Dorchester is Boston’s largest neighborhood, named after the town of Dorchester in southern England. Originally an independent town, it became part of Boston in the 1870s and once included parts of South Boston. New Kids on the Block and Mark Wahlberg, who later founded the Wahlburgers restaurant chain, were both born in Dorchester. Discover the story behind this neighborhood’s name. I wonder as I walk through the streets of different communities with my clients. First, some names will be evident in how they became what we know them today. It’s easy to figure out the origins of some names, but others are not as obvious. Here is a summary of neighborhoods and their roots. 

Allston

For many years, this neighborhood was the stockyard and rail yard of the town of Brighton. The neighborhood of Allston takes its name from Washington Allston and became part of Boston in 1874. Although Aerosmith originated on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire, the band achieved fame in Boston, and their former apartment on Commonwealth Avenue in Allston is now on the National Historic Registry.

Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill used to have an actual beacon to send warnings about invaders. In addition to having a Beacon on it, Beacon Hill was a very hilly neighborhood at the time. Three to five large hills encompassed Beacon Hill, one of Boston’s oldest neighborhoods. Some of the best writers lived in Beacon Hill. Nathaniel Hawthorne lived at 54 Pickney Street. Robert Frost lived at 88 Mount Vernon. Beacon Hill was also the inspiration for an author who created Little Women. Louisa May Alcott is renowned for her timeless novel Little Women. Born and raised on Beacon Hill, Alcott drew inspiration from her surroundings and incorporated aspects of her life into the beloved March family.

 

 

 

 

Back Bay

From 1857 to 1882, one of the most significant urban infrastructure projects in U.S. history filled in about 450 acres of pestilential tidal basin known as the Back Bay. Developers began construction in 1859 to meet the growing demand for luxury housing that surpassed the city’s supply, and they completed the area’s development around that time. Many of the first residents who lived in Back Bay didn’t live there during the summer months and went to their homes in the county, which, oddly enough, were places like Brookline. During the summer, the marshy conditions made Back Bay smell horrible, prompting most people to leave for their country homes. Back Bay, you can find people in entertainment, sports, writers, and more living there. Steven Tyler’s favorite restaurant is located on Newbury Street, and for many years, he had a place on Newbury Street. Tom Brady lived on Commonwealth Avenue, and I saw him several times.  Bethany Frankel called Back Bay home for a while.  Isabella Stewart Gardner called Back Bay home at 150 Beacon St. 

 

Bay Village

the Smallest neighborhood in the city itself breaks out. Bay Village was born in the 1820s as a collection of homes for the workers who built the tonier near Beacon Hill. Next time you walk through Beacon Hill, look at Bay Village, and you will notice the architecture looks very similar. Bay Village, in the first place, had many names before Bay Village was settled.  Prior names were Church Street District, South Cove, and Kerry Village, and eventually, Bay Village just stuck.  The name might have stuck because of how close it was to the Back Bay.  People dubbed Bay Village “Hollywood East” in the early 20th century. They processed many films there and sometimes held screenings before the official release.Bay Village is also responsible for a big change in fire codes throughout the United States. Coconut Grove fire, a local nightclub, and former speakeasy, burned in a fire, killing 492 people and becoming the second worst single-building fire in U.S. history.

 

 

Brighton

Brighton wasn’t part of Boston until 1873. It was independent for about half a century, and prior to that, it was part of Allston. Brighton’s roots were agricultural, and it was a castle-rustling appendage of Cambridge. Its nickname was Little Cambridge. Brighton became independent from England in 1807 and received its current name. The name stems from Southern England.  Brighton was home to Joseph Patrick Kennedy 2nd,  Tom Scholz who was part of the band called Boston and wrote the hit song “More Than a Feeling”. Michael Bloomberg was born in Brighton, founded Bloomberg News/Media, and later became mayor of New York. 

 

Charlestown

Charlestown’s first settlers to Boston were from England, and people often name familiar items, so it should come as no surprise that Charlestown was named after English King Charles. Europeans began settling in what became known as Charlestown in 1629. Twenty years before Charles the First lost his head, it remained an independent municipality until 1874, when Boston annexed it.  Charlestown was home to many famous people, from the creator of Morse Code, Samual F.B Morse, Jack O’Callahan’s Miracle on the Ice, and Matt Grzelcyk, another hockey player.  When Charlestown was first being formed, it wasn’t uncommon to see Paul Revere,  and George Washington.

 

 

Chinatown

Chinatown’s name isn’t very creative at all. The predominant ethnic group was Chinese. In 1870, Chinese immigrants were first brought to Massachusetts from San Fransisco to break up a strike at the Sampson Shoe Factory in North Adams. Chinese immigrants eventually settled in what we now know as Chinatown. Many immigrants who moved to Chinatown lived on Ping On Alley.

