Echoes of the Past: A Musical Journey Through the West End’s Rise, Destruction, and Rebirth

In 1950, Boston chose the West End for demolition under Title I of the Housing Act of 1949, despite the neighborhood exceeding the standards for demolition. In 1958, fifty-four acres of the neighborhood were seized and destroyed; fifty streets and over 800 residential buildings were razed, forcing 12,500 people to leave their homes.

Historically, the West End neighborhood included part of what is now the North Slope of Beacon Hill, reaching up to Pinckney Street. When demolition began, the destruction reached up only to Cambridge Street, sparing the North Slope. The North Slope was incorporated into the Beacon Hill neighborhood in 1963, a year after Beacon Hill was designated a National Historic Landmark.