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Understanding Jamaica Plain Today: Overview + Resources
Are you planting a church or ministering in Jamaica Plain? Get to know this vibrant neighborhood and explore some great local resources.
Understanding Jamaica Plain Today: Overview + Resources
by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher
Affectionately known as "JP", Jamaica Plain's reputation includes diversity, friendly community, unique businesses, socially-conscious activity, increasing gentrification, and natural beauty.
JP is in a period of rapid growth. Hundreds of new residential units are recently completed or underway. The JP/Rox Plan for the Washington Street and Columbus Avenue areas is likely to bring additional changes in the coming years. While Jamaica Plain continues to transition into the future, its beautiful green spaces will keep it true to its nickname as the “Eden of America.”
Copper European Beech Tree at Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, MA. Photo licensed for public use.
JP AT A GLANCE
Residents by Race
Residents By Age
Educated More than 63% of Jamaica Plain residents 25 years or older have obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher. This is much higher than the percentage for the U.S. (30%) or Boston (45%).
Increasingly Young The proportion of 25-34 year olds in Jamaica Plain has risen from 23% in 2000 to 27% in 2015. The percentage of young adults aged 20 to 34 in Jamaica Plain is exactly the same as in Boston - 34.7% (a very high proportion). The median age of Jamaica Plain residents is 33 years compared to 39 years for Massachusetts.
Family Friendly Jamaica Plain had 6,719 children under the age of 18 years (6th highest number of children out of 22 Boston neighborhoods).
“Jamaica Plain has been a wonderful neighborhood for our family. JP is rich in diversity, full of green space, and yet densely urban and teeming with energy. It’s a neighborhood that cares a lot about the world and about building stronger community.
”
Rev. Brice Williams spent two years researching JP as a church planter. He lives in JP with his family and is the new pastor of the South End Neighborhood Church.
Language Diversity 8,611 Jamaica Plain residents speak Spanish at home (23.4% of the population); 765 residents speak Chinese at home; 586 speak French or Haitian Creole; 382 speak Portuguese or Cape Verdean Creole. About 23% of the population – 8,879 residents – are foreign born.
Income Inequality The poverty rate in Jamaica Plain is 18.3% with 7,039 people living below the poverty line. However, the median household income is a relatively high $76,968, which indicates significant income inequality between a large number of low income residents and many high income residents. Almost 63% of the neighborhood’s employed adults have occupations in management, business, science, and the arts.
“With all of its beauty, JP is also a neighborhood burdened with gentrification, miscommunication, and fragmentation. Be a cultural anthropologist. Be a community member before a Christian leader. Listen well and learn from men and women who have lived and built the story of JP as we see it today, no matter their religious background or bent.
”
Bike-Friendly Although most residents commute to work by car or subway, 1,318 people commute by bicycle, and 1,292 walk to work.
Natural Beauty
Jamaica Pond, Jamaica Plain, MA.
Jamaica Pond
One of the attractions of this neighborhood has always been Jamaica Pond, which is surrounded by a biking/walking trail. Beginning in the early years of the neighborhood’s history, residents built homes and summer estates which overlook the pond to this day.
In the past, ice skating was a popular recreation at the pond, while boating, fishing and jogging or walking continue to be enjoyed by many. In the late nineteenth century, the pond became a part of the Emerald Necklace designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. One popular activity today is the annual Lantern Festival.
Lantern Festival, Jamaica Pond, Jamaica Plain, MA.
Small pond within Arnold Arboretum. Photo by Daderot, English language Wikipedia.
Arnold Arboretum
Founded in 1872, the arboretum has one of the largest and best documented collections of woody plants in the world. More than 15,000 plants from some 4,000 species grow here. Among these are about 400 lilac bushes of 179 types featured every spring on Lilac Sunday. The arboretum’s 281 acres are managed by Harvard University and have been designated a national historic landmark. The residents of Jamaica Plain as well as Boston enjoy the unique beauty of the arboretum in all seasons.
Recommended Resources
Plan JP/Rox – Boston Planning and Development Agency
The PLAN: JP/ROX document provides recommendations and strategies around affordable housing, jobs and businesses, guidelines for urban design, and suggestions for improvements to transportation, connections, open space, sustainability, and the public realm in Jamaica Plain.
Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council
Getting to Know Your Neighborhood: Jamaica Plain
Understanding Roxbury Today
At the geographic heart of Boston, Roxbury is home to a diverse community. Like many Boston neighborhoods, Roxbury is in transition—holding the tension between the beautiful old while welcoming in the beautiful new.
Understanding Roxbury Today
(header photo: Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, the new headquarters for Boston Public Schools, in Dudley Square, Roxbury. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)
by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher
Boston's Roxbury neighborhood is home to many of the city’s African American and Hispanic residents and offers many historic and contemporary assets to the city as a whole.
Community culture is celebrated through visual and performing arts, and in many houses of worship. Several parks, including Franklin Park with its Zoo, greenspace, and Golf Course, offer recreational outlets to the community. The Reggie Lewis Center offers space for exercise and a world-class track and field venue.
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston – The Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME) and Resurrection Lutheran Church in Dudley Square
As a result of several stages of community development and renewal, this neighborhood at the geographic center of the city is on the rise. New business and housing initiatives are renewing the Dudley Square and Grove Hall districts. Blue Hill Avenue is no longer a street full of vacant lots.
Like many Boston neighborhoods, Roxbury is in transition. Long-term residents seek to benefit from positive changes, while preventing displacement and other negative effects of development and potential gentrification.
Franklin Park, Hole #6, on the William J. Devine Golf Course
Roxbury Voice: Life in Roxbury
“I love it. I love living in Roxbury. I love the location. God created an optimum situation for us to move [here]. It’s worked for us as a family, as well as for ministry."
—Pastor Cynthia Hymes Bell, Director of Starlight Ministries
Pastor Cynthia Hymes Bell, Director of Starlight Ministries of Emmanuel Gospel Center
Cynthia moved into Roxbury in 2005 and has been deeply involved in the community up to the current day.
Residents of Roxbury
Residents By Race
Total Population – 51,714
Population Growth – Roxbury grew by 23% from 2000 to 2016, (doubling Boston's growth of 12% over the same time period).
Children – 29% of Roxbury residents are children (aged 0-19 years), higher than the 21% of Boston as a whole.
