Washington Village: A South Boston Neighborhood Rediscovered

Washington Village -- named to honor the nation's first President, a hero in the Revolutionary War -- holds its own among other neighborhoods of Boston in sheer historic value.The name Washington Village, identifying the neighborhood around the triangle of land bounded by Dorchester Avenue, Old Colony Avenue, and Dorchester Street, recognizes the connection with George Washington. Famously, cannon abandoned at Fort Ticonderoga in New York were secretly transported up Dorchester Neck and to Dorchester Heights, with its commanding presence overlooking British ships in Boston Harbor. Now we celebrate Evacuation Day, when the British were driven out without a battle.The name Washington Village lasted officially less than half a century, though it lingered on in maps. The area was renamed in 1891 as Andrew Square, after the late Civil War governor of Massachusetts and abolitionist, John A. Andrew.Now, with the imminent creation of a new, mixed-use development at the corner of Old Colony Avenue and Dorchester Street, the name returns. Washington Village, a joint venture of Core Investments and Samuels & Associates, will feature residences, a park, retail establishments, and places to eat. Nearby, the former industrial stretch to the west of Dorchester Avenue, much of it a part of the vibrant original Washington Village, also will be transformed, tailored to 21st century needs.Washington Village -- from a Native American hunting and fishing ground to cow pasture and orchards to Revolutionary War battleground to Patriots' outpost to industrial powerhouse -- is now entering its next chapter. This book honors that history.