James J. Storrow

Who was James J. Storrow?

James Jackson Storrow II was a Boston-area investment banker instrumental in forming General Motors and its third president. He was a business partner of Henry Lee Higginson, founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He served on the Boston City Council, 1915-1918.

In 1901, he began the campaign to dam the Charles River and create the Charles River Basin, and to preserve and improve the riverbanks as a public park. The dam was approved by the legislature in 1903, and completed in 1910. The basin also eliminated tidal harbor pollution and the basin's low-tide odors. Storrow Drive, a highway that now runs along the river, is named for him, despite his never having advocated such a highway and his wife's vocal opposition to it.

In 1919, Boston faced a possible strike by its police officers who were seeking the right to form a union under a charter from the American Federation of Labor. With police Commissioner Edwin U. Curtis at odds with the rank and file police, Boston Mayor Andrew J. Peters appointed Storrow to chair an ad hoc Citizen's Committee to review the matter.