Female Householders – 34%. Roxbury, along with Mattapan, has the highest percentage (34.3%) of households headed by a female householder with no husband present of all Boston neighborhoods. The percentage for Massachusetts is 12.5%.
Foreign-born population – 14,006, or 27.1% in 2016, (up from 20.2% in 2000).
Language – 26% of Roxbury residents speak Spanish in the home.
Income – The median household income in Roxbury in 2016 was $26,883, which is less than half the Boston median of $58,769.
Black Culture – With over half of its residents identifying as Black/African Americans (compared to Boston’s 23%), Roxbury is still considered by many to be the heart of Black culture in Boston.
Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts website
The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA) is a gateway that "fosters and presents the finest in contemporary, visual and performing arts from the global Black world. "
The Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts opened in 2005, and continues to celebrate the culture of the community through visual and performing arts.
The Roxbury International Film Festival is the largest film festival in New England that annually celebrates people of color.
The Roxbury Cultural District "identifies and recognizes Roxbury's cultural assets and establishes the tools, strategies, resources, and spaces that elevate the community of Roxbury as a living repository of arts and cultural expression—past, present, and future."
Roxbury Voice: Advice to Christian Leaders
“I’m planning to get more involved with my neighborhood association this year...to understand different viewpoints and political standpoints in regards to development...[housing and failing schools]...to show up at meetings and to have a voice."
— Pastor Cynthia Hymes Bell, Director of Starlight Ministries
Housing – Roxbury has an unusually large percentage of its housing units that are renter-occupied (80%) compared to owner-occupied (20%). This is the highest rate of any non-student neighborhood in the city. (The U.S. proportion of renter-occupied units is 36%.)
Roxbury has the third highest number of housing units of any Boston neighborhood – 20,779.
Roxbury’s growth is poised to continue, with 2,711 new units of housing approved from 2010 through 2017 (including new residential units being added to the Whittier Choice Neighborhood project). In addition, 626 additional residential units have been proposed and are under review. If all 3,337 units are built, this could add 8,500 or more new residents to the Roxbury neighborhood.
Roxbury Community College is a state-supported two-year coed liberal arts institution, founded in 1973.
Educational Attainment – From 2000 to 2016, the share of adult residents without a high school degree fell (32% to 25%) while the share with a bachelor’s degree rose (13% to 20%). Even though the percentage of college graduates increased, it is still the second-lowest of any neighborhood and far lower than the percentage of college graduates in most neighborhoods and Boston as a whole (46%).
(Primary source of data in this section: Boston in Context: Neighborhoods, Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA), March 2018, based on the 2012-2016 American Community Survey (ACS), U.S. Census.)
The Shirley–Eustis House is a National Historic Landmark, built in Roxbury as a summer residence between 1747 and 1751.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Roxbury – Boston Planning and Development Agency
This site provides a short overview of Roxbury's history, as well as comprehensive details on the city's projects—past, present, and future.
To learn more about Roxbury's extensive history, visit this site. The Roxbury Historical Society headquarters are located at the Dillaway Thomas House in the Roxbury Heritage State Park.
Understanding Dorchester: Overview + Resources
Are you ministering or planting a church in Dorchester? Check out this gateway to local resources for understanding the people and community you serve.
Understanding Dorchester: Overview + Resources
By Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher
Sometimes divided into North Dorchester and South Dorchester, this massive area of Boston includes many sub-neighborhoods, shown above. Grove Hall, Glover’s Corner, and St. Marks also are sometimes identified as sub-neighborhoods of Dorchester.
Dorchester is Boston’s largest and most populous neighborhood. In fact, Dorchester was a separate town from 1630 until 1870, when it voted to become a part of the city of Boston. If Dorchester’s population was separated from Boston, the community would be the fourth largest city in Massachusetts!
Dorchester reflects the diversity of Boston in its varied churches, people, business centers, buildings, and landscapes. The community has a long and rich history with many significant personalities, including activists Lucy Stone and William Munroe Trotter. Today Dorchester also has a rich mixture of diverse people groups ranging from Cape Verdeans to Hispanics and Vietnamese, as well as Irish, African Americans, and immigrants from the Caribbean.
Caleb McCoy, hip-hop artist and producer for OAK music group, was born and raised in Dorchester, MA. Caleb is also the development manager at EGC in the South End.
"Growing up in Codman Square has been a rich experience for me. So much of my story has been influenced by what this town has to offer. From the danger to the diversity, and everything in between, I take pride in being from Dorchester." - Caleb McCoy
Dorchester today: Top Ten Distinctives
1. Size
Dorchester has the largest population of any neighborhood in Boston – 124,489.
2. Immigration
More than one third of Dorchester’s residents are foreign born (41, 685).
3. Higher Education
Twenty-five percent of Dorchester residents aged 25 older had bachelor’s degrees or higher, compared with 45% of Boston residents.” This grew from 18% in 2000 to 25% in 2015.
4. Income
The 2015 median household income for Dorchester was more than $12,000 lower than the Boston median income.
5. Housing
Dorchester’s population is likely to experience future growth since 1,244 new housing units were approved in 2016 as a part of nearly two million square feet of new building development. Currently another 512 new housing units are approved or in the pipeline at the Boston Planning and Development Agency, including about 700,000 square feet of development in a dozen new projects.
6. Languages
Dorchester residents speak a variety of languages at home:
16,918 residents speak Spanish
9,395 residents speak Vietnamese
4,045 residents speak Portuguese or Cape Verdean Creole
7. Children and Youth
Dorchester has 15,841 children age 0 – 9 years and 16,428 young people age 10-19 years, which is significantly higher percentage of children and youth than that of Boston as a whole.
8. Poverty
The poverty rate for Dorchester is about 23% compared with 21.5% for the city and 11.6% for the state.
9. Elders
Dorchester has 11,879 residents 65 years and over, which reflects Boston as a whole.
10. Ethnic Diversity
Dorchester is one of Boston’s more diverse neighborhoods with many Vietnamese, Cape Verdean, African American, Caribbean, White, and Hispanic residents.
Ethnic Makeup of Dorchester, MA
A BRIEF History of Dorchester
English Puritans from Dorsett County in the West of England first settled Dorchester in June 1630. The organizer of this group, Rev. John White, and a number of the immigrants were from Dorchester, England.
In the early years these settlers built a church and school along with their homes. Two 17th century homes, the Blake House and the Pierce House, can still be visited in Dorchester.
