Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a
Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
who emigrated in 1630 from
Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. This
dissolved municipality, Boston's largest
neighborhood by far, is often divided by city planners in order to create two planning areas roughly equivalent in size and population to other Boston neighborhoods.
The neighborhood is named after the town of Dorchester in the
English county of Dorset, from which
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
emigrated on the ship ''
Mary and John
''Mary and John'' was a 400-ton ship that is known to have sailed between England and the American colonies four times from 1607 to 1633. She was during the later voyages captained by Robert Davies and owned by Roger Ludlow (1590–1664), one of t ...
'', among others.
Founded in 1630, just a few months before the founding of the city of Boston, Dorchester now covers a geographic area approximately equivalent to nearby
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
.
[History of Dorchester, Massachusetts](_blank)
It was still a primarily rural town and had a population of 12,000 when it was annexed to Boston in 1870. Railroad and streetcar lines brought rapid growth, increasing the population to 150,000 by 1920. In the
2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...
, the neighborhood's population was 92,115.
The Dorchester neighborhood has a very diverse population, which includes a large concentration of
African Americans,
European Americans
European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent E ...
(particularly those of
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, and
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
origin),
Caribbean Americans,
Latinos
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...
, and East and Southeast
Asian Americans. Dorchester also has a significant LGBT population, with active political groups and the largest concentration of same-sex couples in Boston after the neighborhoods of South End and Jamaica Plain. Most of the people over the age of 25 have completed high school or obtained a GED.
History
Indigenous peoples
Prior to
European colonization
The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs.
Colonialism in the modern sense began ...
, the region around Dorchester was inhabited by the
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
Massachusett
The Massachusett were a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...
.
[Alden T. Vaughan, ''New England Encounters: Indians and Euroamericans Ca. 1600-1850'' (1999), pg 209 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=155553404X] They lived in settlements established alongside the
Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...
estuary, which was a plentiful source of fish, including trout; they also gathered shellfish from the riverbed, and hunted beaver and deer. They established farms in nearby hills.
[Alden T. Vaughan, ''New England Encounters: Indians and Euroamericans Ca. 1600-1850'' (1999) pg 209 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=155553404X] During the initial period of colonization of the region by
Puritan settlers, the Massachusett suffered a
rapid decline in population due to the introduction of foreign infectious diseases to which they had no immunity and violence related to
settler colonialism
Settler colonialism is a structure that perpetuates the elimination of Indigenous people and cultures to replace them with a settler society. Some, but not all, scholars argue that settler colonialism is inherently genocidal. It may be enacted ...
.
The Massachusett ''
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
'',
Chickatawbut, negotiated land treaties with the Puritan settlers before dying of
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
in 1633. His brother,
Cutshamekin
Cutshamekin (died in 1654) (also spelled Kitchamakin, Kuchamakin, or Cutshumaquin) was a Native American leader, who was a sachem of the Massachusett tribe based along the Neponset River and Great Blue Hill in what is now Dorchester, Massachuse ...
, who succeeded him, deeded further land to the settlers.
The remaining Massachusett in the region, including Cutshamekin, accepted some Christianity as a form of
survivance and eventually resettled in the
Praying Town
Praying towns were a settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity.
The Native people who moved into these towns were known as Praying I ...
of
Natick
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
.
European settlement in the 17th century
![Old Blake House, Dorchester, MA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Old_Blake_House%2C_Dorchester%2C_MA.jpg)
In 1626
David Thompson settled his family on
Thompson Island in what is now Dorchester before Boston's
Puritan migration wave began in 1630. May 30, 1630, Captain Squib of the ship ''
Mary and John
''Mary and John'' was a 400-ton ship that is known to have sailed between England and the American colonies four times from 1607 to 1633. She was during the later voyages captained by Robert Davies and owned by Roger Ludlow (1590–1664), one of t ...
'' entered
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
and on June 17, 1630, landed a boat with eight men on the Dorchester shore, at what was then a narrow
peninsula known as
Mattapan
Mattapan () is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Historically a section of neighboring Dorchester, Mattapan became a part of Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester ar ...
or Mattaponnock. Today it is known as
Columbia Point (more popularly since 1984 as Harbor Point).
[, Dorchester Atheneum] Those aboard the ship who founded the town included
William Phelps,
Roger Ludlow
Roger Ludlow (1590–1664) was an English lawyer, magistrate, military officer, and colonist. He was active in the founding of the Colony of Connecticut, and helped draft laws for it and the nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony. Under his and John Ma ...
e,
John Mason, John Maverick,
Nicholas Upsall, Capt. Roger Fyler, William Gaylord, Henry Wolcott, and other men who would become prominent in the founding of a new nation. The original settlement founded in 1630 was at what is now the intersection of Columbia Road and
Massachusetts Avenue. (Even though Dorchester was annexed over 100 years ago into the city of Boston, residents still annually celebrate the founding on Dorchester Day, which includes festivities and a parade down
Dorchester Avenue).
Most of the early Dorchester settlers came from the English
West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...
, and some from
Dorchester, Dorset, where the
Rev. John White was chief proponent of a
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
settlement in the Americas. The town was centered on the
First Parish Church of Dorchester. It is now operated as the
Unitarian-Universalist church on
Meeting House Hill and is the oldest religious organization in present-day Boston.
On October 8, 1633, the first
Town Meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...
in the United States was held in Dorchester. Today, each October 8 is celebrated as Town Meeting Day in Massachusetts. Dorchester is the birthplace of the first public
elementary school in America, the
Mather School, established in 1639. The school still stands as the oldest elementary school in the United States. In 1634
Israel Stoughton built one of the earliest grist mills in America on the Neponset River, and
Richard Callicott founded a trading post nearby. In 1641,
Dorcas ye blackmore
Dorcas ye blackmore (c. 1620 – after 1677) was one of the first named African Americans to settle in New England. In 1641, she became the first known African American admitted to the local Puritan congregation.
Born in Africa c. 1620, Dorcas is ...
, an enslaved servant to
Israel Stoughton, was the first recorded
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
to join a church in New England. She served as an evangelist to Stoughton's Native American servants, and the
First Parish Church of Dorchester attempted to help Dorcas gain her freedom.
In 1649, Puritan missionaries, including
John Eliot, began a campaign to convert the Indigenous people in Dorchester to Christianity with the help of
Cockenoe
Cockenoe (also known as Cockeno, Cockenow, Chachaneu, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino, Chekkonnow, Cockoo) (born before 1630 and died after 1687) was an early Native American translator from Long Island in New York where he was a member of the Mon ...
and
John Sassamon
John Sassamon, also known as Wussausmon (), was a Massachusett man who lived in New England during the colonial era. He converted to Christianity and became a praying Indian, helping to serve as an interpreter to New England colonists. In January ...
, two Indian servants in Dorchester. Eliot was given land by the town of Dorchester for his mission, where he established a church and school.
The
James Blake House, oldest surviving home in the city of Boston, is located at
Edward Everett Square. This is the historic intersection of Columbia Road, Boston Street, and Massachusetts Avenue, a few blocks from the
Dorchester Historical Society. The Blake House was constructed in 1661, as was confirmed by
dendrochronology in 2007.
In 1695, a party was dispatched to found the town of
Dorchester, South Carolina
Dorchester was a town in the Province of South Carolina. Situated on the Ashley River about from Charleston, it was founded in February 1696 by followers of Reverend Joseph Lord from Dorchester, Massachusetts.
They named it after their hom ...
. It lasted a half-century before being abandoned.
