West Roxbury 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 language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

bordered by

Roslindale Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby J ...

and

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 ...

to the northeast, the town of

Brookline Brookline may refer to: Places in the United States * Brookline, Massachusetts, a town near Boston * Brookline, Missouri * Brookline, New Hampshire * Brookline (Pittsburgh), a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * Brookline, Vermont See ...

to the north, the cities and towns of

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to the southwest. West Roxbury is often mistakenly confused with Roxbury, but, by around 6 miles, the two are not connected. West Roxbury is separated from Roxbury by Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. Pre-1630: Area is inhabited by the Wampanoag Indian Tribe. Founded in 1630 (contemporaneously with Boston), West Roxbury was originally part of the town of Roxbury and was mainly used as farmland. West Roxbury seceded from Roxbury in 1851, and was annexed by Boston in 1874. The town included the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. West Roxbury's main commercial thoroughfare is Centre Street. West Roxbury Main Streets is a local non-profit that works to enhance and promote the business district. The neighborhood has some two-family houses but mostly single family homes; many of Boston's civil servants live there. West Roxbury is home to District E-5 of the

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

Boston Emergency Medical Services Boston Emergency Medical Services (Boston EMS) provides basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS) ambulance units throughout the neighborhoods in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Boston EMS is a public safety agency respon ...

Ambulance 5 that posts at the intersection of West Roxbury Parkway at Centre St and Paramedic 5 stationed at the Faulkner Hospital provide EMS service, and there are two Boston fire stations, Ladder 25 & Engine 30 on Centre Street and Engine 55 on Washington Street. The Needham Branch 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 ...

Commuter Rail network has three stations in West Roxbury (

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

and

West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to the ...

). Several MBTA bus lines run through and/or terminate in West Roxbury. A large

Veterans Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

hospital is located opposite the Charles River on the VFW Parkway near the Dedham line. West Roxbury is home to several places of worship, including three Catholic parishes, churches of various Protestant denominations, and a Jewish synagogue. The neighborhood was home to an experimental transcendentalist

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

n community called

Brook Farm Brook Farm, also called the Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and EducationFelton, 124 or the Brook Farm Association for Industry and Education,Rose, 140 was a utopian experiment in communal living in the United States in the 1840s. It was f ...

, which attracted notable figures including Margaret Fuller and

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

, whose 1852 novel ''

The Blithedale Romance ''The Blithedale Romance'' (1852) is a novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is the third major "romance", as he called the form. Its setting is a utopian farming commune based on Brook Farm, of which Hawthorne was a founding member and ...

'' is based on his stay there. Like its neighboring communities, West Roxbury's residential development grew with the construction of the West Roxbury branch of the

Boston and Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the Rail transport in the United States, first rail ...

; the area grew further with the development of electric

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 are ...

Demographics

Until the 2000 census West Roxbury's population had been recorded as declining slightly, but it increased at the 2010 census. This could be due to more rigorous counting procedures instituted by the City of Boston and Massachusetts in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid losing the state's tenth congressional seat. :2010 Census 30,446 (4.9% of 617,594 citywide) :2000 Census 28,663 (4.9% of 589,141 citywide) :1990 Census 29,706 (5.2% of 574,383 citywide) :1980 Census 31,333 :Population growth/decline, 2000–2010: +6.2% :Population growth/decline, 1990–2000: -3.51% :Population growth/decline, 1980–1990: -5.19% West Roxbury has historically been a heavily

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

neighborhood. In the twentieth century, upwardly mobile Irish Americans moved to the neighborhood from elsewhere in Boston. By the first decade of the 21st century, an influx of new residents contributed to increased ethnic diversity in the neighborhood. The Irish Social Club of Boston, founded in Dorchester in 1945, moved its headquarters to West Roxbury in 1978, and had a membership of 15,000 in the mid-1970s.Matt Rocheleau
After 65 years, Irish Social Club of Boston closes abruptly
''Boston Globe'' (April 20, 2011). The club closed in 2011 due to financial troubles and declining membership (the club had around 300 members at the time, mostly seniors). Support from the city council and state lawmakers allowed the club to obtain a liquor license and reopen, and by 2013 the group had about 800 members. In March 1965, an investigative study of