The large area of the town developed as several village centers with farmlands in between and mills along the Neponset River. After the town agreed to be annexed by Boston in 1870, it experienced rapid growth with real estate developers and rail and streetcar lines proliferating. Triple-deckers housed the growing population, as churches, industries, businesses, and cultural activities grew and thrived.
The population peaked in the mid-twentieth century, and then went through several transitions as African Americans, Cape Verdeans, West Indians, Hispanics, Vietnamese and others moved in to replace earlier residents who had left for the suburbs. Recently, new churches, businesses, and housing developments have taken root to serve the community.
Baker Chocolate Factory, Dorchester, MA. Photo by Mark N. Belanger, 2009.
Some Dorchester Firsts
Oldest Congregation The First Parish Church of Dorchester is the oldest congregation in present day Boston.
First Public School The Mather School, founded in 1639, was the first tax supported, free public elementary school in America.
First Town Meeting Dorchester held the first recorded town meeting in American history, on October 8, 1633.
First Chocolate Dr. James Baker and Irish chocolatier, John Hannon began the first chocolate factory in America in 1764 in Lower Mills, Dorchester. The Baker Chocolate Factory became world famous.
Ashmont Station, Dorchester, MA.
Recommended Resources
Dorchester TODAY
68 Blocks: Life, Death, Hope in Boston’s Most Troubled Neighborhood. Irons, Meghan E., Akilah Johnson, Maria Cramer, Jenna Russell, and Andrew Ryan.Boston: Boston Globe, 2013.
Reporters living in the neighborhood wrote a series of in-depth articles which were combined into the feature 68 Blocks.
MyDorchester is an initiative to build civic engagement and social capital in Boston's largest and oldest neighborhood, Dorchester.
MyDorchester: Twitter / MyDorchester: Facebook
Books & Booklets on Dorchester today
Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood by Omar McRoberts, 2003. McRoberts studied the relationship between churches and the community in the Four Corners area.
Mitchell, Rudy. Theresa Musante, and Elizabeth Spinney. Geneva-Bowdoin. Boston: Emmanuel Gospel Center, Youth Violence Systems Project, 2009.
Mitchell, Rudy, with Tamecia Jones. Uphams Corner. Boston: Emmanuel Gospel Center, Youth Violence Systems Project, 2008.
Dorchester HISTORY
www.dorchesteratheneum.org is an excellent collection of material on Dorchester history, including maps, pictures and articles.
BOOKS on Dorchester History
Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Dorchester. 2 vols. Images of America Series. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 1995, 2000.
The notable people, attractions, houses, churches, and other buildings of each section of Dorchester are covered in turn by this illustrated history using many old photographs.
The second volume has chapters covering the periods before and after Dorchester was annexed to Boston. These sections, like late 19th century county histories, focus on prominent citizens and their houses or businesses. This second volume also illustrates the history and various modes of transportation and the history of Carney Hospital.
The two volumes give a good visual impression of selected aspects of Dorchester’s past history, but not a coherent and full narrative history of the neighborhood.
Taylor, Earl. Dorchester. Postcard History Series. Charleston, S. C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
Edward Taylor’s Postcard History Series book on Dorchester, also by Arcadia Publishing, is basically the same type of illustrated history, but with a slightly different selection of pictures.
Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Dorchester: A Compendium. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2011.
Unlike Sammarco's other three volumes on featuring historical photos with detailed descriptions, Dorchester: A Compendium is a collection of historical essays.
The first chapter traces the development of various parts of Dorchester while describing early leaders, buildings, and landowners. Later chapters cover the many interesting men and women who have lived in Dorchester:
Lucy Stone, abolitionist and women’s rights activist
William Monroe Trotter, African American civil rights activist who helped found the Niagara Movement, a precursor to the NAACP
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, matriarch of the Kennedy family
Edward Everett, famous orator
Theodore White, historian, Pulitzer Prize winner
Sammarco's Dorchester: Then and Now, 2005.
The Then and Now books on Boston neighborhoods compare and contrast photographs of the same scenes and buildings in the past with more current ones. Different sections of this book feature schools, churches, and houses with their many changes.
In the case of Dorchester, many impressive houses and churches of the past have been lost over the years. Blayney Baptist Church, Baker Memorial Church, and Immanuel Baptist Church for example became parking lots. Fortunately, the stately buildings of the First and Second Churches of Dorchester still overlook Meeting House Hill and Codman Square respectively.
Dorchester is still home to many vibrant congregations even though many of them occupy more humble buildings today. To the probing mind, some of these pictures may raise the question, why did these churches grow, decline, and in some cases die?
Warner, Sam Bass, Jr. Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston (1870-1900). 2nd edition. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978.
Streetcar Suburbs is a very insightful study of how the urban systems of transportation (streetcars) and housing interconnected in the rapid growth of Boston neighborhoods like Dorchester, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
This book is still relevant in Boston’s new wave of growth because transportation centered housing development is still important and because the book’s discussion of class divisions and inequality continue to be major issues in the city.
Orcutt, William Dana. Good Old Dorchester. A Narrative History of the Town, 1630-1893. Cambridge: John Wilson & Son, University Press, 1893. (Amazon.com)
Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society. History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Boston: Ebenezer Clapp, Jr., 1859.
What Did You Think?
Top 6 Books For Understanding The South End
The South End has undergone a dramatic transformation in this generation. Christian leaders in the South End can benefit from these recommended resources for foundational and ongoing learning about this dynamic community.
Top 6 Books For Understanding The South End
by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher, Applied Research and Consulting
The South End has undergone a dramatic transformation in this generation. Christian leaders in the South End can benefit from these recommended resources for foundational and ongoing learning about this dynamic community.
The books I've selected are not just informative — they also illustrate methods of researching a neighborhood or community. These methods include historical research, biographical research, the use of documents and photographs, interviews, and participant observation. The books also represent different time periods from the 1890s settlement house research to very recent studies.
Once Upon a Neighborhood: A Timeline and Anecdotal History of the South End of Boston
by Alison Barnet
While Barnet’s history of the South End is not a continuous narrative, it is by far the most detailed study of the neighborhood. The book is arranged chronologically by year, with many years having multiple entries of a paragraph for each fact or anecdote. The history from the 1960s on is especially detailed since the author lived in the South End during that period. This work covers all types of businesses, publications, organizations, and churches. It does an excellent job of covering the rich diversity of groups and individuals which have lived in the South End. Some entries are associated with a founding date or initial activity, but also describe later developments up to the twentieth century. On the other hand anecdotes sometimes also review past history from the associated date. You can dive into this book at any point and find a fascinating mix of people, events and issues from a cross-section of neighborhood life.
