Under the el, but where?

By adamg on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 11:12am

The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this photo.

Topics:

History

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Comments

1061 Washington St.

By gradontripp on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 11:41am.

Was the address of Compton Drug Co., at least until it moved to Columbia Road.

oh good

By cybah on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 11:45am.

My googling wasn't far off... I saw one in Dorchester, but didn't think it was the same.

Urban Renewal, Yipeeee!

By John Costello on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 12:31pm.

How many men who bombed the tar out of Germany and Japan came back here and did the same thing to American cities, albeit with the best of intentions?

Compton Street used to run from Tremont to Washington through what is now the Castle Square Projects and through the back of what Druker wants to build on at the corner of East Berkeley and Washington.

Here is the sexy view today:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.344568,-71.0655991,514m/data=!3m1!1e3

The Verizon Garage and Telephone Exchange look like they are from a commercial park in Holliston.

For all of you who want more "open space" in the South End. Which would you rather have: banal pieces of mandated concrete tempered to keep the homeless away, or a thriving streetscape? I'll take the more updated one from the photo above. I'm sure it was noisy and the Orange Line didn't not make for units with lots of natural light, but let's get rid of a few community gardens along East Berkeley and Washington Streets and restore the streetscape of the city with street front facing facades and corner commercial spaces. It seems to working on Tremont and Columbus.

My father was one of those guys

By moxie on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 12:50pm.

Who bombed the tar out of Germany, and Japan. And I respect the hell out of that, thank you very much.

So Was My Father In Law

By John Costello on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 1:17pm.

He even used to go visit the places in Germany which his crew bombed while he was in his 50's. Oak Square to bombing Kiel while only being 21.

My mom grew up in Kiel

By BikerGeek on Fri, 08/28/2015 - 7:41am.

My mom was born in 1933 and grew up in Kiel during the war. I never met another American who'd ever heard of Kiel, unless they'd studied military history enough to know that it was a major submarine base during both world wars.

I actually wish I could have introduced her to your FIL. I think they would have been intrigued to meet each other.

I went to Kiel myself with my mom a few times, when I was very small, to visit my grandmother, back in the '70s.

My mom always told me that somehow the bombing runs missed the Nikolaikirche (Church of St. Nicholas), which was built in the 1200s. It was amazing that it survived the war, especially since it was so close to the harbor where they built and docked the submarines.

My grandmother always used to say that as much nice stuff as they built during the post-war period, they never got the look-and-feel of the city back the way it was before the war.

Hi..so this is Compton Street

By owlcat on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 12:53pm.

Hi..so this is Compton Street? My father grew up in the South End in the 1940-1950's and he told me his street was named "Compton" and he said it was "gone now" when I asked about it recently

The Answer

By City Archives on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 4:13pm.

That's right. This is Compton Street at Washington Street on March 28 1951

thanks

By Owlcat on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 11:19pm.

Thanks! I will show him this picture!

(No subject)

By Dave on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 5:34pm.

IMAGE(http://img.ccrd.clearchannel.com/media/mlib/1004/2015/08/default/soc_logo_150_0_1438789006.jpg)

straightouttasomewhere.com

By Dave on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 6:16pm.

go to straightouttasomewhere.com

You had me until community gardens.

By Sally on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 2:27pm.

Honestly...you're trying to make the case that we should raze the gardens to build more...remind me--"thriving streetscape?" Please remember that those gardens were built back when there were rubble-strewn lots and burned out buildings all over the South End. They've served a pretty wide range of South End residents over the years and add a lot of color and joy to a city street. And the people who garden in them tend to be pretty rooted in the community, especially the older people who've fought hard for city green space. So please--I'm all for liveliness and against concrete slabs but don't be talking foolish about ploughing under gardens.

Those Who Woud Choose 16 Tomatoes for 2 weeks a year..

By John Costello on Thu, 08/27/2015 - 3:05pm.

Over housing for more people 52 weeks a year have their priorities out of whack.

How about this: Get rid of the community gardens along East Berkeley and near Cumston Street and building flat roofed housing with rooftop gardens that can supply fresh food a few times a year?

Win win. You get to live and eat as opposed to moving discarded condoms and rat feces off of your two squashes and three heads of kale.

There is plenty of green space (Peters Park, Sparrow Park, the SW Corridor, Franklin Square, Blackstone Square to name a few with Jim Rice Park, the Fens, the Public Garden, the Esplanade, and the Harbor nearby) within the South End and plenty of black space wasted on parking lots. In fact, that is an embarrassment of riches of urban open space.

You could put a lot of housing in the parking lot behind Methunion Manor or around Castle Square. Housing for everyone and let people leave the cars behind. That is a better solution over the things that Shaw's and Whole Foods provide for a much cheaper price.