Fascinating, but probably shouldn't be surprising. By 1860, Boston was already 1/3 of it present size--too developed for wholesale re-layouts to happen without something major (like the Great Chicago fire did in Chicago).
Look at this map of lower Manhattan from the 1600's to today: http://www.racontrs.com/stories/nyc-land-reclamation. Look how, aside from land reclamation, the basic street architecture has changed little since the mid 1700's.
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Fascinating, but probably shouldn't be surprising. By 1860, Boston was already 1/3 of it present size--too developed for wholesale re-layouts to happen without something major (like the Great Chicago fire did in Chicago).
Look at this map of lower Manhattan from the 1600's to today: http://www.racontrs.com/stories/nyc-land-reclamation. Look how, aside from land reclamation, the basic street architecture has changed little since the mid 1700's.