Boston's Neighborhoods

Boston is a city of neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have their own histories, cultures, and communities. Some were originally incorporated as separate towns and did not become a part of Boston until they were annexed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some neighborhoods have changed considerably throughout their history. Certain areas of Boston saw massive demographic changes throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Each of these aspects of Boston’s neighborhoods influenced how citizens conceptualized them. Neighborhood stereotypes abound even today, and the stereotypes that we see today are influenced by the histories of the neighborhoods and how those histories are perceived and understood.