Columbia Point (Boston)

A German map of Boston Harbor from 1888 shows Dorchester in the lower left corner.

The Old Harbor at Columbia Point

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on the Columbia Point Peninsula

The Columbia Point or Harbor Point is located on a peninsula in the district of Dorchester of city Boston in the state of Massachusetts of the United States . The peninsula protrudes from the mainland into Dorchester Bay . The Columbia Point was in the early 17th century, the landing site of the Puritan settlers and was used by the Indians Mattaponnock called.

Historical background

This 1880 US Census Bureau map shows all of the building lots in Boston. The Columbia Point is located in the lower and middle section of the graph. Two streets branch off to the pumping station and the calf pasture.

17th to 19th century

The area at Columbia Point was used as calf pasture from the 17th to the mid-19th century - the residents of nearby Dorchester brought their calves there to graze. It was mostly uninhabited marshland with a size of 14 acres (56,656 m²). Land was reclaimed over the years through landfills and the available area was expanded to 350 acres (1.4 km²) in the 20th century.

In 1845 the Old Colony Railroad ran through the area connecting Boston with Plymouth . The stop was initially named Crescent Avenue , later Columbia, and has been reported as JFK / UMass since December 1, 1982 . The station is now part of the MBTA and provides access to both the Red Line subway and suburban trains.

In the 1880s, the Calf Pasture Pumping Station Complex was built on the pasture , which can still be visited today and at the time of its construction represented the state of the art in wastewater treatment in order to enable better living conditions in the city. The station pumped the wastewater to a more distant purification facility, which was located on Moon Island in Boston Harbor . This system served as a model for similar institutions around the world. The system worked so well that it remained in operation as a central part of Boston wastewater treatment until 1968. That year, a new wastewater treatment plant was built on Deer Island and started operations. The pumping station is also significant from an architectural point of view, as it was built in Romanesque style by the then Boston city architect George Clough , based on a design by Henry Hobson Richardson , and was added to the National Register of Historic Places .

20th century

In 1934 landfills led to the opening of Columbus Park and what was then Day Boulevard (now Morrissey Boulevard ) on the peninsula. A huge pile of rubbish that was on the peninsula was also used as an embankment material.

During the Second World War , a small barracks was built at Columbia Point to house some prisoners of war. After the war it was made available to veterans as living quarters. In 1950, Boston College High School moved from the South End to its current address on Morrissey Boulevard .

In 1954, the Columbia Point Development project was completed, for which more land was raised on the north coast of the peninsula and 1,500 new apartments were built by the Boston Housing Authority . At the same time, additional infrastructure such as public schools was added.

In the 1960s there was an initiative by residents of Columbia Point to permanently shut down the urban dump there . The initiators won the interest of the lawyer Francis Lee Bailey Jr. , who took over their legal representation. In fact, the municipal dump had to shut down in 1962, and the private dump Mile Road Dump , also located at Columbia Point , closed in February 1963 after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled its operation illegal.

In 1965, the Columbia Point Community Health Center was the first public health center in the United States to be built on Columbia Point . It was founded by two doctors from Tufts University, Jack Geiger and Count Gibson . Geiger had previously got to know the first public health centers as a medical student together with Sidney Kark as well as the principles of first aid oriented towards the common good in KwaZulu-Natal , South Africa . The center still operates as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center on Mount Vernon Street .

1974 opened campus of the University of Massachusetts Boston at the top of the Columbia Point and was Harbor Campus baptized. After efforts to locate the John F. Kennedy Library in Cambridge near Harvard University in 1977 were unsuccessful, construction began on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, designed by architect IM Pei , at the tip of Columbia Point . It opened on October 20, 1979.

The blocks of flats at Columbia Point were falling into disrepair and becoming increasingly dangerous. In the 1980s only about 300 families lived there and the buildings almost fell apart. In 1983, the city of Boston recognized the almost hopeless situation and transferred the management, cleaning, planning and renovation of the property to the private development company Corcoran-Mullins-Jennison . A 99-year leasing contract was awarded to a merger of the company with other investors and elected representatives of the tenants.