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...

assessment practices published by the

National Tax Association The National Tax Association - Tax Institute of America (NTA) is a US non-profit, non-partisan organization committed to the study and discussion of public taxation, spending, and borrowing decisions by governments around the world. Since its fou ...

of 13,769 properties sold within the City of Boston under

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

John F. Collins from January 1, 1960 to March 31, 1964 found that the assessed values in Roxbury in 1962 were at 68 percent of market values while the assessed values in West Roxbury were at 41 percent of market values, and the researchers could not find a nonracial explanation for the difference.

Theodore Parker Church

At Centre and Corey Streets, the Theodore Parker Church features seven stained glass windows made by the Tiffany Studios between 1894 and 1927. The original church, designed in 1890 by

Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. (August 18, 1854, Portland, Maine – February 16, 1934, Portland) was an American architect and nephew of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Biography Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. was the son of Alexan ...

, is now a parish hall. Henry Seaver designed the current church in 1900.

Theodore Parker Theodore Parker (August 24, 1810 – May 10, 1860) was an American transcendentalist and reforming minister of the Unitarian church. A reformer and abolitionist, his words and popular quotations would later inspire speeches by Abraham Lincol ...

(1810–1860), an advocate of progressive religious ideas, abolitionism and women's suffrage, was minister of this Unitarian congregation from 1837 to 1846.

Westerly Burying Ground conflict and secession

Westerly Burying Ground, also known as Westerly Burial Ground, (currently at Centre and LaGrange Streets) was established in 1683 to permit local burial of residents of

and the western end of Roxbury. When West Roxbury was still part of Roxbury, the town's first burial place was what is today Eliot Burying Ground, near Dudley Square. This was a long distance to travel for the inhabitants of West Roxbury, and in 1683 the town selectmen voted to establish a local burying place, now known as Westerly Burying Ground. A conflict between the rural and more urbanised parts of the town led to the split of West Roxbury from Roxbury proper in 1851. West Roxbury became part of the City of Boston on 5 January 1874. Westerly Burying Ground served as this community's burial place well into the 19th century. The oldest graves contain many of the town's earliest and most prominent families. Eight veterans of 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 Revolut ...

and fifteen veterans of 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 ...

are also buried here. War veterans interred are detailed in the article ''“Westerly" and the Civil War''. The site has a large collection of three centuries of

funerary art Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

. One-third of its extant gravestones date from the 18th century; almost half date from the 19th century, and about twenty from the 20th-century. Westerly Burying Ground has many individual mound tombs; mound tombs at other burying grounds are typically larger, built to contain a number of bodies. The oldest gravestone, from 1691, commemorates James and Merriam Draper, members of a prominent West Roxbury family. Headstones, skilfully carved locally, provide an historic record of three centuries of West Roxbury residents.

Boston United Hand in Hand Cemetery

Boston United Hand in Hand Cemetery is located on Centre Street straddling the Dedham line. Dating back to 1875, the original plot was full by 1896 but subsequently expanded multiple times. There are graves as recent as 1980 in the West Roxbury portion; the Dedham portion is still active. Chestnut Hill's Congregation Mishka Tefila currently owns the cemetery.

Government and infrastructure

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 West Roxbury Post Office in West Roxbury. West Roxbury is represented by a city councilor,

Matt O'Malley Matthew Joseph O'Malley is an American politician and businessman who served as president of the Boston City Council in 2021. He was elected as the District 6 representative in a special election on November 16, 2010, and was re-elected in 2011 ...

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 ...

operates public schools. Ludwig van Beethoven Elementary School, William Ohrenberger School, Joyce Kilmer K-8 School, and Patrick Lyndon K-8 School are in West Roxbury. The three schools in the

West Roxbury Education Complex West Roxbury Educational Complex (formerly West Roxbury High School) was a high school complex within Boston Public Schools located in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. (1976 – 2019) History The School was located on ...

