Moon Island (Massachusetts) facts for kids
Moon Island is an island located in Quincy Bay, right in the middle of Boston Harbor in Massachusetts. It's a special place because it's home to the Boston Fire Department Training Academy and the Boston Police Department shooting range. Even though the City of Boston owns all the land on the island, it's actually managed by the town of Quincy, Massachusetts. Moon Island is also part of the beautiful Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.
Before the late 1870s, there wasn't a road connecting Moon Island to the mainland. Also, a bridge to Long Island was built in 1951 but closed in 2014. Long ago, a sand bar connected Thompson Island to Squantum, which was a great spot for finding clams. Native Americans spent their summers here for thousands of years, enjoying the many shellfish found in the area.
In the past, the land where UMass Boston is now was open water. The area around Marina Bay was a salt marsh. This made the mouth of the Neponset River much wider.
During colonial times, Moon Island was about 20 acres (81,000 m2) in size. It was used for grazing animals like cows. At very low tides, two sand bars connected the island to the mainland. People in the late 1800s would usually approach the island from the Quincy Bay side. There was a 100-foot (30 m) hill on the north side. Early settlers called it "Munning's Moone" or "Mennen's Moon." It was also known as "Moon Island" and "Moon Head."
Today, Moon Island is 44.5 acres (180,000 m2) and is connected to Squantum by a two-lane road called a causeway. The City of Boston still owns Moon Island, and it's not open to the public. Like many other islands in Boston Harbor, government groups have owned these islands for centuries. Most have never gone back to private ownership.
Access to the causeway leading to Moon Island is controlled by police at a guardhouse. You need to get permission in advance to enter the island because it's a restricted area.
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Island History
In colonial times, Moon Island was known as Manning's Moone. It was mainly used for grazing animals and farming. On June 2, 1641, the island became part of the town of Dorchester. In 1659, Moon Island was valued at twenty-eight pounds. Records show land was given to James Priest and Robert Elwell on "Manning's Moone" in 1638. Later, Captain John Holland left "Munning's Moone" to his oldest son in 1652. The island was eventually sold to Henry Ashhurst.
During the American Revolution in 1775, British boats chased Colonial soldiers from Long Island to Dorchester. One American soldier was killed on Moon Island. There was talk of building a fort on Moon Island in 1776, but there's no proof it was ever built.
Solving Boston's Sewage Problem
In 1850, a report in Boston said that poor sanitation was causing many deaths, especially among immigrants. The report suggested collecting sewage instead of letting it flow into Boston Harbor. At that time, sewage from homes and buildings went directly into drains. These drains emptied into local streams, bays, and docks. This polluted the harbor waters, made the air smell bad, and left waste on the mud flats around Boston. On warm summer days, the smell was terrible. Wealthy Bostonians would leave the city for their summer homes.
In 1878, the Massachusetts State Legislature approved building the Boston Main Drainage System. This system was designed to handle sewage from 18 cities and towns. The plan was to pump the sewage to Moon Island, store it, and then release it into Quincy Bay when the tide was going out.
The City of Boston started building a large 7.5-foot (2.3 m) wide brick sewer pipe. It went from Old Harbor Point (Columbia Point) under Dorchester Bay to Squantum. Then, it continued under a causeway to Moon Island. This underground pipe was 150 feet (46 m) deep and about a mile and a half long. It took 5 million bricks and 8,000 barrels (1,300 m3) of cement to finish.
There's a brick building at the end of the University of Massachusetts Boston campus facing Squantum. This is the sewer system's pump house, called the Calf Pasture Pumping Station Complex. It was named after the marshy area known as the Dorchester Calf Pasture.
After leaving the tunnel, the sewage was pumped through Squantum Neck. It reached huge holding tanks on Moon Island through another pipe under the causeway. The sand and gravel for this project came from Half Moon Island, a crescent-shaped island in Quincy Bay. Four massive granite storage tanks were built to hold the sewage. These tanks could hold 50-million-US-gallon (190,000 m3) of sewage. They were made by digging out part of a hill and lining the sides with cement and bricks. The reservoir had four sections, each with inlets and outlets. The tanks were 900 by 150 feet (46 m) and 17 feet (5.2 m) deep. The bottoms were seven feet thick and grooved to help remove sludge. A gatehouse was at one end. The tanks' outlets were connected to a pump and a turbine that opened the gates of the outflow pipe. The 12-foot (3.7 m) wide outflow pipe extended 600 feet (180 m) into the harbor from the north end of Moon Island. The Sewage Plant was finished in 1884 and cost $6 million.
