On June 5, 1890, Henry Lee Higginson presented Harvard College a gift of 31 acres (130,000 m2) of land, which he called Soldiers Field, given in honor of his friends who died in the Civil War: James Savage, Jr., Charles Russell Lowell, Edward Barry Dalton, Stephen George Perkins, James Jackson Lowell, and Robert Gould Shaw.

At the top of the bend in the Charles River the road intersects with the Eliot Bridge, which heads west from the northern end of the bend, providing access to Greenough Boulevard, Mount Auburn Hospital and Mount Auburn Cemetery in neighboring Cambridge.

Soldiers Field Road then passes under North Harvard Street as it joins Anderson Memorial Bridge.

It continues eastward past the Harvard Business School campus, where the river makes another bend at the Weeks Footbridge.

Portions of the current alignment of Soldiers Field Road were originally part of the Charles River Speedway, which was built in 1899.

The portion of Soldiers Field Road nearest the Boston University Bridge is expected to be rebuilt as part of a major project to straighten the Turnpike.