Dorchester

Dorchester is Boston’s largest neighborhood, named after the town of Dorchester in southern England. Originally an independent town, it became part of Boston in the 1870s and once included parts of South Boston. New Kids on the Block and Mark Wahlberg, who later founded the Wahlburgers restaurant chain, both originated from this area.

 

 

East Boston

East Boston’s name came from its location east of Boston. It became part of Boston in 1836. In the 19th Century, more Canadian-born citizens lived in East Boston than in any other neighborhood in Boston. Growing from a community of roughly 1300 in 1855 to about 9000 by 1900, Canadians worked mainly in the shipyards or later as carpenters, machinists, pile drivers, and clerks. East Boston. Irish migration surged with the Great Famine of the 1840s, and the Census recorded more than 3500 Irish-born residents in 1855. 

Fenway

There are two theories on how the Fenway neighborhood got its name. One is that it comes from the Back Bay Fens, a park designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, referencing the marshy, flood-prone nature of the area. The other suggests it simply describes the landscape itself. Boston incorporated Fenway, Kenmore, Audubon Circle, and parts of Brookline in the 1870s. By 1907, the Fenway area had become home to 22 educational institutions, including Boston University.

John Taylor purchased the land in 1911 and built Fenway Park, now an iconic landmark. The park hosted its first game in 1912, the same week the Titanic sank, with the Red Sox defeating the Yankees 7-6 in an 11-inning game, sparking the legendary Boston-New York sports rivalry. Another local icon, the Citgo sign, made its debut in 1940. People preserved and upgraded it with new lighting in 1983, despite efforts to remove it, turning it into a beloved city symbol.

The neighborhood was also a hub for music and nightlife, with clubs like Spit, Roxy, The Channel, and The Rathskeller, known as “The Rat,” where bands such as The Cars, The Police, Metallica, and The Ramones performed. It was the epicenter for WBCN’s Rock and Roll Rumble, showcasing emerging rock talent.

Hyde Park

Hyde Park is just another name with roots in England. The original Hyde Park is located in London and dates back to the 1630s. Boston Hyde Park became part of Boston in 1912.  Hyde Park was the hub for both Paper and cotton manufacturing. 

Jamaica Plain

Jamaica Plain is often referred to as JP. There are two schools of thought about how JP got its name. One is that it came after the Caribbean Island, from which some residents drew their wealth via the slaves who drove the rum and sugar trades. The other is that it was after the Anglicization of the name of a Native American Leader. Jamaica Plain became part of Boston in 1874. Part of JP was part of the towns of Roxbury and West Roxbury. 

 

 

The Leather District

This small neighborhood started in the 19th century in yup the leather manufactured and where people shopped for it. The district did not exist until Boston’s land-making expansions filled in the former South Cove during the 1830s, making way for the development of this area and Chinatown. It was initially developed as a residential area. Still, it became the center of the city’s leather industry after the Great Boston Fire of 1872, which devastated the city’s business district and introduced stringent commercial fire codes.

Mattapan

The name comes from a Neponset Native American phrase meaning a good place to be or a good place to sit. Mattapan became part of Boston in 1870. 

Mission Hill

The neighborhood name evolved from Parker Hill. Mission Hill was once part of Roxbury and became part of Boston in 1868. Donna Summers was born in Mission Hill.  Mission Hill is home today to some of the top hospitals in the country, like Brigham and Women’s Hospital and New England Baptist Hospital.  Mission Hill is very close to the Symphony area of Boston and Fenway. Many colleges and universities are in the area. 

The North End

The North End, Boston’s oldest residential neighborhood, got its name from its northernmost location. Established in the 1630s, it spans just 0.36 square miles but boasts nearly 100 establishments and popular attractions. Known for its Italian American community, it was once home to colonial elites like Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Paul Revere. After the Revolution, Irish, English, and German immigrants moved in, followed by Italians in the 1860s. By 1920, it was 90% Italian. The 1960s Callahan Tunnel construction displaced many, and rising rents in the 1970s forced out more families. Today, it remains a vibrant, historic community.

Roslindale

The area was once called South Street Crossing since it had a railroad crossing. Eventually, it was renamed Roslin and became what we know today: Roslindale. Roslin was a village outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. It had been part of Roxbury and then the town of West Roxbury and, in 1873, became part of Boston.  Roslindale is home to the current mayor of Boston, Mayor Wu.