18th century
![BakersCocoa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/BakersCocoa.JPG)
In 1765,
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...
was first introduced in the American colonies when Irish chocolate maker John Hannon (or alternatively spelled "Hannan" in some sources) imported beans from the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and refined them in Dorchester, working with Dr. James Baker, an American physician and investor. They soon opened America's first chocolate mill and factory in the
Lower Mills section of Dorchester on the Neponset River. The
Walter Baker Chocolate Factory, part of
Walter Baker & Company, operated until 1965.
Before the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, "The
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...
met in August 1769 at the Lemuel Robinson Tavern, which stood on the east side of the upper road (Washington St.) near the present Fuller Street. Lemuel Robinson was a representative of the town during the Revolution and was appointed a colonel in the Revolutionary army." Dorchester (in a part of what is now South Boston) was also the site of the
Battle of Dorchester Heights in 1776, which eventually resulted in the British
evacuating Boston.
19th century
Victorian era
![Lucy stone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Lucy_stone.jpg)
In
Victorian times, Dorchester became a popular country retreat for Boston elite. It developed into a bedroom community, easily accessible to the city by
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
. The mother and grandparents of
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
lived in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood while his grandfather
John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald was mayor of Boston.
American poet
Oliver Wendell Holmes, wrote a poem called "The Dorchester Giant" in 1830, and referred to the special kind of stone,
"Roxbury puddingstone", also quarried in Dorchester, which was used to build churches in the Boston area. Most notable of these is the Central Congregational Church (later called the
Church of the Covenant) in Boston's
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
neighborhood.
In 1845, the
Old Colony Railroad
The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall Ri ...
ran through the area and connected Boston and
Plymouth, Massachusetts. The station was originally called Crescent Avenue or Crescent Avenue Depot as an Old Colony Railroad station. The name was changed to Columbia until December 1, 1982, and then again changed to
JFK/UMASS. It is a
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
rail line station for both the
Red Line subway and the
Plymouth/Kingston,
Middleborough/Lakeville and
Greenbush commuter rail lines.
In the 1840s and 1850s, a new wave of development took place on a strip of waterfront overlooking Dorchester Bay (Park and Mill Streets at the
Harrison Square Historic District, later known as Clam Point.) Renowned architects who had contributed to one of the most significant and intact collections of Clam Point's Italianate mansards include Luther Briggs, John A. Fox, and Mary E. Noyes. By the 1890s, Clam Point gained prominence as a summer resort: the Russell House hotel was its centerpiece and the Dorchester Yacht Club was established on Freeport Street.
In the 1880s, the calf pasture on
Columbia Point was developed for a Boston sewer line and pumping station. This large pumping station still stands. In its time it was a model for treating sewage and helping to promote cleaner and healthier urban living conditions. It pumped waste to a remote treatment facility on
Moon Island in
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
, and served as a model for other systems worldwide. This system was operated as the Boston Sewer system's headworks, handling all of the city's sewage, until 1968, when a new treatment facility was built on
Deer Island. The pumping station is architecturally significant as a
Richardsonian Romanesque designed by then Boston city architect,
George Clough, then architect for the city of Boston. The only remaining 19th-century building on Columbia Point, it is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period. Its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of Continental Europe.
Annexation to Boston
![Boston ground 1880](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Boston_ground_1880.jpg)
Dorchester was annexed by Boston in pieces beginning on March 6, 1804, and ending with complete annexation to the city of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
after a
plebiscite
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...
was held in Boston and Dorchester on June 22, 1869. As a result, Dorchester officially became part of Boston on January 3, 1870. This is the historic reason that Dorchester Heights is today considered part of South Boston, not modern-day Dorchester, since it was part of the earliest cession of Dorchester to Boston in 1804. Additional parts of Dorchester were ceded to
Quincy (in 1792, 1814, 1819, and 1855). Portions of the original town of Dorchester developed as the separate towns of
Hyde Park (1868 and later annexed to Boston in 1912),
Milton (1662), and
Stoughton (1726, itself later subdivided).
In 1895,
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...
, architect of the
Boston Public Garden
The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street and Boston Common to ...
/
Emerald Necklace
The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appear ...
and
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
in New York City, was commissioned to create
Dorchester Park. It was intended as an urban forest for the residents of a growing Dorchester.
In 1904, the Dorchester Historical Society incorporated "Dorchester Day", which commemorated the settlement of Dorchester in 1630. Celebrated annually, Dorchester Day is a tableau of community events, highlighted by such activities as the Landing Day Observance, the Dorchester Day Parade along Dorchester Avenue the first Sunday in June, and the Community Banquet.
Turn of the 20th century
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dorchester was a site for community activism related to diverse issues. The first racially integrated neighborhood developed on Jones Hill. One of the residents of that neighborhood,
William Monroe Trotter
William Monroe Trotter, sometimes just Monroe Trotter (April 7, 1872 – April 7, 1934), was a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston, Massachusetts. An activist for African-American civil rights, he was an early opponent o ...
, with
W.E.B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up i ...
, helped to found the
Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement (NM) was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists—many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States—led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. ...
, the precursor of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
. Many leading
suffragettes also lived in Dorchester, including
Lucy Stone.
In the early 20th century, Dorchester received numerous Catholic immigrants from a variety of nations, such as Ireland, French Canada, Poland, and Italy, as well as mostly Protestant African Americans from the South who were part of the
Great Migration to northern industrial cities. Numerous
three decker apartment buildings were built in Dorchester to house the many industrial workers.
1950s–present
![BostonMA UphamsCornerMarket](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/BostonMA_UphamsCornerMarket.jpg)
In the early 1950s, Dorchester became a center of civil rights activism by African Americans.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
lived there for much of the time he attended
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
for his PhD.
"With Boston's Baptist community riveted by his preaching and Coretta cott King
Primo Water Corporation (formerly Cott Corporation) is an American-Canadian water company offering multi-gallon bottled water, water dispensers, self-service refill water machines, and water filtration appliances. The company is headquartered in ...
at his side, King's circle grew. The Dorchester apartment drew friends and followers like a magnet, according to riend and roommate JohnBustamante, with 'untold numbers of visitors coming from the other schools.' The roommates housed and fed the visitors, who would join in civil rights discussions."[Seligson, Susan]
"Martin Luther King Jr.'s Roommate Reminisces: John Bustamante recalls Coretta Scott at Myles Standish, and Dorchester digs"
, ''BU Today'', January 15, 2010
During the 1960s–1980s, the ethnic landscape of Dorchester
changed dramatically. The established descendants of early 20th-century Jewish, Italian, and Irish immigrants generally moved to newer housing, and new African, Asian, and Caribbean immigrants and their descendants settled here in a succession of ethnicities.
The first community
health center
A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered are family pr ...
in the United States was the Columbia Point Health Center in Dorchester. It was opened in December 1965 and served mostly the massive Columbia Point
public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
complex adjoining it. It was founded by two medical doctors, Jack Geiger, who had been on the faculty of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
and later at
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
, and Count Gibson from Tufts University.
Geiger had previously studied the first community health centers and the principles of Community Oriented Primary Care with Sidney Kark and colleagues while serving as a medical student in rural
Natal
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. The Columbia Point Health Center is still in operation and was rededicated in 1990 as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center.
In 1974, the
University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...
moved from Park Square in downtown Boston to Columbia Point in Dorchester. In 1982, Boston State College was incorporated into UMass Boston. Since the 1970s, UMass Boston has expanded substantially, including building a new campus center in 2004 and a new science center in 2015. It has also hosted numerous important social and civic events. In 2000, for example, the university hosted a presidential candidates’ debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
In 1977, after an unsuccessful bid to have the John F. Kennedy Library located in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
, close to the late president's alma mater
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, it was sited at the tip of Columbia Point and ground was broken. Designed by architect
I. M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
, the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...
was dedicated on October 20, 1979.
