South Boston

South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, occupying a peninsula that juts into Boston Harbor south of the Fort Point Channel. Bordered by Dorchester to the south, the South End to the west, the Seaport District to the north, and the sea to the east, South Boston boasts considerable coastline and a long history. It has undergone several demographic transformations since being annexed to the city of Boston in 1804. The neighborhood, once primarily farmland, is popularly known by its twentieth-century identity as a working-class Irish Catholic community. Today, South Boston is one of Boston's most sought-after addresses, drawing young professionals and families while retaining landmarks that tell the story of its layered past.

Early History and Annexation

Settled by the Puritans in 1635, the peninsula known as Mattapannock or Dorchester Neck was used as a grazing area for much of the 17th and 18th centuries. Geographically, Dorchester Neck was an isthmus — a narrow strip of land that connected the mainland of the colonial settlement of Dorchester with Dorchester Heights. Landfill has since greatly increased the amount of land on the eastern side of the historical neck, widening the connection to the mainland to the point that South Boston is no longer considered separate from it.

South Boston gained an identity separate from Dorchester, but the two were annexed by Boston in pieces, from 1804 to 1870. Once absorbed into the city, the burgeoning Industrial Revolution in the 19th century saw South Boston transform into a hub of manufacturing and innovation, with shipyards and iron foundries dotting its shoreline. South Boston became a largely working-class neighborhood. Residents found work on the South Boston waterfront, or in factories such as Gillette, which still employs local residents. Parts of the neighborhood were heavily industrial, with businesses including ironworks and glassworks.

The 1865 Harrison Loring House is a Second Empire brick mansion located in South Boston. It was used as a private residence until 1913, at which time it was purchased by the Roman Catholic Church to use as a convent. The house at 789 East Broadway was designated a Boston Landmark in 1981 and is associated with Harrison Loring, who owned and operated one of the first South Boston shipyards.

The Revolutionary War and Dorchester Heights

South Boston's most celebrated historical episode took place during the American Revolutionary War. South Boston is home to Dorchester Heights and other hills where George Washington's army set up cannon to force the British out of Boston in 1776. The cannon were dragged from Fort Ticonderoga by Henry Knox. Dorchester Heights is now a National Park.

During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington placed a cannon on Dorchester Heights, thereby forcing the evacuation of British troops from Boston on March 17, 1776. The British evacuated Boston and Fort William and Mary for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Fort William and Mary was replaced with a brick fortification known as Fort Independence. That fort was replaced by a granite fortification bearing the same name prior to the American Civil War, and still stands on Castle Island as a National Historic Landmark.

Edgar Allan Poe was stationed at Castle Island for five months in 1827 and was inspired to write The Cask of Amontillado based on an early Castle Island legend.

That day in history — March 17, 1776 — became known as Evacuation Day, a public holiday in Boston, which would work out nicely for the mostly Irish-American population of South Boston, who also celebrate their patron Saint Patrick on that day. Evacuation Day was declared a holiday in the City of Boston in 1901. In celebration, the city hosted a parade based in South Boston. The Dorchester Heights Monument, a tribute to the historical event, was completed in Dorchester Heights in 1902.

Irish Immigration and Cultural Identity

The Irish presence in South Boston defines much of the neighborhood's cultural legacy. Impoverished newcomers settled mainly in the Lower End between A and F Streets, where they worked as laborers and dockworkers. The Irish population grew rapidly again after the Great Fire of 1872 swept through Boston's Fort Hill neighborhood, driving some of the city's poorest immigrant residents into South Boston.

The Archdiocese of Boston opened a spate of new Catholic churches to serve Southie's burgeoning Irish communities. Outgrowing the small St. Augustine Chapel on Dorchester Street, Saints Peter and Paul Church opened on Broadway in 1845, followed by Gate of Heaven (1863), St. Vincent (1874), Our Lady of the Rosary (1884), St. Monica (1907), and St. Brigid (1908).

