White Stadium, a 75-year-old sports facility located in Boston's Franklin Park that for years has hosted Boston school sports, has been a hot topic in local news since last year. In the late summer of 2023, the owners of the city's entry in the National Women's Soccer League, the Boston Unity, announced a plan with the City of Boston and Boston Public Schools (BPS) to overhaul the aging facility and take over primary usage of the stadium from March to October each year.
Many local residents, in Roxbury and in Jamaica Plain especially, were less than thrilled by this announcement. "'How are we going to keep it for BPS?' said Courtney Leonard, athletic director at TechBoston Academy," in this Bay State Banner article. "'Are we hiring Black and brown people? Is it going to stay 90% for our communities? I want to see more of a commitment for BPS schools and students for access that doesn’t come with a caveat.'"
Over the years, I've been to the Franklin Park Zoo with my kids, and the adjacent old bear cages in service of this blog, (see and December 18, 2019, "Having a Bear of a Time at the Zoo"), so I was aware of the stadium. When I learned about the plan to redevelop it, I figured I should finally venture from the across the playing fields to check it out.
As I walked along a narrow path behind the backstop of a baseball field, I saw a martial arts mentor and student practicing moves on a slight rise above me. I passed a few folks out on a beautiful day walking their dogs. I stopped to watch a father and his young son tossing a football. On the basketball courts just to the southeast of the stadium, I spied about two dozen women in an exercise class, jamming to some dance tunes.
And all the while, in the background, I could hear primates at the zoo calling out to each other.
Franklin Park is an incredible resource for the City of Boston. Wikipedia says this about the park: "Considered a country park when it was formed in the 19th century, Franklin Park is the largest and last component of the Emerald Necklace created by Frederick Law Olmsted. Although often neglected in the past, it is considered the 'crown jewel' of Olmsted's work in Greater Boston....[P]reviously known as West Roxbury Park, [it] was renamed in honor of Boston-born patriot Benjamin Franklin, who documented in his will that he wished for a portion of his estate to be given to a worthy cause. The park brings together rural scenery, a woodland preserve, and areas for active recreation and sports. Franklin Park also has six miles of roads and fifteen miles of pedestrian and bridle paths to explore."
As I mentioned in a previous post about the park, there is also a public golf course and the ruins of an old park superintendent's office on Schoolmaster Hill (see May 11, "Learning About Boston's Schoolmaster Hill").
To be honest, I was expecting the stadium, officially known as the George Robert White Memorial Stadium, after a wealthy pharmaceutical executive who spent much of his life in boston, to be rather boring. I figured I'd make a few quick photos and move on. But boy, was I wrong. I was fascinated by the details on this place, especially at the entrances.
(The west side entrance.)
(West side entrance detail.)
(Near the west side entrance, the original full name of the stadium -- George Robert White Schoolboy Stadium -- is chiseled.)
Below is the south end of the stadium.
The stadium is in pretty rough shape, from what I've read in news stories, and from my basic observations on the day of my visit. Still, this place is unusual in Boston, according to the Boston Preservation Alliance. "The architectural design is unique in Boston. It is a rare example of Streamline Art Deco architecture in New England with a hint of Bauhaus influence," according to this article.
Still, the details! Below is a close-up from the east side entrance.
Whatever happens to the stadium -- there is at least one lawsuit ongoing -- these details need to be preserved. Of course, it would be nice if newer flourishes similar to these were added, as well, particularly ones that reflect the diverse population of the city.
Stay tuned for updates...and for a future post about more of Franklin Park.
As ruins go, the remnants of the superintendent's office in Boston's Franklin Park are about as clean, beautiful and well-built as you'll find.
Located in the heart of the park, overlooking the public golf course, the ruins are the main attraction of Schoolmaster Hill, so named because 200 years ago, this area was home to Ralph Waldo Emerson, his brother and his mother. In his early 20s at the time, the man who would go on to become an inflential preacher, writer, lecturer, poet and philosopher was working as a teacher in Roxbury.
While he didn't live here long, the time he spent in what was then the very rural area known as Canterbury influenced his life. "Emerson spent his spare time walking, reading and writing in his journal," according to Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Schoolmaster of Franklin Park, a book published in 1980 by the Franklin Park Coalition. "The journal entries give a good picture of how Emerson felt about living in Canterbury. And it is from these books that we learn whether the solitude of the woods and meadows was beneficial to the confused, bored young man."
The book quotes Emerson's journal: "I never saw a country which more delighted me. A man might travel many hundred miles and not find so fine woodlands as abound in this neighborhood."
Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead in the late 19th century, the 527-acre Franklin Park, which also features a zoo, a stadium (about which I will write in the near future) and old bear dens (see December 18, 2019, "Having a Bear of a Time at the Zoo"), "is the largest and last component of the Emerald Necklace created by...Olmsted," according to Wikipedia. "Although often neglected in the past, it is considered the 'crown jewel' of Olmsted's work in Greater Boston.
I had the ruins to myself on the late fall day that I visited. I found the stone walls -- amazingly untouched by graffiti -- to be pleasant photography subjects. I wandered at my leisure, comforted by the far-off sound of golfers hitting their drives, chatting with each other and gently revving their carts.
The property was "[o]riginally 'covered by vines on trellises and furnished with tables and seats,' [and] also provided complimentary hot water for visitors to make tea," according to this National Park Service web site. "A multi-use building, it at one time housed the superintendent's office and served as the golf course club house."
There is a plaque on a boulder memorializing Emerson's time here, and sharing some of his poetry.
Make sure to check back for my write-up of Franklin Park's White Stadium, which stands to change drastically in the near future, and another post about features of the park.
In what seems another lifetime, I played in an over-40 men's baseball league. I played many games in Hyde Park, and enjoyed my drive through Cleary Square on my way to or from games. Recently I realized a years-long goal: I returned to that Boston neighborhood to make photos.
My first stop was a place I'd been to in more recent years, for my son's friend's birthday party, Ron's Gourmet Ice Cream and Bowling, in the heart of the square.
From the establishment's web site: "Ron Covitz is the patriarch of Ron’s Gourmet Ice Cream. The business was started as the Twentieth Century Bowling Alleys by Ron’s father, Julius. A family recreational facility, it housed 10 lanes of candlepin bowling and an 18-table pool hall....A 'foodie' before the term was popular, Ron knew he would not be happy making just average ice cream. He knew then as we know now that the best way to be successful is make it better and fresher than all of the competition."
It's a true family operation, with various members of the Covitz clan working there over the years.
Just south of Ron's along Hyde Park Ave., I couldn't resist making a photo of ODB Liquors.
"Why?" you may ask, if you aren't familiar with the Grammy-nominated, and possibly greatest rap collective of all time, Wu-Tang Clan. One of the Clan's members was Ol' Dirty Bastard, otherwise known as ODB. I'm not a Wu-Tang fan, but I do like the explicit "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" that ODB issued on his own.
As for the building housing ODB Liquors, it's known as the Thomas F. Fallon Block. Built in 1916, its tenants include retail stores on the ground floor, and small businesses located in office space above. Below are a few more retailers (and a possible ghost sign) located along the River Street-facing side of the block.
Back on Hyde Park Avenue, I found myself wanting to go back in time when the New England Baptist medical office building was in its prime.
The bones of this building seem solid, but it needs a refresh. I wonder if there was a clock in that empty circular spot.
Heading east on River Street, I liked the building housing Mr. G's Laundromat and Delicias Columbianas restaurant.
As with too many towns and cities I explore, I saw plenty of empty storefronts in Hyde Park....
...but I also saw two theaters, a storefront church and much more.
Located on Farimount Avenue, the Everett Square Theatre opened in 1915, hosting moving pictures, vaudeville shows and live music in its early years. "In 1933, Everett Square, where the theater was located, was renamed Logan Square, and the following year the theater was renamed the Fairmount Theatre," according to this article at After the Final Curtain (there are some great photos at that link as well). "By the mid-1940s the theater had discontinued the live performances and only showed motion pictures."
In the 1960s, the theater was renamed the Nu Pixie Cinema; in the 1980s the name was changed yet again, to Premiere Performances, as live acts returned to the space. Later on that decade, the old theater was used as an auction house before shuttering, according to After the Final Curtain.
In more recent years, Historic Boston, Inc. and Hyde Park Main Streets worked with the building's owner to re-create and install a new sign out front, and to restore the theater's foyer. In 2018, the owner was able to install a new roof.
I'm not sure of the status of further renovations. I hope someday that the Everett Square Theatre will reopen.
Adjacent to the old theater is a nice old building whose current tenant is the Bethesda Haitian Baptist Church.
As regular readers of this blog know, I have a thing for houses of worship, including ones located in non-traditional spaces. While things seemed pretty quiet at the Baptist church, I did hear music and preaching coming from other small churches along Fairmount Avenue and other locations during my expedition.
I was pleasantly surprised to see another theater marquee just two doors down from the Everett Square joint.
Riverside Theatre Works is located in the circa-1897 French's Opera House/Masonic Temple/Odd Fellows Hall. "French's block was originally constructed in 1897 but was ruined by fire 15 rronths after its opening," according to MACRIS. "Immediately rebuilt, the block was conpleted in 1899 and retained parts of the earlier facade. A more ambitious building than its predecessor, the 1899 block included an opera House (sic) with a 700 seat auditorium and, on the third floor, and odd fellows Hall (sic). In 1915, as the plaque on the building suggests, the interior of the block was renodelled for use as a masonic hall (sic)."
