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Dorchester, Boston

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File:Map of Boston (Massachusetts).jpg
1888 German map of Boston Harbor showing Dorchester in the lower left hand corner.

Dorchester, including a large portion of today's Boston, was incorporated in 1630.[1] It was still primarily rural and had a population of 12,000 when annexed to Boston in 1870. Railroad and streetcar lines brought rapid growth, increasing the population to 150,000 by 1920. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated. It is now a large, diverse working class community with many African-Americans and East and Southeast Asians, and is still a center of Irish-American immigration. Polish immigrants are also a vibrant population of Dorchester with their own Catholic Parish, Saturday language school and parochial school. The Andrews area is also home to Polish restaurants, delis and clubs.

Neighborhoods

Dorchester is Boston's most populous neighborhood. Due to its size, it is often divided for statistical purposes. North Dorchester includes the portion north of Quincy Street, East Street, and Freeport Street. South Bay Center and Newmarket industrial area are major sources of employment. The main business district in this part of Dorchester is Uphams Corner, at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road. The Harbor Point area (formerly known as Columbia Point) is also the home of several large employers, including the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts. The southern area of Dorchester is bordered to the east by Dorchester Bay and to the south by the Neponset River. Dorchester Avenue is the major neighborhood spine, running in a straight line through all of Dorchester from Lower Mills to downtown Boston. The southern part of Dorchester is primarily a residential area, with established neighborhoods still defined by parishes, and occupied by families for generations. Yet it continues to change, as best observed in the growth of its distinct commercial districts: Bowdoin/Geneva, Fields Corner, Codman Square, Peabody Square, Adams Village and Lower Mills. Other Dorchester neighborhoods include Savin Hill, Jones Hill, Four Corners, Franklin Field, Franklin Hill, Ashmont, Meeting House Hill, Neponset, Popes Hill and Port Norfolk.

The eastern areas of Dorchester (especially between Adams Street and Massachusetts Bay) are primarily ethnic European and Asian, with a large population of people of Irish and Vietnamese descent, while the residents of the western, central and parts of the southern sections of the neighborhood are predominantly of African descent. Neponset (which is the southeast corner of the neighborhood), as well as the north side of Uphams Corner close to the South Boston border are predominantly composed of those of Irish descent. Savin Hill as well as Fields Corner have a large Vietnamese-American population. Uphams Corner contains a very large Cape Verdean-American community and has the largest concentration of people of Cape Verdean origin within the Boston city limits. Western, central and parts of southern Dorchester have a large Caribbean population (especially people from Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago). They are most heavily represented in the Codman Square, Franklin Field and Ashmont areas, although there are also significant numbers in Four Corners and Fields Corner. Significant numbers of African-Americans live in the Harbor Point, Uphams Corner, Fields Corner, Four Corners and Franklin Field areas. Latin-Americans represent 17% of Dorchester's population according to the U.S. Census, with significant numbers living in the Harbor Point, Fields Corner and Codman Square areas.

The Andrew Square area of Dorchester has a very large concentration of Polish immigrants. The area is home to several Polish stores, delis and a Polish restaurant. Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish has masses in Polish daily and several during the weekends and draws Poles to the area. The John Paul II Polish School is also based in Dorchester teaching Polish to children and teens. The area is also home to Polish clubs, Polish-speaking businesses and Polish publications. Lech Walesa, former president of Poland and Solidarity leader visited Dorchester most recently in 2006.

Transportation

The neighborhood is served by five stations on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red Line (MBTA) rapid transit service, five stations on the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, commuter rail lines, and various bus routes. Interstate 93 (which is also Route 3 and U.S. Route 1) runs north-south through Dorchester between Quincy, Massachusetts and downtown Boston, providing access to the eastern edge of Dorchester at Columbia Road, Morrissey Boulevard (northbound only), Neponset Circle (southbound only), and Granite Avenue (with additional southbound on-ramps at Freeport Street and from Morrissey Blvd at Neponset). Several other state routes traverse the neighborhood (e.g., Route 203, Gallivan Boulevard and Morton Street, and Route 28, Blue Hill Avenue (so named because it leads out of the city to the Blue Hills Reservation). The Neponset River separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton. The "Dorchester Turnpike" (now "Dorchester Avenue") stretches from Fort Point Channel (now in South Boston) to Lower Mills, and once boasted a horse-drawn streetcar.

History

In the summer of 1614, Captain John Smith, of Virginia fame, entered Boston Harbor and landed a boat with eight men on the Dorchester shore, at what was then a narrow peninsula known as Mattapan or Mattahunts, and today is known as South Boston. The town was founded at what is now the intersection of Columbia Road and Massachusetts Avenue in 1630 by settlers who arrived on the Mary and John ship. They gathered as a church in England and founded the town and the First Parish Church of Dorchester, which still exists as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meetinghouse Hill and is the oldest religious organization in present day Boston. Columbia Point is home to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Boston College High School and the University of Massachusetts, Boston Campus.

Dorchester is the birthplace of the first public elementary school in America, the Mather School, established in 1639.[2] The school still stands as the oldest elementary school in America.[3]

In 1695, a party was dispatched to found the town of Dorchester, South Carolina, which would last barely a half-century before being abandoned.

America's first chocolate factory opened in Dorchester, in 1765, and the Walter Baker Chocolate Factory operated until 1965. Dorchester (in a part of what is now South Boston) was also the site of the Battle of Dorchester Heights in 1776, which eventually resulted in the British evacuating Boston. Dorchester was annexed by Boston in pieces, beginning in 1804 and completed in 1870. Dorchester heights in now part of South Boston, and is not in modern-day Dorchester.

In Victorian times, Dorchester became a popular country retreat for Boston elite, and developed into a bedroom community, easily accessible to the city -- a streetcar suburb. The mother and grandparents of John F. Kennedy lived in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood while John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald was mayor of Boston.

In 1953 Carney Hospital moved from South Boston to its current location in Dorchester serving the local communities of Dorchester, Mattapan, Milton and Quincy.

The oldest home in the City of Boston, the James Blake House, built in 1648, is located in Edward Everett Square, a few blocks from the Dorchester Historical Society.[1]

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Parochial schools

  • Boston College High School, 9-12
  • Elizabeth Seton Academy, 9-12
  • Monsignor Ryan Memorial High, 9-12
  • St Ann Elementary School, K-8
  • St Brendan School, K-8
  • St Kevin School, K-8
  • St Mark School, K-8
  • St Margaret Elementary School, K-8
  • St Matthew School, K-8
  • St Peter Elementary School, K-8

Public schools

Students in Dorchester are served by Boston Public Schools.

Cultural and Language Schools

  • Szkola Jezyka Polskiego w Bostonie (John Paul II Polish School for Children and Teens)

Colleges and universities

The University of Massachusetts Boston campus is located in the Harbor Point area of Dorchester.

Points of interest

Notable residents

See also

References

  1. ^ a b History of Dorchester, Massachusetts
  2. ^ Notable Events in Massachusetts
  3. ^ Mather Elementary School
  4. ^ Bayside Expo Center, City Guide
  5. ^ Neponset River State Reservation Dept. of Conservation and Recreation
  6. ^ a b c Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1963.

Bibliography

  • Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell.
    • "Boston's South End", Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, 1998.
    • "Dorchester", Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, 2000.
    • "Dorchester: Then & Now", Arcadia Publishing, 2005.

42°17′50″N 71°04′28″W / 42.29722°N 71.07444°W / 42.29722; -71.07444

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