Roxbury, Boston

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Roxbury
First Church of Roxbury
Seal
Settled	1630
Incorporated	1846
Annexed by Boston	1868
Time zone	Eastern
- Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC)
Area code(s)	617 / 857

Roxbury is a neighborhood within Boston, Massachusetts USA. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868.^[1] The original town of Roxbury once included the current Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, the South End and much of Back Bay. Roxbury now generally ends at Columbus Avenue to the north and Lenox Street to the east.

Roxbury is now one of 21 official neighborhoods of Boston, used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city asserts that it "serves as the heart of Black culture in Boston."^[2]

The original boundaries of the Town of Roxbury can be found in Drake's History of Roxbury and its noted Personages. Those boundaries include the Christian Science Center, the Prudential Center (built on the old Roxbury Railroad Yards) and everything south and east of the Muddy River including Symphony Hall, Northeastern University, Y.M.C.A., Harvard Medical School and many hospitals and schools in the area. This side of the Muddy River is Roxbury, the other side is Brookline and Boston. Franklin Park, once entirely within Roxbury when Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and Roslindale were villages within the town of Roxbury until 1854, has been divided with the line between Jamaica Plain and Roxbury located in the vicinity of Peter Parley Road on Walnut Avenue, through the park to Columbia Road. Here, Walnut Avenue changes its name to Sigourney Street, indicating the area is now Jamaica Plain. One side of Columbia Road is Roxbury the other is Dorchester. Melnea Cass Boulevard is located approximately over the Roxbury Canal that brought boats into Roxbury bypassing the busy port of Boston in the 1830s.

A store known as The Blue Store was located at the intersection of Washington and Warren streets in Dudley since 1699. Many remember the furniture store there known as Ferdinand's Blue Store, as the elevated train bisected the building. This area was also the home to several famous Boston business firms, W. Bowman Cutter's Hardware Store with the upside down sign, Timothy Smith's Department Store, and J. S. Waterman and Sons, funeral directors to many prominent Boston families.

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Munroe House in 1905, built in 1683

Early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony established a series of six villages in 1630.^[1] The village of Roxbury (originally called “Rocksberry”[1]) is noted for its hilly geography and the many large outcroppings of Roxbury puddingstone, which was quarried for many years and used in the foundations of a large number of houses in the area. The town was located where Boston connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus called Boston Neck or Roxbury Neck. Since all land traffic to Boston had to pass through it, Roxbury became an important town. It would be home to a number of early leaders of the colony, including colonial governors Thomas Dudley, William Shirley and Increase Sumner. The Shirley-Eustis House, built at Roxbury during the period 1747–1751, is one of only four remaining Royal Colonial Governors' mansions in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Roxbury Town Hall in 1899, built in 1810

The settlers of Roxbury originally comprised the congregation of the First Church of Roxbury, established in 1632.^[3] During this time the church served not only as a place of worship but as a meeting place for government. The congregation had no time to raise a meeting house the first winter and so met with the neighboring congregation in Dorchester. One of the early leaders of this church was Amos Adams. The first meeting house was built in 1632, and the building pictured here is the fifth meeting house, the oldest such wood-frame church in Boston.^[4] The Roxbury congregation, still in existence as a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association, lays claim to several things of note in American history:

• The founding (along with five other local congregations, i.e. Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown and Dorchester) of Harvard College.
• First Church of Roxbury was the starting point for William Dawes' "Midnight Ride", April 18, 1775 (in a different direction than Paul Revere) to warn Lexington and Concord of the British raids during the Revolutionary War.

"Roxbury had many resources the colonists were looking for: open farmland, timber and stone for building, and the Stony Brook for water power. In the 17th and 18th centuries, farming was the basis of Roxbury's economy. The town was locally famous for its fruit trees, and noted varieties were developed on local farms -- including the Roxbury Russet apple, particularly prized for cider. The apple orchard grew at the site of the current Orchard Gardens housing project."[2]

[edit] Urban and industrial development

Fort Hill Tower (also the Cochituate Standpipe), designed by Nathaniel J. Bradlee and built in 1869 on the site of Revolutionary War fortifications

As Roxbury developed in the 19th century, the northern part became an industrial town with a large community of English, Irish, and German immigrants and their descendants, while the majority of the town remained agricultural and saw the development of some of the first streetcar suburbs in the United States. This led to the incorporation of the old Roxbury village as one of Massachusetts's first cities, and the rest of the town was established as the town of West Roxbury.

In the early 20th century, Roxbury became home to recent immigrants - A thriving Jewish community developed around Grove Hall, along Blue Hill Avenue, Seaver Street and into Dorchester along Columbia Road. A large Irish population also developed, with many activities centered around Dudley Square, which just before and following annexation into Boston, became a central location for Roxbury commerce. Following a massive migration from the South to northern cities in the 1940s and 1950s, Roxbury became the center of the African-American community in Boston. The center of African American residential and social activities in Boston had formerly been on the north slope of Beacon Hill and the South End. In particular, a riot in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. resulted in stores on Blue Hill Avenue being looted and eventually burned down, leaving a desolate and abandoned landscape which discouraged commerce and business development. Rampant arson in the 1970s along the Dudley Street corridor also added to the neighborhood's decline, leaving a landscape of vacant, trash filled lots and burned out buildings. The arrival of the crack epidemic in the 1980s helped make Roxbury one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Boston. The violent crime would not be significantly reduced until the late 1990s. In early April 1987, the original Orange Line MBTA route along Washington Street was closed and relocated to the Southwest Corridor (where the Southwest Expressway was supposed to be built a couple decades before). More recently, grassroots efforts by residents have been the force behind revitalizing historic areas and creating Roxbury Heritage State Park.

