Topic: Neighborhood Life
Street corner society, urban villagers, peer group society, life in the immigrant era
Below is a memory letter from the Museum’s archives, originally submitted by Joseph LoPiccolo to the West Ender Newsletter in 1988. In it, we follow Joseph and his grandfather (an Italian immigrant) through their daily lives in Boston’s West End, prior to its demolition.
Founded in 1894, the Frances E. Willard Settlement House was located on the West End’s Chambers Street for nearly five decades. The Settlement House aimed to serve the neighborhood’s immigrant population and factory workers by offering social services, community clubs, and housing to young women and children.
In the 20th century, the superblock concept emerged from modernist planning principles as an alternative to the traditional grid. These superblocks, while theoretically promising a more ordered and healthy urban environment, proved destructive when implemented through America’s urban renewal programs, including in Boston’s West End.
Scollay Square was a vibrant entertainment hub in Boston from the mid-19th century to the early 1960s, known for its burlesque theaters, comedy shows, boisterous bars, and eclectic mix of businesses. Located directly next to the West End at the intersection of Cambridge, Court, and Tremont streets, it attracted both locals and out-of-town visitors, including sailors, with its lively nightlife and commercial offerings. The area was demolished in 1962 as part of an urban renewal project, to be replaced by Government Center.
For twenty years, The West End Museum has preserved the history of the West End and the memories of its residents, many of whom were displaced by an urban renewal project in the late 1950s which demolished their homes and destroyed their community. The journey from the time of the evictions to the opening of the Museum’s doors in 2004 was full of fits and starts, including long legal battles. In the end, the perseverance of the entire lost community, and a smaller number of its dedicated leaders, made The West End Museum a reality.
Prescott Townsend (1894-1973) was a gay activist who lived on the North Slope of Beacon Hill from the early 1920s until his death in 1973. He was outspoken and proud of his identity, from boasting about his pilgrim ancestors to organizing early LGBTQ+-oriented groups in Boston.
Settlement houses were a valuable resource for immigrant families, providing them educational and health services, and practical support in adapting to their new country. Some settlement houses offered specialized services, such as music school settlements, which gave children and adults an opportunity to escape the daily struggles of city life by engaging with the arts.
The settlement movement was an attempt by scholars and social reformers on both sides of the Atlantic to address the problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, and, in America’s case, the mass immigration of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Settlement Houses were important institutions in Boston’s West End, assisting families with a wide range of educational and social services.
