In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Smoot - Cambridge, MA - Massachusetts Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

In Cambridge and Boston, along the Harvard/Massachusetts Avenue Bridge, is a plaque on the Cambridge end of the bridge by the intersection of Mass. Avenue and the on-off ramps to Memorial Drive. The stainless steel plaque is mounted about hip high facing the intersection on the northwest end of the bridge. This plaque commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Smoot, a unit of measure used to measure the length of that bridge.

The plaque is as follows:

In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Smoot

In October 1958 the span of this bridge was measured using the body of Oliver Reed Smoot MIT '62 and found to be 364.4 smoots +/- 1 ear. This provided a very useful metric for generations of bridge travelers since, and the smoot has joined the angstrom, meter, and lightyear as enduring standards of length. Ollie's contributions to measurement continued after his graduation from MIT. He went on to head both the American National Standards Institute and the International Organization for Standardization.

Dedicated to Our Classmate Oliver Reed Smoot '62

October 4, 2008 by the MIT Class of 1962

There is also a symbol for the Department of Conservation and Recreation in the lower right corner, and line drawings of the bridge, the painted lettering for smoot measurements, and MIT's dome (if that is the orientation, then the letter is on the wrong side of the bridge, but that's a minor technicality).
There are many stories now associated with this monumental event. According to Wikipedia, Oliver Smoot was a pledge at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. On that night, he and his pledge classmates went out and measured the bridge by laying down Smoot and marking his body length from the Boston end of the bridge to the Cambridge end. The article stated that Smoot started moving himself each time, but he tired from doing that, so his brethren picked him up and moved him each time. By the time they finished, they obtained the measurement of 364.4 smoots +/- 1 ear. (I have heard this as "plus 1 ear," which apparently is an error).

The painted measurements have been maintained over the years. They have become so popular that when the bridge went through major renovations in the 1980s, the police asked that the measurements remained, since they were used to report the locations of accidents. The construction crew responded one better by scoring the sidewalk exactly 5' 7" which is the accepted length of the smoot.

The painted measurements have specially marked numbers. Some are class years, painted by the graduating class. Some are even units, such as 100 smoots. Some are odd units such as the number for Pi. At 182.2 smoots, there is the additional text, "Halfway to Hell" marking the halfway point of bridge (and hell meaning MIT).

Since then, the Smoot has landed itself into popular culture. Google and the Simpsons have referenced the Smoot. And, this plaque formalizes what has been an accepted feature and legend within Boston lore.

Agency Responsible for Placement: Other (Place below) Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): MIT Class of 1962 and Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Year Placed: 10/4/2008 County: Middlesex City/Town Name: Cambridge Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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