Photo: DCR Senior Planner Dan Driscoll discussed current and proposed improvements to Magazine Beach at the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association Meeting April 13.
  
Magazine Beach was useful back at the beginning of the 19th century because of its isolation. It was part of a salt marsh along the Charles River at the southern tip of Cambridgeport. The slight elevation known as Captain’s Island offered a safe, remote spot for storing gunpowder and explosives.

The Commonwealth bought the property for that purpose in 1818. Now, almost two centuries later, Magazine Beach is anything but isolated. A city-owned recreation area serving an extended urban population, it’s also a place whose future requires long-range plans and cooperative efforts involving city and state agencies, philanthropic organizations and the public.

About 60 people attended a Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association (CNA) April 13 to hear plans for revitalization of the 15-acre park. The meeting was held in the cafeteria of the Morse School on Granite Street.

Photo: Before the meeting Charles Sullivan (center left, dark jacket), Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, led about 15 people on a history walk around the Powder House at Magazine Beach.

The meeting featured presentations by Dan Driscoll, Senior Planner for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and by Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission.

Among the attendees introduced by CNA President Bill August were State Representative Marty Walz (D-8th Suffolk District), State Senator Anthony Petruccelli (D-First Suffolk and Middlesex), and Cambridge Vice-Mayor Henrietta Davis.

Driscoll discussed plans for the future of the site as well as improvements that have already taken place or are currently under way. The CNA has received a $4,000 grant from the New England Grass Roots Environment Fund to foster community engagement in the planning process.

Wide-ranging improvements already in the works include shoreline restoration, stabilization of paths, and upgrading of recreational facilities. Vice-Mayor Davis noted that a $1.3 million project to improve the playing fields was funded by the city.

Among the possibilities Driscoll brought up were construction of a non-traditional playground, sidewalk improvements and limiting of the use of asphalt, improved seating, parking and traffic circulation, reconditioned fencing, and an entry plaza at the base of the footbridge. He estimated that some $2,150,000 would need to be raised.

During the question period some attendees criticized the choice of plant materials for the site; others brought up traffic and parking issues and the shortage of trash cans.

A Magazine Street resident said she and others were distressed by noise from the park, and she questioned the practice of allowing amplified music there. Driscoll said the plan is a partnership with the city, and that the issue of noise would be part of the discussion.

Suggestions have been made by the DCR and by local historians to place a historic marker in the park. Residents suggested incorporating a historical display into plans for the historic Powder House, which dates to 1818. They also proposed adapting the structure to a practical use such as boat rentals. Historian Sullivan endorsed this possibility.

“Using it is what will preserve it,” he said.

Some attendees had braved the rain earlier to go on a historical walk around the park with Sullivan. After Driscoll’s presentation Sullivan continued the story of the 15-acre property, which was bought by the city in 1863.

“They envisioned it as a park,” Sullivan said.

The river bank was reshaped and walled, the salt marsh was filled in, and Memorial Drive was laid out as a pleasure drive. The plan was developed by landscape architect Charles Eliot of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot. With damming of the river in the 20th century the 9-foot tides were tamed, but the quiet water bred disease, and swimmers were exposed to waterborne infections.

“This was not a healthy place,” Sullivan said. Swimming in the river was banned, and in 1950 the swimming pool was opened.

One original landmark remains from the early days: the stone Powder House. By 1890 its roof had fallen in because the valuable copper nails, originally chosen for their non-sparking character, had been stripped out. The roof was replaced, but now there are gaping holes in the replacement.

Meeting organizer and CNA Board Member Cathie Zusy credited the organization’s President Bill August with getting the roof repair started. It was literally a grass-roots project.

“Bill is a runner, and one day as he went past the Powder House he was outraged to see plants and roots growing out of it. He pulled up some of them, and then we got a few local people together to clear away some more—that’s when we saw that the roof was open.” She said the group had raised nearly $1,900 for emergency roof repairs from local residents and from the Cambridge Heritage Foundation.

Conrad Crawford, Director of Partnerships at the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), said the roof repair will take place soon. He manages a matching funds program that helps to support DCR-managed parks, open spaces, and facilities.