Boston’s South End: The Clash of Ideas in a Historic Neighborhood
by Russ Lopez
The South End is a complex neighborhood which has experienced many waves of change. This is the only full length book to narrate and interpret the overall history of this diverse community. Lopez notes some truth in the standard narrative of the neighborhood rising, declining, and gentrifying, but says the fuller story is more multifaceted and nuanced. Since this has been a multi-racial, multi-ethnic neighborhood for over 125 years, it offers many lessons in conflict resolution and community organizing for other urban neighborhoods. The chapter on religion in the South End describes several major institutions, but fails to cover some of the largest Protestant churches. Although the book contains occasional factual errors, it is the most comprehensive history of the South End.
A Block in Time: History of Boston's South End Through a Window on Holyoke Street
by Lynne Potts
See also by the same author, Faces of a Neighborhood: Boston’s South End in the Early Twenty-first Century.
Lynne Potts, a long term resident, writes with flair and adds a personal touch to her concise history of the South End. She also gives those interested in the research process glimpses of her own research methods including trips to archives and libraries as well as detailed first hand observations and interviews. Although the book includes enough general information to understand the neighborhood’s development and trends, its unique contribution is the author’s personal perspectives and experiences woven into the general narrative. The approach of studying a neighborhood beginning with an in-depth look at one typical block works well here because the people, events, and experiences described are representative of the larger neighborhood over the last several decades.
Boston’s South End
by Anthony Mitchell Sammarco
See also by the same author, Boston’s South End: Then and Now.
The Arcadia Images of America Series books are full of historical photos with detailed descriptions and introductions for each of the towns and neighborhoods covered. While these do not give full histories of the communities, they do help the casual reader absorb a visual sense of the history and learn many detailed facts. Photos are organized in chapters about churches, schools, hospitals, businesses, libraries, transportation and other institutions. Many of the photographs show buildings, but quite anumber also include groups of everyday people. By learning about the history of your neighborhood you can join with others interested in history, have common ground for conversations, and gain an understanding of community identity.
Legendary Locals of Boston's South End
by Hope J. Shannon
While a neighborhood like the South End has many historical buildings, its current and past residents are the most interesting and important aspect of what makes it a community. Hope Shannon presents short, illustrated biographies of women and men of the past and recent times who have made significant contributions to the community and wider world. Shannon selects famous, infamous, and everyday people from many walks of life for Legendary Locals. The biographies range from Alexander Graham Bell, Louisa May Alcott, Rev. A.J. Gordon, and Cardinal Richard Cushing to former Mayor James Michael Curley. People who have lived in the South End of Boston over the last several decades will enjoy reading about historical figures and familiar faces, while newer residents and future generations will benefit from the careful research behind all of these biographies.
The City Wilderness: A Settlement Study
by Robert A. Woods, (editor)
In the 1890s the South End House was established as a settlement house, and the residents and associates began living in and researching the neighborhood. This classic book was the result of that research. Although the language and views were shaped by the culture and ideas of that time period, the research opens a window into the lives of South Enders at the turn of the century. The topics covered include history, description of the population, public health, employment, politics, “criminal tendencies,” recreation, the church, education, social agencies and charitable organizations (including an analysis of their methods). The most fascinating elements of the book are three color coded maps indicating for each block, the types of buildings, the nationalities of residents, and the types of employment of the workers. The book can be accessed online at Google books.
Other more specialized books on the South End
South End Character: Speaking Out on Neighborhood Change
by Alison Barnet
While the book Legendary Locals of Boston's South End highlights South Enders who achieved some prominence or fame, in contrast South End Character gives us a window into the lives of the lesser known “old South Enders.” Barnet also contrasts the perspectives and lifestyles of long-time residents and wealthier newcomers. Many of the chapters are reflections and sketches of people and life in the 1960s and 1970s. These short essays originally appeared as columns in the South End News. The look backward is not just a nostalgic reminisce, but an examination of values and issues in a changing neighborhood. Alison Barnet has also written several other books including South End Incident: A True Story.
Faces of a Neighborhood: Boston’s South End in the Early Twenty-first Century
by Lynne Potts
In this second book on the South End, author Lynne Potts interviewed 24 diverse neighborhood residents. The interviews draw out insights on contemporary issues facing people living in the city today. The 24 South Enders included people from different age groups, economic groups, as well as people who were long-time residents and newcomers.
Boston’s South End
by Lauren Prescott
This annotated collection of South End related postcards covers the period from the late 19th century to the mid Twentieth century. This is not a complete history, but it does have extensive notes with its many pictures of South End churches, hospitals, charity organizations, and businesses. For example, the book gives details on Rev. Edgar J. Helms’ development of Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, as well as historical notes on the Salvation Army, the Union Rescue Mission, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, the YWCA, and the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society (founded in the South End). Other chapters cover schools and education; hotels and recreation; and businesses and industry.
Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio
by Mario Luis Small
Villa Victoria has been a national model of community development. This study looks at the relationship of poverty and social capital, finding in Villa Victoria that poorer urban communities are not necessarily lacking in social capital.
Good Neighbors: Gentrifying Diversity in Boston's South End
by Sylvie Tissot, (translated by David Broder and Catherine Romatowski)
A French Marxist’s perspective on gentrification in the South End based on participant observation and interview research in neighborhood associations and networks.
Take Action
Jamaica Plain's Journey Through Time: History + Resources
From progressive education policies in the late 1600s, to the arrival of immigrants and industry in the 1800s, to the establishment of diverse housing projects and churches up to the present day, Jamaica Plain has had a colorful and action-filled past.
Jamaica Plain Over Time: History + Resources
by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher
From progressive education policies in the late 1600s, to the arrival of immigrants and industry in the 1800s, to the establishment of diverse housing projects and churches up to the present day, Jamaica Plain's colorful and action-filled past is worth exploring as part of Boston's unique history.
Some Jamaica Plain Firsts
THEATER The Footlight Club of Jamaica Plain is the oldest community theater in the country.
ANIMAL WELFARE In 1868 George Angell published the first magazine on the humane care and welfare of animals, “Our Dumb Animal Friends: We Speak for Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves.” He was also the founder of the M.S.P.C.A. whose animal hospital is on South Huntington Avenue.