, Media Communications Technology High School,

Parkway Academy of Technology and Health A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

, and the

Urban Science Academy Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

were located in West Roxbury, but closed in 2019 due to structural issues in the building. The

Roxbury Latin School The Roxbury Latin School is a private boys' day school that was founded in 1645 in the town of Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts) by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. It bills ...

, a private school for boys, is located in West Roxbury. 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 Holy Name Parish School as well as the St. Theresa of Avila School in West Roxbury.

Catholic Memorial School Catholic Memorial (CM) is an all-boys college preparatory school (grades 7–12) located in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and is administered by the Congregation of Christian ...

, which is an all boys middle and high school, is located on Baker Street.

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 West Roxbury Branch Library. In 1876 the city library took over the West Roxbury Free Library, establishing a delivery station in West Roxbury. The West Roxbury facility was upgraded to a library branch in 1896. In the years of 1921 and 1922 a library building was constructed on the West Roxbury Branch Library current site. In 1973, a fire destroyed the adjacent West Roxbury Congregational Church. The land formerly occupied by the church was donated to the trustees of the library system so an addition could be built. The addition opened to the public on 24 September 1989.

Events

The Corrib Classic 5K Road Race is held annually at Billings Field, LaGrange Street, the first Sunday in June. Since starting in 1994 with 250 runners the event has grown into the largest community event, attracting about 2000 runners, plus event volunteers, families and friends. Centre and Lagrange Streets are briefly closed during the race. It is a benefit event hosted by the Bligh family of the adjacent Corrib Pub and Restaurant that has raised over half a million dollars over the years for a variety of local causes. The Parkway Little League Parade, is a small event to start little league baseball and softball for the areas of West Roxbury and Roslindale. Young baseball and softball players dress up in their team uniforms and march from Fallon field in Roslindale to the Guy Cammarata Complex in West Roxbury. The Shamrock Shootout is an annual street hockey tournament that takes place in West Roxbury. The event was started in 2008 for neighborhood kids who had school off for Evacuation Day. The tournament is free with registration.

Notable natives

Edward Downes Sir Edward Thomas ("Ted") Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera. He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for hi ...

, musicologist and radio quizmaster *

Anthony Michael Hall Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor best known for his leading role as Johnny Smith in '' The Dead Zone'' from 2002 to 2007. He also rose to fame starring in films with ...

* Patrick DeCoste *

Robert Gould Shaw Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863) was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born into a prominent Boston abolitionist family, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment (the 54th Mas ...

Francis A. Sullivan Francis Alfred Sullivan (May 21, 1922 – October 23, 2019) was an American Catholic theologian and a Jesuit priest, best known for his research in the area of ecclesiology and the magisterium. Early life and Jesuit formation Francis "Frank ...

Willis Lent Willis Ashford Lent (January 5, 1904 – August 28, 1959), nicknamed "Pilly", was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. Serving as commanding officer of the submarine ''Triton'' aDictionary of American fighting ships during the Second Worl ...

Chris Nilan Christopher John Nilan (born February 9, 1958) is an American former professional ice hockey player and former radio host. Nilan played 688 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season games as a right-wing for the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bru ...

, former NHL player and coach. *

Richard Olney Richard Olney (September 15, 1835 – April 8, 1917) was an American statesman. He served as United States Attorney General in the cabinet of Grover Cleveland and Secretary of State under Cleveland. As attorney general, Olney used injunct ...

, former United States Attorney General and Secretary of State. *

Dan Kiley Daniel Urban Kiley (2 September 1912 – 21 February 2004) was an American landscape architect, who worked in the style of modern architecture. Kiley designed over one-thousand landscape projects including Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis ...

, modernist landscape architect *

Ellery Clark Ellery Harding Clark (March 13, 1874 – July 27, 1949) was an American track and field athlete and a writer. He was the first modern Olympic champion in high jump and long jump.Clark, Former Olympic Champion, Dies at 75, ''Daily Southern Indepe ...

, U.S. Olympic champion, Athens 1896. *

Taylor Schilling Taylor Jane Schilling (born July 27, 1984) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Piper Chapman on the Netflix original comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she received a nomination for the Pr ...

