Dorchester, Boston
Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than  in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This dissolved municipality, Boston's largest neighborhood by far, is often divided by city planners in order to create two planning areas roughly equivalent in size and population to other Boston neighborhoods.

The neighborhood is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated on the ship Mary and John, among others.

Founded in 1630, just a few months before the founding of the city of Boston, Dorchester now covers a geographic area approximately equivalent to nearby Cambridge. It was still a primarily rural town and had a population of 12,000 when it was annexed to Boston in 1870. Railroad and streetcar lines brought rapid growth, increasing the population to 150,000 by 1920. In the 2010 United States Census, the neighborhood's population was 92,115.

The Dorchester neighborhood has a very diverse population, which includes a large concentration of African Americans, European Americans (particularly those of Irish, German, and Polish origin), Caribbean Americans, Latinos, and East and Southeast Asian Americans. Dorchester also has a significant LGBT population, with active political groups and the largest concentration of same-sex couples in Boston after the South End and Jamaica Plain. Most of the people over the age of 25 have completed high school or obtained a GED.

History

Indigenous peoples 

Prior to European colonization, the region around Dorchester was originally inhabited by the indigenous Massachusett. They lived in settlements established alongside the Neponset River estuary, which proved to be a plentiful source of fish for the Massachusett; they also gathered shellfish from the riverbed, hunted beavers, deers and trouts and established farms in nearby hills. During the initial period of colonization of the region by Puritan settlers, the Massachusett experienced a rapid decline in population due to the introduction of foreign diseases to which they had no immunity. The Massachusett sachem, Chickatawbut, negotiated land treaties with the Puritan settlers before dying of smallpox in 1633, and his brother, Cutshamekin deeded further land to the settlers. The remaining Massachusett in the region, including Cutshamekin, became Praying Indians and settled in the town of Natick, likely as a means of survival.

European settlement in the 17th century 

In 1626 David Thompson settled his family on Thompson Island in what is now Dorchester before Boston's Puritan migration wave began in 1630. May 30, 1630, Captain Squib of the ship Mary and John entered Boston Harbor and on June 17, 1630, landed a boat with eight men on the Dorchester shore, at what was then a narrow peninsula known as Mattapan or Mattaponnock, and today is known as Columbia Point (more popularly since 1984 as Harbor Point). Those aboard the ship who founded the town included William Phelps, Roger Ludlowe, John Mason, John Maverick, Nicholas Upsall, Capt. Roger Fyler, William Gaylord, Henry Wolcott and other men who would become prominent in the founding of a new nation. The original settlement founded in 1630 was at what is now the intersection of Columbia Road and Massachusetts Avenue. (Even though Dorchester was annexed over 100 years ago into the city of Boston, this founding is still celebrated every year on Dorchester Day, which includes festivities and a parade down Dorchester Avenue).

Most of the early Dorchester settlers came from the English West Country, and some from Dorchester, Dorset, where the Rev. John White was chief proponent of a Puritan settlement in the Americas. The town that was founded was centered on the First Parish Church of Dorchester, which still exists as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meeting House Hill and is the oldest religious organization in present-day Boston.

On October 8, 1633, the first Town Meeting in America was held in Dorchester.  Today, each October 8 is celebrated as Town Meeting Day in Massachusetts.  Dorchester is the birthplace of the first public elementary school in America, the Mather School, established in 1639. The school still stands as the oldest elementary school in America. In 1634 Israel Stoughton built one of the earliest grist mills in America on the Neponset River, and Richard Callicott founded a trading post nearby. In 1641, Dorcas ye blackmore, a servant to Israel Stoughton, was the first recorded African American to join a church in New England, and she served as an evangelist to Stoughton's Native American servants, and the First Parish Church of Dorchester attempted to help Dorcas gain her freedom.

In 1649, Puritan missionaries, including John Eliot, began a campaign to convert the Indigenous people in Dorchester to Christianity with the help of Cockenoe and John Sassamon, two Indian servants in Dorchester. Eliot was given land by the town of Dorchester for his mission, where he established a church and school.

The oldest surviving home in the city of Boston, the James Blake House, is located at Edward Everett Square, which is the historic intersection of Columbia Road, Boston Street, and Massachusetts Avenue, a few blocks from the Dorchester Historical Society. The Blake House was constructed in 1661, as was confirmed by dendrochronology in 2007.

In 1695, a party was dispatched to found the town of Dorchester, South Carolina, which lasted barely a half-century before being abandoned.

18th century 

In 1765, chocolate was first introduced in the American colonies when Irish chocolate maker John Hannon (or alternatively spelled "Hannan" in some sources) imported beans from the West Indies and refined them in Dorchester, working with Dr. James Baker, an American physician and investor. They soon after opened America's first chocolate mill and factory in the Lower Mills section of Dorchester. The Walter Baker Chocolate Factory, part of Walter Baker & Company, operated until 1965.

Before the American Revolution, "The Sons of Liberty met in August 1769 at the Lemuel Robinson Tavern, which stood on the east side of the upper road (Washington St.) near the present Fuller Street. Lemuel Robinson was a representative of the town during the Revolution and was appointed a colonel in the Revolutionary army." Dorchester (in a part of what is now South Boston) was also the site of the Battle of Dorchester Heights in 1776, which eventually resulted in the British evacuating Boston.