In 1986, work began on the new Harbor Point residential units . During a recession in 1988 that resulted in a slump in the housing market and large deficits and expensive loans, Harbor Point development was on the verge of bankruptcy. The project was saved by Chevron Corporation , which invested $ 34 million. The renovation work was completed in 1990. The new residential complex had tenants from various income groups and was designed and designed according to the latest findings. To distinguish them from the old state, they were called Harbor Point Apartments . The apartments received international recognition by the Urban Land Institute , won the FIABCI award and in 1993 the Gold Medal of Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence and served as a model for the state program Hope VI of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development .

21st century

In 2008, Corcoran-Jennings Company announced plans to redevelop 30 acres of the Bayside Exposition Center on the peninsula and a mixed-use commercial and residential property called Bayside on the Point suggested. However, there were a number of serious planning problems, particularly with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority planning to build a facility to control sewage odors in the immediate vicinity of the property.

Meanwhile, the Bayside Expo Center site was lost in 2009 to a Florida- based real estate company in bankruptcy proceedings against the Corcoran-Jennison Company's assets . Shortly thereafter, the University of Massachusetts Boston acquired the property for future expansions of their campus. The purchase agreement was signed by the University of Massachusetts Boston together with the University of Massachusetts Building Authority in February 2010 and sealed the purchase for 18.7 million US dollars. The start of construction work on the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and other scientific institutions was specified for 2010.

Lapse of time

year	event
1630	Puritan settlers land at Columbia Point . Until 1869 the area was a pasture for calves .
1884	The sewage pumping station goes into operation at the end of Mile Road .
1942	Camp McKay is being built on the north side of the peninsula to house Italian prisoners during World War II .
1954	The project to build apartments at Columbia Point begins and the first tenants move in.
1965	The Columbia Point Health Center opened as the first health center in the country.
1966	Construction of the Bayside Mall begins.
1971	Construction of the University of Massachusetts Boston begins.
1974	The University of Massachusetts Boston Harbor Campus opens at Columbia Point .
1975	Tenants of multiple public housing are suing the Boston Housing Authority over poor housing conditions .
1978	The Boston Redevelopment Authority is receiving $ 80 million federal funding to improve the homes at Columbia Point .
1979	The John F. Kennedy Library is officially inaugurated.
1984	A private development company is taking over management of the apartments at Columbia Point and begins large-scale clean-up, beautification and significant maintenance improvements.
1985	The Massachusetts State Archive opens in November .
1986	On the site of the former Columbia Point housing project, work begins on the new Harbor Point housing project.
1998	The apartments at Harbor Point achieve an occupancy rate of 99% and are celebrating their 10th anniversary.
2008	A plan to redevelop the Bayside Exposition Center site into a commercial and residential area will be put up for public viewing.
2009	The Bayside Exposition Center is lost in a foreclosure.
2010	The University of Massachusetts Boston is buying the Bayside Exposition Center for $ 18.7 million.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Calf Pasture Pumping Station. Dorchester Atheneum, accessed March 30, 2012 .

^ E. Whiting: Map of Dorchester Mass. Boston Public Library , 1850, accessed April 3, 2012 .

^ Jane Roessner: A decent place to live, from Columbia Point to Harbor Point: a community history . Northeastern University Press, Boston 2000, ISBN 1-55553-436-8 , 8, 13, pp. 56, 107 .

^ Delta Health Center Records, 1956-1992. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, accessed April 3, 2012 .

^ Theodore M. Brown, Elizabeth Fee: Sidney Kark and John Cassel - Social Medicine Pioneers and South African Emigrés . In: American Journal of Public Health . tape 92 , no. November 11 , 2002, ISSN 0090-0036 , OCLC 110500864 , p. 1744-1745 , doi : 10.2105 / AJPH.92.11.1744 .

↑ Dr. H. Jack Geiger. (No longer available online.) George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services, archived from the original on May 17, 2012 ; accessed on April 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

↑ Dr. Count Gibson. (No longer available online.) George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services, archived from the original February 14, 2012 ; accessed on April 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

^ Jane Roessner: A decent place to live, from Columbia Point to Harbor Point. 2000, p. 80.

^ Dolores Kong: 25 Years of Intensive Caring. In: Boston Globe . October 28, 1990, accessed April 3, 2012 (English, paid article).

^ ^A ^b Boston War Zone Becomes Public Housing Dream. In: The New York Times . November 23, 1991, accessed April 4, 2012 .