By the 1980s, the Blue Hill Avenue section of Dorchester had become a predominantly Black community.
During the 1990s, the city administration increased police presence and invested city money into the area for more street lighting.
On March 30, 2015, the
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate was dedicated by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
. The Institute opened to the public on March 31, 2015.
Geography
![Dorchester, MA Neighborhoods June 2020 Update](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Dorchester%2C_MA_Neighborhoods_June_2020_Update.png)
Dorchester is located south of downtown
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and is surrounded by the neighborhoods of
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
,
Roxbury,
Jamaica Plain
Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...
,
Hyde Park and
South End, the city of
Quincy and the town of
Milton. The
Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...
separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton. According to the U.S. Postal Service, Dorchester includes the ZIP codes 02121, 02122, 02124, and 02125.
Neighborhood sections and squares
Dorchester is Boston's largest and most populous neighborhood and comprises many smaller sections and squares. Due to its size of about , it is often divided for statistical purposes into North and South Dorchester. North Dorchester includes the portion north of Quincy, East and Freeport streets. The main
business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " city ...
in this part of Dorchester is
Uphams Corner, at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road.
South Dorchester is bordered to the east by Dorchester Bay and to the south by the
Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...
. The main
business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " city ...
s in this part of Dorchester are
Fields Corner
Fields Corner is a historic commercial district in Dorchester, the largest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ; ...
, at the intersection of
Dorchester Avenue and Adams Street, and
Codman Square, at the intersection of Washington Street and Talbot Avenue. Adjacent to
Fields Corner
Fields Corner is a historic commercial district in Dorchester, the largest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ; ...
is the
Harrison Square Historic District, also known as Clam Point. It is notable for its collection of substantial Italianate Mansard residences.
Dorchester Avenue is the major neighborhood spine, running in a south–north line through all of Dorchester from Lower Mills to downtown Boston. The southern part of Dorchester is primarily a residential area, with established neighborhoods still defined by parishes, and occupied by families for generations. The northern part of Dorchester is more urban, with a greater amount of apartment housing and industrial parks.
South Bay and
Newmarket industrial area are major sources of employment.
The Harbor Point area (formerly known as
Columbia Point) is home of several large employers, including the Boston campus of the
University of Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
, the
Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum, the
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...
. Distinct commercial districts include Bowdoin/Geneva, Fields Corner, Codman Square, Peabody Square, Adams Village and Lower Mills. Primarily residential areas include
Savin Hill
Savin Hill is a section of Dorchester, the largest neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Named after the geographic feature it covers and surrounds, Savin Hill is about one square mile in area, and has a population of about 1 ...
, Jones Hill, Four Corners, Franklin Field, Franklin Hill,
Ashmont, Meeting House Hill, Neponset, Popes Hill and Port Norfolk.
Demographics
Up until the 1960s, the Blue Hill Avenue part of Dorchester from Roxbury to Mattapan was primarily composed of
Jewish Americans
American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...
whose ancestors had immigrated from eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Neponset neighborhood was primarily Irish-American, most of whom were Catholic.
During the 1920s–1960s, many
African Americans moved from the South to the North during the
Great Migration and settled on Blue Hill Avenue and nearby sections. While some Jewish-Americans were moving "up and out" to the suburbs, certain Boston banks and real estate companies developed a
blockbusting
Blockbusting was a business practice in the United States in which real estate agents and building developers convinced white residents in a particular area to sell their property at below-market prices. This was achieved by fearmongering the h ...
plan for the area. The Blue Hill Avenue area was "
redlined" so that only the newly arriving African Americans would receive mortgages for housing in that section. "White flight" was prevalent.
After changes to US immigration law in 1965, Dorchester received new waves of migrants from Puerto Rico, and immigrants from the Caribbean and Central America, such as Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Immigrants also came from Cape Verde and Vietnam, as well as other Latin American, Asian, and African nations. Dorchester also continued to receive immigrants from Northern European countries such as Ireland, Germany and Poland. Dorchester became more diverse than at any point in its long history, with many nationalities represented here. These immigrants have helped revive the economy of the neighborhood by opening ethnic stores and restaurants.
The sections of Dorchester have distinct ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic compositions. The eastern areas of Dorchester (especially between Adams Street and Dorchester Bay) are primarily ethnic
European and
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, with a large population of Irish Americans and
Vietnamese Americans
Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...
. Residents of the western, central and parts of the southern sections of the neighborhood are predominantly African American. In Neponset, the southeast corner of the neighborhood, as well as parts of
Savin Hill
Savin Hill is a section of Dorchester, the largest neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Named after the geographic feature it covers and surrounds, Savin Hill is about one square mile in area, and has a population of about 1 ...
in the north and Cedar Grove in the south, Irish Americans maintain the most visible identity. In the northern section of Dorchester and southwestern section of South Boston is the
Polish Triangle
Polonia Triangle ( pl, Trójkąt Polonijny), also known as the Polish Triangle, is located in West Town, in what had been the historical Polish Downtown area of Chicago. A single-tiered fountain made of black iron with a bowl about nine feet in ...
, where recent
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
immigrants are residents.
Savin Hill
Savin Hill is a section of Dorchester, the largest neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Named after the geographic feature it covers and surrounds, Savin Hill is about one square mile in area, and has a population of about 1 ...
, as well as Fields Corner, have large Vietnamese-American populations. Uphams Corner contains a
Cape Verdean-American community, the largest concentration of people of Cape Verdean origin within Boston city limits. Western, central and parts of southern Dorchester have a large Caribbean population (especially people from
Haiti,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
, and
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
). They are most strongly represented in the Codman Square, Franklin Field and the Ashmont area, although there are also significant numbers in Four Corners and Fields Corner. Significant numbers of African Americans live in the Harbor Point, Uphams Corner, Fields Corner, Four Corners and Franklin Field areas. In recent years Dorchester has also seen an influx of young residents, gay men and women, and working
artists (in areas like
Lower Mills,
Ashmont Hill/Peabody Square, and
Savin Hill
Savin Hill is a section of Dorchester, the largest neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Named after the geographic feature it covers and surrounds, Savin Hill is about one square mile in area, and has a population of about 1 ...
).
["Dorchester development to be geared toward gays"](_blank)
''Bay Windows'', Thursday Aug 2, 2007[Stidman, Pete]
, ''Dorchester Reporter'', January 31, 2008[Diaz, Johnny]
"Under a rainbow flag, linking the Dots"
''Boston Globe'', October 30, 2005
American Community Survey – Estimates – 2013
The
American Community Survey (ACS) for Dorchester, from 2007 to 2011, estimates the total population is 113,975 people. Slightly more than half are female, 52.6% or 59,914
and 47.4% or 54,061
are male.
In Dorchester, 68.4% or 77,980 of the residents are
native born and 31.6% or 35,995
people are foreign born, of which 50.1% or 18,024
are not U.S. citizens. The largest
racial group
A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
in the
neighborhood is
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
or
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
with 49,612 people or 43.05%
of the population. People who self-identify as white represent 26,102 or 26.99%
of the community.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
/
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
account for 19.09% of the population with 19,295
resident. The
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
enclave represents 9.6% of 10,990
of the citizenry. The smallest racial group is bi/
multi-racial
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...
and they make up 1.9% (2,174
) of the population.
According to the
ACS survey, Dorchester has a large under 25 population with 38.1% or 43,472
people and 33,162 (29.1% of the total population)
of them under the age of 19 years old. Between the ages of 25 to 64 years old there are 59,788 or 52.6%
people and 10,715 people or 9.3%
are over the age of 65 years old. In Dorchester, approximately 61.9% or 70,503
people are over the age of 25, 23.5% or 16,582 people
do not have a high school
diploma or
GED
The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...
