BRA On the West End Demolition in the 1950s: Our Bad

In the late 1950s, the Boston Redevelopment Authority oversaw the wholesales demolition of several acres of the West End and the displacement of thousands of residents, many of them long-timers. It was all in the name of urban renewal, a mid-20th-century effort that turned out to be far from renewing for many neighborhoods in several cities nationwide (read Robert Caro’s The Power Broker if you don’t believe us). High-rises were plonked in place of the West End’s more intimate streets and lower-rise dwellings; and that was that: a neighborhood undone and cut off from the vibrancy of the rest…