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South End, Boston

Coordinates: 42°20′37.86″N 71°4′18.71″W / 42.3438500°N 71.0718639°W / 42.3438500; -71.0718639 (South End, Boston)
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Not to be confused with South Boston.

South End District
South End, Boston is located in Boston
South End, Boston
Location in Boston
South End, Boston is located in Greater Boston area
South End, Boston
Location in Boston metro area
South End, Boston is located in Massachusetts
South End, Boston
Location in Massachusetts
South End, Boston is located in the United States
South End, Boston
Location in United States
LocationBoston, Massachusetts
ArchitectMultiple
Architectural styleGreek Revival, Late Victorian, Italianate
Websitewww.south-end-boston.com
NRHP reference No.73000324[1]
Added to NRHPMay 8, 1973

The South End is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, which is bordered by Back Bay, Chinatown, and Roxbury. It is distinguished from other neighborhoods by its Victorian-style houses and the parks in and around the area. The South End is the largest intact Victorian row-house district in the country, covering over 300 acres (120 ha).[2] It has eleven residential parks. In 1973, the South End was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[2] Much of the neighborhood was originally marshlands in Boston's South Bay. After it was filled in, construction began in 1849.

It is home to diverse groups, including immigrants, young families and professionals, and it is popular with Boston's gay and lesbian community.[3] The South End has been characterized by diversity since the 1880s, with substantial Irish, Jewish, African-American, Puerto Rican (in the San Juan Street area), Chinese, and Greek populations. Its 2010 population was 55.2 percent white, 13.3 percent Hispanic, 12.5 percent Black, 16.2 percent Asian, and 2.7 percent "other". 55.2 percent of South End residents had a bachelor's degree or higher; median household income was $57,699, and the median age was 36. 65.6 percent were primarily English speakers, and 12.9 percent primarily spoke Spanish.[4]

Geographic history

Aerial view of a residential neighborhood with a large building
Aerial view of the South End
Old map of the Boston Neck
The Boston Neck carried present-day Washington Street, formerly flanked by tidal marshes.

The South End is south of the Back Bay, northwest of South Boston, northeast of Roxbury, north of Dorchester, and southwest of Bay Village. Despite the name, it is not directly south of downtown Boston.

Land belonging to the South End has been part of the city of Boston since its founding, although it was smaller when first settled and surrounded by large tidal flats.[5] The neighborhood was expanded and developed by filling in the marshlands, part of a larger project of filling Boston's Back Bay and South Bay between the 1830s and the 1870s.[5] Fill was brought in by train as gravel quarried in Needham.[5] Nineteenth-century technology did not allow driving steel piles into bedrock, and a system of submerged timbers provided an understructure for most South End buildings.[6][7] Groundwater levels in Boston had been dropping for years by 2006, damaging some wood pilings by exposing them to air.[7][8] A series of monitoring wells have been drilled; the water level is checked by the Boston Groundwater Trust,[9] and can be raised by introducing water.[7]

The South End was bordered on the north and west by the Boston and Providence Railroad,[10] which terminated at the B&PRR station bordering the Public Garden. The rail line is now covered by Southwest Corridor Park.[11]

The primary business thoroughfares in the South End are Columbus Avenue, Tremont Street, and Washington Street. Washington Street, the original causeway that connected Roxbury to Boston, experienced reinvestment during the 1990s. The street was once defined by the Washington Street Elevated, an elevated train that was moved below Southwest Corridor Park in the 1980s.[12][13] Part of the Silver Line, Boston's first bus rapid transit line, runs along Washington Street.[14] The MBTA Orange Line rapid-transit train runs along the partially-covered Southwest Corridor.[12]

Subdistricts

The Boston Redevelopment Authority identified several subdistricts in the neighborhood's southeast portion:[15]

  • SoWa (South of Washington), roughly between Albany to Washington and East Berkeley to Massachusetts Avenue
  • New York Streets, between Herald, East Berkeley, Albany, and Tremont Streets
  • Back Streets, roughly between I-93, Harrison, East Brookline, and East Berkeley Streets
  • Medical area, roughly between the highway, Massachusetts Avenue, Franklin Square, and East Brookline Street

Parks

The South End has eleven residential parks, varying in size and inspired by English-style residential squares first laid out downtown by Charles Bulfinch. The neighborhood also has newer parks, including Peters Park, and a series of sixteen community gardens and pocket parks operated by the Trustees of Reservations.