, 30.5% or 21,479
have a diploma or GED, 18.5% or 13,045 people
have completed some college, and 27.5% or 19,397 people
have a
college degree
An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including unde ...
.
The
ACS Survey estimates there are 40,443
household
A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is i ...
s in the neighborhood of Dorchester, the
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
of $22,120 and a
median income of $44,136. 13.1% or 5,286
households have reported income of less than $10,000. 27.3% or 11,020
households earn less than $19,999. 19.1% or 7,720
households earn between $20,000 to 39,999.16.5% or 6,651
households in the earn between $40,000 to 59,999. 19.7% or 7,977
households earn between $60,000 to 99,999. 15.3% or 6,174
of household report annual incomes of $100,000 to 199,999.
Only 2.2% or 901
households in Dorchester earn $200,000 or more per year. The
ACS reports as of 2011,
Poverty affects 23.5% or 9,511 households and 24.3% or 9,820 of
households are receiving
SNAP Benefits.
Race
Ancestry
According to the 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the largest ancestry groups in
ZIP Codes 02121, 02122, 02124, and 02125 are:
Transportation
![JFK-UMassMBTAstation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/JFK-UMassMBTAstation.agr.jpg)
The neighborhood is served by five stations on the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
Red Line (MBTA)
The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as part of the MBTA subway system. The line runs south and east underground from Alewife station in North Cambridge through Somerville and Ca ...
rapid transit service, five stations on the
Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, five stations on the
Fairmount Commuter Rail Line, and various bus routes. Over the last decade, the Dorchester branch of the
Red Line had major renovations, including four
rapid transit stations being rebuilt at Savin Hill, Fields Corner, Shawmut, and Ashmont.
[Sullivan, Jim O.]
"Ashmont Station Project Running into Trouble"
''The Dorchester Reporter'', Feb. 1, 2005 At Ashmont station, the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts partnered with private investors to create The Carruth, one of the state's first
Transit-oriented development
In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...
s (TOD).
Interstate 93 (concurrent with
Route 3 and
U.S. 1) runs north–south through Dorchester between
Quincy, Massachusetts, and downtown Boston, providing access to the eastern edge of Dorchester at Columbia Road,
Morrissey Boulevard
Morrissey Boulevard is a six-lane divided coastal road in the Dorchester, Boston, Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is owned and maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
Route descrip ...
(northbound only), Neponset Circle (southbound only), and Granite Avenue (with additional southbound on-ramps at Freeport Street and from Morrissey Blvd at Neponset). Several other state routes traverse the neighborhood, e.g.,
Route 203, Gallivan Boulevard and Morton Street, and
Route 28, Blue Hill Avenue (so named because it leads out of the city to the
Blue Hills Reservation
Blue Hills Reservation is a state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts in the United States. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, it covers parts of Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedh ...
). The
Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...
separates Dorchester from Quincy and
Milton. The "Dorchester Turnpike" (now "
Dorchester Avenue") stretches from Fort Point Channel (now in
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
) to Lower Mills, and once boasted a
horse-drawn streetcar.
A number of the earliest streets in Dorchester have changed names several times through the centuries, meaning that some names have come and gone. Leavitt Place, for instance, named for one of Dorchester's
earliest settlers, eventually became Brook Court and then Brook Avenue Place. Gallivan Boulevard was once Codman Street and Brookvale Street was once Brook Street.
Morrissey Boulevard
Morrissey Boulevard is a six-lane divided coastal road in the Dorchester, Boston, Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is owned and maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
Route descrip ...
was once Old Colony Parkway.
Economy
![Boston Globe building Sept 2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Boston_Globe_building_Sept_2009.jpg)
Throughout its history, Dorchester has had periods of economic revival and recession. In the 1960s and 1970s, Dorchester was particularly hard hit by economic recession, high unemployment, and
white flight
White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...
.
In 1953,
Carney Hospital
Carney Hospital is a 159-bedhttp://www.caritaschristi.org/oth/Page.asp?PageID=OTH000334 community teaching hospital in Dorchester, Massachusetts, affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center. The hospital had its ...
moved from
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
to its current location in Dorchester, serving the local communities of Dorchester, Mattapan, Milton and Quincy.
In 1953, a major
public housing project
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...
was completed on the
Columbia Point peninsula of Dorchester. There were 1,502 units in the development on of land. It later became known for high rates of crime and poor living conditions, and it went through particularly bad times in the 1970s and 1980s. By 1988, there were only 350 families living there. In 1984, the City of Boston gave control of it to a private developer, Corcoran-Mullins-Jennison, who redeveloped the property into a residential mixed-income community called Harbor Point Apartments which was opened in 1988 and completed by 1990. It was the first federal housing project to be converted to private,
mixed-income housing
The definition of mixed-income housing is broad and encompasses many types of dwellings and neighborhoods. Following Brophy and Smith, the following will discuss “non-organic” examples of mixed-income housing, meaning “a deliberate effort to ...
in the United States. Harbor Point has won much acclaim for this transformation, including awards from the
Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as ...
, the
FIABCI Award for International Excellence, and the
Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence
The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) was established in 1986 by Cambridge, Massachusetts architect Simeon Bruner. The award is named after Simeon Bruner's late father, Rudy Bruner, founder of the Bruner Foundation. According to the Bru ...
.
During the housing crisis of 2008 in the United States, Dorchester's Hendry Street became the epicenter in the media In reaction, the city of Boston negotiated to buy several of the houses for as little as $30,000. It is moving to seize other foreclosed properties on which the owners have not paid taxes. The houses were renovated and added to the inventory of subsidized rental housing.
In 2008, plans and proposals were unveiled and presented to public community hearings by the Corcoran-Jennison Company to redevelop the Bayside Exposition Center site on the
Columbia Point peninsula into a mixed use village of storefronts and residences, called "Bayside on the Point". However, in 2009, the Bayside Expo Center property was lost in a foreclosure on Corcoran-Jennison to a Florida-based real estate firm, LNR/CMAT, who bought it. Soon after, the
University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...
bought the property from them to build future campus facilities.
The corporate headquarters of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' was also located in Dorchester, having moved there in 1958 from downtown Boston. In 2009, then-owner
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City.
History
The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. ...
put the paper up for bid, leading to concern from local community members, who had seen other major employers close their doors. After negotiations with their union and cost reduction measures, the owner's plans to sell the ''Globe'' were abandoned in October 2009. In 2013, the paper was bought by
John W. Henry
John William Henry II (born September 13, 1949) is an American businessman and investor and the founder of John W. Henry & Company, an investment management firm. He is the principal owner of Liverpool Football Club, the Boston Red Sox, ''The B ...
, owner of the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
, and in 2017 the ''Globe'' headquarters returned to downtown Boston.
In the 20th century, many of the
labor unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...
in Boston relocated their headquarters to Dorchester. This includes the
Boston Teachers Union
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
,
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a trade union, labor union that represents approximately 775,000 workers and retirees in the electricity, electrical industry in the United States, Canada, Guam, Panama, Puerto Rico, a ...
Local 103, New England Regional Council of Carpenters,
International Association of Fire Fighters Local 718, among others.
Crime
Dorchester, with a population of approximately 130,000, is home to nearly one-fifth of all Boston residents. In the early 1990s, Dorchester, along with Roxbury and Mattapan neighborhoods, had the highest percentage of victims with violence-related injuries. Since the early 2000s, crime rates across Boston declined. In the first three months of 2013, Boston crime rates reportedly dropped 15 percent, compared to the same time period in 2012.
