Charles River Speedway
	Title: Aerial View, Allston, Soldiers Field Road with Trotting Park Date: 1938 Creator: Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc., NY Original Media: 6¾" x 8½ silver gelatin print on 11" x 14" mount
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	The Charles River Speedway opened to the public on September 11, 1899 along the Charles River in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood to serve as a track for horse racing and bicycling. The site, located at the present site of the MDC recreation area on Soldiers’ Field Road stretching from North Harvard Street to Western Avenue, was chosen because it was one of the few lots in the city with a stretch of one mile, uninterrupted by cross streets or interference with traffic. The main speedway was restricted to light horse-drawn vehicles such as buggies, runabouts, and surreys adapted to the speeding (racing) of light harness horses and not capable of seating more than two people and not drawn by more than two horses. The Speedway was under the jurisdiction of the MDC. Early on, the Speedway was used by driving clubs for special occasions. In 1905, walks, lawns, and playgrounds for public recreation were added. The Speedway was active as a venue for horseshows, horse racing, and horse-drawn carriages and riding clubs into the 1940s.  The Speedway became the leased home of the Metropolitan Driving Club until the late 1950s when the lease terminated and the MDC turned the land into a general recreation area.  By that time, the automobile had so replaced the horse and carriage as the primary mode of transportation, that few people had buggies or carriages even for recreational use.
	Sources: Reports of the Metropolitan Park Commissioners, variously 1898 though 1938, and  Metropolitan Parks Commission/MDC Minutes Card Index, Courtesy of the MDC Archives
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