Roxbury Heritage Video

Shortly before my vacation to the Gulf states, I had a discussion with one of my neighbors. He wrote to express his appreciation for the work Discover Roxbury is doing and hoped that we would continue to build and expand. One of his frustrations is that there is so little information easily available or easy to find about Roxbury's history, boundaries, geography, and population. I chimed in that one of the problems with finding information about Roxbury is that there aren't enough people telling Roxbury's story and making it widely available.

Well, today I proved myself wrong. It's not that there aren't people telling Roxbury's story, it's more that we aren't necessarily looking in the right place. I did a YouTube search for videos relating to Roxbury and came across quite a few, although they're interspersed with videos from Roxbury, NJ and clips from the movie One Night at the Roxbury. I can't say that all of the videos are flattering; but they are real, show sides of the neighborhood from residents' perspectives, and provide a counter to the usual mainstream media clips.

One of the most interesting videos for me is Roxbury Heritage at Dudley Square. It's well produced and shows how quickly the area changed in just two generations. This video also reminds me of how important adequate public transportation is to a dense urban community. Dudley Square and Roxbury were clearly shortchanged by the removal of the Orange Line in 1987 (and by the removal of the trolley lines prior to that). It would be great if the neighborhoods between Dudley Square and Downtown Boston could coalesce to demand improved public transportation from the MBTA in the same way that Somerville and Medford are doing. The Washington Street corridor has a long history of excellent public transportation that just isn't being lived up to presently.

At any rate, enough of my soapbox. Enjoy the video and hear the stories of the neighborhood.

Comments

[MarkB]

Going back to at least the 1940s there were plans to get rid of the elevated line that went through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. One plan had the line following its present route from Forest Hills along the railroad tracks as far as Jackson Square, and then turning towards Washington street and going underground. From there, it was to follow the old route through Dudley and in to Boston under Washington street. The MTA said that they couldn't keep the line running on the elevted tracks at the same time as the new tunnel would be dug, so it was never done.

You can read about it here:
http://rememberjamaicaplain.blogspot.com/2007/11/tear-down-el.html

[3D]

Thanks for that reference. It dovetails nicely with information I read on The City Record and Boston News-Letter. That post is here:

http://bostonhistory.typepad.com/notes_on_the_urban_condit/2006/08/how_soon_is_now.html

[giselle]

Dudley doesn't need even more improvements to public transit. During rush hour, the Silver Line comes every 3-to-4 minutes! And if folks don't like that, there's always the nearby Orange Line at Rox Crossing. So PLEASE...when will people stop whining? and be happy with the great options they already have.

[3D]

Giselle, that's it? You're pro-Silver Line because it comes every 3-4 minutes during rush hour? You have no comments on capacity, convenience, speed, comfort, or environmental impact? You couldn't even be bothered to cite a study, a survey, or something stating why the Silver Line is good for Dudley and the surrounding community?