According to ''Dorchester Reporter'' crime maps, the more dangerous areas in Dorchester are located to the west of Columbia Road, with criminal activity centered on Blue Hill Avenue area. Safer parts of the neighborhood include Savin Hill; the historic neighborhood of Clam Point; Columbia Point, which is populated by mostly UMass Boston students; Ashmont Hill; Saint Mark's; Pope's Hill; Cedar Grove; Lower Mills, around the Neponset, Gallivan, and Morrissey Boulevard areas; and the Jones Hill neighborhood (with the third largest percentage of same-sex households in Boston after the South End and Jamaica Plain).
Statistics
According to the website
AreaVibes, the overall crime rate in Dorchester is 30% higher than the national average, and for every 100,000 people there are 10.55 daily crimes that occur in the neighborhood, such as violent crimes and property crimes. The rate of property crime is much higher than violent crime. 831 out of 100,000 people are involved in violent crime, and 3,021 out of 100,000 are involved in property crime.
The chance of being a victim of:
* Property crime = 1 in 34
* Violent crime = 1 in 121
* Crime = 1 in 26
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Public schools
Students in Dorchester are served by
Boston Public Schools (BPS). BPS assigns students based on preferences of the applicants and priorities of students in various zones.
Dorchester High School predated the annexation of Dorchester to Boston. At its founding, it was an all-male school, first opened on December 10, 1852. In 1870 Dorchester was annexed to Boston and its schools became managed by the City of Boston. A replacement facility opened in Codman Square on Talbot Avenue 1901. The current Dorchester facility opened in 1925 on Peacevale Road to males, while the Talbot Avenue building was for females. In 1953 Dorchester High School consolidated as a coeducational school.
BPS schools located in Dorchester include
* Boston Arts Academy, 9–12
* Boston Community Leadership Academy/McCormack, 7–9
* Boston International Newcomers Academy, 9–12
*
Boston Latin Academy
Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education.
Originally named Girls' Latin School until 1977, the school was the ...
, 7–12
* Jeremiah E. Burke High School, 9–12
* Clap Elementary, K1–5
* Community Academy of Science & Health, 9–12
* Paul A. Dever Elementary, K1–6
* Edward Everett Elementary, K1–5
* Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School, 6–8
* Sarah Greenwood, K0–8
* Dr. William W. Henderson Inclusion School (formerly Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School), K0–12
* Oliver Wendell Holmes Innovation School, K1–5
* Thomas J. Kenny Elementary, K1–6
* Martin Luther King Jr., K1–8
* Lee Academy Pilot School, K0–3
* Joseph Lee, K1–8
*
Mather Elementary, K1–5
* Richard J. Murphy, K1–8
* William E. Russell Elementary, K1–5
* Pauline A. Shaw Elementary, K0–3
*
TechBoston Academy
Founded in 2002, TechBoston Academy (TBA) is a pilot school located in Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States that offers a college preparatory curriculum to students in grades 6–12. TBA immerses its 1,050 students to a wide span of technolog ...
, 6–12
* William Monroe Trotter, K1–8
* UP Academy Dorchester, K1–8 (in-district charter)
* UP Academy Holland, K1–5 (in-district charter)
* John Winthrop Elementary, K1–5
Charter schools include
*Boston Collegiate Charter School, 5–12
*Brooke High School, 9–12
*
Codman Academy Charter Public School Codman may refer to:
Buildings
*Codman Building, historic building at 55 Kilby Street, Boston, Massachusetts
* Codman House, historic house set on a estate at 36 Codman Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts
*Codman–Davis House, four-story, red brick, 1 ...
, K1–12
* Conservatory Lab Charter School, K1–8
* Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy Charter Public School, 6–8
* Neighborhood House Charter School, K1–12
* Roxbury Prep Lucy Stone Campus, 5–8
* Roxbury Prep Dorchester Campus, 5–8
Catholic schools
Many Catholic schools closed in the 2000s as the demographics of the area changed.
[Dorchester Parish Faces ‘Hard Decisions’ About Future](_blank)
/ref>
The remaining schools as of summer 2018 are:
* Boston College High School
, motto_translation = ''So they may know You.''
, address = 150 Morrissey Boulevard
, city = Boston
, state = Massachusetts
, zipcode = 02125
, country ...
, 7–12
* Cristo Rey Boston High School, 9–12, leasing the old St. William Elementary building
* St. Brendan School, K-6
* Three locations of the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston remain after the 2008 consolidation of seven parish elementary schools into five locations.
** Columbia Campus (former St. Margaret's Elementary School building)
** Lower Mills Campus (former St. Gregory Elementary School building)
** Neponset Campus (former St. Ann Elementary School building)
Colleges and universities
* The University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...
is an accredited urban public research university and the second largest campus in the University of Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
system. It is located on Columbia Point in Dorchester. The school offers associates, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. In regards to race and gender, the school has a diverse student population of about 13 thousand students at a time. Excluding financial aid, the average cost of tuition is $12,000 for in-state students, and $28,000 for out-of-state. The university is rated as a good value, with a 15:1 student faculty ratio and a variety of majors to study. The economy of the school has been consistently productive since its establishment. Within the past twenty years, the school campuses have been improving and expanding. Some 95% of the students are in-state and attending classes full-time.
* Labouré College
Labouré College of Healthcare is a private college specializing in nursing and healthcare education and located in Milton, Massachusetts. Founded in 1892, by the Daughters of Charity, it is the longest-running nursing education program in the Bo ...
is a Roman Catholic co-educational college offering associate degrees in nursing and the health sciences. It is located on the Carney Hospital
Carney Hospital is a 159-bedhttp://www.caritaschristi.org/oth/Page.asp?PageID=OTH000334 community teaching hospital in Dorchester, Massachusetts, affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center. The hospital had its ...
campus near the Lower Mills section of Dorchester.
Public libraries
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...
operates six neighborhood branches in Dorchester.
* Adams Street Branch
* Codman Square Branch – Originally opened at 6 Norfolk Street in 1905. The branch moved into its current facility, which was designed by Eco-Texture, Inc., in 1978.
* Fields Corner Branch
* Grove Hall Branch
* Lower Mills Branch
* Uphams Corner Branch
Health care
Carney Hospital
Carney Hospital is a 159-bedhttp://www.caritaschristi.org/oth/Page.asp?PageID=OTH000334 community teaching hospital in Dorchester, Massachusetts, affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center. The hospital had its ...
is located at 2100 Dorchester Avenue. Carney Hospital provides over 500 physicians with primary care and specialist physicians. They provide a range of services such as behavior health, cancer care, cardiac and vascular, gynecology services, neurology, orthopedics, rehabilitation and physical therapy, along with many more. Carney Hospital is promoting health and wellness. Carney Hospital has been serving the community since 1863. It is affiliated with Tufts University School Of Medicine
The Tufts University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tufts University, a private research university in Massachusetts. It was established in 1893 and is located on the university's health sciences campus in downtown Boston.
The '' ...
, and is a teaching and training hospital for physicians in both internal medicine and family medicine.
Codman Square Health Center is a community-based outpatient healthcare located on 637 Washington Street. They have been a functioning clinic since 1979 with the dream "To build the best urban community in America". They employ about 280 multi-lingual staff members, most of whom reside in the neighborhoods surrounding Codman Square.
The Urban Asthma Coalition in Dorchester promotes collaboration among organizations and residents concerned about factors that affect asthma: the environment, quality of health care, access to health care, and education. Residents can join the active committee to promote better health and awareness. They want to change policies through administrative advocacy and reduce the rate of asthma, as well as improve care. They have been successful in providing 1,000 new healthy and affordable housing units in a year, green and healthy cleaners for the local schools, and a city program that works with health professionals and enforcement officers to further the improvement of housing for children of the area.
The Geiger-Gibson Health Center located in the Harbor Point section near UMass Boston is the oldest Community Health Center in the United States.