19th century

Victorian era 

In Victorian times, Dorchester became a popular country retreat for Boston elite, and developed into a bedroom community, easily accessible to the city—a streetcar suburb. The mother and grandparents of John F. Kennedy lived in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood while John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald was mayor of Boston.

The American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, wrote a poem called "The Dorchester Giant" in 1830, and referred to the special kind of stone, "Roxbury puddingstone", also quarried in Dorchester, which was used to build churches in the Boston area, most notably the Central Congregational Church (later called the Church of the Covenant) in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood.

In 1845, the Old Colony Railroad ran through the area and connected Boston and Plymouth, Massachusetts. The station was originally called Crescent Avenue or Crescent Avenue Depot as an Old Colony Railroad station, then called Columbia until December 1, 1982, and then again changed to JFK/UMASS. It is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rail line station for both the Red Line subway and the Plymouth/Kingston, Middleborough/Lakeville and Greenbush commuter rail lines.

In the 1840s and 1850s, a new wave of development took place on a strip of waterfront overlooking Dorchester Bay (Park and Mill Streets at the Harrison Square Historic District, later known as Clam Point.) Renowned architects who had contributed to one of the most significant and intact collections of Clam Point's Italianate mansards include Luther Briggs, John A. Fox, and Mary E. Noyes. By the 1890s, Clam Point gained prominence as a summer resort with the Russell House hotel as its centerpiece and the establishment of the Dorchester Yacht Club on Freeport Street.

In the 1880s, the calf pasture on Columbia Point was used as a Boston sewer line and pumping station. This large pumping station still stands and in its time was a model for treating sewage and helping to promote cleaner and healthier urban living conditions. It pumped waste to a remote treatment facility on Moon Island in Boston Harbor, and served as a model for other systems worldwide. This system remained in active use and was the Boston Sewer system's headworks, handling all of the city's sewage, until 1968 when a new treatment facility was built on Deer Island. The pumping station is also architecturally significant as a Richardsonian Romanesque designed by the then Boston city architect, George Clough. It is also the only remaining 19th century building on Columbia Point and is in the National Register of Historic Places.
In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of Continental Europe.

Annexation to Boston 

Dorchester was annexed by Boston in pieces beginning on March 6, 1804, and ending with complete annexation to the city of Boston after a plebiscite was held in Boston and Dorchester on June 22, 1869. As a result, Dorchester officially became part of Boston on January 3, 1870. This is also the historic reason that Dorchester Heights is today considered part of South Boston, not modern-day Dorchester, since it was part of the cession of Dorchester to Boston in 1804. Additional parts of Dorchester were ceded to Quincy (in 1792, 1814, 1819, and 1855) and portions of the original town of Dorchester became the separate towns of Hyde Park (1868 and later annexed to Boston in 1912), Milton (1662), and Stoughton (1726, itself later subdivided).

In 1895, Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of the Boston Public Garden/Emerald Necklace and Central Park, was commissioned to create Dorchester Park, to be an urban forest for the residents of a growing Dorchester.

In 1904, the Dorchester Historical Society incorporated "Dorchester Day" which commemorated the settlement of Dorchester in 1630. An annual event, Dorchester Day is a tableau of community events, highlighted by such activities as the Landing Day Observance, the Dorchester Day Parade along Dorchester Avenue the first Sunday in June, and as a grand finale, the Community Banquet.

Turn of the 20th century 

There was also increased social activism in Dorchester during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dorchester became home to the first racially integrated neighborhood, on Jones Hill. One of the residents of that neighborhood, William Monroe Trotter, with W.E.B. Du Bois, helped to found the Niagara Movement, the precursor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Many leading suffragettes also lived in Dorchester, including Lucy Stone.

In the early 20th century, Dorchester also saw a large influx of new immigrants from origins such as Ireland, French Canada, Poland, Italy, and migrant African Americans from the south. This is the era when the trademark Dorchester three decker apartment buildings were built.

1950s–present 

In the early 1950s, Dorchester was also a center of civil rights activism. Martin Luther King Jr. lived there for much of the time he attended Boston University for his PhD. "With Boston’s Baptist community riveted by his preaching and Coretta [Scott King] at his side, King’s circle grew. The Dorchester apartment drew friends and followers like a magnet, according to [friend and roommate John] Bustamante, with 'untold numbers of visitors coming from the other schools.' The roommates housed and fed the visitors, who would join in civil rights discussions."

During the 1960s–1980s, the ethnic landscape of Dorchester changed dramatically. The Jewish, Italian, and Irish populations were replaced with African, Asian, and Caribbean populations.

The first community health center in the United States was the Columbia Point Health Center in Dorchester. It was opened in December 1965 and served mostly the massive Columbia Point public housing complex adjoining it. It was founded by two medical doctors, Jack Geiger who had been on the faculty of Harvard University then later at Tufts University and Count Gibson from Tufts University. Geiger had previously studied the first community health centers and the principles of Community Oriented Primary Care with Sidney Kark and colleagues while serving as a medical student in rural Natal, South Africa. The Columbia Point Health Center is still in operation and was rededicated in 1990 as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center.

