![Mattapan bus loop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Mattapan_bus_loop.JPG)
Mattapan () is a
neighborhood 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 ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. 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 area, possibly meaning "a place to sit." At the 2010 census, it had a population of 36,480, with the majority of its population immigrants.
Like other neighborhoods of the late 19th and early 20th century, Mattapan developed, residentially and commercially, as the railroads and streetcars made downtown Boston increasingly accessible. Predominantly residential, Mattapan is a mix of public housing, small apartment buildings, single-family houses, and two- and three-family houses (known locally as "Three-Deckers" or
"Triple-Deckers"). Blue Hill Avenue and Mattapan Square, where Blue Hill Avenue, River Street, and Cummins Highway meet, are the commercial heart of the neighborhood, home to banks, law offices, restaurants, and retail shops. The new Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public library opened 2009, at a cost of more than $4 million. Mattapan has a large portion of green space within the neighborhood. The
Harambee Park, the Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, Clark-Cooper Community Gardens, and historic Forest Hill Cemetery can all be considered green space within the neighborhood of Mattapan. Mattapan's demographics are diverse, with a large population of
Haitians, Caribbean immigrants, and African Americans.
Mattapan has public services such as a recently renovated community health center, and constable services. Mattapan has a trolley running through it, which is accessible via
Ashmont.
History
Indigenous
Mattapan was named and first inhabited by
Native Americans. Although humans are
known to have inhabited eastern North America for at least 15,000 years, the presence of a
continental ice sheet extending south to the level of Long Island and Cape Cod would have limited human habitation in Mattapan until the end of the
last Ice Age, about 11,700 years ago. Sea level rise since then and disruption of soil layers from urban development in Boston limit the earliest confirmed settlements in the Mattapan area to the Woodland period beginning 2000 years ago, when the archaeological record attests to hunting, fishing, and shellfish gathering around 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 ...
and quarrying for stone points in the
Blue Hills.
Mattapan was the name given by
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 ...
Native Americans to an area north of the Neponset River, possibly meaning "a sitting down place" related to ''mattappu'' or "he sits down." It fell within the area controlled by the Neponset sachem
Chickatawbut at the time of contact with English explorers and settlers in the early seventeenth century. Although the Massachusett practiced a seasonally shifting settlement pattern, they have left a lasting impact on the layout of current day Mattapan in the form of footpaths that were adopted and eventually transformed into roadways by later settlers: Mattapan and
Lower Mills were the main fords of the Neponset River prior to contact, and present day Adams St and River St connected Mattapan to fishing weirs at Lower Mills and the Muddy River outlet, while Squantum St and Central Ave in Milton connected it to shell fishing at
Moswetuset Hummock and quarrying in the
Blue Hills, respectively.
Dorchester was settled by English colonists in 1630 and a source from 1634 lists ''"Matampan"'' as the Massachusett name for Dorchester.
Virgin soil epidemic
Virgin soil epidemic is a term coined by Alfred Crosby, who defined it as epidemics "in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenseless." His c ...
s ravaged the Massachusett in the early 1600s, with
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 ...
killing Chickatawbut and a large portion of his 3000 warriors in 1633, after which his brother and successor as sachem,
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 ...
sold large portions of Massachusett land along the Neponset River. Migration of Massachusett to
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 ...
s in the mid-1600s and forced internment of Native Americans during
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
led to further declines in native influence on Mattapan, though
later Massachusett sachems still held and sold title to lands in Dorchester.
Twentieth Century
At the turn of the 20th century, the population of Mattapan was largely Caucasian, but starting in the late 1960s, blockbusting intentionally designed to destabilize the neighborhood drove many long-term residents out of Mattapan. In the 1980s, a significant number of Haitians immigrated to Mattapan, leading to the current demographic population. Mattapan has become an important center for the Haitian cultural, social, and political life in the state of Massachusetts. As of 2015, Mattapan also has a large population of African Americans, Jamaicans, and other Caribbean immigrants.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Mattapan underwent a major change in the makeup of its population. It shifted from a predominantly
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
neighborhood to one that is now largely
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 ...
and
Caribbean American
Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time mostly to Africa, as well as Asia, the ...
having a population of 37,486 that is over 77% African American and Caribbean American.