History

Residential history

Front of a five-story building
The Alexandra Hotel in 1899

As the South End expanded with fill north and west of "the Neck", Boston envisioned a large inner-city residential neighborhood to relieve the crowded downtown and Beacon Hill neighborhoods and hoped for a large, stable tax base. Architect Charles Bulfinch laid out some of the first filled land.[16] He designed a large residential park called Columbia Square[16] located at the present Franklin and Blackstone Squares.[17] Bulfinch's plan was to route traffic around the square. His plan was abandoned, and Washington Street was allowed to again divide the square (creating separate squares).[16]

Many rooming houses on the Back Bay side of the South End had no bathing facilities, and roomers bathed in public showers. Filled land in the neighborhood was originally eight feet above sea level, but has settled to four feet. The original shoreline of Boston Neck crosses in front of 40 St. George Street, and tapers to the narrowest point of the Neck at Dover Street. Blackstone and Franklin Square is solid land on the original neck, but clam and snail shells are just beneath its surface because high seas would occasionally overrun the Neck.

Middle-class people moved to the South End, including business owners, two mayors, bankers, and industrialists, but the neighborhood's wealthy status was relatively short-lived. A series of national financial panics such as the Panic of 1884, combined with new residential housing in Back Bay and Roxbury, fed a steady decline of whites of English Protestant ancestry.

By the close of the nineteenth century, the South End was becoming a tenement district; it attracted immigrants and, during the 1940s, gay men. The neighborhood also became a center of Black middle-class Boston life and culture. The largest concentration of Pullman porters in the country lived in the South End, primarily between Columbus Avenue and the railroad.

The first settlement houses in Boston were in the South End: the South End House, Haley House, Lincoln House, the Harriet Tubman House, and the Children's Art Centre. In 1960, these settlement houses merged to form United South End Settlements.[18]

Urban renewal

Five-story, red-brick corner building
Union Park Street and Shawmut Avenue
Four-lane street in winter, with few trees
Columbus Avenue

The South End was one of many large-scale Boston landfill projects to create new residential districts.[2] Construction began in 1849, on tidal marshes that surrounded Boston Neck.[2] The street plan for the South End was patterned on 18th-century English models, with blocks of townhouses overlooking small parks in the centers of residential streets.[2] The parks were built to make the neighborhood feel more like a community.[2] Townhouses quickly became the predominant form of housing, and builders produced blocks of houses for middle-class families.[2] The townhouses were built from 1850 to 1880, typically in a mix of architectural styles.[2] The South End became a popular hospital district; the first was Boston City Hospital, which attracted other hospitals to the area.[2] One was the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital, built in 1875.[2] The hospital used fresh-air cures and home remedies on patients, and surgical cases were sent to the Boston University School of Medicine.[2] The medical school came to the South End in 1874 with the New England Female College, the first college in the region to accept women.[2] By the late 19th century, the South End was becoming increasingly populated by African Americans from the South.[2] Although City Hospital admitted Black patients, they were not allowed in their training programs or hired as professionals.[2] Cornelius Garland, a Black physician from Alabama, opened Plymouth Hospital and Nurse's Training School by 1908.[2] By 1929, Plymouth Hospital was closed because City Hospital had begun to accept people of color into its medical and nursing programs.[2]