Housing
Most of Dorchester's population, about 63.3% or 72,239 people, lives in rental housing. The gross median monthly rent is $1,450, which totals $17,400 per year and exceeds the income of almost 30% of the population. An estimated 40,180 people (35.3%) live in owner-occupied homes and 1.4% or 1556 residents live in group home
A group home, congregate living facility, or care home (the latter especially in British English and Australian English) is a residence model of medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children ...
s/shelters.
Excluding government-owned
State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...
housing, Dorchester has 15,918 residential buildings
A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.
Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family reside ...
including 4,344 or 27.3% single-family homes, 3,674 or 23.1% two-family homes, 3,919 or 24.6% three-family homes, and 3,981 or 25.0% condo
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
units. The median sales price for all residential property types is 244,450. In 2013, there were 52 foreclosures petitions reported in Dorchester, representing 22.41% of the 232 foreclosures reported for the entire City Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Subsequently, 37 out 147 distressed buildings documented in Boston are located in Dorchester.
Safety
Boston Police District C-11 Dorchester, located 40 Gibson St, Dorchester, MA 02122. To create an environment of trust, and empower the neighborhood is the goal. There are over 50 community meetings held monthly that allow the police department to partner with the seniors, community residents, business as well as the faith-based leaders of Dorchester. The police department also works closely to provide the community with crime prevention and safety tips. "Communication is the life-blood of our neighborhood"
Dorchester has available shelters for those in need, a homeless shelter by the name of Pilgrim church (children's services of Roxbury) that is an adult shelter open to men only. This shelter is located on 540 Columbia Road Dorchester MA The shelter is run by the Pilgrim church and it offers over night shelter, food, clothing, showers, first aid, and other supportive services. The shelter also provides evening transportation from Boston to the shelter. The shelter was originally established in 1990 by positive lifestyles and now is currently under the direction of United Homes Adult services.
Urban policies
Income – Massachusetts sales tax rate is 6.25%, income tax is 5.20%. Income per capita is $18,226 which includes adults and children. Median household income $30,419.
Public policy issues
Residents and activists have worked on issues of public safety, high crime rate, poor educational resources, and lack of housing for low-income families. Several organizations are working to provide the neighborhood with
*Good Jobs/living wage
*Education for the children
*Housing
*Healthcare resources & Access
*Public Safety & Policy Relations
Among such organizations are First Parish Dorchester and The Bowdoin Geneva Resident Association.
City budget plans
Mayor Marty Walsh
Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...
proposed a budget for 2017 which included a five-year capital plan intended to make improvements to the infrastructure of Dorchester. The new projects involve building new libraries and also modernizing the Boston Public Libraries branches in Dorchester. Improvement of City parks is also included. The plans are to add more lights to Doherty-Gibson park in Fields Corner and another $3.7 million to make improvements in Harambee park next to the Franklin Field. The rest of the budget is intended to be used to complete already started projects in Savin Hill, King Street, Hemenway, Dower Avenue, and Ronan Park.
Community
Based on the 2010 Census Dorchester has 114,235 for a total population. Just about 15,530 are under the age of eighteen.
The former president of Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States.
The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...
opened a non-profit retail food shop called the Daily Table.
Ella J. Baker House
Ella J. Baker House is a community youth center in the Four Corners section of Dorchester. The W. E. B. Du Bois Society, an academic and cultural enrichment program for African American secondary school students, is co-hosted by the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute
The W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, formerly the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, is part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research located at Harvard University. Its main work i ...
along with Ella J. Baker House.
Entertainment
Dorchester has various attractions, including the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...
, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, Boston Winery
Dorchester Brewing Company
Boston Harbor Distillery, Strand Theatre, Commonwealth Museum, Greater Boston House Concert, Franklin Park Zoo
The Franklin Park Zoo is a zoo located in Boston, Massachusetts. It is currently operated by Zoo New England, which also operates the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, Massachusetts. The zoo is located in the northeast portion of Franklin Park, Boston's ...
, the Neponset Rivery Greenway and Lower Neponset River Trail
The Lower Neponset River Trail is a rail trail running along the Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium ...
.
Fields Corner
Fields Corner is a historic commercial district in Dorchester, the largest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ; ...
is a commercial center that is one of Dorchester's largest business districts. It has numerous restaurants and pubs, and independent clothing stores. Fields Corner is known both for its ethnic Irish residents, who support a variety of Irish pubs, and for Vietnamese restaurants operated by more recent immigrants. Adjacent to Fields Corner is an 11-acre park known as Hilltop Park, which offers a view of Dorchester Bay and plenty of green space.
Leisure activities and areas
Parks
* Pope John Paul II Park Reservation: The Pope John Park Reservation is approximately 66 acres in size, and is open year-round for the residents of Dorchester. In its earlier times it was used as a landfill and also a drive-in theatre. It also serves as a buffer between the Town of Dorchester, Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...
waterfront. This park now offers picnic facilities, soccer fields, play areas, paths for walking, and also spacious land to plant trees and shrubs.
* Dorchester Park: Dorchester park was established in 1861 and is located in the southern part of Dorchester, specifically in the Cedar Grove and Lower Mills. It is across from the Neponset River. Dorchester Park is 30 acres. Events held at the park include the ''Annual Classic Car Show and Family Fun Day''. Dorchester Park is listed in the ''National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
''.
* Franklin Park: Established in 1885, this park has 485 acres. It includes walking and running paths, tennis courts, baseball fields, golf courses, and basketball courts. New England's Franklin Park Zoo has nine main exhibits that contain more than 220 species of animals. The ''Kite and Bike festival'' traditionally takes place in Franklin park. This event, hosted since 2010 by the Franklin Park Coalition, is usually held the Saturday after Mother's Day. It includes bike riding and kite flying.
Bike trails
* Lower Neponset River Trail
The Lower Neponset River Trail is a rail trail running along the Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium ...
: This 2.4-mile path stretches from the historic Port Norfolk neighborhood in Dorchester, through Pope John Paul II Park, across Granite Avenue through Neponset Marshes, and through the Lower Mills area to Central Avenue in Milton. This trail is used for running, biking, and walking. The Neponset River Trail can be reached from the Butler, Milton Village, and Central Avenue Red Line (Mattapan trolley) stations.
* Neponset River Green way: The Neponset River Green way totals 5 miles in length. Scenery includes a salt marsh in Pope John Paul Park II and Tenan Beach at the mouth of Neponset River. Conveniently the trail is also adjacent to MBTA Red Line stations: Butler, Milton, and Central Avenue.
* DotGreenway: a greenway for pedestrians and cyclists has been proposed to connect Talbot Avenue and Park Street along the MBTA Red Line
The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as part of the MBTA subway system. The line runs south and east underground from Alewife station in North Cambridge through Somerville and Ca ...
tunnel cap (between Ashmont and Fields Corner
Fields Corner is a historic commercial district in Dorchester, the largest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ; ...
stations).
Sites of interest
Dorchester is home to many listings on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
Additional sites of interest include:
* Bayside Expo Center
Bayside Expo Center (also known as the Bayside Expo and Conference Center) was a convention center located in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Originally opened as a shopping mall called Bayside Mall in the 1960s, the mall later failed and the conventio ...
(also known as the Bayside Expo and Conference Center), originally opened as a shopping mall in the 1960s and in 2010 sold to University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...
for future redevelopment
* ''The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' building
* Captain Lemuel Clap House
* Commonwealth Museum
* Dorchester Park
* Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate
* First Parish Church of Dorchester
* Franklin Park Zoo
The Franklin Park Zoo is a zoo located in Boston, Massachusetts. It is currently operated by Zoo New England, which also operates the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, Massachusetts. The zoo is located in the northeast portion of Franklin Park, Boston's ...
