Fort Hill is a 0.4 square mile neighborhood and
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
of
Roxbury, in
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 ...
,
. The approximate boundaries of Fort Hill are Malcolm X Boulevard on the north,
Washington Street on the southeast, and
Columbus Avenue on the southwest.
The geographic area comprising Fort Hill was strategically important during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
and housed the patriot army defenses during the siege of Boston. Fort Hill is actually named after an earthwork fortification that the patriot army built upon the hill located at the center of the neighborhood. The hill is now the location of Highland Park, which is notable for a Victorian-era
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
designed by
Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee
Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (June 1, 1829 – December 17, 1888) was a Boston architect and a partner in the firm of Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell.
Life
Bradlee was born in Boston to Elizabeth Davis and Samuel Bradlee. He married Julia Rebec ...
, and landscaping designed by
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- ...
.
Fort Hill developed rapidly as a residential neighborhood in the 19th century, especially after the extension of streetcar service from Boston. Fort Hill is served by 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 ...
's
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
and
Silver Lines. The neighborhood features a variety of architecture including Greek Revival and Italianate houses that predate the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, classic Boston triple-deckers,
row houses
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
and newer green developments. The neighborhood of Fort Hill, which is sometimes referred to as Highland Park,
[Highland Park Preservation Priority Report - Winter/Spring 2009](_blank)
Boston Preservation Alliance & Historic Boston Incorporated (retrieved April 11, 2015) was 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 v ...
as the Roxbury Highlands Historic District on February 22, 1989.
Points of interest
Fort Hill is home to the First Church in Roxbury, which, gathered in 1631, was the sixth church founded in New England. The Church has had five different meeting houses at its site at the intersection of Highland Avenue and Centre Street, with the current dwelling, built in 1803, still standing today as the oldest wooden frame church building in Boston. The First Church of Roxbury marked the starting point for the April 18, 1775 Midnight Ride by
William Dawes
William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outse ...
who, along with
Paul Revere
Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to ale ...
, was dispatched by
Joseph Warren
Joseph Warren (June 11, 1741 – June 17, 1775), a Founding Father of the United States, was an American physician who was one of the most important figures in the Patriot movement in Boston during the early days of the American Revolution, ...
to warn Lexington and Concord of the British incursion during the Revolutionary War. The First Church currently is the headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry's activities.
The Dillaway-Thomas House located at 183 Roxbury Street was used by the patriots in the Revolutionary War. The Dillaway-Thomas House was built as a parsonage for the First Church in Roxbury, with construction beginning in 1750. During the eleven-month siege of Boston from April 1775 through March 1776, the 4700 soldier right wing of the patriot army camped in Roxbury. Major General
John Thomas used the house as his headquarters. The Dillaway-Thomas House now houses the operations for
Roxbury Heritage State Park
Roxbury Heritage State Park is a history-themed heritage park in the oldest part of Roxbury, a former town annexed in 1868 by Boston, Massachusetts. It is anchored by the Dillaway–Thomas House, a large colonial structure built in 1750 and thoug ...
.
During the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, the
Roxbury High Fort played a significant strategic role in the
siege of Boston
The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...
. The fort, located on what is now Beech Glen Street, gave Fort Hill its name.
History
Colonial era to the early 19th century
The area comprising Fort Hill contained mostly country estates and farm and pasture land in the era preceding the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
[Commercial Casebook: Egleston Square](_blank)
, Historic Boston, Inc. (retrieved on February 8, 2015). Despite its agrarian orientation, the area was strategically important to the colonial resistance to the
siege of Boston
The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...
.
The only road that connected the mainland with Boston on the Shawmut Peninsula passed through Fort Hill, dividing at
John Eliot Square
John Eliot Square District is a historic district located in the northern Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is formed by the intersection of Dudley, Bartlett, Centre, Roxbury and Highland Streets. Named after local missionary ...
into the road to Brookline and Cambridge (Roxbury and Tremont Streets) and the road to Dedham (Centre Street).
[ The district's height overlooking the land connection and its puddingstone outcroppings made it an advantageous location for the Continental Army to build fortifications.
In the summer of 1775, the Continental Army built two forts in the area as part of a circle of defenses that eventually enabled the evacuation of the British from Boston.] The Lower Fort was located on two acres of land between Cedar, Highand and Linwood Streets. The High Fort was an earthworks structure that occupied the summit of the hill. The Revolutionary War resulted in the destruction of many of Fort Hill's colonial-era buildings, and the Dillaway-Thomas is the only surviving pre-Revolutionary structure in the district.[
Fort Hill began its transformation from agricultural to residential uses in the early nineteenth century. In 1803, what is now known as Washington Street was improved to become the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike, a road that connected Boston with Pawtucket, Rhode Island.] As early as the 1820s, a horse-drawn bus line was established along Washington Street to carry commuters into Boston, and in 1835 the railroad from Boston to Providence was sited along the Stony Brook Valley on the North side of Fort Hill.[Roxbury: Exploring Boston's Neighborhoods](_blank)
Boston Landmarks Commission (retrieved February 8, 2015). These improvements in transportation drew wealthy estate builders and upper middle class businessmen to Fort Hill.
