West Roxbury

West Roxbury
—  Neighborhood of Boston  —
View of Centre Street in West Roxbury
West Roxbury is located in the southwest corner of Boston.
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Suffolk
City	Boston
Settled	1630
Founded	1851
Dissolved	1873
Area
• Total	4.61 sq mi (11.9 km2)
• Land	4.56 sq mi (11.8 km2)
• Water	0.05 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	30,446
• Density	6,676.8/sq mi (2,577.9/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
Postal Code	02132
Area code(s)	617

West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston bordered by Roslindale to the northeast, the Town of Dedham to the west and south, the Town of Brookline to the north, and the Towns of Needham and City of Newton to the west. Many people mistakenly confuse West Roxbury with Roxbury, but the two are not connected. West Roxbury is separated from Roxbury by Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. It is often referred to as a suburb within the city. Founded in 1630 (contemporaneously with West Roxbury, Massachusetts was originally part of the town of Roxbury and was mainly used as farmland. In the 19th century, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury were all called Roxbury. They were later divided up into different neighborhoods, so modern day West Roxbury is at the western edge of what used to be Roxbury in the 19th century.

West Roxbury's main thoroughfare is Centre Street, lined with local restaurants and commercial establishments. Today, the neighborhood's tree-lined streets and mostly single family homes give it a suburban feel in an urban setting. Life in the neighborhood centers on political and civic activism^{[citation needed]} as well as local parishes and youth athletic leagues. West Roxbury is home to many of Boston's civil servants. The community boasts a significant proportion of persons of Irish descent as well as a smaller number of more recent Irish immigrants. The Roxbury Latin School, founded in 1645 is located on Saint Theresa Avenue in West Roxbury since 1927. The school's endowment is estimated at $143.8 million, the largest of any boys' school in the United States. West Roxbury is home to District E-5 of the Boston Police Department and two Boston fire stations, Ladder 25 & Engine 30 on Centre Street and Engine 55 on Washington Street. The Needham Branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail network has three stations in West Roxbury (Bellevue, Highland and West Roxbury). Several MBTA bus lines run through and/or terminate in West Roxbury. A large Veterans Affairs hospital is located opposite the Charles River on the VFW Parkway near the Dedham line. This hospital has undergone several expansions over the last twenty years. West Roxbury is home to several houses of worship, including three Catholic parishes, several churches of various Protestant denominations and a Jewish temple.

The neighborhood was home to an experimental transcendentalist Utopia community called Brook Farm, which attracted notable figures like Margaret Fuller and Nathaniel Hawthorne whose 1852 novel A Blithedale Romance, is based on his stay there. .

Like its neighboring communities, West Roxbury's residential development grew with the construction of the West Roxbury branch of the Boston and Providence Rail Road; the area grew further with the development of electric streetcars.

Demographics

The population has been declining for decades:

2000 Census 28,663 (28,753 4.9% of 589,141 citywide)

1990 Census 29,706 (29,706 5.2% of 574,383 citywide)

1980 Census 31,333

Population growth/decline, 1990–2000: -3.51%

Population growth/decline, 1980–1990: -5.19%

Theodore Parker Church

At Centre and Corey Streets, the Theodore Parker Church features seven stained glass windows made by the Tiffany Studios between 1894 and 1927. The original church, designed in 1890 by Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr., is now a parish hall. Henry Seaver designed the current church in 1900. Theodore Parker (1810–1860), an advocate of progressive religious ideas, abolitionism and women's suffrage, was minister of this Unitarian congregation from 1837 to 1846.

Westerly Burying Ground conflict and secession

Westerly Burying Ground, also known as Westerly Burial Ground, (currently at Centre and Lagrange Streets) was established in 1683 to permit local burial of residents of Jamaica Plain and the western end of Roxbury. When West Roxbury was still part of Roxbury, the town’s first burial place was today’s Eliot Burying Ground, near the present-day Dudley Square. This was a long distance to travel for the inhabitants of West Roxbury and in 1683 the town selectmen voted to establish a local burying place, now known as Westerly Burying Ground. A conflict between the rural and more urbanized parts of the town led to the split of West Roxbury from Roxbury proper in 1851. West Roxbury became part of the City of Boston on January 5, 1874. Westerly Burying Ground served as this community’s burial place well into the 19th century. The oldest graves contain many of the town’s earliest and most prominent families. Eight veterans of the American Revolution and fifteen veterans of the American Civil War are also buried here. War veterans interred are detailed in the article “Westerly” and the Civil War.[1] The site is significant for its large collection of three centuries of funerary art. One-third of its extant gravestones date from the 18th century; almost half date from the 19th century and only about twenty bear 20th-century dates. Another distinguishing feature of Westerly Burying Ground is the number of individual mound tombs found here. Mound tombs at other burying grounds are typically larger, built to contain a number of bodies. The oldest gravestone, from 1691, commemorates James and Merriam Draper, members of a prominent West Roxbury family. Headstones provide an historic record of three centuries of West Roxbury residents and also illustrate the skills of local stone carvers.