As for Riverside, it is a "rare community theater with a proscenium stage – and the only live theater venue in Hyde Park," per the troupe's web site. The 14,000 square foot facility "features a 156-seat opera house, a spacious dance studio and rehearsal space, a scene shop, a lounge, and several meeting and rehearsal rooms."
There's also a sweet ghost sign on the southeast-facing wall.
At the intersection of Fairmount Avenue and Davison Street there is a banner, installed by Hyde Park Main Streets, recognizing the 54th Regiment, the first military unit consisting of Black soldiers to be raised in the North during the Civil War.
From the Massachusetts Historical Society: "By the middle of February 1863, recruiting for the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment was underway. Newspaper advertisements and recruiting posters...encouraged Black men to enlist. Twenty-five men responded promptly, and by the end of the first week of enlistments seventy-two recruits were present at Camp Meigs in Readville (now Hyde Park), Massachusetts. However, more soldiers were needed and recruiters turned their attention to states throughout the North and South and into Canada to locate enough eligible Black men to fill the regiment. By 14 May 1863, the regiment was comprised of 1000 enlisted men, and a full complement of white officers."
I knew that the 54th Regiment was raised in Massachusetts, but I had no idea before wandering around Hyde Park that this neighborhood was the epicenter of that effort.
Laly's Market, which took over for Andrea Mini Market in recent years, is located in the Way Building, a circa-1903 Georgian Revival commercial block that rounds the corner from Fairmount Avenue to River Street.
Continuing northeast on River Street, I liked the sign for Kenney Cleaners, which looks like it's been there a while.
In the other end of the low-slung commercial block is Master McGrath's, an Irish bar.
From there I made my way west to the Hyde Park branch of the Boston Public Library. While both the old and new parts of the library are quite attractive, I was more interested in the slabs of stone parked in the north lawn.
This is a granite foundation stone from the former St. Catherine's School in Hyde Park. The foundation was built by Thomas Corrigan in 1895. The church was demolished in 1966.
Nearby are two architectural fragments from the cornice of the former Hyde Park Railroad Station, which was built in 1914 and torn down in 1964. One of them is pictured below.
Across the street from the library lawn is the former Hyde Park High School, which is being converted to studio, 1- and 2-bedroom rentals for the 62+, mixed-income, LGBTQ-friendly community.
As for the building, it was built in 1902 and was "originally known as the Hyde Park High School...[and] was constructed...as the first purpose-built public high school for the Town of Hyde Park, which was incorporated in 1868 and annexed to the City of Boston in 1912," according to MACRIS. "The 1902 building served as Hyde Park High School until 1929, when the Boston School Department completed construction of a new Hyde Park High School at 655 Metropolitan Avenue. From 1929 through 2015, the building was used as a public intermediate school known as the Rogers School."
Just around the corner, at the intersection of Everett Street and Central Avenue, is the Menino Arts Center, named after former longtime Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who grew up in Hyde Park.
The building, which dates to 1899, is also home to George Robert White Trust, which owns the stadium in Boston's Franklin Park, about which I will post in the coming weeks.
In between the arts center and the library, across from the old high school, is a building that looks as though it could've been an academic administration building. On the day I visited, it was listed for sale. It's most recent tenant was New Beginnings Academy.
Along Harvard Avenue is the Cecil W. Fogg/Thomas J. Roberts Post #78 of the American Legion.
I ducked back down Everett Street, heading west, to check out a church located in a non-traditional space.
The somewhat ominous sounding Pentecostal Church of the Last Hour was in the middle of a service on the day I walked by. I could hear preaching and music. The congregation is located in an industrial building that several years ago was home to a dry cleaning service.
I doubled-back to Harvard Avenue, and saw two nice little buildings near the intersection with River Street.
Fan Fan Bakery is located in a late-19th century commercial building, and has been in business more than a decade. Prior tenants included Las Vegas Seafood Restaurant (!?!).
Across the street is a building and company that really intrigue me.
Built in 1924, this building is home to Klein Post Card Service, which sells calendars, logo apparel and Boston and Cape Cod souvenirs. In business since 1974, Klein is a family owned business. I thought this company was a relic of another age, but I'm happy to see it's still active.
Back on River Street, I spied a great mural on the side of New York Fried Chicken.
Featuring Mayor Menino and a cast of dozens, this artwork depicts, I believe, a Hyde Park parade from the 1990s.
Last but not least, a shuttered dive bar, located just north of our starting point, Ron's Gourment Ice Cream.
The Cottage Cafe closed in late 2017 after what I'm assuming was decades in business. The building dates to 1940.