Roxbury

Roxbury, originally one of the first towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, takes its name from Roxbury Puddingstone. Throughout the 19th century, parts of Roxbury, like West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, separated and became part of Boston in 1868. Grand mansions once lined Blue Hill Avenue.

Notable Puritans, including Governor Thomas Dudley, founded the First Church of Roxbury in 1630, modeled after the John Cotton Church in England. The current structure, built in 1804, still stands in Eliot Square. Dudley Reverend John Eliot and Thomas Welde helped establish Roxbury as a religious and cultural center. Dudley’s strict Puritan church evolved into a Unitarian Universalist sanctuary two centuries later. South Boston

The South Boston neighborhood was narrowly peninsular when European settlers called it Dorchester Neck. A wide inlet separated what became South Boston and Boston Proper. It became part of Boston in 1804. South Boston was once an industrial Center but is now mostly residential. It is one of the most diverse cities in all walks of life. 

 

The South End

In the Mid-1800s, officials and developers started planning what is now called the South End. The neighborhood was built on what was then tidal flats, and it was the southernmost end of Boston. South End underwent a big change in the 1940s and followed up with a significant rebirth and change—a change we all see today.  Today, many businesses that used to be around are no longer. Wally Cafe is the exception, but it is not the original location.  In the 1950s, South End had amazing jazz clubs, and many didn’t follow segregation rules in other parts of the country.  The South End has always been a diverse community.

The West End

The West End was Boston’s westernmost point. For a time, a body of water separated it from much of the city. A so-called urban renewal effort in the late 1950s and 1960s saw much of the West End razed and replaced with largely unwelcoming superblocks. 

West Roxbury

 The western reached the town of Roxbury in 1851, and West Roxbury’s name was born. West Roxbury became part of Boston in 1874. 

Towns or Cities not part of Boston 

Medford

The name Medford comes from “the ford by the meadow” or “Meadford” thus commemorating the importance of the fordable part of the Mystic River located just west of present-day Medford Square.  The original owner of Medford was  Mathew Cradock. Mathew Cradock was the first Governor of the Massachusetts colonies. Founded in 1630, Medford is the fourth oldest English settlement in America. Established as a City in 1892, Medford is one of the oldest settlements in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the US.

Somerville

In 1630, Somerville was settled, originally known as the Cow Commons, and was entirely fenced in until 1685. The Old Powder House 1704 stands in the city from which the British general Thomas Gage seized gunpowder in 1774. Somerville was the last of the Mystic Valley towns to separate, which was in 1842 from the early Charlestown colony. Somerville’s name is in honor of Captain Richard Somers, the hero of the Tripolitan-American War.

 

 

Cambridge

Cambridge was once the Capitol of Massachusetts. The city of Cambridge used to be about 10 miles from Boston. Cambridge’s original name was Newtowne. Cambridge received its name in 1638. Each family owned a house lot in the village, planted fields outside, and had a share of the common land. Boston was eight long miles away: a ferry at the foot of JFK Street carried passengers over the river to a path — now North Harvard Street — that led through Brookline and Roxbury, eventually traversing the spit of land now Washington Street. Traveling from Cambridge to Boston was not as easy as it is today. The bridge built in 1660-62 made traveling to and from Boston much easier.

Soon, Newtowne had a meetinghouse, a school, and a marketplace (the site of today’s Winthrop Square). Harvard College was one of the first colleges in America. Leaders founded it in 1636 to train young men for ministry and leadership roles within the godly community. In 1638, they renamed Newtowne Cambridge.

 

 

Brookline

Brookline is an exclave of Norfolk County with Suffolk and Middlesex counties around it.  The city of Brookline became part of Boston in 1638; however, it was called the Muddy River. Suffolk County incorporated it as a town in 1705. Named for a small brook that formed the line of Judge Samuel Sewall’s tract, it was an early market-gardening area and administratively became part of Norfolk County in 1793. Judge Samuel Sewall was a judge during the Salem witch trials.  The town has long been a suburban residential area, and its economy is based on services and trade. Brookline voted in October 1873 to separate from Boston and keep its independence. 

 

Chelsea

Samuel Maverick settled Chelsea as part of Boston in 1624 under Winnisimmet, meaning “good spring nearby.” In 1739, they incorporated Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point as a town and named it Chelsea after a London neighborhood.  A Town Meeting and a Board of Selectmen governed Chelsea.  On February 22, 1841, part of Chelsea was annexed by Saugus, Massachusetts. On March 19, 1846, Rumney Marsh and Pullen Point became a separate town known as North Chelsea. Pullen Point later separated from North Chelsea to form Winthrop, Massachusetts; the remainder of North Chelsea changed its name to Revere, Massachusetts.