MEDICAL On Oct. 16, 1846, Dr. John C. Warren, a Jamaica Plain resident, performed the first surgery publicly demonstrating the use of ether on a patient.
Historical Overview
Map of Jamaica Plain showing sub-neighborhoods. Boston Redevelopment Authority, Jamaica Plain District Profile…, Boston, 1979, 5
Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood was a part of the separate town of Roxbury from 1630 until 1851. An influential center of West Roxbury, the town was annexed in 1874 to the city of Boston. Early settlers, like William Curtis who built his house in 1639, were mostly farmers and fruit growers.
The Eliot School was established in 1676 with a grant of land from the Thomas and Ruggles families and later an endowment from Rev. John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians. The donors “stipulated that the school be open to all children, white, black, and Indian.” [1] The current Eliot School building dates to 1832.
The first church in Jamaica Plain, the Third Parish in Roxbury, was established in 1769. Rev. William Gordon, its first pastor, served as chaplain in the Provincial Congress in 1775.
The Loring-Greenough House was built in 1760 for Joshua Loring, a British Naval Commodore and loyalist appointed to the governor’s council. In 1774 after opposition from his neighbors, Loring fled from his house to join with the British in Boston. The home was later used by Washington's troops as a hospital during the Revolutionary War.
[1] Eugene Green, Jamaica Plain. Boston 200 Neighborhood Series (Boston: Boston 200 Corp., 1976), 7.
Early Infrastructure: Water Supply & Transportation Systems
In 1796 after the Revolutionary War, the Jamaica Plain Aqueduct Company developed an important water supply system from Jamaica Pond to Fort Hill serving Boston’s water needs. The system used gravity flow from the pond through miles of wooden pipes.
Transportation developments in the 19th century influenced the growth of Jamaica Plain. The Boston and Providence Railroad was constructed through Jamaica Plain in 1834 with a station at Green Street opening in 1841.
By the 1870s horse drawn street cars were serving the growing community, and later electric streetcars took their place. For more insights on the impact of these on neighborhood development see Sam Bass Warner’s book, Streetcar Suburbs.
Early Factories
Also during the late 19th century and early 20th century various factories and 24 breweries were built in Jamaica Plain, mostly in the Heath Street and Stoney Brook areas.
In 1876 the B. F. Sturtevant fan company expanded and moved to Jamaica Plain, and by 1901 it was employing 650 men and manufacturing many products.
The Thomas G. Plant Shoe Company had one of the world’s largest shoe factories on the site of the current Stop and Shop plaza from 1896 to 1976. In the 1920s the Moxie soft drink company developed a factory complex called Moxieland nearby at the site of today’s Bromley Heath Housing Project. In those days Moxie outsold CocaCola.
Iglesia Metodista “San Andres” (St. Andrew’s Methodist Church)
Immigration, Population Growth & Churches
Immigrant groups from Ireland, Germany, Latvia, and other countries contributed to neighborhood growth and provided workers for these industries.
Several large churches and many smaller ones started up to serve the spiritual needs of the growing population. The German churches included the First German Baptist Church (now River of Life Church), the German Methodist Episcopal Church (now St. Andrew's Methodist), and the German Reformed Christ Church. Other churches started during the 1800s including St. John’s Episcopal (1841), Central Congregational (1853), Boylston Congregational Church (1879), First Baptist (1842), Blessed Sacrament Church (1891), and St. Thomas Aquinas Church (1869).
Jamaica Plan: Population vs. Year
Although the population of Jamaica Plain continued to grow during the first half of the 20th century, many of the factories and breweries experienced declines, fires, closures, or relocation. The elevated Orange Line tracks along Washington Street had a negative impact on nearby businesses and residences. The 1930s Depression and later redlining also had negative impacts on housing and housing construction in the community.
An important new development in housing took place with the opening of the Heath Street public housing in 1942 and the Bromley Park housing project in 1954. Although Bromley was opened with some fanfare and tours in 1954, it later developed a variety of problems.
Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana was started in 1975.
By the 1960s and 1970s many Spanish speaking immigrants from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other places were moving into Jamaica Plain. These new residents started many small businesses along Centre Street and Washington Street.
Spanish speakers also added vitality to the spiritual life of the neighborhood by starting many new churches, including Primera Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal (1969), Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal “Roca de Consolacion” (1969), Iglesia Metodista “San Andres” (1971), Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana (1975), and Iglesia Comunitaria de Boston (1988).
While Jamaica Plain’s population was becoming more diverse during the 1960s and 1970s, it was also declining during that period.
Jamaica Plain IN RECENT DECADES: Current & Future Developments
J.P. Licks ice cream shop
In recent decades the elevated Orange Line was taken down. The scars left from demolition for the never-built Southwest Expressway were healed with the Southwest Corridor Park and new building development.
These physical changes along with other improvements have brought renewal in Jamaica Plain. Some older industrial buildings have been renovated, and newer businesses like J.P. Licks (ice cream shop and café) have made Centre Street an attractive and lively neighborhood center.
The future Jackson Square Recreation Center.
Recently, transit-oriented housing developments have sprung up around the Forest Hills MBTA train station. Hundreds of new residential units have been completed or are under way.
The JP/Rox Plan for the Washington Street and Columbus Avenue areas is likely to bring additional changes in the coming years. While Jamaica Plain continues to transition into the future, its beautiful green spaces will keep it true to its nickname as the “Eden of America.”
Map of Jamaica Plain, Boston Planning and Development Agency
Recommended Resources
Green, Eugene. Jamaica Plain. Boston 200 Neighborhood Series. Boston: Boston 200 Corporation, 1976.
This 24 page booklet weaves oral histories together along thematic lines and adds some early history of Jamaica Plain. Pictures and illustrations from many eras enhance the text.
When the interviews were made over 40 years ago, the protests to stop the Southwest Expressway were fresh in people’s minds. This and other issues of those days are brought to life in the oral histories recorded here.
Hirsch, Kathleen. A Home in the Heart of the City: A Woman’s Search for Community. New York: North Point Press, 1998.
Kathleen Hirsch's first-hand account of Jamaica Plain in the 1990s is well-written. The author writes about finding and building community in an urban neighborhood, as well as many perennial concerns like balancing career and parenting.
