Larz Anderson built this bridge in memory of his father, and since 1915 Anderson Memorial Bridge has carried traffic from Allston into Cambridge. The river beneath is the same Charles River first crossed here by the Great Bridge built in 1662, the very first structure to span these waters. This bridge was finished in 1915 and brings Boston traffic from North Harvard Street into Harvard Square via JFK Street.
It was raised not as a vanity but as a memorial: Larz Anderson built it in honor of his father, Nicholas Longworth Anderson, a gallant general of the United States Army renowned for his part in the Civil War, and he was aided by the huge family fortune of his wife, Isabel Weld Perkins. The Metropolitan Park Commission in 1913 described the new span as replacing an inadequate old wooden draw bridge, made possible by the gift of the Honorable Larz Anderson as a memorial to his father. Look up at the engineering signatures here: the bridge was designed by the architectural firm of Wheelwright, Haven and Hoyt and completed under the direction of John R. Rablin.
Notice North Harvard Street flowing onto this bridge and turning into JFK Street toward Harvard Square.