The connection of Boston and Albany by railroad (by some of the various companies that would later merge into the Boston and Albany Railroad) was celebrated in 1841 as a way to keep Boston competitive with New York City as an Atlantic port. The New York Streets district, a residential area of the South End whose streets were named after cities on the route to Albany, arose south of the Boston and Worcester Railroad (the present-day Massachusetts Turnpike) over the next decade. Albany Street still exists, although it now ends at the turnpike instead of Kneeland; connecting it with Harrison Street from north to south were Seneca, Oneida, Oswego, Genesee, Rochester and Troy Streets. Troy is the present-day Traveler Street.[19][20][21]

Nearly all the buildings in New York Streets began to be bulldozed in 1955 as part of an urban renewal project to clear slums and make room for industrial activity during a period characterized by urban decline. The resulting superblock was redeveloped into the headquarters of the Boston Herald.[19] The Herald-Traveler Corporation extended from the new Herald Street to Traveler Street until 2012, when it moved to the Seaport District in South Boston.[22] It was redeveloped as a mixed-use area known as the Ink Block, with apartments, a grocery store, restaurants, and other retail businesses.[19] Other populated sites in the South End received similar treatment, particularly the early high-rise, high-density Cathedral Housing Projects adjacent to Holy Cross Cathedral and high- and low-rise redevelopments such as Castle Square, from 1964 to 1966.[23]

The South End is residential and commercial. Since it is near access to railroads and port facilities, it attracted a number of manufacturers.[2] Albany Street, along the Roxbury Canal, became occupied by warehouses and factories and was the center of Boston's furniture and piano-making industry by the 19th century.[2] The South End has new developments that will add residential and commercial space. According to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), a new project will be built on Albany Street which will "include two hotels: a 16-story select service hotel, which will have a restaurant on its first floor; and a 9-story extended-stay hotel. The hotels together will have approximately 408 rooms. While the split between the two types of hotels has not been finally determined, current plans anticipate approximately 210 rooms in the select service hotel and approximately 198 rooms in the extended-stay hotel. The select-service hotel will include an approximately 4,000 square-foot (approximately 267-seat) restaurant on its first floor. A 3-level, above-ground parking garage with approximately 137 parking spaces will serve both hotels."[24] The project was expected to provide about 200 new jobs for construction workers and "employ approximately 200 employees (full-time equivalents) in management, operations, customer service, retail, and food service functions."[24]

Jazz

Crowded, narrow residential street
Braddock Park

Until the 1950s, the South End and nearby Roxbury was a jazz mecca with clubs such as the Royal Palms, Eddie Levine's, the Pioneer Club, Handy's Grille, Tic-Toc, Connolly's, Estelle's, the Hi-Hat, The Savoy, The Cave, Basin Street, Louie's Lounge, and Wally's Paradise; Wally's is the only club still in operation. The American Federation of Musicians Local 535 was the top black musicians' union in the country from 1915 to 1970, with local and national musicians including Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Chick Webb, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Lunceford. Its offices were originally above Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe (whose walls are lined with photographs of jazz musicians who ate there), but moved to 409 Massachusetts Avenue around 1930. Local 535 and Local 9 (the white union) were ordered by the courts to merge into Boston Musicians Association Local 9-535 in 1970, and most of the Black musicians left.[25]

Education

Large, modern red-brick hospital
Boston University Medical Campus

The South End has five primary and secondary schools, providing education from kindergarten through grade 12 as part of Boston Public Schools. The McKinley South End Academy is four schools, a special-education school that focuses on behavioral, emotional and learning needs.[26] The Josiah Quincy Upper School teaches grades six to 12, balancing core-subject requirements with world languages, the arts and physical education.[27] Blackstone Elementary School has over 500 students from diverse backgrounds from pre-kindergarten to grade five.[28] Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, established in 1908, is a four-year South End school for students desiring a technical degree.