* James Blake House
* John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...
* Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...
State Reservation
* University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...
Harbor Campus
* William Clapp House
* William Monroe Trotter House
The William Monroe Trotter House is a historic house at 97 Sawyer Avenue, atop Jones Hill in the Dorchester, Massachusetts, Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston. It was the home of African-American journalist and civil right ...
* Eire Pub The Eire Pub is an Irish pub in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
President Ronald Reagan and then future president Bill Clinton both visited the pub; since then, stopping at Eire Pub has become a superstition for political candidates hoping to follow ...
, visited by presidents and prime ministers and political candidates
Notable people
* Charles Baker Adams
Charles Baker Adams (January 11, 1814 – January 19, 1853) was an American educator and naturalist.
Biography
He was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1814, the son of Charles J. Adams and Hannah Baker.
He graduated from Phillips Academy i ...
– born in Dorchester; academic and naturalist
* William Taylor Adams – wrote fiction under pseudonym "Oliver Optic," served on Dorchester school board
* Sheldon Adelson
Sheldon Gary Adelson (; August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns ...
– born and raised in Dorchester; chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation and conservative political financier
* Samuel Turell Armstrong – born in Dorchester; 6th Mayor of Boston
The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...
and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
* Major General Humphrey Atherton
Major-General Humphrey Atherton, (c. 1607 – September 16, 1661), an early settler of Dorchester, Massachusetts, held the highest military rank in colonial New England.Adams, William Frederick, William Richard Cutter. ''Genealogical and pers ...
(born c. 1608–1661), an early settler of Dorchester, who held the highest military rank in colonial New England
* Robert Bergenheim
Robert Carlton Bergenheim (January 19, 1924 – June 5, 2010) was an American journalist and editor who founded the ''Boston Business Journal'', which published its first issue on March 2, 1981. He also served as the publisher of the now defunct ' ...
– raised in Dorchester; founder of ''Boston Business Journal
The ''Boston Business Journal'' is a weekly, business-oriented newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts. It is published by the American City Business Journals.
The newspaper was founded by Robert Bergenheim and launched its first issue on ...
''
* Ray Bolger – vaudevillian and film actor, best known as Scarecrow
A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesley ...
in classic movie '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939)
* Jean Buckley
Jean Buckley Bucketts"(December 4, 1931 – July 7, 2019) was a center fielder who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , , Buckley batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Dorchester, ...
– born in Dorchester; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
* Whitey Bulger
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bos ...
– crime boss, head of Winter Hill Gang
The Winter Hill Gang is a loose confederation of organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. The gang members and leadership are predominantly Irish-American and Italian-American descent.
The organization itself derives its ...
, subject of film '' Black Mass''
* William M. Bulger – politician, former President of the Massachusetts Senate
The president of the Massachusetts Senate is the presiding officer. Unlike the United States Congress, in which the vice president of the United States is the ''ex officio'' president of the United States Senate, in Massachusetts, the president of ...
and president of University of Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
* Herb Chambers
Herbert G. Chambers (born November 24, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman, owner and president of The Herb Chambers Companies, a group of 60 car dealerships in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area. In 2015, at the age of 74, he wa ...
– owner and CEO of Herb Chambers Companies, car dealerships
* Buddy Clark
Buddy Clark (born Samuel Goldberg, July 26, 1912 – October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the Big Band era. He had some success in the 1930s, but his career truly blossomed in the late 1940s, after his return from service in Worl ...
- easy-listening-jazz singer
* Terrence Clarke - college basketball player
* Arthur Colgan
Arthur Joseph Colgan C.S.C. (born November 8, 1946) is an American priest of the Catholic Church who serves as auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Chosica Peru.
Biography Early life
Colgan was born in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts and gr ...
- Roman Catholic bishop
* Joe Conforte
Joseph Conforte (December 10, 1925 – March 4, 2019) was a legal brothel owner from Sparks, Nevada, spokesperson for the legal prostitution movement, a professional boxing promoter, restaurateur, philanthropist, and Nevada statesman. He o ...
– owner of Mustang Ranch
The Mustang Ranch is a brothel in Storey County, Nevada, about east of Reno. It is currently located at 1011 Wild Horse Canyon Drive, Sparks, Nevada, 89434.
Under past owner Joe Conforte, Mustang Ranch Brothel, the precursor to Mustang Ranch, ...
brothel in Nevada
* Clarence Cook
Clarence Chatham Cook (September 8, 1828 – June 2, 1900) was a 19th-century American author and art critic.
Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Cook graduated from Harvard in 1849 and worked as a teacher. Between 1863 and 1869, Cook wrote a serie ...
– born in Dorchester; 19th Century art critic and writer
* Michael L. Coyne
Michael L. Coyne is Massachusetts School of Law's (MSLAW) dean, as well as a professor of law. He teaches civil procedure and conflict resolution, evidence, case preparation and strategy, and remedies. He is a graduate of Boston Latin School, Bo ...
– trial attorney and professor, co-founder and associate dean of Massachusetts School of Law
* Norm Crosby
Norman Lawrence Crosby (September 15, 1927 – November 7, 2020) was an American comedian born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was often referred to as "The Master of Malaprop".
Career
Crosby went solo as a stand-up comedian, adopting a friendly, ...
– entertainer
* Julia Knowlton Dyer — philanthropist
* Thomas M. Finneran – former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
This is a list of speakers of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House presides over the House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected by the majority party caucus followed by confirmation of the full House through ...
; in 2007, pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice
* Tom Fitzgerald, ice hockey and golf journalist
* Roswell Gleason – 19th century manufacturer of pewter and silver-plate
* Mike Gorman
Michael Gorman (born November 24, 1945) is an American television play-by-play commentator for the Boston Celtics on NBC Sports Boston. Gorman also did play-by-play, alongside Fran Fraschilla, for NBC for basketball games during the 2016 Summ ...
– TV play-by-play announcer for Boston Celtics
* Harry G. Hamlet
Harry Gabriel Hamlet (27 August 1874 – 24 January 1954) was the seventh Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, from 1932 to 1936.
Early life and career
Hamlet was born in Eastport, Maine, and was the son of Captain Oscar G. Hamlet, ...
– Commandant of U.S. Coast Guard 1932–36, attended high school in Dorchester
* Kay Hanley
Kay Hanley is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist for the alternative rock band Letters to Cleo.
Life and career
Hanley grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts across the street from the Wahlberg family. She atte ...
– alternative rock musician, vocalist for band Letters to Cleo
Letters to Cleo is an American alternative rock band originating from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for the 1994 single, "Here & Now", from their full-length debut album, '' Aurora Gory Alice''. The band's members are Kay Hanley, Greg McKe ...
* Chrystal Herne – Broadway actress
* Richard M. Karp – raised in Dorchester; Turing Award
The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in comput ...
-laureate computer scientist
* Edward "Edzo" A. Kelly – 10th General President of the International Association of Firefighters
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is a trade union, labor union representing paid full-time firefighters and emergency medical services personnel in the United States and Canada. The IAFF was formed in 1918 and is affiliated w ...
, active Boston Firefighter.
* Joseph P. Kennedy
Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ken ...
– businessman, political figure, father of President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
and Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
* Rose Kennedy
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and matriarch of the Kennedy family. She was deeply embedded in the " lace curtain" Irish American community in Boston. Her father ...
– mother of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
, and Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
* John King – broadcast journalist, host of ''Inside Politics
''Inside Politics'' is a political talk show, broadcast on CNN. Originally hosted by Catherine Crier and Bernard Shaw, and then Shaw and Judy Woodruff, the show ran from 1992 – 2005 before being cancelled. The program was revived in 2014 with ...