Although Hirsch encounters and writes about the diverse aspects of Jamaica Plain, her perspective is basically that of a professional from the Back Bay who is trying to connect with the everyday life of a gentrifying neighborhood. Some of her writing explores the spiritual dimension of community, at least in a general way.
She writes, “When I moved here, I didn’t expect that my quest for community would lead me to craftsmen, much less drug dealers or humble Xerox-shop managers, or that a world of Mondays would come to echo the wisdom of the Psalms” (86).
After getting a coffee on Sunday morning at Sorella’s café, she reflects on the meaning of Sabbath rest, “To be at rest is to observe the bones of God’s work through man in the world laid bare. To be at rest is to see with clarified vision. And this vision forces me to contemplate not what I am meant to do with my days in this place on earth, but what I am meant to be. To what, here and now, am I to be faithful” (79)?
Hoffman, Alexander von. Local Attachments: The Making of an Urban American Neighborhood, 1850-1920. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1994.
No other book presents such a detailed historical and social analysis of any Boston neighborhood as Hoffman’s Local Attachments does for Jamaica Plain. The author concludes, “if ever we are going to cope with the problems of our cities, we need to understand better the historic neighborhood and how it functioned within the urban system of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries” (248).
The book mines many primary sources including church records to develop a full picture of the social networks and civic spirit that composed a strong sense of local community and public culture in this neighborhood. Its historical perspective “traces the dramatic transformation of Jamaica Plain into a modern urban neighborhood” (xxii).
Hoffman explains and documents how “the most important voluntary institutions in any late nineteenth-century American community, and especially in the historic land of the Puritan, were those connected with religion” (122).
While Jamaica Plain has continued to change significantly in the last twenty years, this book is still essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the neighborhood.
Von Hoffman, Alexander Carl. The Making of the Modern City: The Development of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, 1632-1920. Ph. D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1986.
Rogovin, Janice. A Sense of Place/ Tu Barrio: Jamaica Plain People and Where They Live. Translated by Yolanda Rivas. Boston: Mercantile Press, 1981.
The text (in English and Spanish) is by various JP residents, with editing and photos by Janice Rogovin.
Many of the stories bring to life the experiences of residents in the late 1970s up to 1981 as they reflected on community life, their homes, and being forced to move when new people bought the buildings they were living in. The book includes many photos and glimpses into the lives of families who were facing difficult times.
Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Jamaica Plain. Images of America Series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1997. Reissued in 2004.
Topics covered in the chapters of these books include churches, schools, natural features, community service organizations, transportation, early settlers and their estates and houses. Pictures of the early years of the Boston Children’s Museum illustrate the valuable educational role it played in the community.
At one time German groups, clubs, and churches served immigrants working in the neighborhood. Clubs such as the Jamaica Club and the Tuesday Club were once more prominent than today. Churches also sprouted up all over the neighborhood as the population grew. Other important institutions documented with pictures include hospitals such as the Faulkner Hospital and the Veteran’s Administration (VA) Hospital.
If you are curious about the history of the Loring-Greenough House or Curtis Hall or you wonder about the origins of Jamaica Plain names like Spring House and Peter Parley Road, these books will give you brief answers.
Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Jamaica Plain: Then & Now. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.
The pictures in this volume often repeat the ones in Sammarco’s Images of America book on Jamaica Plain. However, as the title suggests, this work also pairs up old photos with modern photos of more or less the same view.
Whitcomb, Harriet Manning. Annals and Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain. Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, 1897. 64 pages.
Whitcomb shares many details of pioneering families and their homes in Jamaica Plain. In the process she connects the community to many historical events in Boston and America.
Hay, Ida. Science in the Pleasure Garden: A History of the Arnold Arboretum. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1995.
This well illustrated and comprehensive work details every aspect of the arboretum and its history. The book touches on both science and history in tracing the development of one of North America’s most important arboretums.
WEB SITES
Remember Jamaica Plain blog – http://rememberjamaicaplain.blogspot.com/
Jamaica Plain Historical Society – www.jphs.org
Grove Hall Neighborhood Study
This summary of a larger study offers both story and statistics on life and culture in one Boston neighborhood. Following a brief history of the area, the study offers data on racial trends, economy, housing, education and more.
Resources for the urban pastor and community leader published by Emmanuel Gospel Center, Boston
Emmanuel Research Review reprint
Issue No. 91 — July-August 2013
Introduced by Brian Corcoran, managing editor
Neighborhood studies reveal dynamics and principles which reflect the unique shape—culturally, geographically, and socially, for example—of a given place. By highlighting neighborhood-specific histories, heroes, and innovations, we can add story to statistics, and help complement, interrelate, and animate data in ways that better inform and inspire the development of community responses to community challenges. The Emmanuel Gospel Center has produced various neighborhood studies to this end. In recent years, we have supported the Youth Violence Systems Project by conducting research on a half dozen neighborhoods that are known to have had a history of youth violence. These studies help provide a wider framework for viewing each neighborhood as they touch on many aspects of what makes that particular neighborhood unique.
The Grove Hall Neighborhood Study, Second Edition (2013) offers both story and statistics on many facets of life in this one Boston neighborhood. Following a brief history of the immediate area, the study offers data on racial trends; facts about the current population including, for example, the breakdown of ages of the residents and how they compare with other areas; and facts about the economy, housing, and education. There are also updated, annotated directories of the neighborhood’s churches, schools, and agencies including those agencies particularly concerned with violence prevention and public safety. Fourteen tables, nine new graphs designed by Jonathan Parker, four maps, over a dozen images, and an extensive bibliography help tell the story.
In this issue of the Emmanuel Research Review, we offer excerpts from the Grove Hall study with bullet points and graphics. The complete report can be viewed or downloaded HERE as a pdf file.
Understanding the Grove Hall Neighborhood
by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher, Emmanuel Gospel Center
About the Grove Hall Neighborhood Study
Continuing in its commitment to foster stronger communication, agreement, and cooperation around a community-wide response to youth violence in Boston, the Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC) has recently released an updated research study on Boston’s Grove Hall neighborhood.
The Grove Hall Neighborhood Study, Second Edition, copyright © 2013 Emmanuel Gospel Center, was written and researched by Rudy Mitchell, senior researcher at EGC, and produced by the Youth Violence Systems Project, a partnership between EGC and the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston. A first edition was released in 2009 and titled Grove Hall Neighborhood Briefing Document. As the first edition was produced prior to the 2010 U.S. Census, much of the information was based on the 2000 Census. By returning to Grove Hall now, not only is EGC able to study the latest numbers, but changes over the past decade may indicate either new concerns or evidences of progress.
