The West End Museum | Boston Beyond the Revolution

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The West End Museum tells the story of Boston’s West End neighborhood - collecting, preserving, and sharing the history and culture of the 'Greatest Neighborhood This Side of Heaven'.

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HISTORY

Explore the story of a dynamic urban neighborhood — the origin of abolition, a major transportation hub, Boston’s most diverse neighborhood, and the nation’s greatest tragedy of urban renewal.

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VISIT

Come by the WEM to say hello and dive into West End history! We open tomorrow at 10.30am.

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PROGRAMS

We offer a wide variety of programs from talks to musical performances. Check out what’s coming up at the museum.

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SUPPORT

Your support insures that the legacy of the West End neighborhood can be shared in Boston and beyond for many years to come.

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EXHIBITS

Our exhibits explore the wide range of history in the West End from its origins to the present day. Check out what’s live, or look through a past exhibit, here.

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15Apr

Connie Converse at 100

The West End Museum

26Apr

West End Community Clean-Up

Thoreau Path

26Apr

The Great Abolitionist with Stephen Puleo

The West End Museum

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On View at the Museum

An Illusion of Freedom: Boston and the Fugitive Slave Laws

An Illusion of Freedom: Boston and the Fugitive Slave Laws Open from February 27th through June 1st of 2025. This exhibit explores the documentary history of the legalization of slavery in the United States, and the creation of federal laws prioritizing the rights of slaveholders over basic human rights. Focused on the period from the…

Special Exhibit

Opens February 27, Closes May 2025

A map showing 2 overlapping shorelines of Boston to illustrate the massive landfill projects between 1800 and 1900

Rise, Fall, Rebirth: Stories of the West End

Rise, Fall, Rebirth: Stories of the West End The West End Museum’s permanent exhibit, Rise, Fall, Rebirth: Stories of the West End, explores 400 years of history and urban development in the City of Boston through the use of interactive digital media, film, artifacts, and archival material. We want you to feel the West End…

Permanent Exhibit

Always Up

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Explore a West End Story

African Americans Business Social & Religious Institutions West Boston

Fragments of pearlware ceramics against a black backdrop. They are cream-colored with blue flowers.

Domingo Williams

Domingo Williams was an attendant and caterer who lived with his family in an apartment in the African Meeting House from 1819 to 1830. A 2005 archaeological dig behind the African Meeting House, in conjunction with mentions of Williams in local and national newspapers, help to illuminate Williams’ prosperous catering career, his activist involvement in Boston’s Black community, and his time living in one of the city’s most important Black social-religious centers.

A black and white photograph of a city block, lined with 4-5 story brick buildings, with crowds of people in the street.

Revisiting Joseph Caruso’s “The Priest” & the West End’s Sicilian Immigrant Community

Art & Literature, Immigrant Neighborhood, Neighborhood LifeMarch 29, 2025

A black and white drawing of cruciform-layout building, filled with large arched windows and topped with a central rotunda.

The Charles Street Jail

Art & Literature, Immigrant Neighborhood, Modern, New Boston, Social & Religious Institutions, West BostonMarch 20, 2025

An aerial photograph of three-story brick buildings facing each other, with a garden walkway in the middle.

Victory Village: The Story of the South End’s Villa Victoria

City Planning, Immigrant Neighborhood, Immigration, Modern, Neighborhood LifeMarch 11, 2025

An engraving a a three story church buildings. People in long dresses walk and stand outside.

The Fugitive Slave Church: The Twelfth Baptist Church, Leonard Grimes, and Abolitionism in the West End

Abolition, African Americans, Social & Religious Institutions, West BostonMarch 1, 2025

An oil painting of a harbor and three mountains in the background. Native American people shoot a bow and arrow and row a boat.

An Early History of the Shawmut Peninsula

Immigration, New FieldsFebruary 25, 2025

You can help tell these stories!

You can become a member to support our work and get some awesome perks; volunteer to engage with the West End hands-on; or donate to ensure that we can keep the West End story alive!

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