A Brief History of the East Berkeley Street Neighborhood

Dover Street, now known as East Berkeley Street, has played an important role in Boston history. The town was founded on a small peninsula connected by a narrow “neck” to the mainland. Now called Washington Street, the neck was the only land connection to the rest of the colony. Thus the famous “one if by land” in Longfellow’s poem about the ride of Paul Revere, refers to the possibility that British troops might have chosen that path to get to Lexington and Concord.

Because it was outside the town limits, the area along Washington and Dover Streets was the location for the unwanted, but necessary land uses that were too loathsome or unhealthy for the crowded streets of the town itself. Thus Washington Street had gallows, breweries, a brick works, and a cemetery while the area to the south of the street became devoted to maritime and manufacturing.

In 1803, speculators began buying up land in Dorchester Heights, now known as South Boston. In order to make their investment profitable, they lobbied the state for permission to annex the land as well build a bridge connecting the new neighborhood to the town. The bridge, over 1200 feet long was constructed at Dover Street because it was the compromise location between facilitating the connection with South Boston yet allowing ships access to the waterfront. The bridge was high enough to allow barges access to the docks being built along what is now Harrison Avenue (and then Albany Street when more land was filled in South Bay).

Bostonians liked the bridge for its views and it became popular with couples in love for leisurely strolls, earning it the nickname, bridge of sighs. A toll bridge, merchants and residents disliked the setup and eventually a new, free bridge was constructed closer to downtown.

By the mid eighteenth century, the area was very industrial and as immigrants, mostly Irish, flooded into Boston small two to three story tenements were constructed in the area north of Dover Street. In an effort to keep Yankee families in the city, Boston authorized the construction of row houses in the South End with Union Park one of the most prominent streets. But the effort failed with lots along Union Park taking a decade to sell and many of the side streets were developed as more modest town houses and even tenements – the idea that the South End was once prosperous but then decayed is a myth, the area struggled from the beginning. With piano factories and other manufacturing buildings along Harrison Avenue, the coal storage areas and similar activities along Harrison, and the small commercial buildings along Dover Street and interspersed through other blocks, the area along Dover Street became known as an immigrant and tenement district as well as a place for theatres, penny arcades, and other amusements. Upper class Yankees officially avoided it even though many, including T.S. Eliot, were known to be there at night.

Around 1900, most Bostonians considered the northern boundary of the South End to be Stuart Street. By then, the area around Dover Street had attracted a large number of social service organizations including settlement houses and a bathhouse for the city’s poor. The water was kept lukewarm so that no one would take too long of a shower. The area continued to house immigrants including many Jewish, Italian, and Irish residents as well as Black Bostonians. Harrison Avenue was lined by peddlers selling fruits and vegetables as well as other household necessities. By World War I, Dover Street was noted for its bars including some that catered to gay men. JJ Foley’s was already open, the Boston Policemen’s Union, meeting upstairs from the bar, voted to go on strike in 1919.

The area continued to be a home for low income people. A 1913 fire at the Arcadia Hotel, located at the corner of Laconia and Washington Streets killed over two dozen men who rented beds by the night. Housing as many as 175 men at a time, some were in small cubicles separated by plywood, some were in large open dormitories, and a few paid 25 cents to sleep in the basement boiler room. One famous resident who lived on Dover Street, the author Mary Antin, wrote that Harrison Avenue was so dirty only a flood could clean out its filth.

There were several famous residents in the early twentieth century. Amelia Earhart worked at nearby Dennison house. Louis B. Mayer met his wife while living on Rochester Street and after they married, lived at 7 Rollins Street. He moved to Haverhill to start his movie company.

The area continued to be a home for immigrants, poor families, and those down at their luck. With Syrians, Blacks, Chinese, and other people, it was one of the few integrated communities in the city. The area north of Dover Street was a hodgepodge of small tenement buildings and commercial structures while the area to the south kept its blocks of row houses because no one thought the area was safe for investment. But the manufacturing area along Harrison and Albany Street was in decline as radio replaced pianos as the prime home entertainment.

Boston officials began talking about urban renewal in the area in the 1930s with the goal of building new, modern housing in the area. At one point, the celebrated Bauhaus architect, Marcel Breuer developed a plan for the blocks north of Dover Street. Finally, in the 1950s the city conceived of the idea to build an industrial park, even publishing a brochure advertising the area’s strong transportation links and access to city services. Residents were blindsided by the plan, with some not aware of the city’s intentions until the streetlights were turned off. Thousands lost their homes, most were not compensated. It was Boston’s first urban renewal project.

Unfortunately, the project failed, there was little demand for manufacturing space in the city. The streetscape reconfigured to create large blocks, the major new tenants were the Boston Herald, an electrical supply distributer, a bakery, and a branch of the Bank of Boston. There were large swaths of vacant land used as parking lots. With the clearing of Scollay Square for renewal, many of its skid row residents relocated to Dover Street. Parents began to warn their children to behave and study hard in school lest they end up on Dover Street.

Gentrification of the South End began in the 1950s in the blocks close to the Back Bay as well as Union Park. Eventually, almost all the private market housing in the neighborhood was renovated, at ever increasing prices. As part of the South End Urban Renewal Project, Dover Street was renamed East Berkeley Street. Other public works projects rebuilt the street infrastructure between South Boston and Park Square. The Elevated was dismantled in 1987 and a few years later developers began to refurbish or build new housing along Washington and Harrison. After 2010, the area to the north of East Berkeley Street began to be redeveloped into the housing, retail, and other attractions that we know today.

- Written by Russ Lopez