Community resources

The South End is conveniently located within the radius of three public libraries. The South End Branch has a diverse collection of popular and scholarly materials for adults and children.[29] This library offers local history documents, DVDs, CDs, and audiobooks for adults, and recurring programs for children.[29] Programs for adults include monthly book discussion groups and a weekly English conversation class.[29] A community center that is located right in the South End is the Blackstone Community Center located on West Brookline Street, the hours of operations vary depending on the day.[28] The Blackstone Community Center is one of 35 community centers that are for youth and families and it is the only one that serves the South End and lower Roxbury neighborhoods.[28] The mission of Blackstone is to enhance the quality of life for Boston residents by "supporting children, youth, and families through a wide range of programs and services.[28] The Blackstone offers many programs to children and adults.[28] Two major hospitals that are located in the South End are Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine.[3] The South End also has the South End Community Health Center. The South End Community Health Center is a board governed non-profit "comprehensive, health care organization for all residents of the South End and the surrounding communities", according to their homepage they "are committed to providing the highest quality, culturally and linguistically sensitive, coordinated health care and social services to every patient, regardless of their ability to pay".[30] They offer many different kinds of services from Adult Medicine, Behavioral Health, Dental Care to Nutrition to name a few.[30]

The South End is host to numerous community organizations including South End Community Health Center, South End Baseball, Youth Enrichment Services, the South End Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust, Mytown (an organization training youth to lead walking tours on neighborhood and Boston history), the South End Historical Society, Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion, and United South End Settlements.

The Animal Rescue League of Boston, founded in 1899 by Anna Harris Smith is located in the South End at 10 Chandler Street. The Animal Rescue League of Boston features an animal shelter, an animal cruelty investigation and prosecution law enforcement department, a rescue department, an animal behavior department and an outpatient veterinary facility, Boston Veterinary Care.

Diversity

Holy Cross Cathedral

The South End's population has been diverse since the 1880s when Irish, Lebanese, Jewish, African-American, and Greek populations began to settle in the neighborhood. In the 1930s a substantial immigration from Canada's maritime provinces found economic opportunity in Boston, and homes in the South End neighborhood.

Beginning in the 1940s, particularly after the end of WWII the South End's rooming houses became home to growing numbers of gays and lesbians. The environment of single sex rooming houses provided homes and social cover for unmarried LGBT people. In the late 1940s a growing population of Hispanic people began settlement. At first much of this settlement was centered around the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

Today the neighborhood remains diverse, integrating people of nearly every race, religion, and sexual orientation.[31]

Income levels are anecdotally reported as stratified: a concentration of the wealthy and the poor. However, neither the U.S. Census or City of Boston reports on income of this specific neighborhood. Though gentrification is sometimes cited as a reason for flight of poorer and non-white residents, the neighborhood has maintained racial and income diversity due to a large number of subsidized, publicly owned, or otherwise low-income housing units and a homeless shelter. Subsidized below market rate housing developments such as Methunion Manor, Cathedral Housing (public housing project), Villa Victoria, Tent City, Lenox St Apartments, Camden, Camfield Gardens, 1850 Washington St, and Mandela Homes vary considerably and represent evolving attitudes in public housing design and governance.

Although all neighborhoods in Boston suffer from crime, the city has a comparatively low incidence of street crime. The South End is large enough that some parts can be known for street crime while others are family friendly. Those parts include the Villa Victoria Affordable Housing, the Cathedral Housing Projects, and some areas west of Mass. Ave. The South End has more public playgrounds per square foot than other Boston neighborhoods. The South End is known as an increasingly upper middle class neighborhood, although is still home to many lower income residents. Some long-time residents are being pushed out by rising rents and property taxes. Because of a strong low-income agenda from the city, its recent (until the 1970s) history of impoverishment, and the presence of several low income housing projects, the South End will likely remain economically and racially diverse.

