Boston History: Smoot

In October 1958, as part of a fraternity pledge event, Oliver R. Smoot was used as a measuring stick for the length of the Harvard Bridge, which runs almost half a mile long across the Charles River. The bridge is marked with painted markings indicating how many "Smoots" there are from where the sidewalk begins on the Boston river bank.

The marks are repainted each semester by the incoming associate member class. In recent years graduating classes have begun to paint a special mark for their graduating year.

The markings are recognized as milestones on the bridge, to the degree that during bridge renovations in the 1980s, the Cambridge police department requested that the markings be restored, as they were routinely used in police reports to identify locations on the bridge.

In 2011, Google Earth enabled the ability to measure distance using Smoots, with the standard length of 5 feet 7 inches. MIT's student-run college radio station, WMBR, broadcasts at a wavelength of two Smoots (3.40 m), i.e. 88.1 MHz. You can see the Smoots markings yourself on our Cambridge & Boston Tour!