Providing a glimpse into the changes the park has experienced over the last ~100 years.
WPI Rope Pull
This image depicts the 1927 WPI Rope Pull competition with about 20 WPI students in waist-deep water. In the near background is the small island. In the far background are smokestacks from the Northworks factories.
Flash forward to today and the smokestacks of the old factories are gone, and some of the pine trees in the background appear to be as tall as the old smokestacks were. New to the scene are the invasive reeds (light brown patch in the middle background of this photo) that have spread throughout the pond. Additionally, one can see overgrowth on the pond's edge limiting visibility. Sadly, the depth of the water where the young men once walked waist-deep in 1927 can now be measured in inches.
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Pond Shoreline
We start with the photo from the 1930s where a large crowd watches from the edge of the pond as a couple dozen WPI students walk waist-deep in the water. Someone in a rowboat accompanies them.
In the present-day photo, the shoreline where the crowd once stood is now lined with invasive weeds; a crowd could not see through them today. Likewise, on the western side of the pond where the photographer stood in the 1930s, the shore is clogged with invasive reeds, weeds, shrubs and trees. In the warmer months, the water would not be visible through their leaves. The depth of the water in which the students walked waist-deep in the 1930s is now ankle-deep.
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