Boston United Hand in Hand Cemetery

Boston United Hand in Hand Cemetery is located on Centre Street straddling the Dedham line. Dating back to 1875, the original plot was full by 1896 but subsequently expanded multiple times. There are graves as recent as 1980 in the West Roxbury portion; the Dedham portion is still active. Chestnut Hill's Congregation Mishka Tefila currently owns the property.

Government and infrastructure

The United States Postal Service operates the West Roxbury Post Office in West Roxbury.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Boston Public Schools operates public schools. Ludwig van Beethoven Elementary School, William Ohrenberger School, Joyce Kilmer K-8 School, and Patrick Lyndon K-8 School are in West Roxbury. Three schools in the West Roxbury Education Complex, Media Communications Technology High School, Parkway Academy of Technology and Health, and the Urban Science Academy are located in West Roxbury.

The Roxbury Latin School, a private school for boys, is located in West Roxbury. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston operates the Holy Name Parish School as well as the St. Theresa of Avila School in West Roxbury.

Public libraries

West Roxbury Branch Library

Boston Public Library operates the West Roxbury Branch Library. In 1876 the city library took over the West Roxbury Free Library, establishing a delivery station in West Roxbury. The West Roxbury facility was upgraded to a library branch in 1896. In the years of 1921 and 1922 a library building was constructed on the West Roxbury Branch Library current site. In 1977, a fire destroyed the adjacent West Roxbury Congregational Church. The land formerly occupied by the church was donated to the trustees of the library system so an addition could be built. The addition opened to the public on September 24, 1989.

Events

The Corrib Classic 5K Road Race is held annually at Billings Field, LaGrange Street, the first Sunday in June. Since starting in 1994 with 250 runners the event has grown into the largest community event, attracting about 2000 runners, plus event volunteers, families and friends. Centre Street is briefly closed during the race. It is a benefit event hosted by the Bligh family of the adjacent Corrib Pub and Restaurant that has raised over half a million dollars over the years for a variety of local causes. The Parkway Little League Parade, is a small family fun oriented event to start little league baseball for the areas of West Roxbury and Roslindale. Young baseball players dress up in their team uniforms and march from Fallon field in Roslindale to the Guy Cammarata Complex in West Roxbury.

Notable natives

• Edward Downes
• Anthony Michael Hall
• Patrick DeCoste
• Robert A. Ward
• Robert Gould Shaw
• Francis A. Sullivan
• Francis Joseph
• Willis Lent
• Chris Nilan, former NHL player and coach.
• Richard Olney, former United States Attorney General and Secretary of State.
• Dan Kiley, modernist landscape architect
• Ellery Clark, US olympic champion, Athens 1896.
• Taylor Schilling, Actress
• Thomas G. Kelley, Medal Of Honor Recipient (Vietnam War)
• William Martin (novelist)
• Joe Nash, former NFL player.

Sites of interest

• The Roxbury Latin School
• Holy Name Parish School
• Saint Teresa of Ávila Church (Roman Catholic)
• Westerly Burial Ground
• Catholic Memorial School
• Theodore Parker Church
• Holy Name Church (Roman Catholic)
• Boston Public Library West Roxbury Branch
• Millennium Park
• Brook Farm -- 1840s utopian experiment in communal living
• City of Boston Archives
• Billings Field
• Veterans Administration Hospital

Image gallery

• 

  Westerly Burying Ground, general view

• 

  Westerly Burying Ground, close-up 1

• 

  Westerly Burying Ground, close-up 2

• 

  Theodore Parker Church (Unitarian)

• 

  West Roxbury Free Library, 1921-2 wing

• 

  Centre Street, West Roxbury's main artery

• 

  Saint Teresa of Ávila Church (Roman Catholic)

Further reading

• Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell, West Roxbury, Portsmouth, NH : Arcadia Publishing, Then & Now series, 2003, 96 pages. ISBN 0738512478. 2004, 128 pages.

A hundred comparative historic photos, 1850–2000, of the area around Centre Street.

• Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell, West Roxbury, Arcadia Publishing, Images of America series, 1997, 128 pages.
• von Hoffman, Alexander, Local Attachments, The Making of an American Urban Neighborhood (Jamaica Plain, Boston) Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD, 1994. ISBN 0-8018-5393-1 (paperback) 311 pages.

External links

• West Roxbury neighborhood page on City of Boston website
• Guide to the Town of West Roxbury records City of Boston Archives
• 1858 Map of Norfolk County by Henry F. Walling, which included West Roxbury at that time. A very large and detailed color map. Also see the detailed side map of Jamaica Plain on the top left side of the map.
• Suffolk County Atlas West Roxbury maps: 1874, 1896, 1905, 1914
• West Roxbury Historical Society
• Theodore Parker Church
• West Roxbury Branch Library
• "West Roxbury Railroad Station, 1932" - photograph, Railroad History Archive, University of Connecticut Libraries Collection.
• The West Roxbury Women's Club records, 1965–1973 are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.