The North End of Boston's Italian Heritage

Boston's North End has a rich, varied, and complex history. Although best known today for its Italian culture, Italians were preceded in this area by other immigrant groups such as the Jews and the Irish. The Italians who immigrated to the North End were by no means a monolithic group. Indeed, the first Italian immigrants to the North End were from Genoa, but they were soon followed by the Campanians, the Sicilians, the Avellinese, the Neopolitans and the Abrussesians, with each if these group settling in its own area creating their own enclave within the North End (Nichols, 2).

This report will examine Boston's Italian North End. It will discuss its origins (geographically, politically, and economically), who settled there and why, if and how the immigrants reflected American growth and values, and the issues that confronted the Italian immigrants to North End. It will trace the transition from "Boston Italian immigrants to Boston Italian-Americans" (Pulco, x).

From its beginning, the North End has been cut off from the rest of Boston. It is a peninsula that juts out into Boston harbor. It encompasses only about one square mile. Its geography had social and economic consequences well into the twentieth century. In colonial days, the North End was known as the "Island of North Boston" (An Historical Overview of the North End," 1). In the early 1700s, the North End developed rapidly and by the 1750s, it had "becom

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and Salem Streets are laid out. . 1646: The North Battery is built for the defense of the area. It later gives its name to Battery Wharf. . 1650: The Second Church of Boston (North Church) is built in North Square. It is destroyed in the devastating fire of 1676, but is immediately rebuilt. . 1652: John Hull of Sheafe Street mints the first coins in Boston. Another North Ender, John Cony (1655-1722), engraves the template for Boston's first printed money. . 1660: Copp's Hill (formerly Windmill, Mill, and Snow Hill) Burying Ground is created. The Hill is named for shoemaker William Copp. . 1675: Increase Mather (1639-1723), pastor of the Second Church in North Square, writes The Wicked Man's Portion, the first book published in Boston (by publisher John Foster). Increase is succeeded by his son Cotton Mather (1663-1728), the author of Magnalia Christi Americana, as the head of the Second Church. . 1676: North Square is destroyed by fire. At the time, North Square is the center of Boston market life and only a block from the wharves on the harbor. . 1677: The Mather-Eliot House is built on Hanover Street. In the late 19th century, it becomes a home for Azorean sailors. . 1679:
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Approximate Word count = 4069
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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