As some of my readers already know, I'm a resident of the Dorchester neighborhood of the City of Boston. On June 7, 2009, Dorchester will be celebrating Dorchester Day, an annual celebration to commemorate the founding of Dorchester.
Dorchester Day
Originally, Dorchester was a separate city from the City of Boston and was much larger than it is today. I'll be writing an article for The Dorchester Reporter about the history of Dorchester, including its origins as a separate entity from Boston and an attempt by some of its residents to secede part of Dorchester from Boston during the 80's to create a new city called Mandela. The initiative obviously failed but is an interesting point from Dorchester's rich history.
For the article, I'd love to hear from the opinion of current and former residents of Dorchester on the neighborhood and the secession attempts. If you live in Dorchester currently or are originally from Dorchester, please take a few minutes and fill out the below form and you might be mentioned in the Dorchester Day edition of The Dorchester Reporter.
Thank you!
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Post written on 2009-05-25.
5 comments
Here’s my problem with using the argument that “Dorchester used to be it’s own town before…”, there are many neighborhoods in Boston that used to be their own towns before being incorporated into the city. The wikipedia page for the neighborhoods of Boston states “Brighton (including Allston), Charlestown, Dorchester (including Mattapan), Hyde Park, Roxbury, South Boston, and West Roxbury (including Roslindale and Jamaica Plain), have all at some point been municipalities independent from downtown Boston…” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Boston,_Massachusetts). So I think that is an unfair way to try and trigger a response, but leaves me curious as to what the populous of the neighborhood thinks about splitting from a major city and effectively diminishing said city in size and population.
You’re absolutely right Matt but how many of those towns had a movement to secede from Boston? Recently?
Dorchester is also unique in that it’s the biggest part of Boston and was even more gigantic before. It used to include parts of South Boston, Roxbury, Mattapan, Quincy, Hyde Park and all of Milton and Stoughton.
I’m not making an argument that Dorchester was the only part of Boston that was independent, just one of many. Obviously, as a resident of Dorchester, my focus is on the history of Dorchester’s former independence.
I’m trying to keep my personal bias out of the article but after it’s published I’ll give my personal thoughts on the issue.
Many fertile agricultural lands have also been created, giving rise to various farms and making this county rather a rural one in comparison to its neighbours.
nice article… sorry, I’m not live in Dorchester Residents.. So, I can fill your surveys..
Thank you Adam for sharing the information about Dorchester.
To be honest, I have never been in Dorchester. In fact, I live in Asia. However, one thing is for sure that i would like to hear more about the history of Dorchester which is now part of Boston. If Dorchester has a rich past, then I think, it could itself be an independent city. I hope you will let us know more about the history of Dorchester.
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