“It is our home now”

in East Boston

The “Immigrant Grandmothers” mural was painted by the Mayor’s Mural Crew in 2017 using photos submitted by East Boston residents. It celebrates the lives and legacy of the women who built the predominantly immigrant community.

For almost 200 years, East Boston has been home to waves of immigrants. Many fled famine, poverty, persecution, violence, or natural disasters, but each immigrant’s story is unique. While some carried few possessions, a few came with degrees. All brought hope, courage, and determination to build a better life, especially for their children.

Each group created a community within East Boston, easing the challenging transition to the U.S. “Everyone looked out for each other,” recalls Marianne. “Having all our family here made it easier for my aunts and uncles,” explains Yesenia. “I fell in love with the neighborhood where many people speak Spanish,” adds Eugenia. Bodegas, bakeries, restaurants offer foods reminiscent of home. The close-knit enclaves have also helped immigrants continue cherished cultural traditions. “I want my kids to always know where we came from,” is a widely shared sentiment.

Some newcomers stay in East Boston a short while. But many families put down deep roots and have remained here for generations.

Irish natives Deborah Bresnahan and John Henry Callahan met at a Sacred Heart Church picnic and married a year later in 1876. The family stayed in East Boston for several generations.

Courtesy of Stephen Landrigan

Immigrants Joseph and Grazia D’Antona moved from the North End to East Boston. They bought a triple-decker, which they shared with their daughters’ families.

Courtesy of Marianne D’Antona Strong

In 1888, the Women’s Home Missionary Society founded the Immigrant Home on Marginal Street, to provide immigrant services. Today, Centro Presente and the East Boston Community Council are two of several organi-zations that support immigrants.

1912 photograph courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Boston Pictorial Archive

The Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church founded by Irish immigrants in 1844 now offers daily masses in Spanish. Houses of worship, including synagogues, a Buddhist temple, and a mosque, have provided immigrants with a spiritual home and social community.

Photo by Liz Nelson Weaver

Children who participate in the Veronica Robles Cultural Center programs perform at various city events, including Hispanic Heritage Month. They are wearing traditional costumes from Colombia, Peru, and El Salvador. VROCC teaches, promotes and celebrates Latino cultures to bring people together.

Courtesy of the Veronica Robles Cultural Center

Sign Location

More …

How did the Harborwalk come to exist?

Community activists. Colonial law. Political will. New state regulations. The combination created the 43-mile Boston Harborwalk–a public path, stretching from Logan Airport through seven neighborhoods to the Neponset River. In 1978, the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) sought to improve public access to the waterfront. They succeeded by integrating early Colonial laws into new state regulations.

In the decades that followed, community activists, city and state government, and developers of shoreline projects have worked together to ensure the Harborwalk is always constructed along the waterfront. Some sites also provide public amenities–bathrooms, meeting places, kayak launches,
etc. The result is a fabulous path welcoming residents and visitors to our vibrant clean harbor.

How did Colonial laws help create today's Harborwalk?

Early Colonial laws established public right of access along tidelands to protect citizens’ rights to fish, hunt, and navigate at sea and along the shorefront. These laws go back even further: They stem from Roman law, which was incorporated into English law and brought over to Massachusetts by English
settlers. Then, in the 1640s, Massachusetts Bay Colony passed laws permitting private docks in the intertidal area (between low and high tide) as long as public access was retained. Almost all of Boston’s waterfront is filled land that was once the intertidal area. This, together with the centuries-old legal right of access, served as the underpinnings for the 1978 CZM regulations.

Resources

Caraballo, Jorge. “‘Donmatías, Massachusetts.’” Medium, December 9, 2015, https://medium.com/@jorgecaraballo/this-is-the-story-of-donmat%C3%ADas-a-colombian-town-with-a-very-unusual-migratory-behavior-9fb517ad2e23
“East Boston—Exploring Boston’s Neighborhoods,” published by Boston Landmarks Commission, 1994.
“The East Boston Immigration Station, A History,” https://www.massport.com/massport/community/initiatives/open-space-parks/the-east-boston-immigration-station/
“Global Boston: A Portal to the Region’s Immigrant Past and Present”
Imagine All the People
Marchi, Rebecca. M. Legendary locals of East Boston, Massachusetts. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015.
Puleo, Stephen. The Boston Italians. Beacon Press, 2007.
Scott, Phaedra. “Our Immigrant Abuelitas, Nonnas and Grandmothers Take Their Place in a New Mural,” WBUR News, December 8, 2017. https://www.wbur.org/news/2017/12/08/east-boston-immigrant-grandmothers-mural
Thompson, Neal. “How the Kennedy dynasty began in East Boston with an Irish immigrant widow and her restless son.” Boston Globe Magazine, January 30, 2022.
Veronica Robles Cultural Center https://veronicaroblesculturalcenter.org/
Woods, Robert A. and Albert J. Kennedy, The Zone of Emergence: Observations of the Lower Middle and Upper Working Class Communities of Boston, 1905-1914. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1962, 187-219.

Acknowledgments

Warm thanks to the dozens of people–newcomers to Boston and descendants of immigrants–who shared their stories.

And thank you to Boston College Professor Marilynn Johnson for her expertise and deep commitment to ensuring immigrant stories are shared and celebrated.