February 2017 Newsletter

Dear Friend of The West End Museum,

We hope this edition of our newsletter finds you well and that you’re all staying warm. Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted six more weeks of winter, but things are definitely warming up at The West End Museum!

In this newsletter, we …

Share two articles reflecting vivid, lovely memories of the old West End, including remembrances from our own Museum volunteer Paula Andreottola.

Preview two new and exciting exhibits set to open on February 21 — The New York Streets: Boston’s First Urban Renewal Project and Under the Wrecking Ball: A West End Landlord.

Bring attention to our new Oral History Videos project and tell you how you can take part, sharing and preserving your personal recollections of the old neighborhood.

Enjoy, and we hope to see you or hear from you soon!

If you do enjoy our communications, exhibits and events, we hope you’ll consider becoming a West End Museum member. If you’re already a member, please help us spread the word about supporting our ongoing mission. Corporate and individual members are always welcome (special rates for students and seniors) as are donations. Membership and donations are tax deductible.

Remember to keep up and stay in touch with the Museum on our website and via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Thank you and best wishes!

By Timothy Larson

The warmth of Paula Andreottola’s brownstone apartment stands in stark contrast to the frigid winter air along the Back Bay sidewalk. Paula is a thin, friendly woman with light grey hair. She’s funny and easy to talk to. Inside her neat apartment, a bright hallway presents an expansive collection of NASCAR photos. The walls of her living room feature exposed brick, a picture of the Titanic and her collection of degrees from Northeastern University.

Paula is as connected to her history today as she was during her childhood. Born at the old Boston Lying Inn at the site of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she grew up in the West End in an apartment at 209 Chambers Street, near Blossom Street and Mass. General Hospital. It was her home until 1958, when it was demolished in the name of ‘urban renewal.’ In fact, her family was among the last to leave the old West End. Paula was a little girl at the time, stunned to see a wrecking ball swing into her building and expose all of its staircases and rooms. “You could recognize the inside,” she recalls of the eerie image and how traumatic it was “standing there with your mouth open.”

As a third generation West Ender, Paula’s family had a long history in the community. Both of her parents were born and grew up in the place known as “the greatest neighborhood this side of heaven.” Her mother’s parents from Poland and her father’s …

By James Armstrong

I write this as a mature-even old, by most measures-man recalling vivid memories of walking through Boston’s West End in my youth. I am relying only on my recall as I write. I’m afraid that if I refresh my memory in reading the works of other witnesses, I’ll subtly adopt someone else’s memories as mine. So, I write only what I can remember…

I got off the train and left North Station headed for choir practice at the church at the bottom of Mount Vernon Street. It was a trip I made every Monday, Wednesday and Friday after school, as well as on Sunday for the church service. It was 1943. I was nine.

As I walked toward Charles Street, I moved through roads lined with tall, brick tenements that had storefronts right on the sidewalk. There were people on the street. There were kitchen chairs in which they sat and talked. There were children playing games, and grandmothers, elbows on windowsill pillows, watching the whole scene from above.

The air I inhaled seemed from a foreign country. I recall strange aromas-coffee being roasted, herbs in open boxes, damp sawdust on the floors of the butcher shops …

By James Armstrong

I write this as a mature-even old, by most measures-man recalling vivid memories of walking through Boston’s West End in my youth. I am relying only on my recall as I write. I’m afraid that if I refresh my memory in reading the works of other witnesses, I’ll subtly adopt someone else’s memories as mine. So, I write only what I can remember…

I got off the train and left North Station headed for choir practice at the church at the bottom of Mount Vernon Street. It was a trip I made every Monday, Wednesday and Friday after school, as well as on Sunday for the church service. It was 1943. I was nine.

As I walked toward Charles Street, I moved through roads lined with tall, brick tenements that had storefronts right on the sidewalk. There were people on the street. There were kitchen chairs in which they sat and talked. There were children playing games, and grandmothers, elbows on windowsill pillows, watching the whole scene from above.

The air I inhaled seemed from a foreign country. I recall strange aromas-coffee being roasted, herbs in open boxes, damp sawdust on the floors of the butcher shops …

Let’s face it, sometimes plain old history books can make for seriously dry reading. One of the main things we try to do here at the Museum is bring history to life in a more dynamic way. Whether through photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia, talks, walking tours or other means, our exhibits and programs aim to convey important historical and cultural information in ways that are dynamic and interesting.

Expanding on that premise, we’ve embarked on a new video project that plays right into our mission of preserving the history and culture of Boston’s West End, and does so in a lively, engaging way.

Through our new Oral History Videos project, we are recording and posting interviews with former West Enders as they share their personal and touching recollections of “the greatest neighborhood this side of heaven.” Nothing brings history to life quite like the stories from the mouths of those who lived it, and we want to chronicle those stories for current and future generations. Check our first couple of videos and learn how you can contribute your own, even if you don’t live locally.

We want and need your story. Please share it with us!