East Boston is a neighborhood undergoing dramatic change. While this is an exciting time to look forward to what East Boston could be, it is just as important to reflect on what it once was. This exploration uses images from 1850-1987 to document East Boston's visual history. The categories speak to the the role of transportation in the shaping of East Boston. Clipper ships were built at the shipyard owned by Donald McKay in the mid-19th century. A subway tunnel connecting the neighborhood to the rest of the city opened in 1904 and was the first undersea tunnel of its kind in the United States. Rows of houses were torn down to build the Sumner Tunnel in 1934 and the Callahan Tunnel in 1961, directly connecting automobile traffic from downtown Boston. In the early 1920s, an airfield was built, and eventually it was expanded to become Logan International Airport.
The data source for this project is the Digital Commonwealth. This site provides access to photographs, manuscripts, books, audio recordings, and other materials of historical interest that have been digitized and made available by members of Digital Commonwealth, a statewide consortium of libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies from across Massachusetts.
