Exhibits – The West End Museum

CURRENT EXHIBITS

An Illusion of Freedom: Boston and the Fugitive Slave Laws

An Illusion of Freedom: Boston and the Fugitive Slave Laws Open from February 27th through June 1st of 2025. This exhibit explores the documentary history of the legalization of slavery in the United States, and the creation of federal laws prioritizing the rights of slaveholders over basic human rights. Focused on the period from the…

A map showing 2 overlapping shorelines of Boston to illustrate the massive landfill projects between 1800 and 1900

Rise, Fall, Rebirth: Stories of the West End

Rise, Fall, Rebirth: Stories of the West End The West End Museum’s permanent exhibit, Rise, Fall, Rebirth: Stories of the West End, explores 400 years of history and urban development in the City of Boston through the use of interactive digital media, film, artifacts, and archival material. We want you to feel the West End…

UPCOMING EXHIBITS

PAST EXHIBITS

photograph of a man in a business suit posing for a photograph whole sitting in a chair.

Jimbo

Jimbo Jim “Jimbo” Campano: Hero of the West End, running through the fall and winter of 2024, is a tribute to the life of Jim Campano, the chief founder of The West End Museum. This special exhibit follows Jim’s journey that started as a young boy living with his large Italian-Lithuanian family on Poplar Street…

The theme of this summer’s art competition is The West End Through My Eyes. Artists submitted works that communicated what the West End means to them individually.

West End Art Show

The theme of this summer’s art competition is The West End Through My Eyes. Artists submitted works that communicated what the West End means to them individually.

Eva Whiting White in one of her characteristic hats

Learned from Our Neighbors: Stories from The Elizabeth Peabody House

Learned from Our Neighbors: Stories from The Elizabeth Peabody House Learned from Our Neighbors: Stories of the Elizabeth Peabody House, is presented in partnership with Simmons University and the Boston City Archives. The West End Museum invites you to explore the exhibit online via the dedicated exhibit site. This digital exhibit celebrates the Elizabeth Peabody House (EPH),…

Cycling Legends of the West End

Cycling Legends of the West End Boston, MA— On Tuesday, February 18, The West End Museum premieres a new exhibit, “Cycling Legends of the West End,” which highlights three key characters in bicycling history. Two of them were West End residents; one was a longtime physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. The show reception takes place…

Etching of a steeple-less church building which had been converted into a theater

The Old Howard Theatre

The Old Howard Theatre The West End Museum premieres a new exhibit, which runs through February 15, 2020, “The Old Howard Theatre,” in celebration of Boston’s oldest and best-loved playhouse, which stood in the heart of Boston’s Scollay Square just steps from the old West End. The Howard’s origin, glory days, and ultimate demise are recounted through…

Two men (James Michael Curley and President Truman) in suits shaking hands

The Beginning of the End: The Housing Act of 1949

The Beginning of the End: The Housing Act of 1949 This exhibit explored the circumstances that led Harry S. Truman to put urban renewal on the national agenda, inadvertently setting in motion the final chapter in the old West End’s story. The Housing Act of 1949, was a re-configured and updated exhibit that examined the…

The elevated railway station at North Station before it was demolished

Before the El Came Down: Photographs by John Woolf

Before the El Came Down: Photographs by John Woolf In 2004, 92 years after opening, the Causeway Street Elevated Railway and North Station platform were demolished. With the last piece of the giant structure gone, light shone again on the West End’s main thoroughfare. The West End Museum is hosting a new exhibit that recalls the…

Beneath the Wrecking Ball: A West End Landlord

Beneath the Wrecking Ball: A West End Landlord

Beneath the Wrecking Ball: A West End Landlord Depicting the buildings and architecture of the West End just prior to demolition under urban renewal and conveying the perspective of a property owner, Beneath the Wrecking Ball: A West End Landlord features photographs from a collection donated to the Museum by Ira Tarlin. Ira’s father, Eli, owned and…

A demolished area with a sign marking the site of a new building for the Boston Herald Traveler

The New York Streets: Boston’s First Urban Renewal Project

The New York Streets: Boston’s First Urban Renewal Project Prior to the demolition of Boston’s old West End, another vibrant, multi-ethnic neighborhood of tenement houses and mom-and-pop shops fell victim to so-called ‘urban renewal.’ The New York Streets: Boston’s First Urban Renewal Project, tells the story of this lost ‘sister’ community. “The New York Streets project…

A streetcar in the 1920's on the Lechmere line. The cars are built of iron plates and appear very solid.

From Stagecoach to Subway: The West End Street Railway

Public transportation in Boston began with a group of private companies that were eventually consolidated under the West End Street Railway — predecessor of the T.

