Era: Immigrant Neighborhood (~1880-1960)
Immigration, first, second, and third-generation Americans, Settlement Houses, Irish politics, etc.
Boston’s urban landscape has been dramatically shaped by urban renewal initiatives of the mid-20th century. Among the most notable examples are the West End and Charlestown—two historic neighborhoods with starkly divergent urban renewal results. While the West End became the poster child for urban renewal’s destructive potential, Charlestown had a very different outcome only a few years later. This article examines these contrasting urban renewal experiences, highlighting their implementation approaches, community responses, and lasting impacts on Boston’s urban fabric.
At its peak, the vibrant West End neighborhood was home to approximately 40-45 synagogues, reflecting the thriving Jewish community that once defined the area. Today, only the Boston Synagogue remains as the sole continuously-operating Jewish house of worship in the neighborhood.
Below is an online, self-guided version of our “West End Women” walking tour. Print it out or keep it digital, and put on your best walking shoes to explore the histories and stories of women from Boston’s West End.
Joseph Caruso’s novel The Priest (1956) vividly captures daily life for the West End’s Italian immigrant population in the mid-twentieth century, drawing on actual events, historical landmarks, cultural rituals, and economic challenges which shaped the West End community for generations.
Charles Street Jail stands as a landmark of major national significance, both as a key example of the Boston Granite Style of architecture and as the embodiment of mid-nineteenth-century penal reform movements. The jail’s history was marked by dramatic shifts: initially celebrated as an architectural and reformist triumph at its opening in 1851; later decried for its “cruel and unusual” conditions in the 20th century, prompting its closure; before being reinvented as a luxury hotel in the 21st century.
During the mid-20th century, Boston targeted the South End for urban renewal, alongside the West End and other low-income communities across the city. Responding to impending displacement, the South End’s Puerto Rican residents organized to take control of their community’s destiny, forming the Emergency Tenants’ Council (ETC) and successfully negotiating the right to redevelop the land themselves. The result was Villa Victoria—a community-planned and operated housing development that would become the center of Latino life and culture in the South End. Unlike top-down redevelopment schemes that displaced residents, as happened in the West End, Villa Victoria emerged from the community’s own vision and struggle.
Bowdoin Square has gone through many phases, including rapid development, growing population, changing fortunes, urban renewal, and attempts at revitalization. Today the name survives mainly in the name of an MBTA station, but examination of Bowdoin Square provides insight into two and a half centuries of Boston history. This article, the second part of two, covers the history of the square in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Abraham “Al” Tabachnik (sometimes spelled Tabachnick, Tabatchnik, or Tabarchnik) was a Russian immigrant, known both for his eccentricities and powerful voice. From the early 1920s to the early 1960s, he roamed the West End’s streets, filling them with music. Recollections of Tabachnik, found throughout West End oral histories and the West Ender Newsletter, illustrate the impact of the West End’s tight-knit community on him, and his impact on the community.
