{"id":3027,"date":"2019-04-01T14:56:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T14:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/?page_id=3027"},"modified":"2024-05-31T16:01:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T16:01:13","slug":"dorchester","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/","title":{"rendered":"Dorchester"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1554315047717{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Postcard showing Dorchester Avenue near the corner of Savin Hill Avenue, ca 1913. Courtesy of the Dorchester Historical Society.<\/em><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text]<style>.vcex-heading.vcex_69e772be5c4d3{font-size:36px;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-heading vcex-heading-plain vcex-module wpex-heading wpex-text-2xl vc_custom_1554130724938 vcex_69e772be5c4d3\"><span class=\"vcex-heading-inner wpex-inline-block\">Dorchester<\/span><\/div>[vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1717171260456{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]Puritans began settling in Dorchester in 1630, many of them coming from Dorsetshire, England, which inspired the town\u2019s name. Their first houses and a fort were built in the Savin Hill area, along what would become Pleasant Street. Later settlements developed in what is now Field\u2019s Corner and Mattapan Square.<\/p>\n<p>During the mid-1800s, an influx of Irish Catholic immigrants changed the ethnic and religious makeup of the area, particularly in the northern end of Dorchester closest to Boston and along the Neponset River where a chocolate factory and other mills offered employment. Efforts to build a Catholic Church in Dorchester met significant resistance from native-born Protestant residents. In 1854, a partially constructed church building in Lower Mills was destroyed in a fire that many believed was set by the Know-Nothings, a nativist political group. Eight years later, the Boston Archdiocese established St. Gregory parish in the same area, and a new church building was erected in 1863.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3033\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3033\" style=\"width: 408px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/371_dorchester_ma_st_peters_church_\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3033\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3033\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/371_dorchester_ma_st_peters_church_.jpg\" alt=\"St. Peter Catholic Church in Meeting House Hill, a predominantly Irish-Catholic parish founded in 1872.\" width=\"408\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/371_dorchester_ma_st_peters_church_.jpg 546w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/371_dorchester_ma_st_peters_church_-248x300.jpg 248w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 408px) 100vw, 408px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3033\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>St. Peter Catholic Church in Meeting House Hill, ca. 1915, a predominantly Irish-Catholic parish at the time. Courtesy of the Dorchester Historical Society.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Over the course of the 19th century, Dorchester\u2019s growing population transformed the region from farmland into a more suburban environment, attracting migrants who needed access to the city. In the 1830s and 1840s, the Boston &amp; Providence and Old Colony railroad lines came to Dorchester, and in 1857, an electric tram service made Dorchester a \u201cstreetcar suburb,\u201d\u00a0spurring the construction of single-family homes. In 1870, the City of Boston annexed the town of Dorchester, and its population would surge from 12,000 to more than 100,000 by the early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n<p>Around this time, a second Catholic parish, St. Peter, was established to serve the growing Catholic immigrant communities of north Dorchester.\u00a0 The construction of St. Peter\u2019s church in Meeting House Hill began in 1872 and was spearheaded by Father Peter Rowan, an Irish immigrant who raised building funds from nearby Irish female domestics, along with financial contributions from their non-Catholic employers. The huge gothic church, topped by a grand tower, seated more than a thousand and could be seen for miles around. In the ensuing decades, the parish built a rectory, school, and convent and spun off several other Catholic parishes including St. Margaret, St. Leo, and St. Paul.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning in the 1890s, triple decker residences became common in Dorchester. Generally built along the streetcar lines, these structures appealed to builders because they cost considerably less than other dwellings. <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/italians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Italian<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/irish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Irish<\/a>, Polish, and <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/jews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jewish<\/a> immigrants all lived in these multi-family dwellings, and by 1910 the foreign born made up 27 percent of Dorchester\u2019s population. Immigrants from Ireland, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/canadians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canada<\/a>, and Russia (mainly Jews) made up the largest percentages, respectively. The foreign-born population continued to grow for the next twenty years, peaking at 30 percent in 1930, with notable increases in Italians, Poles, and Lithuanians.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3055\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3055\" style=\"width: 541px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/franklin-park-theater-copy\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3055\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3055\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Franklin-Park-theater-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"541\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Franklin-Park-theater-copy.jpg 954w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Franklin-Park-theater-copy-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Franklin-Park-theater-copy-768x536.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 541px) 100vw, 541px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3055\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Blue Hill Avenue near Columbia Road, 1949. Located in the heart of Jewish Dorchester, the Franklin Park Theater originally featured Yiddish productions but later became a popular movie theater. Courtesy of Boston City Archives<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Around the turn of the century, many\u00a0Italians\u00a0moved away from the <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/the-north-end\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North End<\/a> to Dorchester, while others came directly from Italy. They gathered around Quincy, Dacia, and Dove Streets, with some also residing along\u00a0Norfolk Avenue\u00a0and Willow Court. Beginning in the 1890s, Jews also moved out of the older downtown districts. They settled along Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester and Upper <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/roxbury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roxbury<\/a>, alongside a small but growing African American population. In 1912, a group of Jewish families built Dorchester\u2019s first synagogue, Beth El, located on Fowler Street in the Mount Bowdoin district.