Topic: Neighborhood Life
Street corner society, urban villagers, peer group society, life in the immigrant era

ImmigrationNeighborhood LifeSocial & Religious InstitutionsWest Boston Photograph of a bronze plaque mounted to a wall with following words: October 1788, October 1973, IN GRATITUDE TO ALMIGHTY GOD, FOR THE FIRST MASS OFFERED IN THE WEST END OF BOSTON, ON GREEN STREET (VERY CLOSE TO THIS EXACT SITE) AT THE HOME OF M. BAURY, ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1788 BY L’ABBE DE POTERIE. THIS PLAQUE WAS GIVEN IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE BY: REV. GERALD L. BUCKE P.P. & THE JACKMAN FAMILY

The West End Hosts the First Catholic Service in Boston

After centuries of exclusion by Boston’s ruling Puritan leaders, Roman Catholics were finally allowed to officially practice their faith in Massachusetts in 1780. Led by French Catholics, the movement to establish a Catholic community in Boston is reported to have started with a private mass in the West End. This was the first step in establishing what would become one of the most recognized Catholic archdiocese in America.

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Art & LiteratureImmigrant NeighborhoodNeighborhood LifeSocial & Religious InstitutionsWest Boston Photograph of a long four story stone building with store fronts on the street level

The Boston Museum: A Pioneer in Boston’s Early Live Entertainment Scene

In an age of ongoing Puritan restrictions on theatrical shows, Moses Kimball founded the Boston Museum as a venue which bowed to the cultural aspirations and respectability of mid-19th Century Boston, but at the same time gave the people what they wanted; live performances. Before the renowned Howard Athenaeum (and later the Old Howard) had opened its doors across the square, the Boston Museum attracted large audiences to the Scollay Square area to witness music, drama, and even moral instruction on stage.

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Immigrant NeighborhoodNeighborhood LifeSportsWomen photograph of a paper program with text Boston Garden presents Colonel W.T. Johnson's Rodeo, November 2 to 11, 25 cents, official program with illustration of a cowboy riding a horse

The Wild West in the West End: The Boston Garden Rodeo

In 1931, just three years after its opening, the Boston Garden hosted a new sports phenomenon sweeping the East Coast; the indoor urban rodeos of the kind produced by entrepreneur and cattleman Col. W. T. Johnson. These rodeos in the West End gave eastern sports fans a rare opportunity to relish in the romanticized cowboy image of the bygone American frontier, while also enjoying skillful, and often dangerous, feats of athleticism. Fans of these rodeos were also witnesses to the emergence of professional female sports and the birth of an organized rodeo profession.

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African AmericansImmigrant NeighborhoodImmigrationNeighborhood LifeSocial & Religious InstitutionsWomen a drawing of a "H" shaped four-story masonry building with a mansard roof

The Home for Aged Colored Women

The Home for Aged Colored Women was founded in the historic West End, on the north slope of Beacon Hill in 1860. The organization’s objective was to financially support and house elderly and poor Black women being turned away from existing charitable institutions. The organization raised enough funds to build an institution that served the community through the 1940s.

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Art & LiteratureCity PlanningNeighborhood LifePolitics & LawUrban RenewalWest BostonYankees & Brahmins Pemberton Square (man with bicycle by tree)

The Hidden History of Pemberton Square

Bostonians familiar with the demolition of the West End may not know how another once-prominent location in the city disappeared from the map. This spot, located on Beacon Hill, was designed for the homes of wealthy Boston families, and was established at about the same time as another famous residential location further down “the Hill.” But, unlike Louisburg Square, which is today synonymous with old Brahmin Boston, Pemberton Square remains largely forgotten, its remnants barely visible.

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