In 1974, the University of Massachusetts Boston moved from Park Square in downtown Boston to the Columbia Point in Dorchester. In 1982, Boston State College was incorporated into UMass Boston. Since the 1970s, UMass Boston has expanded substantially, including building a new campus center in 2004 and a new science center in 2015. It has also hosted numerous important social and civic events. In 2000, for example, the university hosted a presidential candidates’ debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

In 1977, after an unsuccessful bid to have the John F. Kennedy Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts, close to Harvard University, ground was broken at the tip of Columbia Point for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, designed by the architect I. M. Pei, and dedicated on October 20, 1979.

By the 1980s, the Blue Hill Avenue section of Dorchester had become a predominantly Black community. 

During the 1990s, the city administration increased police presence and invested city money into the area for more street lighting.

On March 30, 2015, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate was dedicated by President Barack Obama. The Institute opened to the public on March 31, 2015.

Geography 

Dorchester is located south of downtown Boston and is surrounded by the neighborhoods of South Boston, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, South End, and the city of Quincy and town of Milton. The Neponset River separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton. According to the U.S. Postal Service, Dorchester includes the ZIP codes 02121, 02122, 02124, and 02125.

Neighborhood sections and squares 
Dorchester is Boston's largest and most populous neighborhood and comprises many smaller sections and squares. Due to its size of about , it is often divided for statistical purposes into North and South Dorchester. North Dorchester includes the portion north of Quincy Street, East Street and Freeport Street. The main business district in this part of Dorchester is Uphams Corner, at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road. South Dorchester is bordered to the east by Dorchester Bay and to the south by the Neponset River. The main business districts in this part of Dorchester are Fields Corner, at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Adams Street, and Codman Square, at the intersection of Washington Street and Talbot Avenue. Adjacent to Fields Corner is the Harrison Square Historic District, also known as Clam Point, noteworthy for its collection of substantial Italianate Mansard residences.

Dorchester Avenue is the major neighborhood spine, running in a south-north line through all of Dorchester from Lower Mills to downtown Boston. The southern part of Dorchester is primarily a residential area, with established neighborhoods still defined by parishes, and occupied by families for generations. The northern part of Dorchester is more urban, with a greater amount of apartment housing and industrial parks. South Bay and Newmarket industrial area are major sources of employment and the Harbor Point area (formerly known as Columbia Point) is home of several large employers, including the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.  Distinct commercial districts include Bowdoin/Geneva, Fields Corner, Codman Square, Peabody Square, Adams Village and Lower Mills. Primarily residential areas include Savin Hill, Jones Hill, Four Corners, Franklin Field, Franklin Hill, Ashmont, Meeting House Hill, Neponset, Popes Hill and Port Norfolk.

Demographics 

Up until the 1960s, the Blue Hill Avenue part of Dorchester from Roxbury to Mattapan was primarily composed of Jewish Americans who had lived there for generations. The Neponset neighborhood was primarily Irish-American.  During the 1920s–1960s, many African-Americans moved from the South to the North during the Great Migration and settled on Blue Hill Avenue and nearby sections.  While some Jewish-Americans were moving "up and out" to the suburbs, certain Boston banks and real estate companies developed a blockbusting plan for the area. The Blue Hill Avenue area was "redlined" so that only the newly arriving African-Americans would receive mortgages for housing in that section. "White flight" was prevalent. Later, Dorchester had another wave of immigrants, this time from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, Cape Verde, as well as other Latin American, Asian, and African nations. Dorchester continued to experience immigration from Northern European countries such as Ireland, Germany and Poland. This made Dorchester more diverse than at any point in its long history, and home to more people from more countries than ever before. These immigrants helped revive economically many areas of the neighborhood by opening ethnic stores and restaurants.

The sections of Dorchester have distinct ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic compositions. The eastern areas of Dorchester (especially between Adams Street and Dorchester Bay) are primarily ethnic European and Asian, with a large population of Irish Americans and Vietnamese Americans, while the residents of the western, central and parts of the southern sections of the neighborhood are predominantly African Americans. In Neponset, the southeast corner of the neighborhood, as well as parts of Savin Hill in the north and Cedar Grove in the south, Irish Americans maintain the most visible identity. In the northern section of Dorchester and southwestern section of South Boston is the Polish Triangle, where recent Polish immigrants are residents. Savin Hill, as well as Fields Corner, have large Vietnamese American populations. Uphams Corner contains a Cape Verdean American community, the largest concentration of people of Cape Verdean origin within Boston city limits. Western, central and parts of southern Dorchester have a large Caribbean population (especially people from Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago). They are most heavily represented in the Codman Square, Franklin Field and the Ashmont area, although there are also significant numbers in Four Corners and Fields Corner. Significant numbers of African Americans live in the Harbor Point, Uphams Corner, Fields Corner, Four Corners and Franklin Field areas. In recent years Dorchester has also seen an influx of young residents, gay men and women, and working artists (in areas like Lower Mills, Ashmont Hill/Peabody Square, and Savin Hill).

American Community Survey – Estimates – 2013 

The American Community Survey (ACS) for Dorchester, from 2007–2011, estimates the total population is 113,975 people. Slightly more than half are female, 52.6% or 59,914 and 47.4% or 54,061 are male.

In Dorchester, 68.4% or 77,980 of the residents are native born and 31.6% or 35,995 people are foreign born, of which 50.1% or 18,024 are not U.S. citizens. The largest racial group in the neighborhood is Black or African-American with 49,612 people or 43.05% of the population. People who self-identify as white represent 26,102 or 26.99% of the community. Hispanic/Latino account for 19.09% of the population with 19,295 resident. The Asian enclave represents 9.6% of 10,990 of the citizenry. The smallest racial group is bi/multi-racial and they make up 1.9% (2,174) of the population.

