ships, these goods left for destinations across the globe.

Map showing the Charlestown waterfront with a trainline terminus at Hoosac Tunnel Docks. — Hoosac Tunnel Dock & Elevator Co. served as a terminus for the Fitchburg Railroad (yellow). Boston & Maine Railroad ended nearby (blue).
"Map to accompany report of State Board on Docks and Terminal Facilities : showing existing conditions and proposed changes at the Port of Boston," 1896. Digital Commonwealth. The map has been cropped and legend edited to highlight Hoosac Tunnel Docks.

The Hoosac Tunnel Dock and Elevator Company began operations in the 1870s. At this time, The Fitchburg Railroad only owned a stake in the company. This changed in 1887, when Fitchburg Railroad bought the company's holdings outright. As part of its redevelopment and expansion of the facilities, the railroad company built Hoosac Stores 1 & 2 in 1895.

Hoosac Stores served as a warehouse in the Hoosac Tunnel Docks complex. Here, grain, livestock, factory goods, and other products such as ice awaited transfer across the globe.

The Hoosac Tunnel Docks contributed to the port of Boston's expansive trade network. In 1899, the port served as a hub of imported and exported goods between Boston and over 49 countries and colonies.^[1]

As industry grew in the early 1900s, Boston & Maine Railroad took over the Fitchburg Railroad. Doing so made Boston & Maine the largest freight carrier in Boston. The Hoosac Tunnel Docks became the crown jewel of its massive commercial and transportation enterprise in Boston Harbor.

Aerial view of Boston Harbor highlighting the Boston & Maine Railroad docks. — Hoosac Tunnel Docks is featured prominently in this map of terminal docks for the Boston & Maine Railroad.
"Plan of Boston & Maine R.R. export terminals, Boston," 1905. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center Collection.

A Changing Economy

The success of the Boston & Maine Railroad's dominance proved short-lived, however. Boston's share of national exports dropped from 9.7% in the 1890s to just 1.3% by 1922. Several reasons caused this significant drop. First, the importance of agricultural goods as a national export declined in the 1900s. Second, greater competition from other ports put heavy pressure on Boston as a trade hub.

Finally, the completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway diverted much of Boston's diminishing sea-going trade. This seaway allowed ships to bypass Boston and travel directly to the Great Lakes without making any transfers.

The Hoosac Tunnel Docks suffered from this abrupt disruption in activity. Hoping to bring back industry, the Massachusetts Port Authority attempted to revitalize the complex in the 1940s. It reconstructed the docks and renovated the massive grain elevator. Despite these efforts, new cargo ships required deeper and larger docks that the Hoosac complex could not accommodate.

By the 1960s, the Hoosac Tunnel Docks had virtually shut down.

Photo of a tall warehouse brick building sitting along a road. Cars drive down the road and USS Constitution and cranes are in the background to the right. — Hoosac Stores Warehouse in the 1950s.
Boston National Historical Park, BOSTC 15655-4974.

During this time, redevelopment changed the landscape of Boston and the Charlestown waterfront. Blocks of closed factories and workshops transformed into interchanges and overpasses during the Mystic River Bridge and Central Artery highway projects. Former railroads and docks gave way to office buildings, condominiums, and historic sites.

As other structures of the former Hoosac Tunnel Docks faced demolition, the Hoosac Stores 1 & 2 building survived. It remained vacant or underutilized for decades. The National Park Service (NPS) took ownership of the building in 1981.

The End of an Era

Hoosac Stores 1 & 2 stood within the boundaries of Boston National Historical Park. The building functioned largely as a warehousing facility, storing large museum artifacts. Beyond replacing the roof, the NPS made no major repairs to the structure.

Aerial view of the Charlestown Navy Yard waterfront with Hoosac Stores prominently featured. — Hoosac Stores and the Navy Yard in 1974, the year the yard closed and Boston National Historical Park was established.
Boston National Historical Park, BOSTC 8674.

In the early 1980s, the NPS conducted a historic resource study of the entire Hoosac Tunnel Docks complex. This led to a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the surviving elements of the complex: Hoosac Stores 1 & 2, another surviving warehouse structure designated Hoosac Stores 3, and the abandoned railroad spur that connected them.

The warehouse's role in the larger commerce and trade complex, rather than its architectural significance, made the property eligible for nomination to the National Register.  In 1985, the property became listed on the National Register with a state level of significance.

Plans of Charlestown waterfront with buildings identified.

Left image
Hoosac Stores identified in a 1922 Atlas.
Credit: Atlas of the City of Boston: Charlestown and East Boston, 1922. Boston Public Library.

Right image
Park map of Charlestown Navy Yard.
Credit: NPS Map

Debates surrounded the use of Hoosac Stores for decades. Between the late 1990s and the mid-2010s, the park led four unsuccessful efforts to lease Hoosac Stores 1 & 2 to private parties for restoration and adaptive reuse. 

Meanwhile, in 2000, the private owner of Hoosac Stores 3 demolished the building. While this demolition did not physically affect Hoosac Stores 1 & 2, it did permanent harm to the historic integrity of the warehouse as a historic place on the National Register.

Hoosac Stores, a tall brick building with no windows. — Hoosac Stores along the Freedom Trail.
NPS Photo

The National Park Service conducted further inquiries into the status and historical significance of Hoosac Stores while determining options for its adaptive reuse.  

These inquiries showed that while technically within the boundary of Boston National Historical Park, Hoosac Stores had no relationship to the areas of significance for the Navy Yard. It is also not within the Boston Naval Shipyard National Historical Landmark boundary.

For these reasons, the Keeper of the National Register accepted new formal National Register documentation in 2015. This documentation identified Hoosac Stores as a non-contributing resource to the park.

This change in designation, coupled with the building’s ongoing structural integrity issues, prompted the NPS and its partners to reconsider the future of Hoosac Stores 1 & 2. With the financial support of National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, the National Parks of Boston began dismantling Hoosac Stores Warehouse in 2024.

This moment marked the formal conclusion of the waterfront's once bustling commercial industry. However, it reflects the waterfront's longer history as a site of evolution. The dismantling of Hoosac Stores opens the door to a new era of transformation as the park prepares the site for future use.

Learn more about this project by visiting: Hoosac Stores Warehouse in National Parks of Boston to be Demolished through GAOA Funding

Footnotes

Boston Chamber of Commerce, "Fourteenth Annual Report of the Boston Chamber of Commerce For the Year Ending December 31, 1899" (Boston: B. Wilkins Company, 1900), 233, Google Books.

Resources

Boston Chamber of Commerce. "Fourteenth Annual Report of the Boston Chamber of Commerce For the Year Ending December 31, 1899." Boston: B. Wilkins Company, 1900. Google Books.

Weinbaum, Paul. Hoosac Docks: Foreign Trade Terminal: A Special History Study for Boston National Historical Park. Boston: National Park Service, 1985. Internet Archive .