The original plan was to collect raw sewage in the four tanks during high tide. Then, two hours after the tide started going out, the sewage would be released into the harbor. This allowed about four hours for the sewage to flow out before the tide changed. The total release time was three to four hours per cycle, or six to eight hours per day. Boston Harbor usually has two tide cycles each day. The idea was that the sewage would flow out between Long and Rainsford Islands, through a small channel between Gallops and Georges Island, and then out to sea.
As Boston's population grew, more communities joined the system. The sewage discharge at Moon Island needed longer and longer release times. The situation got worse until the incoming tides brought the untreated sewage back onto the sand flats and beaches of Boston Harbor and Quincy Bay.
In 1889, The Metropolitan Sewerage District (MSD) was created. It built one of the first regional sewer systems in the United States. The system kept growing into the early 1900s. The Moon Island system didn't treat the sewage. It just collected the wastewater and pumped it into Boston Harbor.
In 1892, a garbage recycling plant was set up on Moon Island. This plant moved to Spectacle Island in 1912. By 1919, severe pollution from the Moon Island sewage caused many clam beds and beaches in Boston Harbor and Quincy Bay to close. Also that year, the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) took over the Moon Island/Squantum Sewer System from the MSD. By 1933, the pollution in Boston Harbor was so bad that all clams caught in the area had to be cleaned before they could be sold or eaten. Pollution on Boston and Quincy beaches got even worse.
In 1939, a committee found that Quincy Bay and Hingham Harbor were "revolting" and unhealthy. Both Boston and Quincy beaches had been closed since 1890. More than 250 million US gallons (950,000 m3) of raw sewage were being dumped into Boston Harbor every day. The next year, Massachusetts State planners suggested building sewage treatment plants at Moon Island, Deer Island, and Nut Island in Quincy.
Later Developments
On August 4, 1951, Maurice J. Tobin, who was the Secretary of Labor, opened a two-lane steel bridge from Moon Head to Long Island.
In 1959, the Boston Fire Department built a fire-fighting training facility on the north end of Moon Island. They built a concrete building designed to look like different roof designs and window shapes found in Boston.
In 1960, the Boston Police Department set up an outdoor pistol range on the south side of Moon Island. Today, both the Boston and Quincy Police Departments use this facility.
In 1961, stone blades were found on a Squantum beach. These tools belonged to the early Native Americans who lived in the Squantum area.
The Moon Island sewage facility was still running in 1967. It was pumping about a million gallons of sewage into Boston Harbor. About 15-20% of the sludge that was released with the outgoing tides would return with the next incoming tide. This made Boston Harbor and Quincy Bay very polluted.
When the Deer Island sewage treatment plant opened in 1968, the Moon Island facility was put on emergency standby. The sewage flow to Moon Island was redirected to Deer Island.
The Squantum Naval Air Station in Squantum was abandoned by 1970. Also that year, a dog's skeleton was found under a pile of shells in Squantum. Scientists used carbon dating to find out the dog's remains were from 300 AD. The remains of a few Native Americans have also been found nearby. The sachem Chickataubut had his summer home at Moswetuset Hummock in the early 1600s.
In 1972, new federal and state laws required all city sewer systems to have primary and secondary treatment. This meant states could no longer choose less effective treatment methods.
In 1984, because of the severe pollution on Quincy's beaches, the City of Quincy sued the MDC. As a result, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) was created to clean up Boston Harbor. A judge ruled that no new buildings could connect to the sewer system until a plan was made to fix the sewage overflow problem in Boston Harbor. In 1985, the MWRA took control of all the MDC's water and sewer systems. Because these systems were below federal standards, a federal court ordered the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant on Deer Island.
In 1993, National Guard bulldozers started clearing woods on Moon Island for a firing range. Local Squantum residents were worried that more shooting would endanger them or people on boats. An environmental group claimed this expansion would prevent the public from ever using Moon Island. The public is still not allowed on Moon or Long Islands.
In 1996, the Boston Globe reported that Mayor Tom Menino and an MIT engineer were planning to bring back aquaculture (fish farming) to Boston Harbor. They thought about using the large tanks on Moon Island as a fish farm or a temporary home for tuna or lobster. The idea was to store fish in the tanks and sell them at higher prices when they were out of season. This plan has not happened yet.
Today, Moon Island remains closed to the public and is still owned by the City of Boston. Since sewage is no longer discharged there, the waters around the island have become a great place for fishing. However, you can only access it by private boat. The lagoon northwest of Moon Island, formed by the causeway, Squantum, and Thompson Island, has become a safe place for private boats to anchor, protected from waves in Dorchester Bay.
What's on Moon Island Today?
All the land on Moon Island is owned by the City of Boston, but the island is under the control of Quincy. Here's what you'll find there:
- The Boston Police Department firing range
- The Boston Fire Department training facility
