Last updated: June 21, 2024
Place
"Island Industries" Sign
NPS Photo/M. Mark
Quick Facts
Location:
Spectacle Island
Amenities
1 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
Description
Low-profile wayside that is 40.5 x 24 3/8 inches, with interpretation panel spanning 36.5 inches wide. It has a grey square base with two rectangular pillars supporting the panel. The panel is framed in grey metal. The sign is located on the Interpretive trail on the South Drumlin.
Layout
At the top of the sign is a black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is text that reads “Spectacle Island, Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park.” Aligned to the right is text that reads “Owned by the City of Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.” The section of text is titled, “Spectacle’s Factories,“ is aligned to the left in maroon text. The background is a historical photo of industrial buildings that has a blue-ish grey tint. The text is in a column on the left arranged into two paragraphs. Images are on the right, offset and stacked on top of one another. Beneath the text and the images is one big image that blends into the background with the caption running across the bottom. On the very bottom left of the sign the title reads “Island Industries” in maroon text.
Image (top row, left)
A black and white aerial image looking down on a crane moving refuse and other equipment onto barges alongside the edge of Spectacle Island. The foreground features a half empty barge with smoke coming out of the smokestack. In the middle of the image is the crane. On the left behind the crane are three more barges: a barge carrying a smaller crane in between two somewhat empty barges with refuse. To the right is another barge with mooring lines attaching it to the dock and a smaller barge with refuse behind it. In the background is a pier with small buildings. In the far back land can be seen.
Image Caption
Heavy equipment, such as cranes and trains, helped move the tons of refuse brought to Spectacle.
Image Credit
Courtesy of Billie Wyatt Hargreaves.
Image (top row, right)
Black and white photo of a train moving materials across a barren landscape. In the foreground is a small piece of machinery meant for moving materials around. Behind it is the train with two full cars and the train engine pushing from behind. Behind the train and machinery is a rocky, grassy hillside that meets with the water in the background to the left. A pier juts from the land across the water, with some buoys behind it. Beyond the pier is the harbor and other islands in the distance.
Image Credit
Courtesy of Billie Wyatt Hargreaves
Image (bottom row, middle)
Street level view of a busy Boston street. In the foreground on the left is a horse-drawn carriage heading away from the camera and one horse-drawn carriage heading towards the camera. On the right is a street trolley that is full of people. Behind the trolley is a row of tall buildings that are at least four stories, with three rows of windows visible. Further down the street on the next block is a church steeple partially obscured by steam. The church steeple rises against a grey sky and sits in front of a square building in the background.
Image Credit
Courtesy of Historic New England/SPNEA.
Image Caption
As Boston shifted from horse-drawn to motorized vehicles, the number of horses in the city declined. By 1910, the horse rendering business ended operation.
Image (Background)
A black and white historical photograph with a blue-ish tint showing heavy machinery and factory buildings on Spectacle Island. In the foreground is a grassy area with piles of construction equipment and debris. A series of white factory buildings span almost the entire length of the image. On the right, a smokestack extends into the sky and smoke billows from the top. Behind the factory buildings, on the right, Thompson Island appears across the water with outlines of buildings faintly visible.
Image Caption
The refuse station in operation.
Image Credit
Photo courtesy of Historic New England/SPNEA
Main Text
Look out over the harbor to your right to find four concrete pilings rising from the water. These once supported a busy commercial wharf. They are the last visible remains of Spectacle Island’s industrial past.
At this wharf, barges from Boston unloaded cargo of dead horses and cattle remains and returned to the city with hides, glue, horsehair, and Neatsfoot oil produced at Ward Co’s rendering factor. A pier stood close to where ferries dock today. Here, the City of Boston delivered barges filled with garbage. Island factories compressed and cooked the garbage to extra grease to make soap and glycerin. The remains were converted into fertilizer or burned and dumped on the island. These and other factories closed by 1935 and the island became the city dump – processing 350 tons of waste daily until 1959.
While these industrial plants offered jobs and provided for the comforts of city living, they also contributed to the destruction of Spectacle Island’s natural landscape during the 1800s and 1900s.