School Days in the West End

School Days in the West End

School Days in the West End Between 1800 and 1975, no fewer than 20 schools called Boston’s West End home. Following urban renewal, the last school in the community—the Peter Faneuil School—closed, and there has not been another public school in the West End or Beacon Hill since. Still, the neighborhood boasts a robust history…

A fountain gargoyle

Indelebile Italia

Indelebile ItaliaA photography exhibit by Giselle Valdes The West End Museum hosted a new photography exhibit in its Members’ Gallery that celebrates the beauty and mystery of Italy. Indelebile Italia is part of the Museum’s annual commemoration of Italian Heritage Month in October. Indelebile Italia photographer and curator Giselle Valdes has been exhibiting her work since 1982. Her…

A watercolor of a small mill and its rural surroundings

Tide Power in Colonial Boston

Tide Power in Colonial Boston To fuel mills for producing flour, fabric, lumber and even chocolate, innovators in colonial Boston turned to the power of the tides. Tide Power in Colonial Boston—tells the story of the development and use of tide mills in the city. “For 150 years prior to the industrial revolution, the tides sustained…

West End Project post-demolition

Dewey Defeats Truman/The Housing Act of 1949

Dewey Defeats Truman/The Housing Act of 1949 With the modern-day 24-hour news cycle, it’s hard to believe that we once relied on daily newspapers to deliver word of current events. But so it was in 1948, when one of the most infamous—and totally inaccurate—headlines of the day broke. The West End Museum highlights that headline,…

Six persons sitting in 2 rows with a woman in the front center

In Pursuit of Excellence: The West End House

In Pursuit of Excellence: The West End House In Pursuit of Excellence: The West End House in the Main Exhibit Hall featured artifacts, photographs, oral history video and memorabilia representing over 100 years. Among the club’s most distinguished alumni are Leonard Nimoy and crooner Buddy Clark. Of the West End House, Nimoy said “It was a…

Lawrence Berk

The Legacy of Lawrence Berk

The Legacy of Lawrence Berk Lawrence Berk grew up in the West End and is best known as the founder of Berklee College of Music. He played piano as a youth in the Boston English High School band and, at age 13, began moonlighting professionally. He pursued a “legitimate” career, earning a degree in architectural…

Clipping of a map showing the location of buildings at the Leverett Street Jail

Walls of Stone: The Leverett Street Jail

All but forgotten today, the Leverett Street Jail had a significant place in the Boston of the Young Republic. The jail held pirates, blasphemers, activists and others, and once stood at approximately 150 Stanford Street, Suite 7-9.

The bottom of an elevated railroad with sunlight shining through

The New West Enders & Other Green Monsters

The New West Enders & Other Green Monsters With images by photographer Lolita Parker, Jr., The New West Enders & Other Green Monsters documents the rapid-fire changes in Boston’s West End over the past 16 years. Set against a backdrop of Garden events, sports bars and endless construction, Parker’s wide-angle perspective ranges from the personal to the…

five elephants walking along a Boston street

The Circus: A West End Tradition

The Circus: A West End Tradition 100 years before the Ringling Brothers Circus opened at the Boston Garden (c1929), an equestrian circus with jugglers, acrobats and clowns performed at the Stewart’s American Amphitheatre on the corner of Traverse and Portland Streets in the West End. The Circus: A West End Tradition featured graphic panels detailing the…

Tony Demarco landing a right hand punch on Carmen Basilio

Tony DeMarco at the Boston Garden

Tony DeMarco at the Boston Garden This exhibit featured photographic images of Tony DeMarco’s many boxing matches at the old Boston Garden. The exhibit traveled to Tony DeMarco Day at the Mystic Valley Lodge in Arlington in April, 2015.

Charles Bulfinch

Bulfinch: Boston & Beyond

Bulfinch: Boston & Beyond Bulfinch: Boston & Beyond, recalls and celebrates how Charles Bulfinch (1763–‐1844) shaped Boston’s enduring style and infrastructure as an architect and as the city’s first urban planner. The show reception took place on July 24 at 6:30p.m. and offered attendees the chance to tour the exhibit and enjoy light refreshments. Concurrent…

The EPH on Charles Street

The Elizabeth Peabody House

The Elizabeth Peabody House The exhibit surveys the history and prominence of The Elizabeth Peabody House, one of Boston’s first settlement houses. Original schedules and annual reports detailing the institution’s programs will be on display as well as photographs of its most beloved clubs—including its nationally recognized science club—and its important social service work, which…

Photo of the Hotel

The Hotel Manger/Madison

The 500-room Hotel Manger opened at North Station in August of 1930. Its design was an example of the Moderne style of architecture, developed by Boston native Louis Sullivan. Adjacent to Boston’s North Station and directly connected to the Boston Garden, the Hotel Manger was a prominent and convenient destination for celebrities, show-goers and other travelers.