According to the ACS survey, Dorchester has a large under 25 population with 38.1% or 43,472 people and 33,162 (29.1% of the total population) of them under the age of 19 years old.  Between the ages of 25 to 64 years old there are 59,788 or 52.6%  people and 10,715 people or 9.3% are over the age of 65 years old. In Dorchester, approximately 61.9% or 70,503 people are over the age of 25, 23.5% or 16,582 people do not have a high school diploma or GED, 30.5% or 21,479 have a diploma or GED, 18.5% or 13,045 people have completed some college, and 27.5% or 19,397 people have a college degree.

The ACS Survey estimates there are 40,443 households in the neighborhood of Dorchester, the per capita income of $22,120 and a median income of $44,136. 13.1% or 5,286 households have reported income of less than $10,000.  27.3% or 11,020  households earn less than $19,999. 19.1% or 7,720 households earn between $20,000 to 39,999.16.5% or 6,651 households in the earn between $40,000 to 59,999. 19.7% or 7,977 households earn between $60,000 to 99,999. 15.3% or 6,174 of household report annual incomes of $100,000 to 199,999. Only 2.2% or 901 households in Dorchester earn $200,000 or more per year. The ACS reports as of 2011, Poverty affects 23.5% or 9,511 households and 24.3% or 9,820 of households are receiving SNAP Benefits.

Race

Ancestry
According to the 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the largest ancestry groups in ZIP Codes 02121, 02122, 02124, and 02125 are:

Transportation 
The neighborhood is served by five stations on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red Line (MBTA) rapid transit service, five stations on the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, five stations on the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line, and various bus routes. Over the last decade, the Dorchester branch of the Red Line had major renovations, including four rapid transit stations being rebuilt at Savin Hill, Fields Corner, Shawmut, and Ashmont. At Ashmont station, the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts partnered with private investors to create The Carruth, one of the state's first Transit-oriented developments (TOD).

Interstate 93 (concurrent with Route 3 and U.S. 1) runs north–south through Dorchester between Quincy, Massachusetts, and downtown Boston, providing access to the eastern edge of Dorchester at Columbia Road, Morrissey Boulevard (northbound only), Neponset Circle (southbound only), and Granite Avenue (with additional southbound on-ramps at Freeport Street and from Morrissey Blvd at Neponset). Several other state routes traverse the neighborhood, e.g., Route 203, Gallivan Boulevard and Morton Street, and Route 28, Blue Hill Avenue (so named because it leads out of the city to the Blue Hills Reservation). The Neponset River separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton.  The "Dorchester Turnpike" (now "Dorchester Avenue") stretches from Fort Point Channel (now in South Boston) to Lower Mills, and once boasted a horse-drawn streetcar.

A number of the earliest streets in Dorchester have changed names several times through the centuries, meaning that some names have come and gone. Leavitt Place, for instance, named for one of Dorchester's earliest settlers, eventually became Brook Court and then Brook Avenue Place. Gallivan Boulevard was once Codman Street and Brookvale Street was once Brook Street. Morrissey Boulevard was once Old Colony Parkway.

Economy 
Throughout its history, Dorchester has had periods of economic revival and recession. In the 1960s and 1970s, Dorchester was particularly hard hit by economic recession, high unemployment, and white flight.

In 1953, Carney Hospital moved from South Boston to its current location in Dorchester, serving the local communities of Dorchester, Mattapan, Milton and Quincy.

In 1953, a major public housing project was completed on the Columbia Point peninsula of Dorchester. There were 1,502 units in the development on  of land. It later became known for high rates of crime and poor living conditions, and it went through particularly bad times in the 1970s and 1980s. By 1988, there were only 350 families living there. In 1984, the City of Boston gave control of it to a private developer, Corcoran-Mullins-Jennison, who redeveloped the property into a residential mixed-income community called Harbor Point Apartments which was opened in 1988 and completed by 1990. It was the first federal housing project to be converted to private, mixed-income housing in the United States. Harbor Point has won much acclaim for this transformation, including awards from the Urban Land Institute, the FIABCI Award for International Excellence, and the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.

During the housing crisis of 2008 in the United States, Dorchester's Hendry Street became the epicenter in the media In reaction, the city of Boston negotiated to buy several of the houses for as little as $30,000. It is moving to seize other foreclosed properties on which the owners have not paid taxes. The houses were renovated and added to the inventory of subsidized rental housing.

In 2008, plans and proposals were unveiled and presented to public community hearings by the Corcoran-Jennison Company to redevelop the  Bayside Exposition Center site on the Columbia Point peninsula into a mixed use village of storefronts and residences, called "Bayside on the Point". However, in 2009, the Bayside Expo Center property was lost in a foreclosure on Corcoran-Jennison to a Florida-based real estate firm, LNR/CMAT, who bought it. Soon after, the University of Massachusetts Boston bought the property from them to build future campus facilities.

The corporate headquarters of The Boston Globe was also located in Dorchester, having moved there in 1958 from downtown Boston. In 2009, then-owner The New York Times Company put the paper up for bid, leading to concern from local community members, who had seen other major employers close their doors. After negotiations with their union and cost reduction measures, the owner's plans to sell the Globe were abandoned in October 2009. In 2013, the paper was bought by John W. Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, and in 2017 the Globe headquarters returned to downtown Boston.

