The Allen Street House, built in 1874 at Massachusetts General Hospital, became the center of early pathology and autopsy practices in Boston. The House’s morgue, autopsy amphitheater, and laboratories were used for experiments, research, and education. For over 80 years, it served as the symbolic and functional heart of the hospital’s pathology department, shaping both clinical knowledge and medical teaching.
In 1931, Mayor James Michael Curley planned to sell 50,000 square feet of city land, on North Grove Street in the West End, to Massachusetts General Hospital. Because this land was used by the Public Works Department for sanitation in the West End, residents – and city councilor John I. Fitzgerald – strongly opposed the sale. Fitzgerald, associated with West End boss Martin Lomasney, successfully advocated for the proceeds of the sale to be allocated for continued sanitation services in the West End.
Charles Bulfinch and his architecture transformed Boston during the Federalist era. Many of his works, such as the Massachusetts State House, still grace the city today. One of his now lost and lesser known buildings, the Parkman Market, served the West End as a public market, a factory, and an early home of St. Joseph’s congregation. Despite its historic significance, it did not survive Urban Renewal.
A look into the MGH archives with Lucy Ross, Archivist of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Since its opening in 1821, the Massachusetts General Hospital has had a long tradition of caring for West Enders, Bostonians, and other patients from across the globe. This tradition includes a history of its nurses and doctors putting their own lives at risk while serving military personnel during wartime.
In the later half of the 19th century, Boston’s downtown residents required more immediate access to acute medical care as industrialization brought with it additional hazards to safety and health. For over thirty years the Haymarket Relief Station, which sat at the eastern gateway of the West End, filled that gap by providing much needed treatment for acute illnesses and injuries for urban residents.
Easily missed as one trundles down Cambridge Street or behind the golden dome of the Massachusetts State House, Ridgeway Lane in the historic West End is one of Boston’s longest and narrowest streets. Often mistaken for a simple alley, it has served ropewalk workers, residents, Suffolk University students, and the occasional criminal on the run for over 250 years. As one walks the length of this dark road, surrounded by brick on both sides and heavy paving stones below, it is hard to imagine much life here. Yet, hidden, urban pathways like Ridgeway Lane hold many stories worth telling.
In the mid-19th century, Mary Ann Vincent, a popular English actress, arrived in the West End to expand her career. Her reputation for kindness and charity inspired those around her and blossomed into multiple institutions founded in her name, which to this day work to support women with access to advanced healthcare.