The South End used to be known as a gay, artistic, and cultural neighborhood, although rising costs in the neighborhood threaten this character. Unlike in cities such as New York City, there are no city policies to help artists keep their long-term studios. Art galleries, however, are flourishing even though there are not many. GardenMoms, now one of Boston's most popular online parent groups with over 2500 members citywide, was started by several South End moms in 2002, and helped confirm the role of families as a growing and important facet of this community. (It is named after the South End cafe it started in, The Garden of Eden.)[32]

Demographics

According to the 2010 Census, the total population of the South End is approximately 24,577, which is a 12.2% increase from 2000.[4] The South End is made up of 55.2% White, 13.3% Hispanic/Latino, 12.5% Black or African American, 16.2% Asian, and 2.7% Other.[4] Within the South End 33.8% of the population is between the ages of 20 through 34 years old, 8% are under 9 years old.[4] 5.9% of South End residents are 10–19 years old, 31.2% are 35-54, 10.5% are 55-64, and 10.6% are 65 and older.[4] The median age for the South End is 36 years old.[4] About 55.2% of the population holds a college degree in the South End, with 29.2% having a bachelor's degree and 26% holding a graduate degree.[4] The primary language that is spoken in this neighborhood is English with it being at 65.6%, followed by Spanish at 12.9%, Chinese 10.4%, French 2.7%, Portuguese 1%, and other languages 7.4%.[4] The median income of the South End is $57,699, with 10.9% of the population making between $50,000 and $74,000 each year.[4] There are 12,831 households in the South End, with 23.3% of the residents living in a family that includes a wife and a husband, and 47.4% are living alone without a family.[4] As of 2010, 45.2% of the residents are without vehicles but on the other hand 54.8% do own vehicle.[4] Approximately, 34% of the South Ends uses public transportation which doesn't include using a taxi.[4] The South End has about 58.1% of its population working in the Management, Business, Science, and Arts field with 79.1% of the labor force being between the ages of 20 to 34 years old.[4] The 2010 Census states that 72.6% of the South End population has lived in the same place for the past year while 12.8% have moved to a different location but the same county, 7.5% moved from a different county to the South End, and 5.9% moved from a different state to this location.[4]

South End, Boston

Public transportation

While no Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) trains run directly through the South End, the neighborhood is close to subway stops, including Copley, Symphony, and Prudential stations on the Green Line and Ruggles, Massachusetts Avenue, and Back Bay stations on the Orange Line.[33] Commuter rail service on the Franklin/Foxboro, Needham, and Providence/Stoughton lines is available at Ruggles and Back Bay stations. Back Bay station is also served by the Framingham/Worcester Line. These commuter rail lines all continue to South Station.

The bus rapid transit Silver Line routes SL4 and SL5 between Nubian Square and downtown Boston run on Washington Street through the South End, with multiple stops between Lenox Street and Herald Street.

The neighborhood is served by multiple local MBTA bus routes. Major routes include route 43 on Tremont Street and route 1 on Massachusetts Avenue.

Prudential station

1950s images

  • Boston Herald Traveler Building circa 1952–1956
    Boston Herald Traveler Building circa 1952–1956
  • Southwesterly from the railroad bridge on Harrison Avenue Showing frontage on Motte Street with the building at 1000 Washington in the background, June 24, 1952
    Southwesterly from the railroad bridge on Harrison Avenue Showing frontage on Motte Street with the building at 1000 Washington in the background, June 24, 1952
  • Rear of houses on Harrision Avenue and Johnny Court from Pine Street, c. 1952–1958
    Rear of houses on Harrision Avenue and Johnny Court from Pine Street, c. 1952–1958
  • Tot lot on Troy Street c. 1952–1958
    Tot lot on Troy Street c. 1952–1958
  • Shawmut Avenue, southerly from the corner of Tremont Street, December 4, 1956
    Shawmut Avenue, southerly from the corner of Tremont Street, December 4, 1956
  • Don Bosco Technical High School, Warrenton Street December 4, 1956
    Don Bosco Technical High School, Warrenton Street December 4, 1956
  • Northeasterly from roof of 100 Arlington Street December 4, 1956
    Northeasterly from roof of 100 Arlington Street December 4, 1956