The Madison Hotel with rubble in the foreground

A Neighborhood in Transition: 1961 – 1980

In 2014, Boston’s West End neighborhood continued its transition into a dynamic residential and corporate address. In some ways, the changing neighborhood is a reminder of the incredible transformation that occurred more than half a century ago as residents of the old West End relocated amid the slum clearance project that gave rise to a modern urban landscape.

Harvard Medical School in 1878

The Parkman-Webster Murder Case

The Parkman-Webster Murder Case The 1849 murder of George Parkman in Boston stands as the most sensational case of its time, and the prosecution of John Webster is often described as the O.J. Simpson trial of the 19th century. This case had it all: a grisly murder, a wealthy victim, a respected suspect, a dubious…

Drawing of a map showing a triangular are formed by intersecting streets with a blue line in the middle depicting a canal

Streets of the Industrial Era

Streets of the Industrial Era Streets of the Industrial Era focuses on the history of the streets in and around what is now known as the Bulfinch Triangle Historic District in the West End. The exhibit is a study of the changes brought about in an area that was, and remains now, a hub of transportation.…

Connections North: Bridges of the West End

Connections North: Bridges of the West End

Connections North: Bridges of the West End Connections North tells a story that spans 300 years—from the time when Harvard College’s main source of income was the Charlestown ferry, through present-day Boston and the $253million Longfellow Bridge reconstruction project. The exhibit reveals how the progression of bridges changed not just the area immediately surrounding the Charles…

Architectural Drawing

Samuel Walusimbi: Immigrant Hostel

Immigrant Hostel focuses on Samuel Walusimbi’s architectural work and studies, specifically the architecture of Boston’s Old West End. Mr. Walusimbi’s work demonstrates the strongly bonded relationship between a city’s architecture and its memories.

Life in the West End 1947-1953: the Photography of Jules Aarons

Life in the West End 1947-1953: the Photography of Jules Aarons

Life in the West End 1947-1953: the Photography of Jules Aarons Jules Aarons is an important figure in documenting the West End of Boston before the ravages of Urban Renewal. His photography bears witness to the vibrant, close-knit old neighborhood—the people, their lives and their relationships. Where city planners saw the West End as a…

Bonner Map 1739

Street Names: Lost and Found

Street Names: Lost and Found Street Names: Lost and Found focuses on the changes to Boston’s Old West End brought on by the Urban Renewal period of the mid-20th Century. Both the physical geography and the names of streets changed significantly between 1955 and the present day. For example, Green, Chambers and Allen Streets were reconfigured…

St. Joe's

Saint Joseph’s Church

150 Years of Saint Joseph’s Church St. Joseph’s Church displays the history of the West End Project Area’s only surviving Roman Catholic Church, which served generations of West Enders, and continues to serve both displaced and current residents of the neighborhood.

Sewall, Day and Co's Cordage Manufactory

Ropewalks of the West End and Beyond

From the mid-17th century to the end of the 19th century, the rope-making industry thrived in Boston. Ropewalks—long, narrow plots with covered walks and sheds that housed rope-making facilities—dotted the landscape of West Boston and supplied rope primarily for seafaring vessels. One of the city’s earliest ropewalks lay less than 100 yards from today’s West End Museum.

A political cartoon showing 5 men

Ward Boss Martin Lomasney

Ward Boss Lomasney, commemorates the legendary status of Martin Lomasney, the undisputed boss of Boston’s Ward 8 (later Ward 5, then Ward 3 under redistricting) from about 1885 until his death in 1933. Reproductions of W. Norman Ritchie’s political cartoons from the Boston Post and others from the Boston Globe are display together with graphic panels featuring related articles and Lomasney’s most renowned quotes, including “Don’t write when you can talk. Don’t talk when you can nod your head.”

A newspaper header

25 Years of “The West Ender”

25 Years of “The West Ender” Since 1985, “The West Ender” has been the voice of a lost neighborhood. The paper became a catharsis; a way for people, who had no other medium to express themselves about their one time beloved neighborhood. They could share their stories from when they lived in the West End.…

Remnants of the Government Center Project on fire

The Last Tenement

The Last Tenement “The Last Tenement” exhibition, originally set up in 1992 at the Old State House by the Bostonian Society through a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities and relocated to the West End Museum in 2006, was permanently housed in its own dedicated 1100 square foot space until it was destroyed…