The period from 1968 to 1970 made up the most dramatic period of ethnic transition in Boston. Hillel Levine and Lawrence Harmon, in their 1991 book ''The Death of an American Jewish Community'', argue that
redlining
In the United States, redlining is a discriminatory practice in which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as "hazardous" to investment; these neighborhoods have signif ...
,
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 ho ...
, and fear in neighborhood residents created by real estate agents brought about
panic selling
Panic selling is a large-scale selling of an investment that causes a sharp decline in prices. Specifically, an investor wants to sell an investment with little regard to the price obtained. The sale is problematic because the investor is reacting ...
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 ...
. The banking
consortium
A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
Boston Banks Urban Renewal Group (B-BURG) allegedly drove the Jewish community out of Mattapan and are held partially responsible for the ensuing deterioration of the neighborhood, especially along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor. According to Levine and Harmon, the reason behind this orchestrated attack on the community was to lower market values to buy property, sell the housing with federally guaranteed loans at inflated prices to black families who could not afford it, and to get the white community to buy property owned by the banks in the suburbs.
Gerald Gamm disputes these allegations in his 1999 book ''Urban Exodus'', arguing that differences between the Jewish and Catholic communities in Boston constituted the greater contributing factor. As Jewish people moved out of Mattapan,
Caribbean Americans and
African Americans
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 ...
began to move in.
Demographics
According to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 67.3% of households are family based rather than single men and women or couples. It was also noted that Mattapan has among the highest percentage of people who speak French in their homes.
Based on percentages in Mattapan, the cost of living is 8% lower than Boston, the total crime rate is 27% higher compared to Boston, the number of high school graduates are 11% lower than Boston, employment is 9% lower, and housing is 23% lower than Boston.
The majority of homes in Mattapan are triple decker apartment buildings.
Today Mattapan is seeing another major population shift, albeit a natural turn over of housing, as a large number of immigrants from Haiti and other Caribbean countries continue to move in. Mattapan now has the largest Haitian community in Massachusetts, and is also largely made up of African Americans and immigrants from other Caribbean countries.
In 2013 the population in Mattapan was 36,299. Of this total 11% were Caucasian, 82% were African American, 1% were Asian, 2% were a mixed race, and 6.5% were devoted to other races. According to the Boston Redevelopment Authority 72.4% of the population living in Mattapan were born in Massachusetts, 23.6% were born outside of the state, and 3.2% were born outside of the United States. Of those born outside of the United States 33.2% were born in Haiti and 17.2% were born in Jamaica. For the total adult population, 38.9% graduated from high school, while only 14.7% have a bachelor's degree. The median household income in Mattapan is $44,744.
There are an average of 12,345 people per square mile.
Citizenship
Approximately 35.6% of Mattapan's population is foreign born, and slightly more than half of those who are foreign born have become United States citizens (53.8% of foreign born citizens). Since 1980, the majority of Mattapan has been inhabited by foreign born citizens, and until about 1990 many of these foreign born inhabitants became U.S. citizens; after the 1990s, many people who immigrated to the United States did not become U.S. citizens
The largest percentage of the population who were immigrants to the United States are Haitian (33.2%), while Jamaicans and
Trinidadians
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...
make up about 27.6% of Mattapan's population.
Languages
Though Mattapan is racially diverse, the predominant language is English. About 18.9% of the population speak French; this includes the Patois, Creole, and Cajun languages. A small portion of the population speak Portuguese Creole (0.3%)
The languages spoken at home also vary from age; for example, approximately 68.2% of children who are 5–17 years old speak only English, while 16.9% of those children speak other Indo-European languages.
Among adults aged 18–24 years, 23.4% speak other Indo-European languages; while 63.9% of adults who are 18 to 24 years old speak English
House prices and types of houses
As of 2010, the average cost of purchasing a home in Mattapan was $248,833. The neighborhood is made up of mostly triple decker apartments, and the cost of living is about 33% higher than the national average. A total of 64.3% of people living in Mattapan are renting, while the other 35.7% are home owners.
Income status
The median household income status for someone residing in Mattapan is around $44,744 per year as of 2011.
[http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/getattachment/567a4b40-56c9-4ef4-8bea-92ed600171dd ] 71.3% of the residents working in Mattapan are blue collar workers and the remaining 28.7% are white collar workers. About 64.5% of households are family households, the other 35.5% of the people living in Mattapan are not family households. The medium family income is around $54,119.
As of 2011 26.2% of households received food stamps/SNAP. Out of that percentage 49.5% of those households were under the poverty level.
