History of the East Boston Social Centers: the Intertwining of a Neighborhood with an Organization for the Community
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When All Give, All Gain History of the East Boston Social Centers: The Intertwining of a Neighborhood with an Organization for the Community 1918 ~ 2018 Photograph of young women from East Boston Social Centers holding sign. Circa 1950s. From the archives of East Boston Social Centers, 68 Central Square, East Boston, MA The History of the East Boston Social Centers: The Intertwining of a Neighborhood and an Organization for the Community 1918 ~ 2018 by Kyle Ingrid Johnson 2 Photograph of children outside the Central Square Center. Circa 1940s. From the archives of East Boston Social Centers, 68 Central Square, East Boston, MA. Photographer unknown 3 Introduction East Boston is a fascinating place. I thought I knew it fairly well until I embarked on researching the neighborhood in preparation for a history study of the East Boston Social Centers. Immediately, I realized I knew nothing at all. There was so much to learn, to consider, and to absorb. The East Boston Social Centers turn 100 years old this year, 2018, but in many ways their history goes back much further in one form or another, to the late 1700s. What I thought would be a six-month study and perhaps a manuscript of 50 pages, turned out to be a one-year project with over 200 pages of text and photographs. It has been a very special privilege to be allowed to wander through the papers in the archives held at the Social Centers. Along the way, I have lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the placid 50s, and the turbulent 60s. I have “seen” East Boston in each of the ten decades of its 100 years, and, in turn, I have seen how the East Boston Social Centers and the predecessor agencies, Good Will House Association and Trinity House, changed and evolved to meet the needs of the people of East Boston over time. There might not be any East Boston Social Centers if it were not for the Hyams family. I became quite interested in Isabel and Sarah Hyams - their vision, their concerns, and the focus of their benevolence. The man they recruited to carry out their dream was S. Max Nelson. If his name appears in this manuscript more often than that of other directors of the organization, it is only because the archives hold more of his thoughts and papers. He was the founding director, under the guidance of the Hyams’ sisters’ wishes, and he took his work seriously. He and his wife, Irene, were interested not only in offering programs but in empowering men and women, encouraging volunteerism, and developing leaders. He was influenced strongly by great thinkers in the settlement-house movement as well as the emerging field of social work. When one reads through this manuscript, omissions may be found. I did not grow up in East Boston and do not have the personal, up-close window on the community that gives local residents an advantage. I have read and studied and tried to connect dots in order to make this an accessible history of how the East Boston Social Centers came to be. If I have left out an important event or an important person, it is only because I did not encounter that event or person in 4 the archives. This manuscript has been built largely on what the agency saved and preserved, but I did use books and online sources to supplement what I had learned. During this 100th birthday year, the Social Centers will be interviewing staff and participants who will bring their own, personal memories to the celebration. Some of the information I found in the archives will, to some, seem simply unbelievable. But then again, that is what history is for, to reveal the hidden. In the end, I think most people will find the development of the Social Centers to be as interesting as I have. There is so much to write about, and since I cannot fit it all into this one manuscript, much of the history of the Centers will have to come alive through those who hold the memories. One observation with which I am impressed is how the Social Centers were able to change with the times. Each decade brought a new dilemma, and the Social Centers always stepped up. Many of the problems that were faced in 1918 are still being faced in 2018. Approaches to solving these problems may be different, but in the end, we learn that life goes in cycles, repetition is a given, and one thing we can be guaranteed of is that life in communities will always have challenges. We will always need safety nets such as the East Boston Social Centers, and it behooves us to encourage people to study and take on careers in nonprofits. They, like the East Boston Social Centers, will always be needed. Kyle Ingrid Johnson Boston, MA June 2018 5 East Boston History