Harry E. Burroughs and the Burroughs Newsboys
Hundreds of boys from the West End and other parts of Boston benefited from the financial, education, and moral support provided by the Burroughs Newsboys Foundation.
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Era: Immigrant Neighborhood (~1880-1960)
Immigration, first, second, and third-generation Americans, Settlement Houses, Irish politics, etc.
West End Hero Squares, Part 1
The tradition of dedicating city squares to service members lost in war began in 1898. Known as Hero Squares, the City of Boston has placed over 1200 memorials of this type throughout its neighborhoods. Easily overlooked as one navigates busy urban streets, an alert pedestrian walking through the West End will notice its share of these memorials to those who sacrificed their lives in duty.
MGH’s Service During Wartime
Since its opening in 1821, the Massachusetts General Hospital has had a long tradition of caring for West Enders, Bostonians, and other patients from across the globe. This tradition includes a history of its nurses and doctors putting their own lives at risk while serving military personnel during wartime.
The Casket Industry in the West End
Throughout its history the West End has hosted the regional and national headquarters of many industry leaders, from shoes, to biscuits, and even caskets.
Edward Ginn and the Charlesbank Homes
Publishing magnate Edwin Ginn put his wealth and energies to use by establishing the World Peace Foundation and constructing housing for 500 residents at the Charlesbank Homes in the West End.
The Public Bath Movement in Boston
Public baths are generally an unknown phenomenon in the United States today, but in the 19th and early 20th century, the public bath movement brought with it the creation of hundreds of outdoor and year-round bathing establishments in the country’s large cities, including Boston and the West End.
Boston College in the West End… Almost
The urban origins of Boston College trace back to its first home on Harrison Avenue in the South End of Boston, but if its founders had had their way, its birthplace would have been in the West End.
The Haymarket Relief Station
In the later half of the 19th century, Boston’s downtown residents required more immediate access to acute medical care as industrialization brought with it additional hazards to safety and health. For over thirty years the Haymarket Relief Station, which sat at the eastern gateway of the West End, filled that gap by providing much needed treatment for acute illnesses and injuries for urban residents.