Dorchester, Boston

Dorchester, Boston
Official seal of Dorchester, Boston
Nickname: 
Dot
Motto(s): 
Pietate, Literis, Industria (Latin)
"Piety, Learning, [and] Industry"
Dorchester, Boston is located in Greater Boston area
Dorchester, Boston
Dorchester, Boston
Location in Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°19′N 71°3′W / 42.317°N 71.050°W / 42.317; -71.050
CountryUnited States
StateMassachusetts
CountySuffolk
Neighborhood ofBoston
SettledMay 1630
IncorporatedJune 1, 1630
Annexed by BostonJanuary 4, 1870[1]
Named forDorchester, Dorset
Population
 (2010)[2]
 • Total91,982 to 134,000
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP Codes
02121, 02122, 02124, 02125
Area code(s)617 and 857

Dorchester is a neighborhood comprising more than 6 square miles (16 km2) in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This dissolved municipality, Boston's largest neighborhood by far,[3] is often divided by city planners in order to create two planning areas roughly equivalent in size and population to other Boston neighborhoods.

The neighborhood is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated on the ship Mary and John, among others.[4]

Founded in 1630, just a few months before the founding of the city of Boston, Dorchester now covers a geographic area approximately equivalent to nearby Cambridge.[5] It was still a primarily rural town and had a population of 12,000 when it was annexed to Boston in 1870. Railroad and streetcar lines brought rapid growth, increasing the population to 150,000 by 1920. In the 2010 United States Census, the neighborhood's population was 92,115.

The Dorchester neighborhood has a very diverse population, which includes a large concentration of African Americans, European Americans (particularly those of Irish, German, Italian, and Polish origin), Caribbean Americans, Latinos, and East and Southeast Asian Americans. Dorchester also has a significant LGBT population, with active political groups and the largest concentration of same-sex couples in Boston after the neighborhoods of South End and Jamaica Plain.[6] Most of the people over the age of 25 have completed high school or obtained a GED.[7]

  1. ^ "Dorchester MA, Town History 1630–1870" Archived 2013-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, Dorchester Atheneum
  2. ^ Bill Forry (2011). "Analysis: City counters bend boundaries, thousands cut out of Dot". Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  3. ^ "Boston's Neighborhoods: Dorchester". Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
  4. ^ Clapp, Ebenezer. History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Dorchester, Boston, MA: Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society, 1890.
  5. ^ History of Dorchester, Massachusetts Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Under a rainbow flag, linking the Dots – The Boston Globe". archive.boston.com. Retrieved 2017-08-11.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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