Museum pays tribute to the West End that was

THE WEST END MUSEUM on Staniford Street in Boston holds the history of a close-knit neighborhood that was destroyed in what would become known as the worst urban renewal project of the 20th century.

On April 25, 1958, seven thousand residents of the West End received letters alerting them that the Boston Redevelopment Authority, was taking their homes and businesses by eminent domain. These buildings were slated to be demolished to make way for luxury apartments.

Why destroy a neighborhood where families had lived and worked since the mid-1800s? Because city politicians saw it as a crowded, dirty blight on Boston’s landscape. It was an area that the city fathers had neglected for many years. The bottom line was this: Boston needed the tax revenue that the renewal project was sure to bring in.