While Irish immigrants fueled most of South Boston's growth in the nineteenth century, the neighborhood also attracted a large number of Canadians from the Maritime Provinces. Although its population had diversified somewhat by the early twentieth century, the neighborhood maintained its Irish identity and continued to attract newcomers from Ireland. Alongside its churches, dozens of Irish social and charitable organizations flourished in Southie, including eleven chapters of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade

Beginning in 1901, local residents convinced the city to host an Evacuation Day parade in South Boston to celebrate the British retreat from the area on March 17, 1776. The event evolved into a St. Patrick's Day celebration and has continued to the present day. The Saint Patrick's Day Parade is both a celebration of Irish-American culture in Boston and the Evacuation Day victory. The City of Boston sponsored the event until 1947, when Mayor James Michael Curley gave authority to the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council.

In 1958, Senator John F. Kennedy rode with Jacqueline Kennedy in the parade. The South Boston St. Patrick's Parade is listed as the second-largest parade in the country, being viewed by nearly 600,000 to 1 million people every year, in addition to having the entire parade seen on live television.

South Boston was also home to the very first Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was completed in September of 1981, slightly more than a year before the more well-known one built in Washington, D.C.

The Busing Crisis of the 1970s

During the 1970s, South Boston received national attention for its opposition to court-mandated school desegregation by busing students to different neighborhoods. The long tenure of the Irish in South Boston gave its residents a particularly strong sense of place and a fierce determination to protect their turf from newcomers, especially African Americans. It was this defensive localism, combined with resentments of political decisions made by liberal suburban elites, that helped make Southie the epicenter of the desegregation and busing crisis of the 1970s.

A large number of violent protests occurred on South Boston streets. On many occasions, residents hurled bricks at buses carrying Black students into South Boston High School. Images of South Boston protests that turned to riots were printed in newspapers around the country.

The racial animus and violence of that era deterred both African Americans and new immigrants from settling in the neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s. As the foreign-born population grew across the city, in South Boston it dropped from 14 percent in 1960 to 7 percent in 1990. Not all South Boston residents opposed busing. A small number of Bostonians who were shocked by the violent reaction to busing lived in South Boston, and could not believe the images that were shown on television screens and in newspapers depicting residents using racist epithets and behaving violently.

James "Whitey" Bulger, former leader of the notorious Winter Hill Gang, was convicted on 31 of 32 counts of murder and racketeering. He ruled Boston's Irish underworld from the 1970s through the early 1990s from a Southie bar called Triple O's.

Landmarks, Parks, and Modern Character

Castle Island is not actually an island, but a park with scenic walking paths located at the easternmost tip of South Boston. The "castle" in question is the historic Fort Independence, which visitors can tour. There are three parks in the area including M Street Park, Thomas Park, and Castle Island, a 22-acre urban park offering beaches, biking, walking, and swimming.

The Fort Point Channel Historic District is located in South Boston. Fort Point is a hub for the arts community and has a large population of working artists. Medal of Honor Park is located on Broadway and features two playgrounds, playing fields, and the nation's first Vietnam War Memorial.

With the development of hotels, restaurants, and shopping surrounding the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), the community is now attracting families and young professionals. Once considered a part of the South Boston neighborhood, the South Boston waterfront has emerged as its own neighborhood, the Seaport District.

Hip restaurants and breweries have appeared in recent years as South Boston's blue-collar residents are supplanted by moneyed tech workers and recent college grads, though classic Irish pubs hold down its Irish-American identity. In the early 21st century, property values, especially in the City Point neighborhood near Castle Island, rose to the level of some of the highest in the city. The City Point area of South Boston, labeled "East Side" by realtors, has seen a major increase in property values due to its close proximity to downtown Boston and gentrification.

It is not unusual to see a film crew set up along the streets shooting a Hollywood production — South Boston has served as a setting for films such as The Departed and Good Will Hunting.

According to city data, the percentage of residents who identify as Hispanic or African American increased by more than 400 percent between 1990 and 2010, reflecting the neighborhood's ongoing demographic evolution.