Transportation
![PCC 3238 at Mattapan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/PCC_3238_at_Mattapan.jpg)
The
Mattapan-Ashmont trolley line of the
MBTA
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 ...
serves Mattapan as well as several bus routes. In the beginning of 2016, the Mattapan trolley was in danger of being derailed and being transformed into bus routes instead, which would be more cost effective than keeping the trolley as rail line. However, Boston officials have fought to cancel this transformation
because although this would be more cost effective, property values would decrease and would "most importantly, torpedo a mixed-use, mixed-income residential-retail project slated for the Mattapan station parking lot".
At this point in time, the project to convert the Trolley into buses will not be carried out.
The Fairmount Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail also serves Mattapan at the Morton Street and Blue Hill Avenue stations, providing service to downtown Boston and the suburbs. The Fairmount Corridor Commuter Rail Line currently runs from South Station south through the Boston neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and terminates in Readville section of Hyde Park. It consists of approximately 9.2 miles of track, nine stations (South Station, Newmarket, Uphams Corner, Four Corners / Geneva, Talbot Avenue, Morton Street, Blue Hill Avenue, Fairmount, and Readville) and forty-one bridges. It is the only Commuter Rail Branch that exclusively serves the City of Boston and MBTA's Urban Core.
Government and infrastructure
![2012 District 4 Boston City Council electoral districts map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/2012_District_4_Boston_City_Council_electoral_districts_map.jpg)
The
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
operates the Mattapan Post Office.
Mattapan is mainly made up of triple and double decker houses. Each apartment of the triple/double deckers consist of three bedrooms, kitchen, one bathroom and living room. They were designed to house small unit families. Mattapan also has a few apartment style buildings. Some of these can be found on River Street. Most apartment complexes have a maximum of three bedrooms. These apartments were built recently and an example of this is Mattapan Heights, which was an abandoned rehabilitation facility that was then turned into a gated community with major townhouse apartment styles. Other types of housing are ‘School Housing by Lower Mills’, these complexes are new development in the community.
Recreation Areas/ Green Space
Ryan's Playground provides water sprinklers, swings and other activities for children to enjoy. Almont Park and Hunt's Park are also fun for kids as they provide a range of sporting facilities such as tennis courts, basketball courts and more.
Shopping Districts- Mattapan Square is the shopping district hub, featuring multiple stores. A few of these stores are Rainbow clothing, Payless, A Nail Gallery, CVS pharmacy and other stores. A few are locally owned and others are franchises. These infrastructures are well grouped together as there is a very high density among the physical structures in Mattapan.
The Affordable Housing plan in Mattapan is available to residents who have little income. Affordable housing is housing deemed affordable to those with a median household income
as rated by country, State (province), region or municipality by a recognized Housing Affordability Index. A few of these apartments are; Morton Apartments, Gallivan Boston Low Rent Public Housing Apartments, Cummins Highway Condo and Mattapan Center For Life.
Green space
*
Harambee Park was built in 1898, 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- ...
, the famous American Landscape architect. Originally known as Franklin Field, named after
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
.
*
The Franklin Park Zoo founded in 1912, "Is considered the crown jewel of the Frederick Law Olmsted's
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 appears ...
Park System.
* The Boston Nature Center and Wild Life Sanctuary is a hidden gem and pride of Mattapan spreading across 67 acres. It is home to over 150 species of bird, 40 species of butterflies and more than 350 species of plants. It has Clark-Cooper
Community Garden
A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plo ...
providing options of fresh food and green spaces to over 250 local families. It also has two miles of trails through meadows and woodlands.
* The Forest Hills Cemetery is a prime example of rural garden cemetery. It has both historic and culture significance of Boston. Founded in 1848 to, "provide a magnificent park-like setting to bury and remember family and friends. It has been added to
the National register of Historic Places in 2004.
Education
Primary and secondary schools
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 ...
(BPS) operates public schools in Mattapan. Ellison/Parks Early Education School is in Mattapan. Elementary schools include James J. Chittick, Mattahunt, and Charles H. Taylor. Mildred Avenue K-8 School is located in Mattapan. The Young Achievers Science and Mathematics Pilot K-8 School, a BPS school, occupies the former campus of Solomon Lewenberg Middle School, which closed in 2009.
Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
The Archdiocese of Boston ( la, Archidiœcesis Bostoniensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the New England region of the United States. Its territorial remit encompasses the whole of ...
operates the Mattapan Square Campus. (Formally the Saint Angela Merci elementary school)
In Mattapan there are seven schools ranging from preschools to middle schools. There are five public schools and two private schools located in the Mattapan neighborhood. There are twenty one preschools, eight elementary schools, and three middle schools. The five public schools are all part of the Boston Public School system. In terms of statistics 40% of male and 33.9% of female students received their high school diplomas.
Mattapan schools have received high quality reviews from parents and the Dr. Catherine Ellison-Rosa Parks Early Education School has received a 5 out of 5 star rating on education.com.
In accordance with the Boston Public School system the mission of the Mattapan schools are to meet the needs of their students, whether it be through disabilities or language barriers. Also, parents or guardians have the right to school choice in order to meet the needs of their children.
Adult education
Mattapan has a population of 3983 (12.2%) with no high school education.
Healthcare
Mattapan Community Health Center, located in heart of the Blue Hill Avenue, has been providing community and public health services to the Mattapan and
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
communities for more than 40 years and it is also the only healthy center in the city. It is the primary source of care and resource for its residents and community members.
Its mission is to, "Improve the quality of life for residents of Mattapan and surrounding communities by providing comprehensive, accessible, affordable and culturally appropriate community health care services, including primary and preventive health care services". It is also the founding partner of the Boston HealthNet and it is affiliated with
Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center (BMC) is a non-profit 514-bed academic medical center in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest safety-net hospital and Level I trauma center in New England.
BMC employs 1,466 physicians—including 711 residents and f ...
and
Brigham & Women's Hospital
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two f ...
.
* Mattapan Adult Day Health Program Founded in 1980, it has been providing day health services to senior living in Boston areas.
Services in Mattapan
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 Commonweal ...
operates the Mattapan Branch Library. On December 18, 1849 a Mattapan resident named Increase S. Smith opened the Mattapan Library Association. In 1870
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester ...
, which included Mattapan, was annexed into Boston. The Mattapan branch began as a reading room attached to the Oakland Hall Building's delivery station. In 1923 the reading room was declared a branch of the Boston Public Library. On June 22, 1931 the Mattapan Library Branch opened on Hazelton Street. The current library opened on February 28, 2009 at 1350 Blue Hill Avenue.
[Mattapan Branch Library]
." 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 Commonweal ...
. Retrieved on May 23, 2010.
Notable people
*
Dana Barros
Dana Bruce Barros (born April 13, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player from the National Basketball Association (NBA). In college, he played at Boston College, finishing as one of the school's all-time leading scorers. He wa ...
– Former player in the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
and member of the
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
*
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
– Conductor and composer
*
Big Shug – Rapper under DJ Premier and Guru of Gang Starr
*
Thomas M. Finneran – Massachusetts politician
*
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. Fol ...
– jazz critic and social commentator
*
Lillian B. Miller—American art historian,
National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
*
Bill Owens - Massachusetts state politician
*
Theodore White
Theodore Harold White (, May 6, 1915 – May 15, 1986) was an American political journalist and historian, known for his reporting from China during World War II and the ''Making of the President'' series.
White started his career reporting for ...
– author, political commentator
*
Sean C Fielder
Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish language, Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (Anglicisation of names, anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn (giv ...
- Tap Dancer - Founder of The Boston Tap Company - Broadway National Tour of Bringin Da Noise Bringin Da Funk - Missy Elliot's Da Rain Supa Dupa Fly
Notes
External links
Governor Bradford's Letter Book Letter from Plymouth Deacon Samuel Fuller to Plymouth Governor William Bradford, June 28, 1630
New York Times book review of ''Urban Exodus: Why the Jews Left Boston and the Catholics Stayed''.
*Death of an American Jewish Community ().
A Harvard University urban program.
Historian Francis Russell on ethnic change in Mattapan– from Russell's book "The Knave of Boston & Other Ambiguous Massachusetts Characters"
MyKidsWay.com– Educational Resources for Children to Multiply their knowledge and Skills"
{{Coord, 42, 16, 20, N, 71, 05, 13, W, type:city_region:US-MA, display=title
African-American history in Boston
Caribbean-American culture in Massachusetts
Dorchester, Boston
Haitian-American culture in Massachusetts
Historic Jewish communities in the United States
Jamaican-American history
Streetcar suburbs
Neighborhoods in Boston