Immigrant NeighborhoodNeighborhood LifeSocial & Religious Institutions Image of a newspaper article with the headline "Reunion of the West Enders", and three photographs of a woman and two men below.

After the First Mass: West Enders at St. Joseph’s Church

St. Joseph’s Church was established in 1862 on Chambers Street in the West End, near the site of the first public Catholic mass in Boston. In the early 1900s, the St. Joseph’s Association, an organization of parishioners, hosted an annual party at the church which also held many notable funerals, marriages, and worship services. Decades after urban renewal, West Enders reunited at annual masses at St. Joseph’s to honor deceased fellow residents.

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African AmericansImmigrant NeighborhoodImmigrationNeighborhood LifeWomen

Boarding Houses in the West End

Boarding Houses played an important role in the housing system during the age of industrialization and immigration in Boston and the West End. Along with lodging and rooming houses, they were the only alternative for those in need of affordable and transitional living space in the neighborhood until the arrival of tenements and apartment buildings. Boarding houses also offered women of the period one of the few ways to earn a decent income.

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