| West Roxbury, Massachusetts was annexed to Boston in
1874. Originally part of the town of Roxbury, it formed its own town
government in 1851. West Roxbury was a farming community well into the 19th
century. In 1851, rail service was extended to rural West Roxbury, allowing
people to live in the town but work in Boston. With the annexation to
Boston, a second wave of housing construction began in the late 19th
century. West Roxbury's development increased dramatically after the
turn of the 20th Century; with over three-quarters of the current housing
units being built after 1920.
The original West Roxbury village was along Centre Street near Spring
Street. Brook Farm, a 19th century utopian experimental community, which
attracted many noted American intellectuals.
In 1711, residents of West Roxbury won the right to build their own
house of worship on what is now Walter Street. In 1733, the congregation
moved to the present site of the Theodore Parker Unitarian Church at Centre
and Corey Streets. However, the Walter Street Burial Ground, established in
1711, located within the Arnold Arboretum, remains near the site of the
original meetinghouse. An earlier burial ground dating back to 1683 is
located on Centre Street near LaGrange Street. |
