Charlestown

Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and adjoining the Mystic River and Boston Harbor waterways. It was the very first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was named after Charles I of England. The neighborhood was laid out in 1629 by engineer Thomas Graves, one of its earliest settlers, during the reign of Charles I of England. Today it is a compact, largely residential community of roughly 20,032 residents whose cobblestone streets and Federal-style rowhouses draw visitors from across the world — as do its landmark Revolutionary War sites, its celebrated navy yard, and its place along Boston's storied Freedom Trail.

Early Settlement and Colonial Origins

Thomas and Jane Walford were the original English settlers of the peninsula between the Charles and Mystic Rivers. They were given a grant by Sir Robert Gorges, with whom they had settled at Wessagusset (Weymouth) in September 1623, and arrived at what they called Mishawaum in 1624. John Endicott, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, later sent William, Richard, and Ralph Sprague to Mishawaum to lay out a formal settlement.

Originally a Puritan English city during the Colonial era, Charlestown proper was founded in 1628 and settled on July 4, 1629, by Thomas Graves, Increase Nowell, Simon Hoyt, the Reverend Francis Bright, and the Sprague brothers, among some 100 others who preceded the Great Migration. John Winthrop's company stopped here for some time in 1630 before deciding to accept the invitation of William Blaxton to settle across the Charles River on the Shawmut Peninsula — the first act in the foundation of the city of Boston.

The territory of Charlestown was initially quite large. From it, Woburn was separated in 1642, Malden in 1649 (including what is now Melrose and Everett), and Stoneham in 1725. South Medford, the land south of the Mystic River (now surrounded by Somerville), was known as "Mistick Field" and was transferred from Charlestown to Medford in 1754.

The neighborhood also holds an important connection to the founding of higher education in America. Clergyman John Harvard arrived from England, was admitted as an inhabitant and freeman, and became Teacher in the Charlestown church. He built his house on Country Road (later Main Street) next to Gravel Lane — the site now known as Harvard Mall. On his deathbed in 1638, he donated a large portion of his estate and his voluminous book collection to what is now Harvard University, making him its most prominent early benefactor. In gratitude, the school's trustees named the university in his honor.

Charlestown became a city in 1848 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874. With annexation, it also switched from Middlesex County, to which it had belonged since 1643, to Suffolk County.

The Battle of Bunker Hill and the American Revolution

Charlestown occupies a central place in the story of the American Revolution. Paul Revere crossed to the Charlestown shore on the evening of April 18, 1775, to begin his famous ride to Lexington. On June 17, 1775, Charlestown was the site of one of the most important battles of the Revolutionary War. American patriots delivered a devastating blow to the British army in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Nearly the entire town was destroyed during the battle and was not rebuilt until after the war ended.

The British army in Boston landed on the Charlestown shore on the morning of June 17, 1775, and was repulsed by patriotic troops that had dug in on Breed's Hill. The American forces finally withdrew, leaving most of Charlestown a smoldering ruin.

The Bunker Hill Monument, which commemorates the battle, stands atop Breed's Hill and has become one of the neighborhood's defining landmarks. The 221-foot-tall granite obelisk — with granite transported from a quarry in Quincy — is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Boston, offering sweeping views of the city and Boston Harbor for those willing to climb all 294 stairs. The monument's name is a misnomer, as it sits atop Breed's Hill, where most of the battle actually occurred. Bunker Hill is about 700 yards away and had only a peripheral role in the fighting.

The granite obelisk, measuring 221 feet, was built in Charlestown between 1825 and 1843. Today, the site is part of Boston National Historical Park, administered by the National Park Service, and is one of the stops on Boston's Freedom Trail. Just across the street from the monument, in the former Charlestown branch of the Boston Public Library, the Bunker Hill Museum — also part of Boston National Historical Park and operated by the National Park Service — opened in 2007 and tells the story of the battle through a series of exhibitions and dioramas.

Two small hills, mostly covered in residential buildings, fill the interior of the neighborhood: Bunker Hill, which is more northerly, and Breed's Hill, which is the site of the Bunker Hill Monument. Bunker Hill was named after George Bunker, who had owned it during early settlement in the 1600s.

