Frances Appleton and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: A Romance Spanning the West Boston Bridge Two modern day bridges, the Longfellow Bridge and the Frances Appleton Footbridge reflect the love story of one of America’s great poets. The journey to Longfellow and Appleton’s happy marriage is tied to Longfellow’s many trips across the West Boston bridge in…
Eminent domain is the right of the state to seize the private property of an individual for a public purpose with just compensation. The third and final article in this series explores the Supreme Court decisions that influenced eminent domain policy from the mid twentieth-century to the present.
Eminent Domain Part 2: Use in Early America Eminent domain is the right of the state to seize the private property of an individual for a public purpose with just compensation. This is the second article in a series of three. This article will discuss the use of eminent domain in the early decades of…
Eminent Domain Part 1: Origins Eminent domain is the right of the state to seize the private property of an individual for a public purpose with just compensation. This article will trace the origins of the concept from Ancient Roman law to its use in Early Modern states. The formal concept of eminent domain is…
The West End Branch of the Boston Public Library Library service in the West End neighborhood began in 1896 in the Old West Church on the corner of Cambridge and Lynde Streets. The branch remained there until 1960 when the West End Redevelopment Project forced its closure. In 1968 the current library building opened at…
The Greatest Political Enemies of the 20th Century: West End’s Lomasney Vs. Mayor Curley In the early decades of the 20th century, two towering figures dominated Boston’s political landscape. Their rivalry was so bitter that it reshaped the very nature of urban Democratic politics. The feud between Martin Lomasney, the “Mahatma” of the West End,…
Jolly Jane Toppan: The MGH Nurse Turned Mass Murderer A medical serial killer in the late 19th and early 20th century, Jane Toppan (1857-1938) admitted to the murders of 31 people and was possibly responsible for many more deaths. Toppan, a child of Irish immigrants and a trained nurse, was a press sensation in her…
For Her Race or Her Sex? Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Women’s Suffrage, and Civil Rights Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842 – 1924) was involved in the abolitionist cause, women’s suffrage, and the fight for equal rights for Black Americans. But due to the shifting politics of the women’s movement, Ruffin and other Black suffragists faced…
