Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston

[1] The title is used by the DCR to describe the areas collectively: "As a whole, the Metropolitan Park System is currently eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places", as outlined on the department's website.

[1] The improvement of areas of undeveloped land, detrimental development, and polluted land in and around Boston for a system of interconnected parks was first conceived and promoted by landscape architects Charles Eliot and Warren H. Manning, as well as Sylvester Baxter, a Boston newspaper writer and city planning enthusiast.

That suit was followed by one by the Conservation Law Foundation and finally by the United States Government, resulting in a landmark court-ordered cleanup of Boston Harbor.

Charges of political corruption and patronage continued to follow the MDC, while the loss of revenue from removal of the payments brought in by water and sewer services created a need for increased funding from the state legislature.

[14][15] The following table lists parks and reservations currently owned and maintained by the DCR Division of Urban Parks and Recreation, subdivided into sections based on environment as stated by the DCR, with year of formation, location within municipalities, site area and primary activities listed:

Image showing a pedestrian bridge in the Charles River Esplanade in Boston, Massachusetts
Pedestrian bridge, Charles River Esplanade, Boston, Massachusetts
Metropolitan Park System map
Two maps showing the open spaces of Boston in 1892 and 1902
The open spaces of Boston in 1892 and 1902 compared in an illustration from a biography of Charles Eliot