Era: Immigrant Neighborhood (~1880-1960)
Immigration, first, second, and third-generation Americans, Settlement Houses, Irish politics, etc.
Destruction and Disappointment: The Legacy of Boston’s Central Artery Boston’s Central Artery promised relief to the city’s traffic dilemma, but as with most major building projects of the mid-20th century, it brought demolition, displacement, and ultimately disappointment. Less than 20 years after the first automobiles hit the dirt roads of Boston, traffic congestion had become…
The West End News: Headlines in the Summer of 1926One Summer in the West End, Part Two Over the course of four months in the summer of 1926, Lou Coffee and Francis R. Whelton published a newspaper by West Enders for West Enders. These papers gave a glimpse into the diverse immigrant neighborhood facing the…
The West End News: The Editor and the PublisherOne Summer in the West End, Part One Over the course of four months in the summer of 1926, Lou Coffee and Francis R. Whelton published a newspaper by West Enders for West Enders. These papers offer a glimpse into a diverse immigrant neighborhood facing the introduction…
Edmund L. Mitchell: Photographer of a Changing Boston With over 5,700 photographs, the Edmund L. Mitchell Collection, now housed at the Boston Public Library, offers a snapshot of Boston and the West End in a period of transition. As an amateur photographer, Mitchell nonetheless captured the city as it became something new. Edmund Lombard Mitchell…
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…
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.
