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Route 128 the Birth of the Age of High Tech (Images of America)
Route 128 the Birth of the Age of High Tech - Images of America Author:Alan R. Earls From the invention of ether and the telephone in the nineteenth century to the birth of radar and the computer in the twentieth century, Greater Boston has been a hotbed for creating and nurturing new ideas. In the early years of the century, the ground was being sown for a new economy to supplant the slowly declining shoe and textile manufactur... more »ing industries that had long dominated the region. After World War II, Route 128, dubbed by critics ìthe road to nowhere,î became the locus of this high-tech development. Although originally intended to ease gridlock and provide an avenue to recreational opportunities, by the late 1950s, Route 128 was dotted with industrial parks and new subdivisions. It was soon known as the Golden Crescent, in recognition of the prosperity it brought to the whole region. ÝÝRoute 128 and the Birth of the Age of High Tech tells the intertwining stories of the construction of the nationís first circumferential beltway and the burgeoning high-tech industries of Massachusetts, which helped spawn the modern age of personal computers, the Internet, and biotechnology. ÝÝ« less