Widening Chardon Street
Before the City of Boston widened Chardon Street in the 1930s to develop the area around Haymarket Square, West Enders voiced their support for widening the street on a grassroots level.
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Era: Immigrant Neighborhood (~1880-1960)
Immigration, first, second, and third-generation Americans, Settlement Houses, Irish politics, etc.
Harry “Buddo” Greenberg
Harry “Buddo” Greenberg, a long-time West End resident, was an experienced basketball referee who liked to call a fast-paced game. The way he called games helped shape the direction of what became the NBA.
JFK and the Two Joe Russos
In 1946, two of John F. Kennedy’s Democratic primary opponents for Massachusetts’ Eleventh Congressional District were from the West End, and both were named Joe Russo. One was a popular city councillor and undertaker, the other a janitor who entered the race under suspect circumstances.
Population Over Time in the West End
A report on the population of the West End from the late colonial period through the modern day.
Sgt. Salvatore J. Cassaro Receives the Flag of Boston
Sgt. Salvatore J. Cassaro was a West Ender who served in the United States Army during the Korean War. Mayor John Hynes honored Cassaro’s request for a flag of the City of Boston that he could fly over his gun position, demonstrating pride in where he came from.
The American Waltham Watch Company Band and the West End’s “Pop” Concert in 1911
One night in the summer of 1911, West Enders enjoyed a free concert on the Esplanade by the American Waltham Watch Company Band, one of the many in-house corporate bands performing at the turn of the twentieth century.
Marilyn Hurvitz’s Vegetable Garden
Marilyn Hurvitz, an eleven-year-old girl of Polish descent in the West End, took pride in growing a vegetable garden that was ordinarily inaccessible in tenement life.
The Elizabeth Peabody House
One of the West End’s most prominent settlement houses, the EPH served as a community center, education space, and more for more than half a century in the West End, and continues its work today in Somerville.