The dirt roads of old Boston

By adamg on Mon, 01/11/2016 - 10:48am

The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.

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Comments

Corey Street, West Roxbury

By Waquiot
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 10:52am

Is my less than educated, not even researched guess.

I thought that too

By Gary C
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 11:20am

That castle-like house looks SO familiar, but I don't think it's on Corey.

How about this (Hastings St, also West Rox)? The yellow castle house looks right, but none of the other houses really do.

https://goo.gl/maps/BH64bQvjWsB2

Sure looks like Hastings

By Rob Not Verified
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 11:24am

Sure looks like Hastings Street or perhaps Park or Richwood Street next to it, on the northern side of Centre St in West Roxbury.

I think it's Park

By omaja
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 3:50pm

Here's a view that I think has the first houses on the right: .

And here's the Victorian down the road:

Too many trees to get the same view today!

That was my first thought; Hastings.

By anon
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 11:24am

It look so familiar!

South Street Rozzie?

By RozzieRail
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 11:00am

Looks like a few of the streets in the vicinity of Fallon Field quite possibly South Street.

If so, that section of South

By kvn
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 11:06am

If so, that section of South Street ,leading up to the Holy Name give or take , was known as ''Doctor's Row ".......

No guess here but I remember seeing an old B&W photo of my grandmother standing in front of the old homestead in the 500 block of Hyde Park Ave, camera facing Forest Hills/JP and Hyde park Ave was a wide dirt road. This was taken around WW-I or just after. That will give you an idea of just how built up the area and city has become in time. Let's remember that "The Grove" section of West Roxbury was a set of summer cottages where the downtown crowd vacationed to get away from the city.

To quote Modest Mouse lyrics

By tachometer
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 11:13am

I didn't move to the city
the city moved to me
and I want out desperately

Hastings

By ED COPPINGER
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 12:25pm

looks a lot like Hastings Street in West Roxbury - that Queen Ann Victorian on the right side looks identical and the homes on both sides look the same too

If Ed Coppinger

By Waquiot
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 12:48pm

or someone making the effort to claim to be him claims it, I'm moving my guess one street over.

The picture makes me think of

By Rob
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 12:34pm

The picture makes me think of streets in the area between Fields Corner and Codman Square - maybe Melville Av or Upland Av.

My first thought was also Melville or Upland but...

By anon
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 3:22pm

after studying it carefully, it's not Upland and I cant place the houses on Melville either.

Belgrade Avenue?

By Ron Newman
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 2:19pm

There aren't a lot of long straight residential streets in Boston, so here's my guess.

Roslindale

By anon
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 2:36pm

Fairview Street, or Congreve Street, off South Street, near Fallon Field

Dorchester

By anon
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 2:55pm

My guess is Ashmont Hill

Mapleton Street

By Brighton Gal
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 4:11pm

Off of Market Street in Brighton

mapleton st

By bostnkid
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 4:18pm

lovely street.

The Answer

By Boston City Archives
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 4:11pm

Thanks for playing, folks! Those of you who guessed West Roxbury are correct. This is Park Street, west of Centre Street. The photo was undated, but was found with a group of similar photographs of West Roxbury, all taken about 1885. That seems to match with the clothing, so we're saying, circa 1885-1900.

Looks so

By Kathode
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 8:33pm

bucolic and the trees look so young and small!

Yep, sure enough

By Gary C
Tue, 01/12/2016 - 8:56am

The Google view from this same spot is mostly just trees, but here's a close-up of the cylindrical "castle" house on Park St.

https://goo.gl/maps/iMkbBVsvPdM2

The only thing I could

By Dave
Tue, 01/12/2016 - 11:17am

The only thing I could possibly have guessed was that it was probably taken on a Sunday.

This kind of reminds me of a

By anon
Tue, 01/12/2016 - 11:45am

This kind of reminds me of a summer cottage our family shared with extended family down on the cape many decades ago. Loved the old dirt roads!

Also looks like Fuller Street

By Bea Dambreville
Tue, 01/12/2016 - 2:02pm

Also looks like Fuller Street in Dorchester, Ma

It’s hard to imagine that

By John Donovan
Tue, 02/02/2016 - 4:31pm

It’s hard to imagine that there was ever a time when the roads of Boston were made of dirt! Boston is such a thriving city that it’s difficult to picture what it used to look like. Thankfully, the city is always moving forward and welcomes change while also being proud of its history.