Canadian fall is coming

By adamg on Tue, 09/19/2023 - 9:45am

Red leaf on a red-outlined manhole cover

Thebostonlol spotted this early fall display on a manhole cover in Roxbury yesterday.

The EEI means the cover was originally installed by the Edison Electric and Illuminating Co., a forerunner to today's Eversource, and the one-time owner of a radio station with the call letters WEEI - one of the oldest stations in the country.

Neighborhoods:

Roxbury

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Trees

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Comments

Edison Illuminating Company

By BostonDog on Tue, 09/19/2023 - 10:17am.

Another footnote of EEI is that it was that company, along with the Massachusetts Dept of Public Utilities, that really set off the great stock market crash of 1929.

In a very simplified nutshell: EEI and other utility stocks were growing rapidly due to unfettered speculation and the value was far outpacing the company's expected returns given the rates were highly regulated. EEI asked the Mass DPU for permission for a stock split. DPU said no, not until you lower your rates, and implied the government might even take over the company.

This sparked panic among investors which rapidly spread to the rest of the market which was already on edge.

There's a old EEI building on Beacon St just outside Kenmore Sq. I'm not sure what's in it and I've never seen it open. But it has the old logo and tarnished brass lettering. I think of the stock market crash whenever I walk by it.

(And WTF happened to DPU that sent it from being eagle eyed on consumer matters to completely dropping all oversight of the MBTA?)

Love This.

By John Costello on Tue, 09/19/2023 - 11:02am.

Never heard it about the stock story.

The EEI building by Kenmore is a substation. If you notice, it is done in the same color and style as the one on the Neponset behind Baker Chocolate off of Central Avenue.

Edison was for years over in what is now the St. Francis House and the abutting building to its rear on Tremont which is now ABCD. One of their first electrical production facilities was in Head Place. That is the name of the alley by the St. Francis House.

Edison later moved to the Pru and then to the big place they have now in Westwood.

EEI building

By Camberville on Tue, 09/19/2023 - 12:55pm.

Interesting. I had always wondered what that was, and why it was so vacant looking. maybe it (and its dilapidated neighbors) are going to be razed for that new air-rights development?

It Could...

By John Costello on Tue, 09/19/2023 - 3:20pm.

But there would be no electricity.

Eversource has a lot of substations around the city within buildings.

There is one across the street from Bova in the North End, the one wedged between High and Purchase Streets, and one bounded by Chauncy, Ave De Lafayette, and Kingston Streets.

42 Chauncy Street was a substation but was replaced by the one south of it circa 1990. It is now apartments. The one by MassGeneral on Cambridge Street was a T substation at one point but is now offices.

There is an open air one on Ellery Street near Andrew Square and the big one in Allston near the footbridge along with the one off of East First Street which fixed a lot of problems in South Boston. The last new one I can think built (which is open air) is by Legal Seafoods processing facility in the Seaport. They are trying to build one in East Boston (or maybe they have started). That is the one people complained about putting a substation so close to working class people. I guess the complainers didn't want people to have juice.

Electricity is electricity. Whether you are rich or poor or somewhere in between, you have to have substations nearby.

Oh

By Camberville on Tue, 09/19/2023 - 10:47pm.

I see, I was under the impression that it was abandoned.

WEEI-FM

By necturus on Wed, 09/20/2023 - 7:37am.

If you were here in the 1970s, you'll remember the original "Soft Rock" WEEI-FM at 103.3. It was programmed by the legendary Clark Smidt, and bought billboards all over town with a rainbow logo and slogans such as "Joni -- without the baloney", "The Eagles -- without the turkeys", and "Roberta -- without the flack".

The current WEEI-FM at 93.7 can best be described as "The baloney -- without Joni", "The turkeys -- without The Eagles", and "The Flack[1] -- without Roberta."

[1] Properly "flak", this is an abbreviation of the German "Flugabwehrkanone" = "anti-aircraft cannon". How it found its way into English is a bit of a mystery; the Germans were, after all, the enemy.