The river's working past as an industrial waterway
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Long before its banks were lined with parkland and cafes, stretches of the river served a distinctly unglamorous industrial purpose, lined with wharves, warehouses and factories that relied on the water for transport and processing rather than recreation. Barges and small vessels once queued along these stretches, loading and unloading goods bound for warehouses further along the bank.
Traces of this working past still surface occasionally, in old brick warehouses converted to apartments or offices, and in the particular width and depth of certain stretches, shaped decades ago to accommodate boats rather than kayaks or rowing shells. Environmental standards from that era were considerably looser, and the water itself reportedly bore the visible consequences for decades.
The river's transformation from working waterway to recreational parkland happened gradually across generations, a shift that says as much about the changing shape of the city's economy as it does about any deliberate environmental plan. Few visitors picnicking along the modern riverbank would easily picture the noisy, industrious waterway that once occupied the exact same spot.