The current bridge was constructed in 1910, along with the dam that turned the lower Charles River from a tidal estuary into a fresh-water basin. This reduced the problematic odor from raw sewage flowing into the river by keeping the formerly tidal lands covered with water. It was completed on June 30, and greeted with a two-hour fireworks display that Fourth of July. Thousands of people watched from the new Boston Embankment (the early Charles River Esplanade), which took the place of the former tidal flats.