26-54 Cross Street

This particular section of Cross Street, located in the North End of Boston, is an interesting microcosm for the changing nature of Boston at this time. It has undergone a great number of changes, both in its physical layout and in the layout of the people that dwelled there. Remarkably overcrowded, this block was home to a community of hundreds of people. It was comprised of tenement apartment buildings that, over the course of the early twentieth century, increasingly became the target of urban renewal efforts. The streets that bordered it became wider, and a central portion was razed for the creation of a community park. Though these changes relieved traffic congestion and created a more navigable space for people to live in, complete with a community park, these changes also displaced the people that lived there and removed existing structures to clear up space. Despite these aftereffects, however, these efforts successfully, and drastically, reshaped the nature of this community over the course of only a few decades.