In the 20th century, many of the labor unions in Boston relocated their headquarters to Dorchester. This includes the Boston Teachers Union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, New England Regional Council of Carpenters, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 718, among others.

Crime 
Dorchester, with a population of approximately 130,000, is home to nearly one fifth of all Boston residents. In the early 1990s, Dorchester, along with Roxbury and Mattapan neighborhoods, had the highest percentage of victims with violence-related injuries. Since the early 2000s, crime rates across Boston declined. In the first three months of 2013, Boston crime rates reportedly dropped 15 percent, compared to the same time period in 2012. According to Dorchester Reporter crime maps, the more dangerous areas in Dorchester are located to the west of Columbia Road, with criminal activity centered on Blue Hill Avenue area. Safer parts of the neighborhood include Savin Hill; the historic neighborhood of Clam Point; Columbia Point, which is populated by mostly UMass Boston students; Ashmont Hill; Saint Mark's; Pope's Hill; Cedar Grove; Lower Mills, around the Neponset, Gallivan, and Morrissey Boulevard areas; and the Jones Hill neighborhood (with the third largest percentage of same-sex households in Boston after the South End and Jamaica Plain).

 Statistics 

According to the website AreaVibes, the overall crime rate in Dorchester is 30% higher than the national average, and for every 100,000 people there are 10.55 daily crimes that occur in Dorchester such as; violent crimes and property crimes. Property crime is much higher than violent crime. 831 out of 100,000 people are involved in violent crime, and 3,021 out of 100,000 are involved in property crime.

The chance of being a victim of:

 Property crime = 1 in 34
 Violent crime = 1 in 121
 Crime = 1 in 26

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools 
Students in Dorchester are served by Boston Public Schools (BPS). BPS assigns students based on preferences of the applicants and priorities of students in various zones.

Dorchester High School predated the annexation of Dorchester to Boston. At its founding, it was an all-male school, first opened on December 10, 1852. In 1870 Dorchester was annexed to Boston and its schools became managed by the City of Boston. A replacement facility opened in Codman Square on Talbot Avenue 1901. The current Dorchester facility opened in 1925 on Peacevale Road to males, while the Talbot Avenue building was for females. In 1953 Dorchester High School consolidated as a coeducational school.

Today, Dorchester houses many of the city's high schools. Dorchester Education Complex (formerly Dorchester High School) is in Dorchester. The schools within the Dorchester complex include the Academy of Public Service, the Edward G. Noonan Business Academy, and TechBoston Academy. In September 2009 the Academy of Public Service and the Noonan Business Academy will merge into the Edward G. Noonan Academy for Business, Public Service and Law. Jeremiah E. Burke High School, a high school, is also located in Dorchester.

Other schools include:
 Roger Clap Innovation School K-5
 Boston Collegiate Charter School, grades 5–12
 Codman Academy Charter Public School, 9–12
 Paul A. Dever Elementary School, K-5
 Edward Everett Elementary School, K1-5
 Lilla Frederick Pilot Middle School, 6–8
 Dr. William H. Henderson Inclusion Elementary School (formerly Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School), K-12
 Thomas J. Kenny Elementary School, K-6
 The Mather Elementary School, Pre-K–5
 John W. McCormack School, 6–8
 Richard J. Murphy Elementary School, K1-8
 Neighborhood House Charter School, K-8
 William E. Russell Elementary, K1-5
 Smith Leadership Academy Charter School, 5–8
 Lucy Stone School, K-5
 TechBoston Lower Academy (formerly Woodrow Wilson Middle School), 6–9
 Uphams Corner Charter School, 5–8

Catholic schools 

Many Catholic schools closed in the 2000s.  The remaining schools as of summer 2018 are:
 Boston College High School, 7–12
 Cristo Rey Boston High School, 9–12, leasing the old St. William Elementary building
 St. Brendan School, K-6
 Three locations of the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston remain after the 2008 consolidation of seven parish elementary schools into five locations.
 Columbia Campus (former St. Margaret's Elementary School building)
 Lower Mills Campus (former St. Gregory Elementary School building)
 Neponset Campus (former St. Ann Elementary School building)

Colleges and universities 
 The University of Massachusetts Boston is an accredited urban public research university and the second largest campus in the University of Massachusetts system. It is located on Columbia Point in Dorchester. The school offers associates, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. In regards to race and gender, the school has a diverse student population of about 13 thousand students at a time. Excluding financial aid, the average cost of tuition is 12 thousand in-state and 28 thousand out of state. The cost reflects good value seeing that there is about a 15:1 student faculty ratio with a variety of majors to study. The economy of the school has been consistently productive since its establishment. Within the past twenty years the school campuses have been improving and expanding. The college has been educating and social developing its residents seeing that 95% of students are instate going full-time.
 Labouré College is a Roman Catholic co-educational college offering associate degrees in nursing and the health sciences. It is located on the Carney Hospital campus near the Lower Mills section of Dorchester.

