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By all
accounts, the plan was extremely successful, resulting in quick action by
the state legislature to purchase the lands recommended by Eliot. Newton provides a
brief summary of the action taken in just two years, "By the end of
1894 land had been acquired by the Commission for the Middlesex Fells,
Blue Hills, Stony Brook, and Beaver Brook Reservations. During 1895 Revere Beach,
the Hemlock Gorge on the Charles, and other portions of the Charles River and Mystic River Reservations were
secured, and the boundaries of the Middlesex Fells and the Blue Hills
were modified positively." (331)
Revere Beach is regarded today as the first
public beach in the nation, a new commitment to public access and active
recreation that would be repeated across the country.
Additionally,
the plan gained state-wide and national attention, "...exerting enormous
influence during the Progressive Era." (Peterson, 53) Further
research is required to better understand how the Boston
metropolitan plan may have influenced park and open space planning in
other areas of the United
States.
The success
of the plan raises many new questions: What factors led to the plan's
quick adoption? How did state legislators view the plan? What was the
opposition, if any? Who benefited from the plan? How did the plan relate
to the changing land use patterns and rapid suburbanization of this era?
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