Topic: Urban Renewal
Urban renewal, the West End Project, the North Station Project, the Government Center Project, City Hall, renewal projects in other cities
West End Place, the mixed-income condominium complex on Staniford Street, is the home of The West End Museum. West End Place, like the Museum, owes its existence to the dedicated activism of displaced former residents who hoped to right the wrongs of urban renewal.
Richie Nedd was one of the historic West End’s Black residents and a board member of The West End Museum before his passing in 2011. Nedd’s article for the June 1998 issue of The West Ender, “A Black Man’s View of the West End,” features he and other Black residents coming together in reunions of hundreds of West Enders after urban renewal.
Summer in Boston is a celebrated, if too short, season for residents and visitors alike. In recent years, however, more frequent heat waves and extended periods of above-average temperatures have sometimes created dangerous conditions for many city residents…but not all.
Joseph “Bepo” Caruso came to the West End from Sicily when he was seven years old. During his rich life he served in World War II, opened an art gallery, published novels, started a film production company, and was a founder of the Committee to Save the West End.
One of the few independent female lawyers of her day, and a staunch supporter of her community, Gladys Shapiro became one of the most influential women to emerge from the West End.
John Moore understood himself to be a West Ender when he grew up on Grove Street on the north slope of present-day Beacon Hill. The demolition of fifty acres of the historic West End and the preservation of the Beacon Hill Architectural District were simultaneous, influencing popular perceptions of the boundaries not just of Boston’s contemporary neighborhoods, but its historic ones as well.
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.
Arguably the most famous arts facility in the world, Lincoln Center is a present-day, glittering example of American urban renewal gone wrong.
