Dorchester Illustration no. 2283 South Bay
The South Bay was a noted feature of the landscape bordering Dorchester, Roxbury and Boston. The Washington Village (Andrew) section of Dorchester was annexed to the city in 1855, following Dorchester Neck (the main part of South Boston), which was taken from Dorchester and annexed to Boston in 1805.
Today’s illustration is a bird’s-eye view published in Harper’s Weekly, July 8, 1871, showing South Boston and Columbia Point with the South Bay farther west. The railroad train on the tracks in the South Bay is about where the Newmarket station is today on the Fairmount Railroad line behind the Stop & Shop in the South Bay shopping plaza.
The map is not meant to be exact in detail, but it does provide an impression of the area. It shows the commercial activity in South Boston and some of the wharves on the South Bay. The stream that runs into the South Bay at the left appears to be Dorchester Brook, the dividing line between Dorchester and Roxbury. The church at the upper left is probably the Stoughton Street Baptist Church.
The archive of these historical posts can be viewed on the blog at www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org