From Dave Brigham:
Located between Boston Inner Harbor, Route 1A and the Mystic River, the Maverick Square and Jeffries Point neighborhoods were the earliest areas of East Boston to be developed, back in the 1830s, per Wikipedia. In short order, the East Boston Company laid out a street grid and built a bridge connecting to Chelsea. During this time, the East Boston Lumber Company and the Boston Sugar Refinery were founded in the area, and several wharves were built.
Shipbuilding became a mainstay of the economy; in 1836, Boston annexed its eastern neighbor. This is a simplified history, but here you go: eventually railroads came, as did immigrants over the decades, from Ireland, Canada, Russia, Italy, Southeast Asia and, more recently, Central and South America. This is the kind of neighborhood I love to explore. And so I did. Here's what I found.
What better place to start than a mural about East Boston's history.
Located on the side of the Americano Espresso Bar along Meridian Street, facing the Walgreens parking lot, this giant mural is somewhat faded, but is a great work. Noteworthy people, sites and events include the Battle of Noddle's Island (the former Noddle's Island now consists of much of the southern end of East Boston; the battle was the second Boston campaign of the Revolutionary War); Wood Island, a former park, much of which was razed to expand Logan Airport; the first underwater tunnel in America, linking East Boston's trolleys to downtown Boston; the East Boston Shipyard; and Amelia Earhart, who took off from the then-East Boston Airport on her historic flight as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. There also appear to be random folks who I'm guessing represent the neighborhood's history of welcoming immigrants.
Let's look at another wonderful work of public art.
When I shot this photo this past winter, I assumed this was part of the church you can see in the background (the Central Assembly of God), but I was wrong. This beautiful mural is on the side of the Consulate General of El Salvador. That Central American nation is one of the top 10 countries from which new immigrants to Boston hail.
Want more public art? You got it!
This work showing an astronaut floating in space while looking down at Earth is located in what's called Our Garden, a community project located between Border and Meridian streets near the East Boston Skate Park. Artist Gretchen Schneider worked with the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing to turn this park from an unsafe passageway to a brightly lit, welcoming space.
The painting below is on the same building.
This one is signed Enivo, which is the name of a Brazilian street artist. Not sure if it's his work or somebody biting his moves.
The next work of art is on the side of Mi Pueblito, a Mexican/Salvadoran/Guatemalan restaurant on Border Street.
The mural faces the Eagle Hill Community Garden, which is operated by a partnership between the Trustees of Reservations, the Boston Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and TD Bank. The painting is of an East Boston wharf scene, with the Bunker Hill Monument in the background.
The next one is a little different. A street mural.
This art is on the street in front of a former candy and gum factory. Backing up to the East Boston Greenway (a former Conrail train line), at the corner of Orleans and Grove streets, the old factory rose in 1917 and was home to the Cox Confectionery Company for 15 years. In the 1930s, San-Man Chocolates took over the property, per my old friend MACRIS. In the 1940s, the brilliantly named Gum Products, Inc. took over until 1982. It is now condos, and known as the Gumball Factory.
Heading northeast on Orleans Street, I couldn't miss this ugly, hulking behemoth at the corner of Porter Street.
Built in 1911 and known as the Engel-Cone Shoe Company Building, this eyesore has caused neighborhood folks trouble for quite a few years. "Since 2016 residents living in the Gove Street area have compared the dilapidated building on the corner of Porter and Orleans streets to something you would see in wartorn regions rather than East Boston," is how this February 28, 2020, East Boston Times article begins.
The developers, referred to in the article only as "the Patels," bought the building in 2017 with intentions of turning it into a boutique hotel. Their representative told the newspaper that the Patels have made progress in negotiating with companies that own telecommunications antennas on the building's roof. "When dealing with the relocation of telecommunication antennas there [is a] very complicated and legal choreography that has to occur before you can move forward. Because moving them causes a disruption in service there a whole host of issues that come with that," attorney Richard Lynds said.
As of that February article, the developers said they were awaiting city approvals, and that they hoped scaffolding would rise soon so a contractor can begin prepping the building. I have no idea if that has happened.
Across the street from this possible future chic hotel is 156 Porter Lofts, located in a former bra factory.
Prior to housing the Goddess Bra Factory, 156 Porter was home to General Electric's Edison Lamp Works, per this article. The property rose in 1913 to manufacture tungsten filament lamps, and later was used to make miniature Christmas lights, per the article.
Along Cottage Street, heading toward Maverick Street, I spied the cool detail below on an apartment building.
I next headed southeast on Maverick Street and spied the neat building below.
This is a former facility for B.M. Jones & Company, which manufactured railroad equipment. This space is now home to an auto body shop.
(Cool little door on the former factory.)
I turned around and headed northwest on Maverick Street and came across a pre-redevelopment scene.
Maverick Street Market and Swish & Swash Laundromat have been closed for a while, as you can see by the fencing surrounding the property.