Annexation and streetcar suburb
Roxbury's annexation to Boston in 1868 triggered the first wave of heavy suburbanization within the district. In 1869, Roxbury built the Cochituate Standpipe, the neighborhood's most widely known structure, to modernize its water system. One additional development project significantly increased the attractiveness of the neighborhood. Electric trolley service began in 1889 and residents began to move to Fort Hill in mass, creating a market for row houses, triple-story houses, and single-family homes.
During the early twentieth century, Fort Hill experienced an influx of immigrants of English, Irish, and German descent.[ The influence of German immigrants is visible in some of Fort Hill's architecture in the area around Egleston Square.] Late nineteenth-century suburban development was dominated by the Yankee Protestant middle class, while the early twentieth-century witnessed the influx of a middle class Jewish population.[ In the 1940s and 1950s, Fort Hill witnessed another wave of immigration, as many African American people from the American South moved into the neighborhood as part of the Great Migration. Following the influx of African Americans, Fort Hill and Roxbury in general became what the City of Boston has characterized as the "heart" of black culture in Boston.
]
Present day
Today, Fort Hill is home to an ethnically and linguistically diverse community. Fort Hill has been recognized for its sizable population of residents with Irish, Puerto Rican, Dominican, German and Sub-Saharan African roots.[ (actually covers a sizable portion of Fort Hill)] Over the last decade Fort Hill has experienced an influx of professionals, artists and students, many of whom attend Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...
, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...
or Wentworth Institute of Technology
Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) is a private institute of technology in Boston, Massachusetts. Wentworth was founded in 1904 and offers career-focused education through 21 bachelor's degree programs as well as 13 master's degrees.
Histo ...
. Fort Hill is also often referred to as a neighborhood that is notable for having a high concentration of residents living with same-sex partners, and has a history of its residents advocating for gay rights.
Transportation
Fort Hill is served by the MBTA's bus and rail services, roadways and public bicycle trails.
* The rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
Orange Line, which runs along the west side of Fort Hill, stops at and .
* Nubian station
Nubian station (variously known by its former name Dudley Square, Dudley, or Dudley Street Terminal) is a ground-level bus station located in Nubian Square (formerly Dudley Square) in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United Sta ...
is a major hub for MBTA bus
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates List of MBTA bus routes, 170 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance (defined as ) for all residents ...
services, including the Silver Line.
* Fort Hill contains a few major roads including Washington Street, Columbus Avenue and Malcolm X. Boulevard. Most of the residential areas of the district allow for resident and nonresident street parking.
* Bicycle paths. The Pierre Lallement Bicycle Path runs along the Southwest Corridor Park
Southwest Corridor Park is a linear urban park in Boston, Massachusetts, part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston and managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). It extends from the South End and B ...
from Forrest Hills to Back Bay.
Education
Fort Hill is served by Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts.
Leadership
The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...
, which assigns students using an algorithm based on, among other things, the preferences of the applicants and the location of a student's home.[Student Assignment Policy]
" Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts.
Leadership
The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...
(retrieved February 8, 2015). Fort Hill is home to a number of primary and secondary schools including Nathan Hale Elementary School (PK–5), Timilty Middle School (6–8), and the
John D. O'Bryant School of Math & Science (7–12). Fort Hill hosts two institutions of higher learning, Roxbury Community College
Roxbury Community College (RCC) is a public community college in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. RCC offers associate degrees in arts, and sciences, as well as certificates. RCC has transfer agreements with Curry College, North ...
and Emmanuel College's retreat center.
Notable residents
* Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee
Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (June 1, 1829 – December 17, 1888) was a Boston architect and a partner in the firm of Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell.
Life
Bradlee was born in Boston to Elizabeth Davis and Samuel Bradlee. He married Julia Rebec ...
(1829–1888), architect, partner in the firm Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell
Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell (1872-1888) was an architecture firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Its principals were Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (1829-1888), Walter Thacher Winslow (1843-1909) and George Homans Wetherell (1854-1930). Most of the firm ...
* Thomas Dudley
Thomas Dudley (12 October 157631 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the tow ...
(1576–1653), colonial magistrate, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
* William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...
(1805–1879), journalist, abolitionist, lived in a Fort Hill home the last 15 years of his life
* Edward Everett Hale
Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as "The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union dur ...
(1822–1909), author, historian and Unitarian minister
* Louis Prang
Louis Prang (March 12, 1824June 15, 1909) was an American printer, lithographer, publisher, and Georgist. He is sometimes known as the "father of the American Christmas card".
Youth
Prang was born in Breslau in Prussian Silesia. His fath ...
(1824–1909), printer, lithographer and publisher
* William Pynchon
William Pynchon (October 11, 1590 – October 29, 1662) was an English colonist and fur trader in North America best known as the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He was also a colonial treasurer, original patentee of the Massachu ...
(1590–1662), colonial treasurer, original patentee of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, author, founder of Springfield, Massachusetts
* Mel Lyman
Melvin James Lyman (March 24, 1938 – March 1978) was an American musician and writer, and the founder of the Fort Hill Community, which has been variously described as a family, commune, or cult.
Early life
Lyman grew up in California and Oreg ...
(1938-1978), musician, writer, and the founder of the Fort Hill Community commune.
See also
*
References
{{BostonMA
Historic districts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Streetcar suburbs
Roxbury, Boston
National Register of Historic Places in Boston
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts