Here's To Revere

A conversation on Revere By Jake Topkis and Margaret Bateman

Christopher Columbus stumbled upon America, confusing the foreign land as India. It’s safe to say that his folly was most profitable for the Spaniards. When we were sent on the mission to explore East Boston, we hopped on the Blue Line with the noblest intentions. We got off the train (our modern day ship) and assumed the foreign land of Revere as East Boston. The difference between our everyday encounter of the Financial District and our first time experience of Revere was astonishing. The streets were silent and the houses were grey. There was a playground and field cutting through the rows of residential homes. With our first impressions in tact, the idea of Revere as a ghost town rather than apart of Boston, we started our exploration.  

 

            Our project went awry without our awareness when we discovered that Revere actually is not within East Boston limits. This revelation was surprising and frustrating considering how much effort went into our Revere exploration. This unfortunate happening, however, led us to a rather interesting revelation when we began to consider what city limits and boundary lines actually mean to a neighborhood. Revere, as we originally understood it, very much belonged in Boston – and why shouldn’t it be? Because someone decided to draw a line in the sand and say it was outside Boston? We recalled the image of a Revere home completely adorned with Boston sports gear. This image inspired us to investigate into how Revere fits into Boston culturally and popularly despite the fact that a map might say differently. What we found was a map pre-1871 would not say different. We were intrigued to discover that Revere was a part of Boston 241 years! So, actually, the history of Boston has included Revere for well over half its existence. We agreed that this fact qualified the neighborhood for inclusion in this Representing The Real project. Basically: you can take Revere out of Boston, but you can’t take Boston out of Revere. We are now left wondering how many other neighborhoods of Boston have now been forgotten due to lines being abstractly drawn on a map...

 

We used our first hand experience with the residents of the neighborhood as a voice of the “essence” of Boston. When we first arrived in Revere, we thought we were East Boston. Jake took the initiative and decided to interview the first resident he could spot-- a 10 year old boy. After the interview, we traveled on to find more houses. We knocked on the door of one house and a 50 year old man answered. We discovered that we were in "Revere" and that he lived in the same house for 45 years, that his great grandfather built the house, and that the local park, Frederick's park, was named after his grandfather's uncle who died in WWI. He told us about the changing demographics of the neighborhood and about how the old neighborhood families were all dying off. He mentioned the decrease in the neighborhoods Italian population and the increase in the Middle Eastern and Hispanic population. We then found an Italian Restaurant and interviewed the owner’s wife. She too mentioned the decrease in the Italian population and rise in the Hispanic population. 

Our surprise came after the interviews, when we delved into the Internet for scientific statistics on the demographics of Revere. Of the 47,283 population, over 41,000 are White. That’s almost 90%! The way the locals were painting the picture, Margaret and I assumed the Middle Eastern immigration in the area was much more intense. In fact (according to the most recent census), the “other” category (which includes Middle Easterners) has only a 3,242 max population. This is such a small fraction, it’s surprising people noticed enough to comment on it to us. Jake and Margaret concluded that the neighborhood demographics really has not changed very much, only the perception of it by a few locals we selected. This recalls the historical problem known as the Empirical Fallacy. It is a mistake to think that questions will gain correct answers. We almost assumed our sample was the collective voice of Revere, when it really was not. 

            It was very nice to see connections already being formed between the residents. From young, to old. Rich history, to nearly none. It was not until much after we were told that Mr. Frederick was of the same family of Frederick’s that the park was named after that we considered questioning the accuracy of the data we got. We already proved after researching the census that the Middle Eastern population influx was much less dramatic than the picture painted by some of the residents. We have to conclude that we can not fully trust Frederick, or anyone with information simply because we don’t know who they actually are (agenda’s, bias’, misinformed, etc.) all we have is the popular diction spewed forth for us to dutifully write down. Recording primary sources is a bit more complex than we thought. Truth, or the closest we might get is found when we find multiple sources (scholarly and otherwise) giving the same information. We have not been able to find another source giving the origin of the name for Frederick’s Park.

Like Columbus, our encounter with the foreign land resulted in “profitable” lessons. After our journey through Revere, our encounters with the residents, and our research on the history of the neighborhood, our first impressions of Revere changed. We discovered that although the neighborhood is not “technically” apart of Boston, it still represents the real of the city. It is not a ghost town but another piece of Boston’s puzzle. We encounter the “College Town” of Boston everyday and are familiar with tall buildings and crowded streets. Revere serves as the other side of Boston we do not experience—the old families, small businesses, and quiet roads. What glues the two universes together is the name-brand identification with the city.  Go Red Sox!

Interviews:

East Boston: Revere/ Beachmont

A residential lower middle class area. A playground, school, park, and small shopping center (bakery, liquor store, middle eastern restaurant, roast beef diner.)

Beachmont Roast Beef Employee (female, 25): The restaurant has been around for 31 years (1978) and has very recently gotten a Facebook group where customers can go to find out more about the restaurant. A MySpace is pending.

• This online connection allows historians to interact directly with people in neighborhood-related groups in a medium that archives primary sources.

(This is very important for our project. It can provide contacts for residents of all neighborhoods. Each person responsible for a neighborhood should check facebook and myspace for "fan" sights of neighborhoods. Join the group and start a conversation thread with interview questions. Contact the creators of the group and ask them why they started the page.)

Address of Beachmont Roast Beef:

629 Winthrop Ave 

(between Bennington St & Crescent Ave) Revere, MA 02151 (781) 289-7968

Revere Resident 1 (male, White, ~50): Lived in Revere for 45 years, his family had for 100 years going back to his great grandfather (who built the house we visited). Fredericks Park was named after his father's uncle who was killed in WWI. Frederick’s Park is a popular place in Revere, he said it was his favorite. He has seen the demographics of the neighborhood change since he’s lived there. He saws the area used to be mainly Italian or Irish ethnicities, but now a Middle Eastern population has moved in and they have brought new businesses to the neighborhood.. His father is 80 and is one of the “original” people left from the neighborhood who has yet to die. His family used to be prominent in the area, now they’re just another house. Apartment complexes are relatively new, it used to be all houses. He mentioned that the sense of community has left due to the old families dying out. There is now a market and a drugstore. He used to hang on the popular street corner in town, and knew everyone. That is not the case today. His three favorite places in his neighborhood are the racetrack, beach, and park.

Neighborhood Child (male, Hispanic, ~10): He has lived here for 3-4 years. He feels it’s still a new neighborhood for him. He’s seen everything in the area become “more subtle” since he arrived. I believe he means that there is less going on. Everyone keeps to themselves mostly. When asked what three places in the neighborhood he would give people a tour of he could only respond with one: The park. This is the only place he goes for leisure.

Beachmont Italian Bakery Employee (female, wife of owner, ~60):The owner of bakery began working as a neighborhood ice cream truck driver for 40 years, 25 years in Beachmont. 17 years ago he started the bakery, which remains the only bakery in the neighborhood. The owner retired from the ice cream truck 5 years ago. The woman spoke with a thick Italian accent. She said she noticed a change in the neighborhood about 7 years ago when a large Italian population left. She mentioned the increase in a hispanic population. When asked what her favorite places were in neighborhood, she said she rarely leaves the story or socializes with others in the neighborhood.

Middle Eastern Restaurant Employee (male, Middle Eastern, ~40):Did not respond to questions. When asked to interview other employee, he mentioned that he did not speak english very well.

Liquor Store Employee (female, Asian, ~35): Did not respond to our questions. She had broken English and was busy at the counter.