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Mother Brook

Mother Brook
A sculpture at Mill Pond Park along the banks of Mother Brook
EtymologyFirst man-made canal in the United States[1][2]
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMassachusetts
Physical characteristics
SourceCharles River
 • locationDedham, Massachusetts
 • coordinates42°15′18″N 71°09′53″W / 42.25500°N 71.16472°W / 42.25500; -71.16472 Location of the USGS Hydrologic Unit, .4 mi downstream from diversion from Charles River[3]
 • elevation97 ft (30 m) approximate using MapMyRun[4]
MouthNeponset River
 • location
Hyde Park, Massachusetts
 • coordinates
42°15′08″N 71°07′23″W / 42.25222°N 71.12306°W / 42.25222; -71.12306
 • elevation
55 ft (17 m) approximate using MapMyRun[4]
Length3.6 mi (5.8 km) approximate using MapMyRun[4]
Discharge 
 • locationHyde Park, Massachusetts
 • average23 cu ft/s (0.65 m3/s)
 • minimum0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
 • maximum350 cu ft/s (9.9 m3/s)
Discharge 
 • locationHyde Park, Massachusetts[3]

Mother Brook is a stream that flows from the Charles River in Dedham, Massachusetts, to the Neponset River in the Hyde Park section of Boston, Massachusetts.[2] Mother Brook was also known variously as East Brook and Mill Creek in earlier times.[5][6] Digging the brook made Boston and some surrounding communities an island, accessible only by crossing over water,[7][8][9] making Mother Brook "Massachusetts' Panama Canal."[10]

Dug by English settlers in 1639 to power a grist mill, it is the oldest such canal in North America.[6][11][12][13][a] Mother Brook was important to Dedham as its only source of water power for mills, from 1639 into the early 20th century.[20]

Today, Mother Brook is part of a flood-control system that diverts water from the Charles River to the Neponset River. The brook's flow is under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and is used for flood control on the Charles.[29] There are three remaining dams on the stream, plus a movable floodgate that controls flow from the Charles into Mother Brook.

The brook has given its name to the modern day Mother Brook Community Group,[29][30] the Mother Brook Arts and Community Center,[31] Riverside Theatre Works,[32] and the erstwhile Mother Brook Club[33] and Mother Brook Coalition.[34]

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  12. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 27.
  13. ^ Parr 2009, p. 18.
  14. ^ Worthington 1900, p. 1.
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