This neighborhood study is one of six Boston neighborhood studies. The others in this series are: Uphams Corner (2008), Bowdoin-Geneva (2009), South End & Lower Roxbury (2009), Greater Dudley (2010), and Morton-Norfolk (2010).
These studies were produced as part of the Youth Violence Systems Project. Two important results of the Project are a new framework for understanding youth violence and an innovative computer model. Both of these were designed in and for Boston to enable a higher quality of dialogue around understanding and evaluating the effectiveness of youth violence intervention strategies among a wide range of stakeholders, from neighborhood youth to policy makers.
Report Overview
The Grove Hall Neighborhood Study, Second Edition, presents thoughtful information on many facets of life in this Roxbury neighborhood. Following a history of the immediate area, the study offers data on racial trends; facts about the current population including, for example, the breakdown of ages of the residents and how they compare with other areas; and facts about the economy, housing, and education. There are also updated, annotated directories of the neighborhood’s churches, schools, and agencies including those agencies particularly concerned with violence prevention and public safety. Fourteen tables, nine new graphs designed by Jonathan Parker, four maps, over a dozen images, and an extensive bibliography help tell the story.
Neighborhood History
The first 200 years of settlement (1650-1850) was characterized by farms, summer estates, and orchards, including, in 1832, the estate of horticulturalist Marshall P. Wilder who used the land to experiment with many varieties of fruit trees, plants and flowers. The name “Grove Hall” is derived from the name of another estate and mansion owned by Thomas Kilby Jones, a Boston merchant who developed the property around 1800. That estate dominated the Grove Hall crossroads for a century and later served the community for many years as a health center. The growth and decline of New England’s largest Jewish community centered in this neighborhood is documented as the most important facet of the neighborhood’s history between 1906 and 1966, and the Mothers for Adequate Welfare protests and subsequent riot of 1967 were pivotal events that had an enduring and significant impact on the neighborhood. Although, in recent years, the neighborhood has faced problems and violence, its history can generally be characterized by revitalization and economic development. This 13-page history is offered because it is valuable to understand the people and groups who built Grove Hall and helped shape its current identity.
Boundaries
The center of Grove Hall is commonly understood to be the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue with Washington Street and Warren Street. For the purposes of this study, Grove Hall is defined as the neighborhood which includes the area of the five U.S. Census tracts that surround that central crossroads. These five census tracts are 820, 821, 901, 902, and 903.
What follows is a list of the major topics covered in the study, with a few bullet points highlighting some of the facts uncovered.
Racial and Ethnic Trends
During the last decade, the number of Hispanics in this area increased from 3,414 to 5,171, an increase of over 50%, representing an increase from 20% to almost 30% of the entire population.
While the area has a Black or African American majority, the overall percentage of people in this area who are Black decreased from 73% to 64% since 2000.
Linguistic Isolation
Linguistic isolation refers to households where no one 14 and older speaks English very well, therefore facing social and economic challenges. Households in Grove Hall are more likely to be linguistically isolated than households across the nation and households across the state. Approximately 15.2% of households in Grove Hall are linguistically isolated.
Age Characteristics
Regarding age characteristics, the study shows that Grove Hall has a significantly higher percentage of young people than the city of Boston as a whole, as well as the state and nation. The area has 5,450 youth under the age of 18 years, who represent 30.6% of the total neighborhood population, compared with 16.8% in the city, 21.7% in the state, and 24% in the nation.
The number of youth between the ages of 12 and 18 in Grove Hall is 2,243 or 12.6% of the population, compared to only 7.5% in this age group for Boston overall.
Population Trends
After a steady decline in population from 1940 when the population was 30,307 to the year 2000 when there were 16,771 residents, the 2010 census shows an increase with a 6% climb over the past ten years to 17,823.
Family Structure
In Grove Hall, 71.9% of families with children under 18 are headed by single females and 7.2% are led by single men. Only about 21% of Grove Hall families with children under 18 have two parents present.
Single parent families with children under 18 in Grove Hall represent the majority of all families, 79%, compared with the national percentage of 34%, the state percentage of 32%, and the city of Boston percentage of 53%.
Economy and Poverty
The percent of people below the poverty level in Grove Hall is much higher than the city of Boston as a whole. The average of the percentages of people in poverty in each of the five census tracts is 37% compared to the city of Boston’s rate of 21%, the state’s rate of 10.5% and the national rate of 13.8%.
For youth and children under 18, 73.1% were under the poverty level in census tract 903 and 56.1% in census tract 902. This compares with 28.8% in the city of Boston overall and 13.2% for the state.
Public Assistance
There is a higher percentage of households receiving public assistance in Grove Hall than in the city, the state, and the nation. Since 2000, the number and percentage of households receiving public assistance has increased in four of the five census tracts. The Grove Hall census tract with the highest percentage of households receiving public assistance is census tract 903 with 21.7%.
Housing
Across the U.S., 65.1% of housing units are owner-occupied and 34.9% are renter-occupied. In Boston, 33.9% of all housing is owner-occupied, roughly half the national average. However, in Grove Hall, only 18.8% of the housing units are owner-occupied (1,274), while 81.2% are renter-occupied (5,495).
Education and Schools
Residents of Grove Hall have a lower level of educational attainment than the population of Boston, the state, or the nation. The percentage of people in Grove Hall with a bachelor’s degree or higher is only about 1/3 the percentage of the city or the state, and about 1/2 the national percentage.
More than one quarter of the residents of Grove Hall have not graduated from high school, whereas statewide, only 11% are not high school graduates. In census tract 901, over 32% of the population has not graduated from high school.
The Burke High School had only a 43.4% four-year graduation rate, one of the lowest in the city. This falls far below the overall Boston Public School four-year graduation rate of 64.4%. The Burke High School also had a very high dropout rate of 33.7% compared to 15.1% for Boston (in 2011).
To learn more about Grove Hall, read a Harvard University report here: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/content/download/68818/1248082/version/1/file/hotc_finalreport.pdf.
To view or download the complete Grove Hill Neighborhood Study, from which this article is derived, click HERE.
Bibliography
Barnicle, Mike. “A Street Forgotten.” Boston Globe, 1 April 1987, 17.
