West End, Boston

West End
Neighborhood of Boston
2007 view from the west, with former Charles Street Jail buildings at right
2007 view from the west, with former
Charles Street Jail buildings at right
Map
CountryUnited States
StateMassachusetts
CountySuffolk
Neighborhood ofBoston
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern)
Area code617 / 857

The West End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bounded generally by Cambridge Street to the south, the Charles River to the west and northwest, North Washington Street on the north and northeast, and New Sudbury Street on the east.[1][2] Beacon Hill is to the south, North Point (Cambridge, Massachusetts) is across the Charles River to the north, Kendall Square is in Cambridge across the Charles River to the west, and the North End of Boston is to the east.

A late 1950s urban renewal project razed a large Italian and Jewish enclave and displaced over 20,000 people in order to redevelop much of the West End and part of the neighboring Downtown neighborhood. After that, the original West End became increasingly non-residential, including part of Government Center (formerly Scollay Square) as well as much of Massachusetts General Hospital and several high rise office buildings.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] More recently, however, new residential buildings and spaces, as well as new parks, have been appearing across the West End.

  1. ^ "Boston Neighborhoods". BostonRedevelopmentAuthority.org. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Where is the West End?". The West End Museum. The West End Museum. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  3. ^ Gilbert, David A (2007). "Why Dwell on a Lurid Memory?: Deviance and Redevelopment in Boston's Scollay Square". Massachusetts Historical Review. 9: 103–133. JSTOR 25081214.
  4. ^ "How Eminent Domain Destroys Neighborhoods". youtube.com. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Urban Renewal". The West End Museum. 16 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Historic photos of the Scollay Square transformation". Boston Globe. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  7. ^ "The West End Through Time From Farmland to Subway Suburb". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  8. ^ Oakes, Bob. "As BRA Seeks To Extend Urban Renewal Powers, Exhibit Looks At Controversial Past". WBUR.com. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  9. ^ "The West End". Global Boston. Boston College. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  10. ^ Strahan, Derek. "Scollay Square Boston". Lost New England. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  11. ^ Noren, Anders. "1. Introduction". FAH 198-05 GOVERNMENT CENTER. Tufts University.
  12. ^ "City Hall Plaza". tclf.org. The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  13. ^ Roberge, Pete (13 June 2016). "THROWBACK: FIGHTING FOR THE WEST END". Medium.com. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  14. ^ "RENEWAL IN BOSTON: GOOD AND BAD". New York Times. 19 April 1964. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  15. ^ Ross, Suzannah. "City Hall Plaza". The Landscape Architect’s Guide to BOSTON. Retrieved 15 September 2019.