\u00a0 By the 1920s, there were at least 25 synagogues serving Dorchester\u2019s booming Jewish population.<\/p>\n<p>After World War II, Dorchester experienced continuous and radical demographic changes. Dorchester Jews left for the suburbs of Brookline and Newton, following their synagogues, which could relocate relatively easily. Others were motivated to move when the Boston Banks Urban Renewal Group removed racial restrictions on mortgage lending to black buyers in 1968, which led to block busting and racial turnover in the area. Irish American and other white ethnic groups also left Dorchester during these years, but did so more slowly because of ties to local Catholic parishes that could not relocate. By the time new waves of immigrants began to call Boston home in the 1960s and 1970s, many former Jewish neighborhoods in Dorchester were now predominantly Black.<\/p>\n<p>New immigrant groups began to migrate more steadily into the Boston area following the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which facilitated migration by dissolving discriminatory quotas. Dorchester became a key receiving area for groups such as <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/haitians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Haitians<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/cape-verdeans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cape Verdeans<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/west-indians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">West Indians<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/dominicans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dominicans<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/vietnamese\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vietnamese<\/a>. By 2015, these New Bostonians&#8211;predominantly people of color&#8211;constituted more than a third of Dorchester\u2019s population.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3036\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3036\" style=\"width: 534px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/dorchester_zyavqk\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3036\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3036\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/dorchester_ZyAvQk.jpg\" alt=\"Haitians in Dorchester awaiting the Haitian Flag Day Parade, 2016.\" width=\"534\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/dorchester_ZyAvQk.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/dorchester_ZyAvQk-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/dorchester_ZyAvQk-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/dorchester_ZyAvQk-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 534px) 100vw, 534px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3036\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Haitians along Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester awaiting the Haitian Flag Day Parade, 2016. Photo by Gage Norris.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Spurred by political repression at home, Haitians were one of the earliest groups to arrive and formed a significant community in the Dorchester\/Mattapan area by the 1970s. The growth of the immigrant community animated the establishment of resources like the Codman Square Health Center and culturally specific organizations like the Haitian Multi-Service Center and the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/haitians\/association-of-haitian-women\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Association of Haitian Women<\/a>. Haitian immigrants were largely unified by their dominant Catholic faith, filling local churches such as St. Leo and St. Matthew in the Franklin Field and Codman Square districts.\u00a0This unifying influence is still noticeable today in the community\u2019s standing tradition of enrolling Haitian children in local parochial schools.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1980s, a growing Vietnamese refugee population also moved\u00a0to Dorchester. Originally settling in Chinatown and <a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/allston-brighton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Allston-Brighton<\/a>, many Vietnamese moved to Fields Corner as rents in other parts of the city were becoming unaffordable. Fields Corner became a stronghold of the Vietnamese community, and restaurants, businesses and community organizations like VietAID helped provide products and services and worked to preserve Vietnamese culture through classes, cultural programs, and festivals.<\/p>\n<p>The Cape Verdean community is one of the more recent immigrant groups to come to Dorchester. Starting to move slowly into the community in 1975, it was not until the 1980s that\u00a0Uphams Corner\u00a0started to see a demographic shift. By 2016, 60 percent of Boston\u2019s Cape Verdean immigrants lived in Dorchester.\u00a0The neighborhood is also home to a large number of Dominican and West Indian residents. All of these groups moved to Dorchester because of its affordability and proceeded to found ethnic churches, restaurants, and other small businesses.<\/p>\n<p>Since its founding in the 17th century, Dorchester has acted as a major receiving area for immigrants of various national origins and religions. The neighborhood today is filled with institutions and organizations that reflect this ongoing diversity. While prominent immigrant communities continue to thrive within Dorchester\u2019s corners and squares, more upwardly mobile newcomers have begun to leave the neighborhood for suburbs like Randolph, Milton, Quincy, and Brockton. This, along with recent gentrification and a rising cost of living, suggest that the faces of Dorchester will continue to change.<\/p>\n<p><em>Research and writing for this profile was the work of students in Professor Marilynn Johnson\u2019s Contested Cities Seminar in the History Department at Boston College in 2018. For more on the history of specific immigrant groups in Dorchester, please click on the feature boxes below.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mk-1b48daac \">Boston 200 Neighborhood History Series.\u00a0<em>Dorchester<\/em>. Boston: 1976.<\/p>\n<p>Gamm, Gerald H.\u00a0<em>Urban Exodus: Why the Jews Left Boston and the Catholics Stayed.<\/em>\u00a0Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1999.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson, Regine O. \u201cAfter the Exodus: The New Catholics in Boston\u2019s Old Ethnic Neighborhoods.\u201d <em>Religion and American Culture<\/em> 17 (Summer 2007): 191\u2013212.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy, Albert J., and Robert Archey Woods.