Era: Immigrant Neighborhood (~1880-1960)
Immigration, first, second, and third-generation Americans, Settlement Houses, Irish politics, etc.
Theatre, Community, and the Augusta Fraternal Association During the Great Depression During the Great Depression, an unusual collaboration between immigrant mutual aid groups, the federal government, and the arts came together on a Boston stage. The Federal Theater Project raised funds for the Augusta Fraternal Association in a one night only performance. Explore this snapshot…
Explore the central role of the kitchen table to immigrant families living in the old West End’s tenement housing through the Campano family’s enamel top-table.
Built in 1910 to relieve over-crowding in West End Schools, the Peter Faneuil School would go on to be the final West End School operating after urban renewal destroyed the rest of the neighborhood. It was the first school in Boston to attempt intra-city busing and later hosted an experimental school integration program.
This is the second in a series on Schools of the Old West End.
This conclusion to the story of Jewish businesses in the West End explains how small business interacted with the diverse immigrant neighborhood.
The William Blackstone SchoolSchools of the Old West End, part 1 Built in 1913 to serve the West End’s growing immigrant population, the William Blackstone School served as a place of learning, a gathering place, and a sight of many memories until it closed its doors in 1959. The school was spared the initial years…
Charles Angoff Charles Angoff (1902-1979) was a West Ender originally from Minsk who went on to a career in writing and publishing. His series of semi-autobiographical novels following the immigrant Polonsky family reflected on his youth in the diverse West End neighborhood and his experience as a Jew in America. His writings offered a glimpse…
Behind Closed Doors: Illegal Gambling at 11 Irving Street In August of 1949, Boston Police raided an apartment at 11 Irving Street. Inside they found evidence of illegal gambling connected to a nationwide baseball betting racket. This raid and the coverage it received in the Boston Globe offers a glimpse into how illegal enterprises existed…
J.W. Strom and the Bowdoin Square Museum For a brief period of less than three years, J.W. Strom ran the Bowdoin Square Museum from the Parkman Building in Bowdoin Square. More of an enclosed carnival sideshow than our notion of a modern day museum, Strom’s venue offered Bostonians the most sensational entertainment 5 cents could…
