Anthony Mitchell Sammarco

"Howard Johnson created an orange-roofed empire of ice cream stands and restaurants that stretched from Maine to Florida and all the way to the West Coast. Popularly known as the "Father of the Franchise Industry," Johnson delivered good food and prices that brought appreciative customers back for more. The attractive white Colonial Revival restaurants, with eye-catching porcelain tile roofs, illuminated cupolas and sea blue shutters, were described...

Jamaica Plain today is one of Boston's great suburban neighborhoods, but it has not always been connected to the city. The area has a rich and colorful history that stretches from its rural, pastoral beginnings in the seventeenth century. Jamaica Plain became a part of Roxbury, and later West Roxbury, and served as a summer playground for influential Bostonians before becoming part of Boston in 1874. Today, the neighborhood is a bustling suburban...

Adjoining the southern border of Pittsburgh, Dormont is a small, independent borough whose name means "mountain of gold" in French. The borough developed rapidly even before its incorporation in 1909. In the early 1900s, the extension of Pittsburgh's railway system, the opening of the Liberty Tunnels, and the building of the Liberty Bridge, along with the recreational opportunities the borough has to offer, encouraged many families to settle and escape...

Laid out in 1848 as a rural garden cemetery by Henry A. S. Dearborn, Forest Hills Cemetery celebrates its 160th anniversary in 2008 as Boston's premier arboretum cemetery. Since the mid-19th century, its 250 magnificent acres have been the resting place of people of all walks of life, ethnicities, religions, and races. Among these are poets Anne Sexton and E. E. Cummings, playwright Eugene O'Neill, and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Forest Hills's...

Once referred to as the "Suburb Superb," Roslindale was at one time part of the town of West Roxbury, which had been set off from Roxbury in 1851. The rapid development of Roslindale, which was annexed to the city of Boston in 1874 and was then known as the South Street District, was largely due to the Boston and Providence Railroad and the streetcars that connected the area to Forest Hills Station. By the twentieth century, Roslindale had developed...

Once a part of Charlestown that could only be reached via "The Neck" (present-day Sullivan Square), Somerville became accessible from Boston with the construction of the Middlesex Canal and the extension of various rail lines in the mid- to late nineteenth century. By 1842, Somerville's population had increased to the point that the town officially separated itself from Charlestown. Over the years, the population continued to grow. With the increase...

On March 4, 1822, the townsfolk of Boston voted to incorporate their town as the City of Boston. A great change had just taken place, but even greater changes were to come during the ensuing century, as Boston's population grew from 50,000 to 750,000 by 1922 and as it developed from a colonial town into the "Hub of the Universe." Boston: A Century of Progress brings to life one hundred amazing years, from 1822 to 1922. More than two hundred fascinating...

Originally called Noodle's Island, East Boston was once comprised of five islands connected by marshland. Today, many people identify East Boston as the location of Logan International Airport, but it is really much more than that. From colonial times through the late twentieth century, the neighborhood of East Boston has experienced significant developments in the fields of city planning, transportation, and urban development. Until the nineteenth...

In 1765, when Joseph Rotch sailed across the bay from Nantucket, he brought with him the skills and knowledge to start New Bedford's whaling industry. By 1830, the town was a larger whaling port than Nantucket, with an immense fleet employing more than 10,000 people.

Within these pages, author Anthony Mitchell Sammarco brings to life the history of Boston's West End--the area of the city bound by the Charles River and Storrow Drive as well as North Station, City Hall Plaza, and Myrtle Street. Once a thriving, energetic, and diverse neighborhood, the West End was slated for complete removal following World War II. In over 200 marvelous photographs, this collection recaptures fond memories for former residents and...