City PlanningImmigrant NeighborhoodNeighborhood LifeNew BostonTransportation & IndustryUrban RenewalWar Photograph of a man on left in naval uniform having his left arm tattooed by an older man in glasses. Images of tattoo samples line the walls around them.

The Sailors of Scollay Square

Scollay Square was a popular Boston hot spot for nightlife during the first half of the 20th century, with its vaudeville theaters, bars, and sideshow attractions. Long chided by local politicians for its perceived physical and moral decay, in 1963 the City of Boston completely demolished the area as part of an urban renewal project. Though often viewed within the broader context of the West End’s redevelopment, Scollay Square’s final chapter can also be understood through the lens of World War II, the growth of Boston’s Navy Yard, and the demographic shifts at the war’s conclusion.

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City PlanningMedicineNeighborhood LifeNew BostonSocial & Religious InstitutionsUrban Renewal photograph of a book cover with a photograph of two boys looking out of a second-story window of a brick apartment building

Marc Fried and the Human Cost of Urban Renewal

Soon after the bulldozers of urban renewal began clearing land, experts in various fields focused on the effects of development projects and the human cost paid by affected communities, such as Boston’s West End. Marc Fried, a Harvard educated psychologist, interviewed hundreds of displaced West End residents in the late 1950’s to assess the emotional effects of relocation. The results of his work, and that of other dedicated researchers, helped turn public opinion against top-down urban renewal and inspired community activism throughout the United States.

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City PlanningMedicineNew BostonUrban Renewal Photograph of a street intersection with residential housing and hospital buildings in the background and a sign stating, "Welcome to Mission Hill" in the foreground.

Gown vs. Town: Opposition to Harvard’s Development in Mission Hill

In the mid-1960’s, Harvard University purchased twenty acres of land in the diverse and predominantly working-class Mission Hill section of Roxbury in the hopes of expanding its presence in the Longwood Medical Area. Having witnessed the disastrous effects of redevelopment in the West End and successful community intervention in other Boston neighborhoods, Mission Hill residents, with the help of young activists from Harvard itself, were able to secure affordable housing for over a thousand people.

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BusinessCity PlanningImmigrant NeighborhoodPolitics & LawSchools & EducationSocial & Religious InstitutionsSportsTransportation & IndustryUrban Renewal Magazine cover with the words 1915 New Boston written across the top and above a scene of the city of Boston viewed from the harbor with boats and people in the foreground and framed by two large pillars topped with birds with out-stretched wings

The Boston-1915 Movement and the West End

The Boston-1915 Committee was formed in 1909 to improve conditions in Boston and to make it “the finest city in the world” by 1915. For many West Enders, Boston-1915 represented the promise of a brighter future, but none of them could have foreseen that some of the movement’s ideas would inspire city leaders to demolish the West End half a century later.

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Art & LiteratureCity PlanningNeighborhood LifePolitics & LawUrban RenewalWest BostonYankees & Brahmins Pemberton Square (man with bicycle by tree)

The Hidden History of Pemberton Square

Bostonians familiar with the demolition of the West End may not know how another once-prominent location in the city disappeared from the map. This spot, located on Beacon Hill, was designed for the homes of wealthy Boston families, and was established at about the same time as another famous residential location further down “the Hill.” But, unlike Louisburg Square, which is today synonymous with old Brahmin Boston, Pemberton Square remains largely forgotten, its remnants barely visible.

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