Public libraries 
Boston Public Library operates six neighborhood branches in Dorchester.
 Adams Street Branch
 Codman Square Branch – Originally opened at 6 Norfolk Street in 1905 and was named after a preacher named John Codman. The branch moved into its current facility, which was designed by Eco-Texture, Inc., in 1978.
 Fields Corner Branch
 Grove Hall Branch
 Lower Mills Branch
 Uphams Corner Branch

Health care 

Carney Hospital is located at 2100 Dorchester Avenue. Carney Hospital provides over 500 physicians with primary care and specialist physicians. They provide services like behavior health, cancer care, cardiac and vascular, gynecology services, neurology, orthopedics, rehabilitation and physical therapy, along with many more services. Carney Hospital aims to provide the Dorchester community with health and wellness. Carney Hospital has been serving the community since 1863. It is affiliated with Tufts University School Of Medicine, making it a teaching and training hospital for upcoming physicians in both internal medicine and family medicine.

Codman Square Health Center is a community-based outpatient healthcare located on 637 Washington Street. They have been a functioning clinic since 1979 with the dream "To build the best urban community in America". They employ about 280 multi-lingual staff members, most of whom reside in the neighborhoods surrounding Codman Square.

In Dorchester there is a local organization by the name of Urban Asthma Coalition which aims to promote the collaboration between other organizations and residents who are concerned about factors in the community that affect asthma: the environment, quality of health care, access to health care, and education. Residents can join the active committee to promote better health and awareness. The aim is to collaborate with the communities to change the policies through administrative advocacy that affect the community members who have asthma. They have been successful in providing 1,000 new healthy and affordable housing in a year, green and healthy cleaners for the local schools, a city program that works with health professionals and enforcement officers to further the improvement of housing qualities for the children of the area.
The Geiger-Gibson Health Center located in the Harbor Point section near UMass Boston is the oldest Community Health Center in the United States.

Housing 

Most of Dorchester's population, about 63.3% or 72,239 people, lives in rental housing. The gross median monthly rent is $1,450, which totals $17,400 per year and exceeds the income of almost 30% of the population.  An estimated 40,180 people (35.3%) live in owner-occupied homes and 1.4% or 1556 residents live in group homes/shelters.

Excluding government-owned housing, Dorchester has 15,918 residential buildings including 4,344 or 27.3% single-family homes, 3,674 or 23.1% two-family homes, 3,919 or 24.6% three-family homes, and 3,981 or 25.0% condo units. The median sales price for all residential property types is 244,450. In 2013, there were 52 foreclosures petitions reported in Dorchester, representing 22.41% of the 232 foreclosures reported for the entire City Boston.  Subsequently, 37 out 147 distressed buildings documented in Boston are located in Dorchester.

Safety 
Boston Police District C-11 Dorchester, located 40 Gibson St, Dorchester, MA 02122. To create an environment of trust, and empower the neighborhood is the goal.  There are over 50 community meetings held monthly that allow the police department to partner with the seniors, community residents, business as well as the faith-based leaders of Dorchester. The police department also works closely to provide the community with crime prevention and safety tips. "Communication is the life-blood of our neighborhood"

Dorchester has available shelters for those in need,  a homeless shelter by the name of Pilgrim church (children's services of Roxbury) that is an adult shelter open to men only. This shelter is located on 540 Columbia Road Dorchester MA The shelter is run by the Pilgrim church and it offers over night shelter, food, clothing, showers, first aid, and other supportive services. The shelter also provides evening transportation from Boston to the shelter. The shelter was originally established in 1990 by positive lifestyles and now is currently under the direction of United Homes Adult services.

Urban policies 
Income – Massachusetts sales tax rate is 6.25%, income tax is 5.20%. Income per capita is $18,226 which includes adults and children. Median household income $30,419.

Public policy issues 

There are many controversial public issues that are on the agenda for action by the city hall in Boston. These controversial issues have been in the works for months even years and many of the Dorchester residents are being directly affected along with the quality of their lives. Local residents and activist are working together to find ways to address the issues not only for them and their children but their neighborhoods as well. Some of the problems are public safety, high crime volume, poor educational resources, and lack of housing for low income families. The goals of the organizations are to provided the neighborhood with

Good Jobs/living wage
Education for the children
Housing
Healthcare resources & Access
Public Safety & Policy Relations

The Two organizations that are working close knit to tackle these issues; First Parish Dorchester and The Bowdoin Geneva Resident Association.

City budget plans 
Mayor Marty Walsh proposed a budget for 2017 in which included is a five-year capital plan that is intended to make improvements to the infrastructure of Dorchester.  The new projects involve building new libraries and also a modernizing the Boston Public Libraries branches in Dorchester. The City parks are also another investment Walsh intends to take on in the Five year capital plan. The plans are to add more lights to Doherty-Gibson park in Fields Corner and another $3.7 million to make improvements in Harambee park next to the Franklin Field. The rest of the budget is intended to be used to complete already started projects in Savin Hill, King Street, Hemenway, Dower Avenue, and Ronan Park.

Community  

Based on the 2010 Census Dorchester has 114,235 for a total population. Just about 15,530 are under the age of eighteen.

The former president of Trader Joe's opened a non-profit retail food shop called the Daily Table.

Ella J. Baker House
Ella J. Baker House is a community youth center in the Four Corners section of Dorchester. The  W. E. B. Du Bois Society, an academic and cultural enrichment program for African American secondary school students, is co-hosted by the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute along with Ella J. Baker House.