Contemporary images

  • Columbus Avenue and Dartmouth Street, leading into the South End
    Columbus Avenue and Dartmouth Street, leading into the South End
  • Walking down Lawrence Street
    Walking down Lawrence Street
  • Walking down Dartmouth Place
    Walking down Dartmouth Place
  • Side streets in the South End
    Side streets in the South End
  • Union Park Street homes
    Union Park Street homes
  • Union Park Street
    Union Park Street
  • Worcester Square
    Worcester Square
  • Union Park and Tremont Streets
    Union Park and Tremont Streets
  • Tremont Street
    Tremont Street
  • Clarendon Street with John Hancock Tower in background
    Clarendon Street with John Hancock Tower in background

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Hughes, Carolyn; Shiland, Kimberley. "Exploring Boston Neighborhoods" (PDF). South End & St. Botolph. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "At a Glance – South End". Boston Redevelopment Authority. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Boston In Context: Neighborhood". Boston Redevelopment Authority. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "How Boston Made Itself Bigger". National Geographic News. June 13, 2017. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  6. ^ "Creating Land in Boston's South End". Boston Rocks.
  7. ^ a b c Taylor, Candace (March 5, 2020). "Some of Boston's Priciest Real Estate Is Sinking Into the Earth". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  8. ^ Macguire, Ken (March 12, 2006). "Falling Water Level Puts Boston Residents at Risk". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  9. ^ "The Issue". Boston Groundwater Trust.
  10. ^ "Getting to Know Your Neighborhood: The South End". Boston University.
  11. ^ Seasholes, Nancy S. (April 20, 2018). Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston. MIT Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-262-35021-1.
  12. ^ a b Doyle, Patrick (October 17, 2012). "11 Retro Photos of the Orange Line".
  13. ^ "BOSTON'S ELEVATED ORANGE LINE GOES UNDERGROUND (Published 1987)". The New York Times. May 3, 1987. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  14. ^ "New Silver Line plan offered, stirring critics - The Boston Globe". archive.boston.com. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  15. ^ Kaiser, Johanna (September 17, 2012). "Hotel, residential towers OK'd for South End's New York Streets area". The Boston Globe.
  16. ^ a b c Goodman, Phebe S. (2003). The Garden Squares of Boston. UPNE. pp. 68–72. ISBN 978-1-58465-298-4.
  17. ^ Goodman, Phebe S. (2003). The Garden Squares of Boston. UPNE. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-58465-298-4.
  18. ^ Finding aid for the United South End Settlements Records, Northeastern University Libraries, Boston, MA
  19. ^ a b c Marstall, Christopher (August 19, 2012). "Boston's vanished New York Streets". Boston Globe.
  20. ^ "Detailed 1938 map". bp.blogspot.com.
  21. ^ "New York Streets, Part Two". March 23, 2006. Retrieved October 1, 2012. – detailed street history
  22. ^ Quaratiello, Frank (September 6, 2011). "Boston Herald will move headquarters to Seaport District". Boston Herald.
  23. ^ "South End Urban Renewal Project Request for Proposals". Boston Redevelopment Authority. December 8, 1988.
  24. ^ a b BH Normandy. Project Notificiation Form. Boston redevelopment Authority. pp. 13–21. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  25. ^ "New England Jazz Alliance - New England Jazz Notes". nejazz.org. Archived from the original on August 22, 2007.
  26. ^ "School Listings". Boston Public Schools. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  27. ^ "Josiah Quincy Upper School". Josiah Quincy Upper School. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  28. ^ a b c d e "Blackstone Elementary School". Friends of Blackstone School. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  29. ^ a b c "The South End Branch". Boston Public Library. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  30. ^ a b "South End Community Health Center". South End Community Health Center. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  31. ^ Kiki Edozie, Rita (March 3, 2023). "Changing Faces of Greater Boston" (PDF).
  32. ^ "Findsmith Groups". gardenmoms.findsmithgroups.com.
  33. ^ BU Today staff. "Getting to Know Your Neighborhood: The South End". BU Today. Retrieved April 15, 2015.

Further reading

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for South End, Boston.

Pictures

Records

Digital Resources

Organizations

42°20′37.86″N 71°4′18.71″W / 42.3438500°N 71.0718639°W / 42.3438500; -71.0718639 (South End, Boston)

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