Urban Arts Orange Line Project

One of the advantages of Emerson College's downtown location is the opportunity it affords us to observe the constantly unfolding changes in the urban landscape that surrounds us. Most of us are by now familiar with the large Silver Line buses that snake through our neighborhood on their way from Roxbury to South Station, but how many of us remember the elevated Orange Line tracks that they replaced? 

The Urban Arts Orange Line project was initiated 20 years ago to record for posterity this segment of the MBTA's urban transportation network prior to its demolition. At that time, some saw it as an eyesore and a blight on the neighborhood. Others focused on the architectural qualities of the stations and tracks that hovered above the streets, offering riders a unique vantage point from which to view the city below.  These contrasting themes are captured in the photographs of John Lueders-Booth, Melissa Shook, Lou Jones, Linda Swartz and David Akiba.  Their photographs, as well as a selection of historical images, will be on display in the Library throughout the Fall 2005 semester. The exhibition is on loan from the Boston Public Library Print Department.

[Black and White Photo, 1986, "Egleston Station" by John Lueders-Booth]