How large is the South End neighborhood of Boston?
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The South End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is bordered by Back Bay, Chinatown, and Roxbury. It is distinguished from other neighborhoods by its Victorian style houses and the many parks in and around the area. The South End is the largest intact Victorian row house district in the country, which is made up of over 300 acres. Eleven residential parks are scattered around the South End. In 1973, the South End was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The construction of the South End began in 1849 when the neighborhood was built on tidal marshes.
South End, Boston
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Although all neighborhoods in Boston suffer from crime, the city has a comparatively low incidence of street crime. The South End is large enough that some parts can be known for street crime while others are family friendly. Those parts include the Villa Victoria Affordable Housing, the Cathedral Housing Projects, and some areas west of Mass. Ave. The South End has more public playgrounds per square foot than other Boston neighborhoods. The South End is known as an increasingly upper middle class neighborhood, although is still home to many lower income residents. Some long-time residents are being pushed out by rising rents and property taxes. Because of a strong low-income agenda from the city, its recent (until the 1970s) history of impoverishment, and the presence of several low income housing projects, the South End will likely remain economically and racially diverse.
South End, Boston
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The land belonging to the South End has been part of the city of Boston since its creation, though at the time of first settlement it was much smaller and surrounded by large tidal flats. The neighborhood was expanded and developed by filling in the marshlands, part of a larger project of the filling of Boston's Back Bay (north and west of Washington Street) and South Bay (south and east of Washington Street), from the 1830s to the 1870s. Fill was brought in by trains from large trenches of gravel excavated in Needham, Massachusetts. The South End was filled and developed before the neighborhood now known as Back Bay, which was mostly built after the American Civil War. Nineteenth-century technology did not allow for driving steel piles into bedrock, and instead a system of submerged timbers provided an understructure for most South End buildings. Recent decreases in underground water levels have caused damage to some wood pilings by exposing them to air. A series of monitoring wells have been drilled and the water level is now checked by the Boston Groundwater Trust, and can be adjusted by the introduction of water.
South End, Boston
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As the South End geographically grew from filling in land north and west of "the Neck" (today's Washington Street) the city of Boston envisioned a large inner city residential neighborhood to relieve the crowded downtown and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. The city also hoped for a large and stable tax base. Architect Charles Bulfinch laid out some of the first filled land. He designed a large residential park called Columbia Square located at the present Franklin and Blackstone Squares. Bulfinch's plan was to route traffic around the square, not through it. Eventually his plan was abandoned and Washington street was allowed to once more divide the square creating today's separate squares.
South End, Boston
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The West End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bounded generally by Cambridge Street to the south, the Charles River to the west and northwest, North Washington Street on the north and northeast, and New Sudbury Street on the east. Beacon Hill is to the south, and the North End is to the east. A late 1950s urban renewal project razed a large Italian and Jewish enclave in order to redevelop the area.
West End, Boston
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As the city of Boston has grown and evolved, its neighborhoods have changed as well. The names of the West End, North End, and South End refer to their positions on the Shawmut Peninsula, the original extent of Boston. Due to the annexation of surrounding communities, those neighborhoods are no longer at those geographic extremities. The Back Bay and Bay Village neighborhoods were formerly part of an actual bay, becoming the neighborhoods they are today after landfill projects expanded the size of the city. Brighton (including Allston), Charlestown, Dorchester (including South Boston, Mid Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park), Roxbury (including West Roxbury, Roslindale and Jamaica Plain), have all at some point been municipalities independent from downtown Boston, providing a source of well-defined boundaries for the largest areas.
Neighborhoods in Boston
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The Boston Fire Department is still largely segregated. The current composition of firehouses largely depends on the neighborhood in which it is located. In the more affluent South End neighborhood, all 19 firefighters are white while in the rougher area of Hyde Park (Cleary Square) 38 of the 41 firefighters identify as minority. As of 2010, exactly 37 years after the court decree, one third of Boston firefighters are minorities. White firefighters were found to be positioned in the busiest fire units as opposed to minorities. In the busiest firehouses of Boston, 22% are minorities and 78% are white. Furthermore, 90 percent of firefighters hired since the consent decree ended in 2003 are more likely to be promoted than minorities.
Boston Society of Vulcans
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The South End Historical Society or is a non-profit community organization founded in 1966, and dedicated to the preservation of the built environment and revitalization of the South End neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. In 1972, the South End neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as the largest extant Victorian rowhouse district in the United States. In 1983, the district achieved designation as a Boston Landmark District, by the Boston Landmarks Commission, bringing with it legal protection and public review of alterations to buildings within the district.
South End Historical Society
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Though housing in the South End is very expensive by U.S. and Greater Boston standards—it is rare to find a one bedroom condo for less than $400,000—the South End remains less expensive than the wealthiest central Boston neighborhoods (Beacon Hill and the Back Bay).
South End, Boston
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The South End is conveniently located within the radius of three public libraries. The closest to this neighborhood is the South End Branch of the Boston Public Library. It has different hours of operation, so plan accordingly if interested in visiting this location. The South End Branch has a diverse collection of popular and scholarly materials for adults and children. This library offers local history documents, DVDs, CDs, and audiobooks for adults, and recurring programs for children. Programs for adults include monthly book discussion groups and a weekly English conversation class. A community center that is located right in the South End is the Blackstone Community Center located on West Brookline Street, the hours of operations are vary depending on the day. The Blackstone Community Center is one of 35 community centers that are for youth and families and it is the only one that serves the South End and lower Roxbury neighborhoods. The mission of Blackstone is to enhance the quality of life for Boston residents by "supporting children, youth, and families through a wide range of programs and services. The Blackstone offers many programs to children and adults. Two major hospitals that are located in the South End are Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine. The South End also has the South End Community Health Center. The South End Community Health Center is a board governed non-profit "comprehensive, health care organization for all residents of the South End and the surrounding communities", according to their homepage they "are committed to providing the highest quality, culturally and linguistically sensitive, coordinated health care and social services to every patient, regardless of their ability to pay". They offer many different kinds of services from Adult Medicine, Behavioral Health, Dental Care to Nutrition to name a few.
South End, Boston