Billson, Janet Mancini. Pathways to Manhood: Young Black Males Struggle for Identity. Expanded 2nd edition. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1996. Billson studies five young boys who grew up in Roxbury in the late 60s and early 70s.
“Blue Hill Avenue: Progress, 1993-2003.” City of Boston, Dept. of Neighborhood Development. www. cityofboston.gov/dnd/pdfs/BHA_Map_3FLAT.pdf (accessed 15 June 2009).
Boston Globe, June 2-June 6, 1967. Various articles on the Blue Hill Avenue Riots.
The Boston Plan: Revitalization of a Distressed Area: Blue Hill Avenue. Boston: City of Boston, 1987.
Boston Redevelopment Authority. The Blue Hill Avenue Corridor: A Progress Report and Guidelines for the Future. Boston: B.R.A., 1979.
Boston Redevelopment Authority. City of Boston Zip Code Area Series, Roxbury/Grove Hall, 02121, 1990 Population and Housing Tables, U.S. Census. Boston: B.R.A., 1994.
Boston Redevelopment Authority. Roxbury Strategic Master Plan. Boston: B.R.A., 2004 ( January 15). While not specifically on Grove Hall, the Master Plan is important for its overall vision and impact, which will affect Grove Hall. See www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org.
Cooper, Kenneth J. “Blue Hill Avenue: A Dream Gathers Dust; 4 Years Later, Business, Housing and Transit Plans Haven’t Happened.” Boston Globe, 22 October 1981, 1.
Cullen, Kevin, and Tom Coakley. “A Month of Fear and Bullets.” Boston Globe, 5 November 1989, 1.
Cullis, Charles. History of the Consumptives’ Home and Other Institutions Connected with a Work of Faith. Boston: A. Williams, 1869. About the Cullis Consumptives’ Home at Grove Hall.
D.A.R. Roxbury Chapter. Glimpses of Early Roxbury. Boston: Merrymount Press, 1905.
Drake, Francis Samuel. The Town of Roxbury. Boston: Municipal Print Office, 1908.
Fields, Michael. “Blacks in a Changing America; Wrights of Roxbury: A Family Making It.” Boston Globe, 28 June 1982, 1.
“Freedom House: A Legacy Preserved,” Northeastern University Library Archives, www.lib.neu.edu/archives/freedom_house/team.htm (accessed 1 June 2009).
French, Desiree. “Revitalization Gets Serious at Grove Hall: A $7.8 Million Program Formed to Aid Roxbury Business District.” Boston Globe, 26 March 1988, 41.
Gamm, Gerald. Urban Exodus: Why the Jews Left Boston and the Catholics Stayed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999. This book has maps showing trends and changes in Jewish and African American settlement, median rent trends, and locations of institutions.
Gordon, Edward W. Boston Landmarks Survey of Dorchester: Grove Hall, 1995. www.dorchesteratheneum.org/page.php?id=622 (accessed 18 May 2009).
“Grove Hall,” Heart of the City, Harvard University (original page missing, but see: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/content/download/68818/1248082/version/1/file/hotc_finalreport.pdf for what appears to be a similar report at the Kennedy School of Government. Search document for “Grove Hall.” Includes information on conditions, context, history, social issues, planning, processes, testimonies, organizations and specific places.
Hayden, Robert C. Faith, Culture and Leadership: A History of the Black Church in Boston. Boston: Boston Branch NAACP, 1983.
Hentoff, Nat. Boston Boy: Growing Up With Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions. Philadelphia: Paul Dry books, 2001 (originally published 1986). Henthoff was born in the Grove Hall neighborhood in 1925, and in this memoir gives a vivid account of growing up in the Jewish community of the 1930s and 1940s.
Levine, Hillel, and Lawrence Harmon. The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions, pb. edition. New York: The Free Press, 1993. While Levine and Harmon’s book gives many insights and details about life, religion, and politics in the Jewish community in the area, its analysis of the causes of its decline has been challenged and shown to be inadequate by Gerald Gamm in Urban Exodus.
Pasquale, Ron. “Grove Hall’s Renaissance; New Development Caps Hub Area’s Revival as a Commercial Mecca.” Boston Globe, 10 February 2007, E-23.
Project RIGHT, Boston Ten Point Coalition, Health Resources in Action, and the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center. Connecting the Disconnected: A Survey of Youth and Young Adults in Grove Hall. Boston: City of Boston, 2010. A survey and report on out-of-work and out-of-school young adults ages 16-24 in Grove Hall.
“Report of the Committee to Investigate the Welfare Dispute,” 7 July 1967. A 16-page report to Mayor Collins in the form of a letter. Available at the Boston Public Library, Government Documents Dept. This relates to the 1967 Grove Hall riots.
Roxbury Crossing Historical Trust. “A Brief History of Roxbury, MA.” www.rcht.org/roxbury_history.htm (accessed 26 May 2009). See also database.
Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Dorchester. Images of America Series. 2 vols. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 1995, 2000. See vol. 1, chapter 2. See also Dorchester: Then and Now.
Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. “Grove Hall’s Clean Air Once Gave Respite to Consumptives, Dorchester Community News, 24 June 1994. A brief two-page history.
Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell. Roxbury. Images of America Series. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 1997. Chapter 5.
Sarna, Jonathan D., and Ellen Smith, eds. The Jews of Boston. Boston: The Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston/Northeastern Univ. Press, 1995.
Stegner, Wallace. “Who Persecutes Boston?” The Atlantic Monthly, July 1944, 45-52.
Tager, Jack. Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press, 2000.
Taylor, Earl. Dorchester. Postcard History Series. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2005. Ch. 8.
Watson, Jamal E. “New Mall a Mecca of Hope in Roxbury’s Grove Hall, $13 Million Project Signals Long- Awaited Turnaround.” Boston Globe, 22 December 2000, A-1.
White, Theodore H. In Search of History: A Personal Adventure. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1978. White describes his early years growing up in the Grove Hall neighborhood.
Young, Whitney M., Jr. Task Force Report on a Preliminary Exploration of Social Conditions and Needs in the Roxbury-North Dorchester General Neighborhood Renewal Plan District. Boston: Action for Boston Community Development, 1961.
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This summary of a larger study offers both story and statistics on life and culture in one Boston neighborhood. Following a brief history of the area, the study offers data on racial trends, economy, housing, education and more.