Urban Renewal on Dover Street
In 1961, there was serious and unsettled near-future government business vis-à-vis the South End site of Eastern Nazarene College’s Boston Chapel building. With personal, political and historical ties (if not vested interest) were notable government principals:
- Edward J. “Eddie” Logue -- recently arrived in Boston fresh from his renowned Hartford, Connecticut urban redevelopment accomplishments. As Boston’s new Urban Renewal Administrator, Edward Logue rapidly secured a nearly $30 million federal grant for South End redevelopment from the Washington administration of Boston native – and, in 1961, now President - John F. Kennedy;
- Monsignor Francis J. Lally, Board Chairman of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). He and Urban Renewal Administrator Edward J. Logue were both headquartered in the BRA’s South End office at 70 Warren Avenue, a 4-minute walk from Boston Chapel;
- Archbishop Richard James Cardinal Cushing lived at 1400 Washington Street, the location of his Holy Cross Cathedral Archdiocese office. Holy Cross Cathedral – still there today -- was a 5 minute walk from Boston Chapel in 1961. Like President Kennedy, Archbishop Cushing was born in Boston. (President Kennedy was born at 83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts, just 3 miles from Boston Chapel).
When invitational flyers appeared all over the Boston Chapel neighborhood announcing a meeting to inform residents of the government’s Urban Renewal plans for the South End, I knew I very much wanted to be at the meeting. The flyer said the meeting was to be held at a street-level tenement apartment address on Village Street, a half block from the Chapel.
Even before BRA representatives arrived, the sweltering apartment was crowded with already angry neighborhood residents, suspicious of government intentions. The crowd’s firmly held belief was that the Urban Renewal emphasis would be on their family’s relocation and their home’s demolition and removal, rather than the residents’ hoped-for redevelopment and renewal and preservation and repair of their South End homes and neighborhoods.* Making his way through the crowd to the front of the apartment’s large living room, the BRA spokesman – a large man wearing what appeared to be a large diamond ring – began to attempt to speak. What I mostly recall after that is the interruptive shouting of the very upset and distrustful Boston Chapel neighborhood residents, and then receiving on my way out the door a handed-out notice that there would be a meeting for everyone interested at a nearby auditorium the following Wednesday at 2 in the afternoon.
On Wednesday, I arrived early at the published address of the auditorium. There were quite a few South End residents there waiting for the BRA public meeting to begin. The scheduled meeting eventually proved to be postponed rather than held. An announcement “The Monsignor is not here, and we can’t hold the meeting without him” was made. The scheduled meeting was declared adjourned until the following Wednesday.
On the following Wednesday there were far fewer residents in the auditorium. In a repeat of the week before, the announcement “The Monsignor is not here, and we can’t hold the meeting without him” was made. “Where is the Monsignor?”, someone shouted. “He’s playing golf!” was the response. Many people laughed.
Because the Monsignor was not present for the meeting, the rescheduled 2 pm public meeting with the concerned residents was postponed again, until Thursday evening. I could not attend that Thursday evening meeting, because, throughout my ENC years, I worked the 3-11 shift full-time at Milton Hospital, including Thursdays. On Wednesday and Sunday evenings I was in Boston Chapel services.
On a Saturday morning some months later, I was working alone in the Chapel mimeographing bulletins when a casually dressed, immediately amiable, 50-ish man came in, announcing he was from the BRA. After exchanging pleasantries, he casually said “You paid $5,000 for the building – we’ll give you $6,000 for it.”
~Jim Tasker, January 17th, 2013