^ Winner: Harbor Point. (PDF; 2.6 MB) The Bruner Foundation, 1993, accessed on April 4, 2012 (English).

^ Jane Roessner: A decent place to live, from Columbia Point to Harbor Point. 2000, p. 293.

^ Angie Thebaud, Jeanne Haffner, Erick Guerra: Privately-Funded Public Housing Redevelopment. (PDF) A Study of the Transformation of Columbia Point. Institute for International Urban Development, Cambridge, MA, September 2008, accessed April 4, 2012 .

↑ Pete Stidman: Sketches outline new-deal for Columbia Point. (No longer available online.) In: Dorchester Reporter. August 14, 2008, archived from the original on February 13, 2012 ; accessed on April 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

↑ Pete Stidman: 'Next great neighborhood' planned for Morrissey site. (No longer available online.) In: Dorchester Reporter. November 13, 2008, archived from the original on February 13, 2012 ; accessed on April 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

^ Gintautas Dumcius: Odor control facility raises new questions on Columbia Point. (No longer available online.) In: Dorchester Reporter. February 21, 2008, archived from the original on February 13, 2012 ; accessed on April 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

↑ Pete Stidman: Odor facility clouds future of Bayside project. (No longer available online.) In: Dorchester Reporter. November 20, 2008, archived from the original on February 13, 2012 ; accessed on April 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

^ Ed Forry: UMass-Boston seeks to buy Bayside Expo; Motley says no plans for dorms. In: Dorchester Reporter. December 16, 2009, accessed April 4, 2012 .

^ Ed Forry: UMass signs agreement to buy Bayside Expo for $ 18.7M. In: Dorchester Reporter. February 18, 2010, accessed April 4, 2012 .

literature

Joanne Ball: Can Columbia Point Be Harbor Point? Conversion Represents A Test Of Social Engineering. In: The Boston Globe. August 14, 1988
Todd Bressi: From the Outside Looking In: An Evaluation of Harbor Point. (PDF file; 927 kB). In: Places. Volume 8, No. 4, Summer 1993, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
Ellen J Pader, Myrna Margulies Breitbart: Transforming Public Housing: Conflicting Visions for Harbor Point. (PDF file; 1.6 MB). In: Places. Volume 8, No. 4, Summer 1993, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
Joan E Goody: From Project to Community: The Redesign of Columbia Point. (PDF file; 4.6 MB). In: Places. Volume 8, No. 4, Summer 1993, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
Richard Higgins: As Columbia Point Is Reborn, Nuns Face Displacement Battle. In: The Boston Globe. July 23, 1988.
Blair Kamin: Rethinking Public Housing. ( Memento of October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Blueprints. Volume 15, No. 3, Summer 1997, National Building Museum , Washington, DC
Nina M. Silverstein, Judith M. Conahan and others: Aging in Place at Harbor Point: Outreach Follow-Up of Older Adults Living in Independent Mixed-Income Apartments. Gerontology Institute and College of Public and Community Service, University of Massachusetts, Boston, November 2004.
Angie Thebaud et al: Privately-Funded Public Housing Redevelopment: A Study of the Transformation of Columbia Point. (PDF file; 487 kB). Institute for International Urban Development, Boston, Massachusetts, September 2008.
Lawrence J. Vale: From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors. Harvard University Press, 2000.

Web links

Commons : Columbia Point, Boston - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Map of Columbia Point ( October 4, 2007 memento on the Internet Archive ) - Boston Redevelopment Authority, City of Boston
1899 map of Dorchester - Mt. Vernon Street and portions of Columbia Point are in the lower right corner

42.313719444444 -71.033436111111Coordinates: 42 ° 18 '49.4 " N , 71 ° 2' 0.4" W.

[Calf_Pasture-1] Calf Pasture Pumping Station. Dorchester Atheneum, accessed March 30, 2012 .

[2] E. Whiting: Map of Dorchester Mass. Boston Public Library , 1850, accessed April 3, 2012 .

[3] Jane Roessner: A decent place to live, from Columbia Point to Harbor Point: a community history . Northeastern University Press, Boston 2000, ISBN 1-55553-436-8 , 8, 13, pp. 56, 107 .

[4] Delta Health Center Records, 1956-1992. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, accessed April 3, 2012 .