The Boston Transportation Planning Review stimulated relocation of the Orange Line, and development of the Southwest Corridor Park spurred major investment, including Roxbury Community College at Roxbury Crossing and Ruggles Center at Columbus Avenue and Ruggles Street. Commercial development now promises reinvestment in the form of shopping and related consumer services. The Fort Hill section experienced significant gentrification when college students (many from Northeastern University and Wentworth Institute of Technology), artists, and young professionals moved into the area in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the present day, there is much commercial and residential redevelopment.

[edit] Demographics

The First Mosque of Roxbury, the Islamic Society of Boston

Roxbury is still a majority African-American neighborhood as it has been since 1960, but there is a growing Puerto Rican population. In 1987, Nelson Merced, a Puerto Rican, was elected from the fifth Suffolk district in Boston. As of the 2000 census Roxbury was 5% Non-Hispanic White, 63% Non-Hispanic African-American or Black, 24% Hispanic or Latino, who can be of any race, 1% Asian-American, 3% from other races and 4% from two or more races.

[edit] Education

[edit] Primary and secondary schools

Students in Roxbury are served by Boston Public Schools (BPS). BPS assigns students based on preferences of the applicants and priorities of students in various zones.^[5]

Roxbury Preparatory Charter School is a public charter school that serves 6-8 grades on Mission Hill in Roxbury, MA.

Roxbury High School was once located on Greenville Avenue.^[6]

[edit] Colleges and universities

Roxbury is home to Roxbury Community College. The Eastern Nazarene College offers Adult Studies/LEAD classes in Roxbury.^[7]

[edit] Notable residents

• Ruth Batson, Civil Rights and Education Activist
• Susan Batson, Actress, Author, and Producer; Daughter of Ruth Batson
• Edward W. Brooke, First African American to be elected by popular vote to the United States Senate
• Bobby Brown, R&B Star^[8]
• Da Bulldogs, Rap Group
• Henry Dearborn, Physician, general, and politician
• Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, Lawyer, author, statesman, soldier, Mayor of Roxbury, and son of Henry Dearborn.
• Joseph Dudley, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts
• Edo G, Hip Hop Artist
• William Eustis, Early American statesman, Governor of Massachusetts
• Louis Farrakhan, Supreme Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam^[9]
• The G-Clefs, Top 40 Soul Group
• Guru, rapper, member/founder of Gang Starr
• Roy Haynes, Jazz Drummer and Bandleader
• Lauren Jones, AKA Gloria Jones, Gloria Schultz -- Actress, Producer, Casting Director
• Elma Lewis, Founder of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (including a museum) and the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts
• Nelson Merced, Latino activist and politician. He was the first Hispanic elected to the Massachusetts General Court
• New Edition, R&B / Pop group
• Patrice Oneal, Actor, Comedian on NBC's "The Office"
• Nathaniel Ruggles, Former U.S. Representative.
• Ebenezer Seaver, Former U.S. Representative, former member and chairman of the Roxbury Board of Selectmen.
• Sonny Stitt, Jazz Saxophonist
• John L. Sullivan, First Heavyweight Champion of Gloved Boxing^[10]
• Donna Summer, R&B Star, "Queen of Disco"^[11]
• Tony Williams, Jazz Drummer
• Malcolm X, Nation of Islam Minister, Public Speaker, and Civil Rights Activist^[12]
• Christopher Younge, Fashion Photographer

[edit] Sites of interest

• Franklin Park Zoo
• Shirley-Eustis House
• John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science
• Long Crouch Woods
• Roxbury Historic Markers

[edit] See also

• Dudley Square
• Roxbury Film Festival
• St. Joseph's Church
• West Roxbury
• Former Mayors of Roxbury
• Roxbury High Fort
• Boston Latin Academy

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

• Roxbury History—Boston Landmarks Commission (2007 archived version)

[edit] Further reading

• "Historical Sketch of Boston Highlands", Mercantile Publishing Company, Boston, 1888. There is much information on Roxbury.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roxbury, Boston

• 1832 Map of the Town of Roxbury - Jamaica Plain Historical Society
• 1832 Map of Roxbury by John G. Hales at the BPL.
• 1849 Map of Roxbury by Charles Whitney at the BPL.
• 1868 Map of Roxbury and Boston by E.P.Dutton at the BPL.
• 1895 Outline and Ward Index Map of Boston and Roxbury by George and Walter Bromley.
• 1895 Map of Ward 17 Roxbury area of Hampton, Gerand, Allerton, and Mass. Ave showing New England Piano, Mechanics Foundry, and Boston Lead Works at DavidRumsey.com .
• 1895 Map of Ward 16-17 Roxbury area of Quincy, Warren, Waverly, and Blue Hill.
• Bailey Co. Map—1888 bird's-eye view map of Roxbury area
• Discover Roxbury—tours and information
• Shirley-Eustis House—Massachusetts' Royal Governor's Mansion
• Roxbury Crossing Historical Trust—historical society
• Roxbury Neighborhood - Boston Revelopment Authority

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Coordinates: 42°19′30″N 71°05′43″W / 42.325°N 71.09528°W / 42.325; -71.09528