South End (Boston)
| South End District | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
 The intersection of Columbus Avenue and Berkely Street |
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| location | |||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 20 '37.9 " N , 71 ° 4' 18.7" W | ||
| Built | 1728 | ||
| Architectural style | Greek Revival , Late Victorian, Italianate | ||
| NRHP number | [1] 73000324 | ||
| The NRHP added | May 8, 1973 | ||
The South End is a district ( neighborhood ) of the city of Boston in the state of Massachusetts in the United States .
geography
Geographical location
The district is as well as the adjacent neighborhoods Back Bay and South Bay on former tidal - marshes , which from the 1830s to the 1870s by land fills was filled. The necessary building materials were transported to the construction site by trains from Needham . The South End was the first of the three areas to be developed, even before most of the Back Bay was built after the Civil War .
Since the technological possibilities in the 19th century did not allow it, pile foundations of steel in solid rock to drive, most of the buildings in the South End are supported by a system of buried under the ground wooden posts. In the recent past, however, a drop in the groundwater level has led to these being exposed and showing damage from contact with air. A number of wells were then drilled to monitor the water level, so that today the water level can be continuously checked and, if necessary, readjusted by introducing additional water.
Expansion of the urban area
The South End is located south of Back Bay , northwest of South Boston , northeast of Roxbury , north of Dorchester, and southwest of Bay Village . Despite its name, the neighborhood isn't directly south of downtown Boston.
In the past, the South End was bounded to the north and west by the tracks of the Boston and Providence Railroad , which had its terminus at the train station bordering the Boston Public Garden . Today the Southwest Corridor runs along there and the tracks end at Back Bay Station .
history
The South End was intended as an inner-city residential area when it was founded to relieve the densely populated city center and the equally densely populated Beacon Hill . The city administration also hoped for a high and stable tax revenue. The architect Charles Bulfinch was responsible for the layout of the first filled-up areas and designed a large urban park called Columbia Square on the spot where Franklin and Blackstone Squares are now . His plan included directing traffic around the square, not through it. However, his plan was only partially implemented and permission was given to run Washington Street through the square, thus dividing the park into its current two parts.
Many of the guest houses in the district did not have bathing facilities, so that the overnight guests had to go to public showers to bathe.
The padded country stood originally 8 ft (2.4 m ) above sea level , but is now only at a height of 4 ft (1.2 m ), as has condensed over time, the filling material. The former coastline of the Boston Neck runs from 40 St. George Street to Dover Street. The Blackstone and Franklin Parks are located on massive land on the original Neck, but mussels and snail shells can be found just below the surface, as the Boston Neck was occasionally washed over by the sea during floods . Massive blocks of granite can be seen as the remains of the first sea fortifications along Harrison Avenue at Joshua Bates School.
The South End attracted many burgeoning middle-class residents, including businessmen, two mayors, bankers, and industrialists. Although the district was only able to maintain its affluent status for a short time, the legends of a massive white flight in the 1880s are not entirely true. Indeed, a series of national financial crises during this period, combined with the construction of new homes in Back Bay and Roxbury, led to a steady decline in white residents with Protestant ancestry. The residents moving to other neighborhoods were increasingly being replaced by Irish Catholics and other immigrants .
By the late 19th century, the South End had become a neighborhood full of tenement buildings, attracting mostly new immigrants, and especially gay men in the 1940s . Middle-class blacks also lived in the South End, making the neighborhood a hub for their culture and lifestyle. In the area between Columbus Avenue and the railroad tracks, the so-called Pullman Porters lived predominantly . Over the decades, more and more buildings in the district were converted into tenements, and by the 1960s the district was one of the poorest in the city.
Population development
The population of the South End has been made up of a wide variety of groups and peoples since the 1880s. Irish , Lebanese , Jews , Afro-Americans and Greeks in particular settled in the district. In the 1930s, there was also a large wave of immigration from the maritime provinces of Canada , bringing workers to Boston and residents to the South End.
After the end of the Second World War , more and more gays and lesbians moved to the district. The one-gender guest houses involuntarily offered shelter for unmarried LGBT people . In the late 1940s, Spanish immigrants began colonizing the neighborhood, focusing on the Cathedral of the Holy Cross . Even today the district is very diversified and integrates residents from almost all countries of origin, religions and sexual orientations.
There is no official information on the income levels of residents of the South End . Although gentrification has in part led to the emigration of poor and non-white residents, the district still shows a high degree of diversity and mix. There are, among other things, many homeless shelters and social housing .
The South End's crime rate is relatively low compared to the rest of the city. While some streets have higher levels of street crime, others are known to be extremely family-friendly. The neighborhood has more playgrounds per square meter than other neighborhoods and is known for its growing upper middle class. Its character as a quarter of homosexuals, artists and cultural workers is in danger, however, since the cost of living is constantly rising and, unlike in New York City, for example, there is no political support for artists to continue to run their long-rented studios. The number of art galleries has nonetheless increased.
