View of East Boston, Mass. 1879

View of East Boston, Mass. 1879. Harborwalk Boston. , The new street site was developed in the mid-1800s for a variety of water-dependent uses, including a mast-making yard, graving dock, and marine railway. Mackerel was sorted and inspected for export on Miller's Wharf, which was later used as a salt refinery likely to have been associated with a fish packing business., The wharves were rebuilt with new uses by 1874. However, after the waterfront was destroyed in a fire on the Fourth of July, 1861, the new wharves and piers were used for one of two dyewood mill operations in Boston. At these mills, wood from Central America and the Caribbean was processed and distilled to extract a dark black dye., By 1900, the site was occupied by fish packing and canning operations. From 1908 to 1915, Boston Cold Storage built a series of buildings and warehouses at the base of the wharves, including a refrigerating plant. However, Boston Cold Storage left the site by 1920, possibly due to a shift in the fishing industry to South Boston after the Fish Pier opened in 1913. Fish packing continued on the wharves until the 1950s, when they began to be occupied by a succession of confectionary companies., Source: Sites for Historical Interpretation on East Boston's Waterfront, Nancy Seasholes and The Cecil Group, 2009.