Long before the East Boston Social Centers operated out of a 1960s-era brick building on the corner of Central Square and Liverpool Street and long before there were tunnels connecting vehicles and subway trains to downtown Boston, there was a pastoral setting featuring five unique islands: Apple, Bird, Governor’s, Hog, and Noddle’s. They were East Boston. There was not yet any maritime industry, immigrants from far corners of the globe had not yet arrived, and all was quiet in the area now known as East Boston when the first European settler, Samuel Maverick, decided to settle there in 1633.1 Samuel Maverick was a planter and perhaps a fisherman. It is not known exactly how he arrived in what is now East Boston, but it has been surmised that he arrived on a fishing boat, perhaps one coming north from the new colonies at Plymouth, MA. He found something he liked, and he stayed, creating a sustainable agricultural project on Noddle’s Island. At this time, there were only a few farmers working the land of East Boston’s islands. For 200 years, the five islands were primarily under private ownership and used for grazing livestock or growing crops. On Noddle’s and Governor’s Island, there were some British-built military fortifications dating from the Revolutionary War.2 1 Boston College. Global Boston. “East Boston.” https://globalboston.bc.edu/index.php/home/immigrant- places/east-boston (accessed February 6, 2018). 2 “Harbor Defenses of Boston.” Wikipedia. www.wikipedia.org (accessed February 6, 2018). 6 Map of the islands comprising East Boston, 1775. From: https://www.ioc.gov/maps/?fa=location%3Aboston&st=slideshow (accessed April 7, 2018). East Boston must have been a peaceful place for the two centuries between Samuel Maverick’s arrival and when William Sumner’s enterprise, the East Boston Trade Company, started to fill in the swamps in 1833. Progress came rapidly after that with a railroad freight terminal and the building of ship wharves. What is today’s residential and commercial East Boston is the former Noddle’s Island which presently holds Jeffries Point, Central Square, Maverick Square, and Eagle Hill. The other large island, Hog (also known as Breed’s Island), holds current-day Orient Heights. They are, of course, joined, as are all five of the original islands. Landfill enabled islands to become extended land; the three smaller ones – Governor’s, Apple, and Bird – today hold the site of Logan International Airport.3 3 Howe, Jeffrey. “Boston: History of the Landfills.” Boston College. www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/bos_fill3.html (accessed February 7, 2018). 7 East Boston soon became known as an active and important shipbuilding hub. A current-day walk through the Maverick Square MBTA station shows a wall of history celebrating famous maritime achievements from the neighborhood. Donald McKay, originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, is the most well-known ship builder of East Boston; he started a shipyard in 1845 on Border Street. Although there were eventually many shipyards and shipbuilders, the McKay name drew talented employees from all over, particularly the Maritime Provinces of Canada.4 East Boston wharves in the early days. From: http://www.celebrateboston.com/biography/donald- mckay.htm (accessed February 28, 2018). 4 “Donald McKay.” www.maritimeheritage.org/vips/Donald-McKay/ (accessed February 8, 2018). 8 In 1853, McKay built the Grand Republic which, at 4556 tons, was the largest merchantman in the world at the time. Later, his Flying Cloud (built in 1852) breezed from New York to San Francisco in just 89 days, breaking the record of the Great Republic. His other famous clipper ship was Sovereign of the Seas which also broke sailing records. The last boat he constructed was the U.S. Sloop-of-War in 1874.5 Donald McKay, famous East Boston shipbuilder. From: Wikipedia.org through http://www.celebrateboston.com/biography/donald-mckay.htm (accessed February 28, 2018). Today, a memorial to McKay can be found in Piers Park on Marginal Street. His former residence, a Greek Revival-style house located in the Eagle Hill neighborhood at 78-80 White Street is on the National Register of Historic Places.6 McKay wasn’t the only active shipbuilder in East Boston. During a twenty- seven-year period from 1831 to 1858, 229 vessels were recorded as having been 5 Ibid. 6 “Donald McKay House.” National Register of Historic Places. https://www.nps.gov/nr/ (accessed February 10, 2018). 9 built there. These were the classic sailing ships of their time, taking cargo both near and far. It is possible to peruse a list of ship names and try to picture what it would have been like to see the playful “Frolic” (1843), the flirtatious “Coquette” (1844) or the brave “Fearless” (1853) sail out of port.