Mother Brook

Mother Brook
A sculpture at Mill Pond Park along the banks of Mother Brook.
Name origin: First man-made canal in the United States.
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
Source	Charles River
- location	Dedham, Massachusetts
- elevation	97 ft (30 m) approximate using MapMyRun
- coordinates	42°15′18″N 71°09′53″W / 42.25500°N 71.16472°W / 42.25500; -71.16472 Location of the USGS Hydrologic Unit, .4 mi downstream from diversion from Charles River.
Mouth	Neponset River
- location	Hyde Park, Massachusetts
- elevation	55 ft (17 m) approximate using MapMyRun
- coordinates	42°15′08″N 71°07′23″W / 42.25222°N 71.12306°W / 42.25222; -71.12306Coordinates: 42°15′08″N 71°07′23″W / 42.25222°N 71.12306°W / 42.25222; -71.12306
Length	3.6 mi (6 km) approximate using MapMyRun
Discharge	for Hyde Park, Massachusetts
- average	23 cu ft/s (1 m3/s)
- max	350 cu ft/s (10 m3/s)
- min	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)

Mother Brook is a stream that flows from the Charles River in Dedham, Massachusetts, to the Neponset River in the Hyde Park section of Boston, Massachusetts. Mother Brook was also known variously as East Brook and Mill Creek in earlier times. Digging the brook made Boston and some surrounding communities an island, accessible only by crossing over water, making Mother Brook "Massachusetts' Panama Canal."

The portion of the brook dug by English settlers has been called the first man-made canal in the United States. Mother Brook was important to Dedham as its only source of water power for mills, from 1639 into the early 20th century.

Today, Mother Brook is part of a flood-control system that diverts water from the Charles River to the Neponset River. The brook's flow is under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and is used for flood control on the Charles. There are three remaining dams on the stream, plus a movable floodgate that controls flow from the Charles into Mother Brook.

The brook has given its name to the modern day Mother Brook Community Group, the Mother Brook Arts and Community Center, Riverside Theatre Works, and the erstwhile Mother Brook Club and Mother Brook Coalition.

Dedham, Massachusetts was first settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1636. The settlers needed a mill for grinding corn. Wind mills had been tried, but the wind was too unreliable, and hand mills took too much effort. The closest mill was in Watertown, some distance away.

Abraham Shaw who, like many other Dedhamites, came from Watertown, arrived in Dedham in 1637. He was granted 60 acres (24 ha) of land as long as he erected a watermill, which he intended to build on the Charles River near the present day Needham Street bridge. Every man in the town was required to bring the millston to Dedham from Watertown. Shaw died in 1638 before he could complete his mill, however.