In July 2018, developer Joseph Nogueira proposed replacing these businesses with a five-story apartment building. He said the market and laundromat would be invited to reopen on the ground floor. I have no idea where this project stands.
At the intersection of Maverick and Orleans streets stands this eyesore, which I hope is under renovation.
There is storefront space on the ground floor, apartment space above. The public phone doesn't work.
Continuing southwest on Orleans Street, I saw the newer face of East Boston: nice apartment buildings, the Cunard Tavern, a yoga space. Naturally, as you head toward the waterfront, things get greener and pricier. Along the East Boston Greenway is the relic below.
This old Conrail caboose is evidently similar to one that was stationed nearby and which served as a kitchen for dock workers. The Greenway -- officially the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway (she was a teacher and activist who died in 2019) -- lies along a former railway right-of-way for the Grand Junction Railroad, as well as a route once used by the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, per Wikipedia.
Near the Maverick Street overpass for the greenway stands the former Saints + Angels giftware store.
On the corner of Maverick and Bremen streets stands the one-time City of Boston Overseers of the Public Welfare building.
This is the second one of these former welfare buildings I've seen in Boston (see February 15, 2020, "A Vital Shelter in Boston"). To quote that February post: "Boston's history of sheltering and aiding its citizens dates to at least 1772, when the legislature created the Overseers of the Poor in the Town of Boston.... In 1864, the agency's name was changed to Overseers of the Poor in the City of Boston. The name morphed again in 1921, to Overseers of the Public Welfare." This place is now home to several businesses, including La Tia Smoke Shop, Ayda Custom Tailoring, Penguin Caterers and Didi's Spa.
Along Meridian Street I found El Diamante Billares, a pool hall.
Nearby is the wonderful Iglesia La Luz del Mundo (The Light of the World), which is "a nontrinitarian Christian denomination with international headquarters in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico," per Wikipedia.
Also along Meridian Street is the Brazilian Soccer House.
Are you getting the picture that East Boston is home to a lot of immigrants?
Here's more proof. This storefront church is located further north on Meridian Street, next to the previously mentioned Our Garden, home to the outer space mural.
Keeping the religious theme going....
I believe this is along either Border Street or Liverpool Street, near the Mystic River.
Also along Border Street is one of my favorite signs, which I photographed several years ago and then again more recently. The first time was a lucky stumble-across, the second pure chance that I found it again.
Wigglesworth Machinery was founded in 1928. The company is still in business, although no longer at this location, as far as I can tell. This building appears to be for lease or sale (or was back a few months ago).
Just up the street is Atlantic Works Gallery, located in the former Atlantic Boiler Works building, which dates to 1901. The old Wigglesworth building is also a former boiler works property, per MACRIS.
I'm not sure if this sign is historic or new.
Also along Border Street is a cool sign that is one of my favorite ghosts that I've stumbled across, mainly because of the setting.
Located near Central Square, the former Mystic Shore Warehouse appears to have been vacant for quite some time. I love the combination of the faded sign, the bright graffiti and the yellow dumpster.
Across Central Square Park, along Meridian Street, I spied this named building.
Payless ShoeSource closed all its U.S. stores in 2019, so this sign may have come down by now. But the W.T. Grant Building sign is etched into stone, so it ain't going nowhere. "In 1906 the first 'W. T. Grant Co. 25 Cent Store' opened in Lynn, Massachusetts," per Wikipedia. "Modest profit, coupled with a fast turnover of inventory, caused the stores to grow to almost $100 million annual sales by 1936, the same year that William Thomas Grant started the W. T. Grant Foundation. By the time Grant died in 1972 at age 96, his chain of W. T. Grant Stores had grown to almost 1,200."
The chain stores were eventually known simply as Grants. There was one in my hometown when I was a kid.
Another business along Border Street, not far from the previously mentioned Mi Pueblito restaurant, is John Smith's Automotive & Sales.
"Let Me Work On Your Body."
Um, no thanks.
Also on Border Street I saw this old sign for a liquor store, hanging on a building that appears to have been recently converted to condos.
At the corner of Border and Lexington streets I had the view below.
I see this a lot around Boston - buildings standing alone, their former neighbors having been torn down around them. In this case, a low building abutting the purple wall has been razed, leaving an L-shaped space. I'm gathering something will go up here before too long, probably something with high price tags. This building was once an outpatient clinic.
Two doors down is the back door for Iglesias Senda de Fe ("Church Paths of Faith"), which I referenced above.
Last, and certainly not least, is an old-fashioned bowling alley.
Before my second trip through this area, I'd seen something about Central Park Lanes online and knew I had to seek it out. A candlepin facility, Central Park looks like it's been in business for quite a few decades.
For more of my adventures in East Boston, check out December 14, 2018, "Eastie Ramble" and November 3, 2018, "Pictures of Eastie Pride."
