The furnace and forge operation was started in 1644 by John Winthrop the Younger in the North Precinct of Braintree, which became the separate town of Quincy in 1792.

[9] The proposed route of the parkway was soon also scheduled for use in directing a portion of a major sewer line from Boston to Nut Island at the end of Hough's Neck in 1902.

[11] Construction of the roadway began in 1904, with a major component, a granite-faced concrete bridge carrying the Granite Branch of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad over the parkway route completed in 1906.

[13] Construction of the roadway from Blue Hills to Adams Street and most of the land acquisition required for the continuation of the route to Quincy Shore was completed by January 1908.

Construction was finished later the next year and the completed Furnace Brook Parkway was officially opened for public travel on November 18, 1916.

This has been increased to the current limit of thirty miles per hour;[17] a previously legislated restriction against the placement of advertising signs along the road has always been enforced.

The dirt removed was used to fill former granite quarries and create the land now occupied by the Granite Links at Quarry Hills golf complex located north of the parkway on Ricciuti Drive, which ends at the expressway southbound exit ramp for Furnace Brook Parkway.

From Bunker Hill Road the parkway travels east to northeast for 1,300 feet (400 m) before merging with Willard Street, formerly a northern segment of Massachusetts Route 37.

From Adams Street to Willow Avenue, the north side is the Furnace Brook Golf Course and the south is residential.

From Willow Avenue to Newport Avenue, the north side is residential and the south side is occupied by the Rice Eventide Nursing Home,[23] two residences, and the largest portion of Adams National Historical Park, including the Old House, the home of the Adams Family from 1788 until the early 20th century.

In the section from Hancock Street to Southern Artery (Massachusetts Route 3A) the parkway crosses Blacks Creek at the point where the brook flows into the estuary.

[24] Beyond here, the view opens on the left to a panorama north across the creek and marshes to Quincy Bay and the Boston Harbor Islands beyond.