Back Bay major filling begins.

(April) [mid-May-Howe] The state fills 100 acres between today’s Beacon Street and Boylston Street, from Arlington Street to between Exeter Street and Fairfield Street.  One of the largest civil engineering projects of the time, it is contracted to Norman Munson and George Goss, who use gravel from Needham by building a rail line and running 35-car trains every hour, 24 hours a day, six days a week for the next five years. They use steam shovels (called “Souther’s Monsters”) are designed by Oliver Chapman and produced by John Souther’s Globe Locomotive Works. The first houses are built on Arlington Street in 1859, and the state’s filling is completed in 1876.