Entertainment 

Dorchester has various attractions, including the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, Boston Winery, Dorchester Brewing Company, Boston Harbor Distillery, Strand Theatre, Commonwealth Museum, Greater Boston House Concert, Franklin Park Zoo, the Neponset Rivery Greenway and Lower Neponset River Trail.  Dorchester has Fields Corner which is a commercial center that is one of Dorchester's largest business district. Fields Corner's stated mission is to continue to be a thriving, welcoming, and secure district with diverse business. There is a plethora of restaurants and clothing stores and various pubs. Fields Corner is known for its Vietnamese restaurants, as well as its large Irish population that brings along a local pub scene. Adjacent to Fields Corner is an 11-acre park known as Hilltop Park, which offers a view of Dorchester Bay and plenty of green space.

Leisure activities and areas 

Parks
 Pope John Paul II Park Reservation: The Pope John Park Reservation is approximately 66 acres in size, and is open year-round for the residents of Dorchester. In its earlier times it was used as a landfill and also a drive-in theatre. It also serves as a barricade between the Town of Dorchester, Boston and Neponset River waterfront. This park now gives residents various resources such as picnic facilities, soccer fields, play areas, paths for walking, and also spacious land to plant trees and shrubs.
 Dorchester Park: Dorchester park was established in 1861 and is located in the southern part of Dorchester, specifically in the Cedar Grove and Lower Mills; it is also across from the Neponset River. Dorchester Park is 30 acres and many events are taken place in this historical park, one being the Annual Classic Car Show and Family Fun Day. Dorchester was also listed in the National Registrar of Historic Places.
 Franklin Park: Established in 1885 this parks 485 acres include paved paths for taking a nice run, walking and enjoying the scenery, tennis courts, baseball fields, golf courses, and also basketball courts. Also something that is part of Franklin park is New Englands Franklin Park Zoo, where people go to explore the 9 main exhibits that contain more than 220 species of animals. Another activity that is open to the public is the Kite and Bike festival  which traditionally takes part in Franklin park. This event, hosted since 2010 by the Franklin Park Coalition, usually lands the Saturday after Mother's day and includes a variety of activities for families including bike riding and kite flying.
 Bike trails
 Lower Neponset River Trail: This 2.4-mile path stretches from the historic port of Norfolk neighborhood in Dorchester, through Pope John Paul II Park, across from Granite Avenue through Neponset Marshes, and through the Lower Mills area to Central Avenue in Milton. This trail is used for running, biking, and also walking. The Neponset River Trial is adjacent to the Butler, Milton village, and Central Avenue Red Line stations which is a way some individuals that may not have their own transportation can get to the trail.
 Neponset River Green way: The Neponset River Green way totals 5 miles in length; it provides scenery to look at while taking a stroll, run, or bike ride such as; a salt marsh in Pope John Paul Park II and Tenan Beach on the mouth of Neponset River. Conveniently the trail is adjacent to three Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority red line stations: Butler, Milton, and Central Avenue.
 DotGreenway: a greenway for pedestrians and cyclists has been proposed to connect Talbot Avenue and Park Street along the MBTA Red Line tunnel cap (between Ashmont and Fields Corner stations).

Sites of interest 
Dorchester is home to many listings on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Additional sites of interest include:
 Bayside Expo Center (also known as the Bayside Expo and Conference Center), originally opened as a shopping mall in the 1960s and in 2010 sold to University of Massachusetts Boston for future redevelopment
 The Boston Globe building
 Captain Lemuel Clap House
 Commonwealth Museum
 Dorchester Park 
 Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate
 First Parish Church of Dorchester
 Franklin Park Zoo
 James Blake House
 John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
 Neponset River State Reservation
 University of Massachusetts Boston Harbor Campus
 William Clapp House
 William Monroe Trotter House
 Eire Pub, visited by presidents and prime ministers and political candidates

