West Roxbury, Massachusetts

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West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston bordered by South Brookline, Hyde Park, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain and the neighboring city of Newton. Founded in 1630 (contemporaneously with Boston), West Roxbury, Massachusetts was originally part of the town of Roxbury and was mainly used as farmland. West Roxbury seceded from Roxbury in 1851, and was annexed[1] by Boston in 1874. At the time, the town included the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale.[2]

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 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.

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. .[3]

Like its neighboring communities, West Roxburys 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.

Contents

[edit] Demographics

The population has been declining for decades: [4] [5]

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%

[edit] 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.

[edit] Westerly Burying Ground conflict and secession

Westerly Burying 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.[6] West Roxbury became part of the City of Boston on January 5, 1874.[7] Westerly Burying Ground served as this community’s burial place well into the nineteenth 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. The site is significant for its large collection of three centuries of funerary art. One-third of its extant gravestones date from the eighteenth century; almost half date from the nineteenth century and only about twenty bear twentieth-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.

[edit] West Roxbury Library

In 1876, the Boston Public Library created a delivery station when it took over the collection of the West Roxbury Free Library. In 1896, it became a full branch of the Boston Public Library. In 1921-22, a new library building was built at the present site. In 1977, a devastating fire destroyed the neighboring West Roxbury Congregational Church and the land was deeded to the Trustees of the Boston Public Library for the purpose of an addition to the Branch building. On September 24, 1989, the new addition was opened to the public.

[edit] 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. [8]

[edit] Notable natives

[edit] Sites of interest

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[edit] 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

West Roxbury Free Library, 1989 wing

Centre Street, West Roxbury's main artery

Saint Teresa of Ávila Church (Roman Catholic)

[edit] References

  1. ^ On October 7, 1873, a vote was held to determine whether West Roxbury should join Boston; Boston residents approved the question, 6110-1648, and West Roxbury residents also approved, 720-613. "The Result in Figures", The Boston Globe, p. 5, October 8, 1873.
  2. ^ Database of the Greenspaces and Neighborhoods in the heart of Boston
  3. ^ My Friends at Brook Farm, John Van Der Zee Sears
  4. ^ http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/OpenSpace_07draft/WestRoxburyDemographicHousingTables.pdf
  5. ^ http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/PDFs/Profiles/West_Roxbury_PD_Profile.pdf
  6. ^ West Roxbury Timeline. The town was incorporated May 24, 1851.
  7. ^ About West Roxbury, City of Boston
  8. ^ http://www.coolrunning.com/major/09/corrib/general_info.html The 16th Annual Corrib Classic 5K
  9. ^ Newton Conservators

[edit] Further reading

A hundred comparative historic photos, 1850–2000, of the area around Centre Street.
  • Alexander von Hoffman, " Local Attachments, The Making of an American Urban Neighborhood" (Jamaica Plain, Boston) John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD, 1994. ISBN 0-8018-5393-1 (paperback) 311 pages.

[edit] External links

Boston portal
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Neighborhoods in Boston
Boston map


Coordinates: 42°16′45″N 71°08′58″W / 42.27917°N 71.14944°W / 42.27917; -71.14944

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