|
The History of Chester Square
In the beginning of the 19th century,
Boston had a serious interest in developing what would become
the South End to provide housing for the prosperous residents
of the city who could no longer find homes on crowded  Beacon
Hill. By creating a handsome, spacious new neighborhood
ranged around many landscape parks in the English style,
the city hoped to prevent these merchants and professionals
from leaving the city for the suburbs.1
Chester Square was designed in 1850 as
one of the earliest American urban planning schemes, following
designs made by Charles Bulfinch. These plans for dignified
residential squares copied 19th century English prototypes.
Unlike Blackstone and Franklin parks, the two parks in the
South End with similar scale, Chester Square still retains
its entire 19th century architectural framework and its
entirely residential character.
Although city engineers designed a score
of large and small park-centered squares in the South End,
Chester Park “was considered the grandest square,
not only because of its large size, but also because the
City created a tree-lined… 20ft. wide mall extending
along the center of the very wide street…” abutting
the park.2
On October 30, 1859, the city auctioned
off the newly developed lots in Chester Square. Given a
huge central fountain, the park was landscaped lavishly
by the city while developers and property owners began building
the seventy townhouses that surround the park. The handsome
houses are a combination of flat fronted central buildings
and stepped forward, bow fronted buildings at the curved
ends and “are more grant and opulent in style and
influence” than any other South End houses.3
By the end of the century, however, construction
of the even grander Back Bay along French-style boulevards
led to an exodus of the well-to-do from the South End’s
squares. Within a few decades, the handsome houses of the
South End became successively homes for small artisans,
rooming houses and the residential entry point for waves
of immigrants. Many fell into disrepair and were boarded
up and abandoned. In the 1950’s, in the worst excesses
of urban renewal, whole square blocks of the South End and
Lower Roxbury were torn down as slums. Although none of
the buildings that constitute the architectural framework
of Chester Square were razed, in 1952 when the Southeast
Expressway was completed, funneling thousands of cars into
Boston from the South every day, the city took the center
of Chester Park for four lanes of traffic. On its 100th
birthday, the center of the historic residential square
became a flowing river of traffic.
Starting in the 1960’s, the handsome,
generous spaces within South End row buildings were rediscovered
by investors, developers and young people searching for
convenient inexpensive housing. The major public investments
helped generate a wave of reconstruction and renovation
that has not stopped yet. The wave moved through the South
End, returning many abandoned historic buildings to residential
and retail commercial uses and is now beginning to be visible
in Lower Roxbury as high prices in the South End encourage
people to look at the Victorian buildings in that neighborhood.
At the same time, aggressive development efforts which partner
public and private initiatives have transformed many of
the empty spaces on Washington Street and Dudley Square
in Roxbury into vibrant commercial and residential enclaves.
Chester Square Today
Chester Square and the South End can be seen as a paradigm
for the 21st century city. This is a racially, socially
and economically diverse urban enclave that has transformed
its historic architectural fabric to serve its  population
into the new millennium.
The dense mix of young new residents,
old timers and empty-nesters returning to the city reflects
Boston’s cultural, medical and educational attractions.
The area’s history as an upper-class residential neighborhood
and as the home of successive waves of immigrants enriches
its present exciting mix of high end and ethnic restaurants,
specialty stores, theaters, art galleries and concerts.
In the shorthand of urban history, Chester Square stands
as a lively symbol of success within the South End, affirming
that it is possible to bring decayed urban neighborhoods
back to vibrant life without tearing them down first.
Snapshot of the South
End and Lower Roxbury
Boston’s overall population of about 600,000 has been
relatively stable over the last decade, but its makeup has
changed dramatically. Bostonians are highly mobile: half
of the population moved out between 1980 and 1990 and half
of the present population moved in during that time span.
In the years between 1985 and 1990, one of every four arrivals
in Boston was coming from abroad.3
Consequently, the ethnic, racial and linguistic diversity
of the city as a whole has increased significantly and this
diversity is one of the hallmarks of the South End/Lower
Roxbury community.
The South End and Lower Roxbury are physically
separated from the rest of the city by the Southeast Expressway,
the Massachusetts Turnpike, Melnea Cass Boulevard and the
Southwest Corridor. Between 1965 and 1979 over $135 million
in public resources were invested under the urban renewal
program in the South End in the construction of new streets,
a new library, elementary schools, parks and new and rehabilitated
housing. In the 1980’s major transportation improvements,
including relocating the Orange Line, were completed. Putting
the Orange Line into the Southwest Corridor depression allowed
creation of a handsome ribbon park that reconnects the South
End and the Back Bay.4
There has traditionally been a strong arts community in
the South End and new development has expanded this sector
of the community. Over a hundred artists’ lofts were
built on Washington Street, sparking the renaissance of
that street while a half-dozen galleries have opened their
doors on Harrison Avenue, including the only gallery of
antique and contemporary African art in the city. Both the
South End and Lower Roxbury are noted for their restaurants
and it is possible to dine
on anything from catfish and collard greens to Panang curried
duck and pad thai within blocks of Chester Square.
The square, as part of the South End,
was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in
1973 and created a Landmark District of the City of Boston
in 1983. Adjacent sections of Lower Roxbury, in the Douglas
Square area, were also created a Landmark District in 1998.
1) "The Residential
Square Transplanted – London to Boston”, Phebe
S. Goodman, 1994
2) Strategic Planning: Information for Teams,
1995. Boston Police Department
3) "National Registry of Historic Places”,
April 1973
4) South End/Lower Roxbury Development Policy
Plan, May 1993. Boston Redevelopment Authority
History of Chester Square
|
