Dorchester

In an alternate universe, Boston's Dorchester neighborhood would be the Big City, as it was founded several months before the more famous Beantown.

Established in 1630, the population grew exponentially with the ease of transportation via the Old Colony Railroad revolutionized Dorchester in the period between 1850 and the Civil War. Primarily still a rural town with a population of about 12,000 by 1870, the town was annexed to the city of Boston, and by the turn of the century, Dorchester was one-fifth of the entire city. This fantastic collection places vintage images alongside contemporary photographs to explore the history of this community's public schools, places of worship, transportation, streetscapes, and historic houses, such as the "three-decker" apartment building, a trademark of the Dorchester community.