Trolley Thursday 10/8/20 - The Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad

Public beaches are such a fact of life in America, today, that any normal person would be up in arms at some rich person encroaching upon a public recreational land. However, prior to 1896, no city-owned beaches existed in the United States and, as such, it was a free for all. Even after receiving rail connection in 1875, "Chelsea Beach" was just another ownerless public common until the Metropolitan Park Commission (now the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation) assumed control and opened the renamed "Revere Beach" to the public on July 12, 1896. Since then, the beach has continued on with tens of thousands of people visiting its temperate waters every single year, and almost always on an MBTA Blue Line train. As autumn draws the curtains on one of the hottest summers on record, return with us now to the thrilling trains of yesteryear as we recount the history of the Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn Railroad.