\u00a0<i>The Zone of Emergence:\u00a0<em>Observations of the Lower Middle and Upper Working Class Communities of Boston, 1905-1914<\/em>. <\/i>2d ed. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1969.<\/p>\n<p>Lui, Michael, and Shauna Lo.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.umb.edu\/editor_uploads\/images\/centers_institutes\/institute_asian_american_studies\/publications\/Viet_in_FC_11-14-18_ref_SEC.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>Vietnamese Americans in Fields Corner<\/i><\/a>. Institute for Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston. 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Sammarco, Anthony M. <em>The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History<\/em>. Arcadia Publishing, 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Sarna, Jonathan D. and Ellen Smith.\u00a0<em>The Jews of Boston<\/em>. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Walczak, William J. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codman.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/CodmanSquareHistory.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;Codman Square: History (1630 to present), Turmoil (1950-1980) and Revival (1980-2000): Factors which lead to Racial and Ethnic Placement, Racial Segregation, Racial Transition, and Stable Integration.&#8221;<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69e772be5cd5e .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1643151868381 vcex_69e772be5cd5e\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/the-story-of-321-norfolk-avenue\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"973\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11.jpg 973w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Doc11-768x423.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 973px) 100vw, 973px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/the-story-of-321-norfolk-avenue\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">From Northern Italy to Dorchester<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Built by Giacomo Varnerin in the mid-1890s, a triple decker at 321 Norfolk Avenue became the crucible of a small northern Italian community in Dorchester. Read about its history and the immigrant families who lived there.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69e772be5d5c3 .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1643151935359 vcex_69e772be5d5c3\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/haitians\/association-of-haitian-women\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"999\" height=\"732\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/AFAB-2018-crop.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/AFAB-2018-crop.jpg 999w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/AFAB-2018-crop-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/AFAB-2018-crop-768x563.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/haitians\/association-of-haitian-women\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Empowering Haitian Women<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Germinating from a small gathering of Haitian women in 1988, the Association of Haitian Women in Dorchester has become a pillar of the community with its work on domestic violence, housing, and youth and community services.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;]<style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69e772be5dd05 .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1643151886064 vcex_69e772be5dd05\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/cape-verdeans\/welcoming-the-diaspora-restaurant-cesaria\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cesaria_Staff.jpg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"A photograph of the owners and staff of the Cesaria restaurant, six women and nine men. The group smiles before the camera with the interior of the restaurant in the background.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cesaria_Staff.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cesaria_Staff-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cesaria_Staff-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Cesaria_Staff-1024x538.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/ethnic-groups\/cape-verdeans\/welcoming-the-diaspora-restaurant-cesaria\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Welcoming the Diaspora: Restaurante Cesaria<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Established in 2002, Restaurante Cesaria is one of the oldest Cape Verdean restaurants in Boston and a pillar of the local and global Cape Verdean community.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><style>.vcex-teaser.vcex_69e772be5e41f .vcex-teaser-heading{color:#494949;}<\/style><div class=\"vcex-module vcex-teaser wpex-flex wpex-flex-col vc_custom_1643151917514 vcex_69e772be5e41f\"><div class=\"vcex-teaser-media wpex-mb-20\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/blue-hill-avenuer\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img width=\"528\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GG-Deli-Blue-Hill-Avenue-crop.jpeg\" class=\"wpex-align-middle\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GG-Deli-Blue-Hill-Avenue-crop.jpeg 528w, https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GG-Deli-Blue-Hill-Avenue-crop-300x240.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"vcex-teaser-content\"><h2 class=\"vcex-teaser-heading wpex-heading wpex-text-lg wpex-child-inherit-color\"><a href=\"http:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/blue-hill-avenuer\/\" class=\"wpex-no-underline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blue Hill Avenue: Jewish Main Street<\/a><\/h2><div class=\"vcex-teaser-text wpex-mt-10 wpex-last-mb-0 wpex-clr\"><p>Once a rural byway connecting Roxbury to the village of Mattapan, Blue Hill Avenue would become the central artery of Jewish life in Boston in the mid-20th century.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1554315047717{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Postcard showing Dorchester Avenue near the corner of Savin Hill Avenue, ca 1913. Courtesy of the Dorchester Historical Society. [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1717171260456{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;]Puritans began settling in Dorchester in 1630, many of them coming from Dorsetshire,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3039,"parent":1005,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[34,24,26,18],"class_list":["post-3027","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dorchester","tag-history","tag-immigrant","tag-immigration","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dorchester - Global Boston<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globalboston.bc.edu\/index.php\/home\/immigrant-places\/dorchester\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dorchester - Global Boston\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1554315047717{margin-top: -40px !important;border-top-width: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}&#8221;] Postcard showing Dorchester Avenue near the corner of Savin Hill Avenue, ca 1913. Courtesy of the Dorchester Historical Society. 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