, actress *

Thomas G. Kelley Thomas Gunning Kelley (born May 13, 1939) is an American veteran and retired captain in the United States Navy who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War. From 2003 to 2011 he served as Secretary of the Massachusetts ...

, Medal of Honor recipient (Vietnam War) * William Martin, novelist *

Rich Cronin Richard Burton Cronin (August 30, 1974September 8, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter and rapper, best known for being the lead singer and primary songwriter for the pop and hip hop group LFO. Early life and education Cronin was born in ...

, singer, songwriter, lead singer for LFO *

Sears Gallagher Sears Gallagher (1869–1955) was a prolific, commercially successful American artist proficient in multiple media: drawing, etching, watercolor and oil painting. His work consists largely of landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes depicting his ...

, noted American artist *

Joe Nash Joseph Andrew Nash (born October 11, 1960) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a defensive lineman for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) from 1982 to 1996. Originally a n ...

, former NFL player. *

Alfred Clifton Hughes Alfred Clifton Hughes, Order of the Holy Sepulchre, KCHS (born December 2, 1932) is a retired United States, American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the 13th archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archdioce ...

, former Roman Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans. * Kevin Hagan White, 20-year mayor of the City of Boston * Ron Perry, Holy Cross basketball * Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Air BnB * Bart Jones, world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner

Sites of interest

The Roxbury Latin School The Roxbury Latin School is a private boys' day school that was founded in 1645 in the town of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts) by the Rev. John Eliot (missionary), John Eliot under a charter rec ...

Bellevue Standpipe Bellevue Standpipe is a historic water storage tank on Bellevue Hill at Washington Street and West Roxbury Parkway in the Stony Brook Reservation of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1914, it is one of three early 20th-century water tanks built ...

, Bellevue Hill, Stony Brook Reservation *

Holy Name Parish School Holy Name Church in West Roxbury is a Roman Catholic church of the Archdiocese of Boston. Among the largest and most distinguished buildings in the western section of Boston, the imposing Romanesque Revival church dominates the rotary where it is ...

Saint Teresa of Ávila In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

Church (Roman Catholic) *

Westerly Burial Ground The Westerly Burial Ground (also known as Westerly Burying Ground) is an historic cemetery on Centre Street in the West Roxbury, Massachusetts, West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1683, it is Boston's seventh-oldes ...

Church *

West Roxbury Branch *

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center nea ...

Newton Conservators
/ref> *

—1840s utopian experiment in communal living * City of Boston Archives *

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

Hospital * Annunciation Melkite Catholic Cathedral Located on the VFW Parkway

Gallery

Image:WesterlyBG.JPG, Westerly Burying Ground, general view Image:WesterlyBG2.JPG, Westerly Burying Ground, close-up 1 Image:WesterlyBG3.JPG, Westerly Burying Ground, close-up 2 Image:Theodore_Parker_Church.JPG, Theodore Parker Church (Unitarian) Image:1921Branch.JPG, West Roxbury Free Library, 1921-2 wing Image:Centre Street, West Roxbury.jpg, Centre Street, West Roxbury's main artery Image:Saint_Theresa_WR.JPG, Saint Teresa of Ávila Church (Roman Catholic)

References

External links

West Roxbury neighborhood page
o
City of Boston website

West Roxbury History Page

Guide to the Town of West Roxbury records
City of Boston Archives
1858 Map of Norfolk County
by Henry F. Walling, which included West Roxbury at that time. A very large and detailed color map. Also see the detailed side map of Jamaica Plain on the top left side of the map.
Suffolk County Atlas
West Roxbury maps: 1874, 1896, 1905, 1914
West Roxbury Historical Society

Theodore Parker Church

West Roxbury Branch Library

– photograph, Railroad History Archive,

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

Libraries Collection.
West Roxbury Women's Club records, 1965–1973
located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA. {{Coord, 42, 16, 45, N, 71, 08, 58, W, type:city_region:US-MA, display=title Former municipalities in Boston Neighborhoods in Boston Defunct towns in Massachusetts Irish-American neighborhoods Streetcar suburbs