'' on CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
* Jonathan Knight
Jonathan Rashleigh Knight-Rodriguez (born November 29, 1968) is an American singer. He is best known for being a member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. It also includes Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood and his younger brother ...
– singer, musical group New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...
* Jordan Knight
Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight (born May 17, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He is a singer in the boy band New Kids on the Block (NKOTB), who rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s, using a falsetto style of singing influenced by ...
– singer, New Kids on the Block
* Calixa Lavallée
Calixa Lavallée (December 28, 1842 – January 21, 1891) was a French-Canadian-American musician and Union Army band musician during the American Civil War. He is best known for composing the music for "O Canada," which officially became the na ...
– Canadian national anthem composer, wrote offertorium for dedication of St. Peter's of Dorchester (1883)
* Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...
– raised in Dorchester; author of ''Gone Baby Gone
''Gone Baby Gone'' is a 2007 American crime thriller film directed by Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a ...
'', ''Mystic River
The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts, in the United States. In Massachusett, means "large estuary," alluding to t ...
'', ''Shutter Island
''Shutter Island'' is a novel by American writer Dennis Lehane, published by HarperCollins in April 2003. It is about a U.S. Marshal who goes to an isolated hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient who is ...
''; screenwriter, producer
* Lisa-Jayne Lewis - lived in Dorchester 2000–2006; British broadcaster and Eurovision Song Contest commentator
* Alexandra Lydon
Alexandra Lydon is an American actress and writer.
Early life and education
Lydon was born and raised in Dorchester, Boston. She attended the New York University Tisch School of the Arts where she studied at the affiliated Stella Adler Conser ...
– born in Dorchester; actress and writer
* Bill Marshall – professional baseball player of the 1930s
* John Mason – Colonial military officer, civil engineer
* Increase Mather
Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administ ...
– Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
minister; public figure in early history of Massachusetts Bay Colony
* Aaron Maund
Aaron Michael Thomas Maund (born September 19, 1990) is an American soccer player who most recently played for Charlotte Independence in the USL Championship.
Career
Youth and college
Maund played four years at The Roxbury Latin School in Bo ...
– professional soccer player
* Albert and David Maysles
Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films i ...
– documentary filmmakers
* Bill McColgan – sports announcer
* Marilyn Mosby
Marilyn Mosby (née James; born January 22, 1980) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the State's Attorney for Baltimore from 2015 to 2023. She is currently under federal indictment for multiple crimes.
Early life
Born Marilyn Ja ...
– raised in Dorchester; state's attorney of Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
* John Lothrop Motley
John Lothrop Motley (April 15, 1814 – May 29, 1877) was an American author and diplomat. As a popular historian, he is best known for his works on the Netherlands, the three volume work ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic'' and four volume ''His ...
– historian and diplomat
* Adam Myerson – professional cyclist
* Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...
– born in Dorchester; actor, director, poet, musician, and photographer; best known as Spock on '' Star Trek''
* Bill O'Brien – born in Dorchester; head coach of NFL's Houston Texans
* Lawrence O'Donnell
Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.
H ...
– raised in Dorchester; former aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, producer of ''The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White Hous ...
'' and host of MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
's ''The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
''The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'' is an American weeknight news and political commentary program on MSNBC. The program airs live at 10:00 P.M. Eastern Time Monday-Friday, and is hosted by Lawrence O'Donnell from Mondays to Thursdays and re ...
''
* Rose Pitonof (1895–1984) – marathon swimmer
* Omega Red
Omega Red is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. In 2009, Omega Red was ranked as IGN's 95th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.
Publication histor ...
– rapper, musician and actor
* Martin Richard – raised in Dorchester; one of three people killed in Boston Marathon bombing
The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...
* Richard Scarry
Richard McClure Scarry (June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his ''Best Ever'' book series that take ...
– raised in Dorchester; children's books author and illustrator, known for his "Busytown
Busytown is a fictional town depicted in several books by American children's author Richard Scarry. Busytown is inhabited by an assortment of anthropomorphic animals, including Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Mr. Frumble, police Sergeant Murphy, Mr. Fix ...
" universe
* Slaine – hip-hop MC, rapper and actor, ''Gone Baby Gone
''Gone Baby Gone'' is a 2007 American crime thriller film directed by Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a ...
'' and '' The Town''
* Lucy Stone – abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
and suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
* Donna Summer – pop and disco singer, member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
* Donnie Wahlberg
Donald Edmond Wahlberg Jr. (born August 17, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, record producer, and film producer. He is a founding member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. Outside music, he has had roles in the ''Saw' ...
– singer, actor and film producer, member of musical group New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...
, star of TV series '' Blue Bloods''
* Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...
– Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated actor, producer, model and rapper, star of films including '' Boogie Nights'', '' The Perfect Storm'', '' Ted'', ''The Departed
''The Departed'' is a 2006 American epic crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film '' Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Win ...
'' and ''The Fighter
''The Fighter'' is a 2010 American biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and stars Mark Wahlberg (who also produced), Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo. The film centers on the lives of professional boxer Mi ...
''
* Marty Walsh
Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...
– Mayor of Boston
The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...
* John Willis – gangster
* Danny Wood
Daniel William Wood (born May 14, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. He is a member of the American boy band New Kids on the Block and also served as a choreographer for the band in late 80s and 90s. ...
– singer, musical group New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...
* Marie Wright – better known by stage name "Free", media personality
Notes and references
Notes
References
* Committee of the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society
"History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts"
Boston : Ebenezer Clapp Jr., 1859.
* Dutton, E.P
Chart of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay with Map of Adjacent Country.
Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines around Dorchester. Note the Horse RailRoad on Dorchester Ave.
* Glover, Anna
Glover Memorials and Genealogies: An Account of John Glover Of Dorchester and Some of his Descendants.
Published 1867.
* Orcutt, William Dana
Good Old Dorchester: A Narrative History of the Town, 1630–1893.
Published 1893.
* Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell.
**
**
''Dorchester: Volume II''"
Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, 2000
**
''Dorchester: Then & Now''
, Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
*
* The Vital Records of Dorchester (Births, Marriages, and Deaths) to 1825 were published in 1890 as th
21st Report of the Records Commissioners of Boston.
See the 1903 southeaster corner map.
Further reading
"Railroad Transportation in Dorchester"
– History by the Dorchester Atheneum
* Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester, Massachusetts, US Census data
(not in Dorchester town records), From the back of the book of Dorchester Vital Records to 1850
Mercantile Publishing Company, Boston, 1888
* Orcutt, William Dana
''Good Old Dorchester: A Narrative history of the Town 1630–1893''
Cambridge : John Wilson & Son, University Press, 1893
*
External links
* From the Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...
br>Map Collection
*
1831 Map of Dorchester
by Edmund J. Baker
*
1850 Map of Dorchester
by E. Whiting
*
1868 Map of Dorchester and Quincy
by Dudley and Greenough
*
1880 Plan of Dorchester
by the Boston Engineering Dept.
Dorchester Community Website
*
Dorchester Reporter
' Local newspaper
Map of Dorchester section of Boston
– Open Space Plan, City of Boston
Boston Redevelopment Authority map of Dorchester
*
located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA
My Dot Tour
an open-source, "multimedia, youth-led walking tour of Fields Corner." It is "a project of the Fields Corner Collaborative."
Archival collections about Dorchester
University Archives and Special Collections, Joseph P. Healey Library, University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Massa ...
Dorchester Atheneum
a website devoted to the history of Dorchester
Dorchester's Soldiers and Sailors Monument
at th
Massachusetts Civil War Monuments Project
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Populated places established in 1630
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Defunct towns in Massachusetts
History of Boston
1630 establishments in Massachusetts
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Populated coastal places in Massachusetts