In 2000, 45% white people, 23% African American people, 17% Hispanics or Latinos, and 12% Asians lived in the South End.
Culture and sights
music
Up until the 1950s, the South End, together with the neighboring Roxbury, was a mecca for jazz lovers. Famous clubs like Royal Palms, Eddie Levine's, Tic-Toc, The Savoy, The Cave, Basin Street and Wally's Paradise were attractive draws. Wally's is the only club that still exists today.
From 1915 to 1970, the American Federation of Musicians Local 535 was the leading association of black musicians in the United States. Artists such as Duke Ellington , Cab Calloway , Chick Webb , Earl Hines and Jimmie Lunceford were part of the group. The offices were originally located above Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe , the walls of which are still decorated with photographs of the artists who once had a meal there. In the 1930s, the association moved to 409 Massachusetts Avenue. In 1970 the courts forced her to merge with the White Union (Local 9), which eventually became the Boston Musicians Association Local 9-535. Most of the black musicians then left the organization.
Buildings
The building structure in the South End is mainly composed of five-story, mid-19th century red-brick townhouses that are used for both residential and commercial purposes. The most common architectural styles are Neo-Renaissance , Italianate and Second Empire , but there are also examples of Greek Revival , Egyptian Revival , Gothic Revival and the Queen Anne Style, among many other styles .
The row houses built in the last quarter of the 19th century - especially along what is now Southwest Corridor Park - clearly show the influence of Charles Eastlake with their engraved decorations . Aside from the architectural style, repetitive elements such as red brick, slate , limestone or granite ornaments, and cast iron railings create great visual uniformity. Because of this architecture, the South End was included in the National Register of Historic Places and is also a Boston Landmark District. The district is the largest surviving Victorian residential area in North America. The South End Historical Society civic association works closely with the Boston Landmarks Commission to preserve this heritage .
Parks
Spread across the district are a total of 11 city parks, most of which are elliptical in shape with a piece of green space in the middle. They vary in size and were inspired by places in the city center designed by Charles Bulfinch . Many of these parks have a central fountain and are surrounded by a cast iron fence. The 19th-century park areas described are supplemented by newly created parks and a series of 16 community gardens and smaller green spaces operated by the South End Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust.
Culinary specialties
The South End is home to a multitude of restaurants with a large mix of different cuisines and food cultures at mostly relatively high prices. Tremont Street , for example, is often referred to as “Restaurant Row”. Among other things, the typical dishes of southern cuisine as well as French , Ethiopian , Brazilian , Indian , Italian , African , Peruvian , Thai and Japanese cuisine can be tasted.
Economy and Infrastructure
traffic
The Tremont Street , Washington Street and Columbus Avenue are the main roads in the South End. A lot of money was invested in Washington Street in particular, which connected Roxbury to Boston when it was first built. It was originally defined on the course of Washington Street Elevated , but the track layout was changed in the 1980s. Today the Silver Line buses run on Washington Street . There is a good view of the tower of Park Street Church along Columbus Avenue . The Orange Line runs through the South End on the Southwest Corridor .
Most of the cross streets in the borough were named after towns and villages served by the MBTA or the Boston and Albany Railroad : Greenwich , Newton , Canton , Dedham , Brookline , Rutland , Concord , Worcester , Springfield , Camden , Northampton , Sharon , Randolph , Plympton , Stoughton , Waltham , Dover , Chatham and Wareham .
Public facilities
The South End is home to the Boston Ballet , the Boston Center for the Arts , the Boston Medical Center, and a wide variety of art galleries and artist workshops.
The district also has several community facilities such as the South End Community Health Center, the South End Historical Society , the Animal Rescue League of Boston, founded in 1899, and the Mytown organization, which trains tourist guides .
education
Boston College opened in the South End in 1863 . Some of the original buildings still exist today and are located on Harrison Avenue. However, the college itself moved to Chestnut Hill in the late 19th century in order to cope with the increasing growth of the metropolitan area.
literature
- Leading business men of Back Bay, South End, Boston Highlands, Jamaica Plain and Dorchester : illustrated. Boston. Mercantile Pub. Co., 1888.
- Krieger, Alex and Cobb, David: Mapping Boston. The MIT Press: 1999. ISBN 0-262-11244-2 .
- Griffin, Arthur and Forbes, Esther: The Boston Book. Houghton Mifflin Company: 1947.
- Goodman, Phoebe: The Garden Squares of Boston. University Press of New England: 2003. ISBN 1-58465-298-5 .
- Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell: Boston's South End , Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, February 1, 1998. ISBN 0-7385-3949-X
Individual evidence
- ^ National Register Information System . In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service . Retrieved January 23, 2007.
- ^ New England Jazz Notes. (PDF; 30 kB) New England Jazz Alliance, accessed on July 27, 2012 .
Web links
- South End Boston
- Eight Streets Neighborhood Association, South End
- A Short History of Boston's South End
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