Charlestown Navy Yard

The U.S. Navy established one of its more important naval yards in Charlestown in 1800; it closed in 1974, and nearly one-third of its area was included in Boston National Historical Park. In 1800, the Charlestown Navy Yard opened. A number of famous ships from the Civil War era, including the USS Merrimack, were built there.

The Charlestown Navy Yard provided jobs to more than 50,000 workers at the height of World War II. After the yard closed to active military operations in 1974, an urban renewal plan for the Navy Yard was completed and conversion to private sector uses began. The earliest and most historic section of the Navy Yard was designated a National Historical Site administered by the National Park Service.

The Navy Yard is the permanent home of the USS Constitution, one of the most celebrated vessels in American naval history. The world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat, the USS Constitution — also known as "Old Ironsides" — was one of the first six frigates launched in 1797 to make up the fledgling U.S. Navy. The ship initially protected the Eastern Seaboard from pirate attacks and was involved in engagements off the Barbary Coast in the Mediterranean. The vessel earned her nickname during the War of 1812, after cannon fire from enemy ships was unable to penetrate her strong oak hull.

Today, visitors can board the ship, which is inside Boston National Historical Park as part of the Charlestown Navy Yard. Free in-person tours are offered daily, Wednesday through Sunday. Active-duty U.S. Navy sailors are assigned as members of the USS Constitution's crew and are on hand to answer questions about the vessel's history.

The Boston to Charlestown Ferry runs between the Charlestown Navy Yard and Boston's Central Wharf. The ferry runs year-round.

Irish-American Heritage and 20th-Century History

Charlestown has had a substantial Irish-American population since the migration of Irish people during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s. Charlestown became part of Boston in 1873, shortly after waves of Irish immigrants began settling there. For decades, it was one of the city's largest Irish Catholic neighborhoods, and in the latter half of the 20th century became known for ties to the Irish mob.

Throughout the 1960s until the mid-1990s, Charlestown was infamous for its Irish Mob presence. Charlestown's McLaughlin Brothers were involved in a gang war with neighboring Somerville's Winter Hill Gang during the Irish Mob Wars of the 1960s.

During the early 1960s, the city initiated plans to demolish and redevelop sixty percent of the housing in Charlestown. In 1963, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) held a town meeting to discuss their development plans with the community. The BRA's dealings with Boston's West End had created an atmosphere of distrust toward urban renewal in Boston, and Charlestown residents opposed the plan by an overwhelming majority. By 1965, the plan had been reduced to tearing down only eleven percent of the neighborhood, as well as the removal of the elevated rail tracks.

Many longtime locals recall a community-oriented Charlestown, when the population in 1950 was roughly 1.5 times what it is today. Many young men joined the Navy, returning from overseas to work at places like the Charlestown Navy Yard and live in the newly built subsidized housing developments.

Modern Charlestown

In the late 1980s, Charlestown underwent a massive gentrification process similar to that of the South End. By the late 1980s, Charlestown began undergoing a major gentrification process, and today the neighborhood is a mix of working-, middle-, and upper-middle-class residents, drawn to its red brick townhouses and views of the water.

With a median income over $140,000, Charlestown ranks just behind the Seaport District on the list of places with the highest earners in Boston. Despite this, Charlestown is also home to the city's largest affordable housing developments, Charlestown Apartments, which is undergoing expansion thanks to a years-long redevelopment initiative.

Immigrants and young professionals have joined the area's traditionally Irish population. Residents of all ages gather at local shops and restaurants along Main Street and in City Square.

Major institutions in the neighborhood include Bunker Hill Community College, Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, and a facility of Massachusetts General Hospital. Charlestown is accessible from the Orange Line Sullivan Square or Community College stops, or via the I-93 expressway. Located just across the river from the North End, Charlestown is connected to the northwest side of the peninsula by the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge.

The neighborhood has also attracted cultural notice in popular media. Portions of the film Good Will Hunting were filmed in Charlestown — in the movie, Matt Damon's character takes classes at Bunker Hill Community College. Ben Affleck's film The Town was also filmed in the neighborhood.

From City Square, visitors can still see the elliptical street patterns laid out back in 1629, a reminder that beneath the modern bustle, Charlestown remains one of the most historically layered communities in the United States.