The West End Museum

Members Gallery

Adjacent to our administrative offices, the museum mounts six revolving shows each year in its Members Gallery. Contributions from our subscribing members help to support these exciting shows, which range from light events that have happened in the west end to historical portrayals of important West End periods, themes and people.

Members Gallery


Current Exhibit:

"Twenty Five Years of the West Ender Newsletter" (February 14 - March 31, 2012)

(Printed in the Spirit of the Mid-Town Journal and Dedicated to Being the Collective Conscience of Urban Renewal and Eminent Domain in the City of Boston)

Celebrating 150 years of Neighborhood Pride: There were the villains, the people, the legends and the heroes.

Villians People Legends Heroes

Upcoming Exhibits:

“Vintage Costumes of Burlesque” (April 10 – May 12, 2012)

Burlesque Burlesque Burlesque

Recent Exhibits:

"Hidden Gems from the Old Boston Garden" (January 3 - February 13, 2012)

A collection of over thirty photos of events which took place at the old Boston Garden dating back to the early 1930's and not yet seen at the Sports Museum. This exhibit is in partnership with the Sports Museum and is co-curated by Richard Johnson of the Sports Museum and West End Museum board member John Caron of West End Jonnies. The Museum will be open extended hours during Boston Garden Events.

Celtics J. Geills Band Boxing

 

"The Boston Canal", an extension of the Middlesex Canal which ran through Causeway Street in the Bulfinch Triangle to Haymarket Square, actually cut Boston in two and turned the North End into a man-made island...Click Here

The exhibit is accompanied by a film by Roger Hagopian which gives an overview of David Dettinger's thesis: "The Canal That Cut Boston In Two".

Early in its operation the Middlesex Canal terminated at the Charlestown Mill Pond near Sullivan Square T Station. An ingenious method of pulling the boats across the Charles River was devised using a chain marked by floats at the top and tethered by weights at the bottom. This was necessary because the boats had no keel and were 70-feet long and unwieldy; hand over hand the scows and barges of the Middlesex Canal were pulled across the Charles River to Barton's Point. Sometime later, a canal was dug across the Causeway sand bar and boats were taken across the Boston Mill Pond to meet with up with the Mill Creek coming from the ocean. Thus Boston was bisected; cut in two by the Canal.

In 1808 Charles Bulfinch devised a plan to fill in the Mill Pond, and designed the Bulfinch Triangle. At the top of the triangle is Causeway Street, the old sandbar and through the center of the triangle ran the Canal and is today's Canal Street.