Notable people 

 Charles Baker Adams – born in Dorchester; academic and naturalist
 William Taylor Adams – wrote fiction under pseudonym "Oliver Optic," served on Dorchester school board
 Sheldon Adelson – born and raised in Dorchester; chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation and conservative political financier
 Samuel Turell Armstrong – born in Dorchester; 6th Mayor of Boston and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
 Major General Humphrey Atherton (born c. 1608-1661), an early settler of Dorchester, who held the highest military rank in colonial New England
 Robert Bergenheim – raised in Dorchester; founder of Boston Business Journal
 Ray Bolger – vaudevillian and film actor, best known as Scarecrow in classic movie The Wizard of Oz (1939)
 Jean Buckley – born in Dorchester; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
 Whitey Bulger – crime boss, head of Winter Hill Gang, subject of film Black Mass
 William M. Bulger – politician, former President of the Massachusetts Senate and president of University of Massachusetts
 Herb Chambers – owner and CEO of Herb Chambers Companies, car dealerships
 Buddy Clark - easy-listening-jazz singer
 Arthur Colgan - Roman Catholic bishop
 Joe Conforte – owner of Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada
 Clarence Cook – born in Dorchester; 19th Century art critic and writer
 Michael L. Coyne – trial attorney and professor, co-founder and associate dean of Massachusetts School of Law
 Norm Crosby – entertainer
 Thomas M. Finneran – former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives; in 2007, pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice
 Tom Fitzgerald, ice hockey and golf journalist
 Mike Gorman – TV play-by-play announcer for Boston Celtics
 Harry G. Hamlet – Commandant of U.S. Coast Guard 1932-36, attended high school in Dorchester
 Kay Hanley – alternative rock musician, vocalist for band Letters to Cleo
 Chrystal Herne – Broadway actress
 Richard M. Karp – raised in Dorchester; Turing Award-laureate computer scientist
 Joseph P. Kennedy – businessman, political figure, father of President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
 Rose Kennedy – mother of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
 John King – broadcast journalist, host of Inside Politics on CNN
 Jonathan Knight – singer, musical group New Kids on the Block
 Jordan Knight – singer, New Kids on the Block
 Calixa Lavallée – Canadian national anthem composer, wrote offertorium for dedication of St. Peter's of Dorchester (1883)
 Dennis Lehane – raised in Dorchester; author of Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River,  Shutter Island; screenwriter, producer
 Alexandra Lydon – born in Dorchester; actress and writer 
 Bill Marshall – professional baseball player of 1930s
 John Mason – Colonial military officer, civil engineer
 Increase Mather – Puritan minister; public figure in early history of Massachusetts Bay Colony
 Aaron Maund – professional soccer player
 Albert and David Maysles – documentary filmmakers
 Marilyn Mosby – raised in Dorchester; state's attorney of Baltimore
 John Lothrop Motley – historian and diplomat
 Adam Myerson – professional cyclist
 Leonard Nimoy – born in Dorchester; actor, director, poet, musician, and photographer; best known as Spock on Star Trek
 Bill O'Brien – born in Dorchester; head coach of NFL's Houston Texans
 Lawrence O'Donnell – raised in Dorchester; former aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, producer of The West Wing and host of MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
 Rose Pitonof (1895–1984) – marathon swimmer
 Omega Red – rapper, musician and actor
 Martin Richard – raised in Dorchester; one of three people killed in Boston Marathon bombing
 Richard Scarry – raised in Dorchester; children's books author and illustrator, known for his "Busytown" universe
 Slaine – hip-hop MC, rapper and actor, Gone Baby Gone and The Town
 Lucy Stone – abolitionist and suffragist
 Donna Summer – pop and disco singer, member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
 Donnie Wahlberg – singer, actor and film producer, member of musical group New Kids on the Block, star of TV series Blue Bloods
 Mark Wahlberg – Academy Award-nominated actor, producer, model and rapper, star of films including Boogie Nights, The Perfect Storm, Ted, The Departed and The Fighter
 Martin Walsh – Mayor of Boston
 John Willis – gangster
 Danny Wood – singer, musical group New Kids on the Block
 Marie Wright – better known by stage name "Free", media personality

Notes and references

Notes

References 

 Committee of the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society, "History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts", Boston : Ebenezer Clapp Jr., 1859.
 Dutton, E.P. Chart of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay with Map of Adjacent Country. Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines around Dorchester.  Note the Horse RailRoad on Dorchester Ave.
 Glover, Anna.  Glover Memorials and Genealogies: An Account of John Glover Of Dorchester and Some of his Descendants. Published 1867.
 Orcutt, William Dana.  Good Old Dorchester: A Narrative History of the Town, 1630–1893. Published 1893.
 Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell.
 
 "Dorchester: Volume II", Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, 2000
 "Dorchester: Then & Now", Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
 
 The Vital Records of Dorchester (Births, Marriages, and Deaths) to 1825 were published in 1890 as the 21st Report of the Records Commissioners of Boston.
 Old USGS Maps of Boston and Dorchester area. See the 1903 southeaster corner map.

Further reading 

 "Railroad Transportation in Dorchester" – History by the Dorchester Atheneum
 Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1790 Federal Head of Household Census, Dorchester, Massachusetts, US Census data
 "Dorchester Epitaphs: from Epitaphs First Burying-Place in Dorchester", (not in Dorchester town records), From the back of the book of Dorchester Vital Records to 1850
 "Historical Sketch of Dorchester", Mercantile Publishing Company, Boston, 1888
 Orcutt, William Dana, Good Old Dorchester: A Narrative history of the Town 1630–1893, Cambridge : John Wilson & Son, University Press, 1893

External links 

 From the Boston Public Library Map Collection:
 1831 Map of Dorchester by Edmund J. Baker
 1850 Map of Dorchester by E. Whiting
 1868 Map of Dorchester and Quincy by Dudley and Greenough
 1880 Plan of Dorchester by the Boston Engineering Dept.
 Dorchester Community Website
 Dorchester Reporter Local newspaper
 Map of Dorchester section of Boston – Open Space Plan, City of Boston
 Boston Redevelopment Authority map of Dorchester
  	La Alianza Hispana records, located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA
 My Dot Tour, an open-source, "multimedia, youth-led walking tour of Fields Corner." It is "a project of the Fields Corner Collaborative."
Archival collections about Dorchester, University Archives and Special Collections, Joseph P. Healey Library, University of Massachusetts Boston
 Dorchester Atheneum, a website devoted to the history of Dorchester
 Dorchester's Soldiers and Sailors Monument at the Massachusetts Civil War Monuments Project

 
Populated places established in 1630
Neighborhoods in Boston
Former municipalities in Boston
Irish-American neighborhoods
Streetcar suburbs
Defunct towns in Massachusetts
History of Boston
1630 establishments in Massachusetts
Little Saigons
Populated coastal places in Massachusetts