State oversight and regulatory functions relating to waterways of the Commonwealth have been exercised successively by the following: the Board of Harbor Commissioners (1866-1879); the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners (1879-1916) and the Directors of the Port of Boston (1911-1916); the Commission on Waterways and Public Lands (1916-1919); the Division of Waterways and Public Lands in the Dept. of Public Works (1919-1927); the Dept. of Public Works as a whole (1927-1938); the Division of Waterways, within that department (1938-1974) and within the Dept. of Environmental Quality Engineering (DEQE) (1974-1983); and, since 1983, within DEQE (Dept. of Environmental Protection since 1989), the Division of Wetland Protection and Waterways Regulation, renamed Division of Wetlands and Waterways Regulation by 1988 and Division of Wetlands and Waterways by 1989.
From the description of Licensing plans, 1866-1925. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122506052
