Hyde Park

Hyde Park is the southernmost neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Situated 7.9 miles south of downtown Boston, it is home to a diverse range of people, housing types and social groups. The George Wright Golf Course, named for Baseball Hall of Fame and Boston Red Stockings shortstop George Wright, is in Hyde Park and Roslindale. The area was established in the 1660s and grew into a hub of paper and cotton manufacturing in the eighteenth century. It was once home to the first all African-American army unit, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. The regiment was made famous in the movie Glory. Hyde Park has taken the motto "A Small Town in the City" because of its suburban feel. It is covered by Boston Police Department District E-18 located in Cleary Square, and the Boston Fire Department station on Fairmount Avenue is the quarters of Ladder Company 28 & Engine Company 48. Boston EMS Ambulance Station 18 is located on Dana Avenue, and Hyde Park also has a branch of the Boston Public Library. The Town of Hyde Park was incorporated on April 22, 1868 in Norfolk County from the Town of Dedham. It remained a part of Norfolk County until 1912, when the town voted in favor of annexation to the City of Boston in Suffolk County in Boston. The 54thachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first official African- American units in the United States, was assembled and trained at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts.

History

Hyde Park is the primary city name, but also Boston, Readville are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is Hyde Park. The Town of Hyde Park was incorporated on April 22, 1868, in Norfolk County from land in Dorchester (Grew's Woods), Milton (Fairmount) and Dedham (Readville) It remained a part of Norfolk County until 1912, when the town voted in favor of annexation to the City of Boston in Suffolk County. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first official African-American units in the United States Army, was assembled and trained at Camp Meigs in Readville. In the 1960s, Hyde Park threatened to secede from Boston over plans to build a Southwest Expressway (Interstate 95) through the town along the route of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Hyde Park is home to many churches, most notably the Most Precious Blood, Saint Adalbert's and Saint Anne's Roman Catholic churches, and the Episcopal Parish of Christ Church. For over 100 years, it was the main base of the Westinghouse Sturtevant Corporation. The Readville area was home to the Stop & Shop warehouse, until it was moved to Assonet in the early 2000s.Hyde Park is also the original home of the Boston Crusaders, a world class drum and bugle corps founded in 1940 and listed on the National Register of Register of Historic Places. It is also home to Boston's oldest public library, the Boston Public Library, which opened in 1847. It was the site of the World Series Baseball Game between the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots.

Community activism

Hyde Park is home to a large Haitian community that arrived from the island during the 1980s and on into the 1990s. The Haitian Literacy Program has been housed at Hyde Park High School since 1989. Hyde Park is currently under a major redevelopment effort by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The Hyde Park Neighborhood Strategic Plan was adopted by BRA. Its aim is to change the zoning regulations in Hyde Park, with an emphasis on public transit and pedestrian use. Though, there is currently a proposal by non Hyde Park residents to create an urban farm that is receiving public resistance. As of yet, the plan has not met notable public resistance and has not been adopted by the BRA as of yet. In the 1970s, desegregation busing of the Boston Public Schools caused an explosion in public activism. Public meetings and protests from concerned parents of affected children continued for years. The issue united Hyde Park with surrounding areas in an attempt to form a new school district for the purpose of avoiding deseg segregation. In 1989, Boston Public schools were mandated to provide a comprehensive literacy program. As a result of a Federal lawsuit by parents from Hyde Park and other areas of the city, the program was established. In 2010, Hyde Park was named a city of the year by the New York City Board of Regents. In 2011, the city was awarded the City of the Year award for its efforts to end slavery and promote women's suffrage. In 2012, the Boston City Council named Hyde Park the city of year of the decade.

Urban development and policies

In the early part of the 20th century, Hyde Park hosted harness racing. The track migrated from horses to auto racing, which was the main attraction at the track until its closure in 1937. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Massachusetts Department of Public Works attempted to implement two separate interstate highway expansion projects. Both plans would have created a highway that would have passed through land in Hyde Park. Residents from Hyde Park and other surrounding communities affected by the proposed project banded together and held a large protest on Boston Common, during what was called "People Before Highways Day" This rally proved to be crucial in having the plan stopped. In April 2008, the Boston Redevelopment Authority Board, along with Mayor Menino, voted to remap and rezone Hyde Park, and the Boston Zoning Commission subsequently agreed to the plan in February 2012. Because of the presence of the Stony Brook Reservation, a large part of Hyde Park's interior is effectively off-limits to any new development. The StonyBrook Reservation is a parts of the Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation. It is currently home to the Boston Yacht Club, which is a member of the New England Yacht Association. The Yacht club is a non-profit organization that was founded by former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino in the 1960s. It was the first of its kind in the U.S. and is based in Boston. It has a membership of more than 1,000.

Demographics

Hyde Park is home to roughly 7,000 school-aged children. 39% of Hyde Park residents are married. 38% of the total population speaks a language other than English. The average household income of approximately $89,815 is higher than the US average ($48,150) The poverty rate for Hyde Park, reported as being 10%, is also below the national average (14%). These figures include 586 families. The largest age demographic is individuals aged 3954, who comprise 29% ofthe population. Hyde Park's elderly population has remained relatively unchanged over the last 20 years, with the count hovering around 4,000, or 6.5% ofThe population is predominantly African American, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and Two or More Races. The current demographics breakdown is as follows: African American 49.49%, Hispanic 19.7%, Non-Hispanic White 33.39%, Other Race 11.34%, Two or more Races 3.46, Asian 1.7% and American Indian/AlaskanNative 0.5%. Hyde Park has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the city in the number of children. The population is approximately 10% non-citizens, consisting primarily of Caribbean-born individuals. The per capita income of appr. $32,224 is roughly average for the US ($33,706) and the poverty rate is 10%. The total population is about 2,000 people.

Historic architecture

Hyde Park's central business district, located between Cleary and Logan Squares, features a variety of historic buildings. The Roman Catholic Most Precious Blood Church, built in the English Gothic style, was completed in 1885. The neighborhood library, a branch of the Boston Public Library since 1912, was built in 1899. Hyde Park has a large number of warehouses and factory buildings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the Readville neighborhood, along the Neponset River and Mother Brook. The Fairmount Hill neighborhood has many houses built in a variety. of late 19th and early 20th Century architectural styles, including Italianate, Gothic Revival and Victorian. The Hyde Park YMCA was built. in 1902; a major renovation of the original facility was completed. in 2010. An opera house, built by Leroy J. French in 1897, stands on Fairmount Avenue and currently serves as the home of Hyde Park's Riverside Theatre Works. In 2000, a contemporary addition by Schwartz/Silver Architects doubled the library's size. Hyde Park is home to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which has a collection of more than 2,000 works of art. The Boston Public Museum, which opened in 1903, has a gallery of works by Picasso, M.A.C. Escher, and other artists. It is located on the corner of Cleary Avenue and Logan Square, and was built by the City of Boston after the 1912 annexation. It was completed by the firm of Cram Wentworth & Goodhue in the late Gothic Revival style in 1895.

Government and infrastructure

In the Massachusetts General Court, Hyde Park is represented by Representative Ricardo Arroyo. In the US House of Representatives, it is represented by Representative Julian Zelizer. The U.S. Postal Service operates the Post Office in Cleary Square, as well as the Readville Post Office. The Post Office is located in the heart of the city, in the area known as Hyde Park. The post office is open seven days a week, seven nights a week. It is open to the public by appointment only. The US Postal Service is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and has a network of more than 1,000 post offices across the country. It also operates a number of other post offices in the city and in the surrounding area, such as in Cambridge, Cambridge, Boston, Cambridge and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Community resources

The BCYF Hyde Park Community Center has been serving the community for over 100 years. Riverside Theater Works offers musical theater classes and serves the community by hosting recitals, meetings, fundraisers, and community gatherings. The Stony Brook Reservation is the largest, containing over 400 acres of managed land and 10 miles of hiking paths. Other public parks and playgrounds include Lacono Playground and Reservation Road Park. The bronze plaques decorate the area across the street from the Hyde Park Library. They were created by Gregg Lefevre and installed in 2000 as part of an effort to provide glimpses of Hyde Park's history and culture. The live theater is located in 14,000-square-foot facility and features a 156-seat opera house. It was originally created by Hyde Park resident and music teacher, Marietta Phinney. It offers musical theatre classes and hosts recitals and fundraisers. It is also home to one of Boston's two municipal golf courses. The George Wright Golf Course is named after former Hyde Park residents and hall of fame baseball player George Wright. The park is home to over 11 parks and Playgrounds as well as numerous open spaces. It also has a number of public open spaces, including a baseball field, a tennis court, a swimming pool, and a baseball diamond. The community also has two baseball diamonds, one of which is named in honor of former resident and baseball player, George Wright, who was born in Hyde Park.

Housing

Of the roughly 12,000 housing units in Hyde Park, 60% are owner-occupied. The number of rental units grew by 3% between 2000 and 2010. 6% of housing units are vacant, the vast majority of which are apartments. Some sections of Hyde Park experienced foreclosures at twice the rate of the rest of Boston, and triple what the rate had been in 2006. The Boston Housing Authority maintains one public housing complex called Fairmont. The Fairmont complex was built more than 40 years ago. The units are condo-styled and are offered primarily to low-income and elderly residents. In 2011 and 2012, Foreclosures dropped by 75% year over year, compared to the previous year. The housing crisis of 200708 led to a large increase in the number of financially distressed properties in the area. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Hyde Park saw a large rise in the numbers of distressed properties, as well as a large drop in the foreclosure rate in the city as a whole.

Liveability

Hyde Park contains almost all the amenities of a city, but in a suburban environment. The cost of living is very reasonable, especially for the amount of resources it has. The total crime rate is 1,896/100k, 1% lower than Boston and 31% higher than the national average. The high school graduation rate is 83%; employment median household income is $71,112, 7% percent higher than Boston's. The median housing cost is $524,668, 3% percentLower than Boston as a whole. The city is located in the suburbs of Cambridge, Cambridge, D.C., and Cambridge, Mass. The average household income in the city is $ 71,112; the average housing cost in the town is $526,668; and the median house price is $499,000. The town has a population of 1,816,000; the national population is 1.2 million. The area is located on the Massachusetts Turnpike, which is one of the busiest highways in the U.S. It is also the second-busiest highway in the state, behind only New York City. The speed of the town's traffic is the second highest in the country; the city's average speed is 12.5 miles per hour; it's the third-fastest city in the nation. It has a median home value of $527,000, which makes it the third most expensive town in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. It also has the lowest unemployment rate, at 3%.