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When the pope came to Boston
By adamg on Thu, 09/24/2015 - 11:06am
Eric Griswold shows us Pope John Paul II's motorcade going down Boylston Street on the way to a mass on the Common in 1979.
Of course, Boston politicians didn't have to wait for the pope to come here, not with flights to Europe and all. The Boston City Archives posted this photo of Mayor Ray Flynn with Pope John Paul II, possibly at the Vatican, sometime after Flynn became mayor:
And here's Mayor John Collins meeting Pope John XXIII at the Vatican in 1962.
Top photo copyright Eric Griswold and posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr. Bottom photo posted under this Creative Commons license.
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Comments
Adam - Edit needed
Ray was either a state rep or city councilor in 1979. Kevin White was still mayor and beat Dave Finnegan again a few weeks after the Pope's visit.
Ray beat Dashiki wearing Mel King in 1983 to become mayor.
Oy, clearly no infallibility here!
Thanks for noting that. I've corrected the post (based in part on the additional info from the archives folks below).
Kevin White. Heh.
Apparently the Pope went to Lake St. in Brighton. Every, every pothole along the route was filled. The fire engines in Union Square were painted fresh lime green/yellow, for some reason a popular color at the time. By hand. Out of cans. By brush.
(ed) Oh, the tires were painted glossy black. By brush. It didn't last long, but then it didn't have to...
Photo date
Although we're not sure when this photo was taken, we do know it wasn't during the pope's 1979 visit to Boston. Our educated guess is that it was during a trip Mayor Flynn made to the Vatican sometime in the 1980s.
Lord and Taylor
Has their logo on the roof (and still does, faintly)
(yes I know this is common.. look at Target in Everett)
put up a parking lot
Is that the corner of Exeter and Boylston with a parking lot?
Way more photos from the 1979 visit
Globe photo gallery.
Seems weird
Having a parade down Boylston without duck boats.
Kind of remember seeing His
Kind of remember seeing His Holiness ride by at D and Old Colony , must have gone over Broadway or W Fourth to Common. Made it to Park Square, it was crazy !!
same
We saw him somewhere in South Boston ride by, then went over to my aunts to watch the Mass on TV. My cousin was one of the celebrants. Miserable, rainy day.
We really lucked out
I've developed whiplash, lunging for the radio tuner or remote every 90 seconds when the latest breathless coverage of this silliness blares out at me.
Could be worse. My son works in DC, and says that this thing is the worst flustercluck he's ever seen there. The city is at a gridlocked standstill. Can't imagine what it would be like here.
Would have thought the Pope would have stopped by this time
Ya know, maybe to do a little in person apologizing for the whole alter boy thing.
He was going to make it to Boston, but ...
pope, the common, rain, comm ave, st cols, helicopter
he came and it rained like you read about. my mother dragged me up to comm ave by the seminary to see him. we all stood in the pouring rain and yelled VIVA IL PAPA!!!! it was dark but his limo had the interior lights and he GLOWED!!!!!! it was amazing. I attended a small catholic school in the area and the next morning we were all told to go out to the church parking lot. we waited until his helicopter appeared over the church and we COULD SEE HIS WHITE ROBES IN THE HELICOPTER!!!!
i'll never forget that day.
Parade Photo
Look - No 699 Boylston Street / Darth Vader Building. No Stephanie's On Newbury Building, and no Niketown and of course, no Mandarin.