Mattapan ( / ˈ m æ t ə p æ n / ) is a neighborhood in Boston , Massachusetts , United States. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester area, possibly meaning "a place to sit." At the 2010 census, it had a population of 36,480, with the majority of its population immigrants.
112-505: Like other neighborhoods of the late 19th and early 20th century, Mattapan developed, residentially and commercially, as the railroads and streetcars made downtown Boston increasingly accessible. Predominantly residential, Mattapan is a mix of public housing, small apartment buildings, single-family houses, and two- and three-family houses (known locally as three-deckers or triple-deckers ). Blue Hill Avenue and Mattapan Square, where Blue Hill Avenue, River Street, and Cummins Highway meet, are
224-801: A BPS school, occupies the former campus of Solomon Lewenberg Middle School, which closed in 2009. Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston operates the Mattapan Square Campus. (Formally the Saint Angela Merci elementary school) The five public schools are all part of the Boston Public School system. 40% of male and 33.9% of female students in Mattapan received their high school diplomas. Mattapan has
336-499: A Jewish state; it had little apparent effect however, with 90% still voting other-than-Republican. In every election since, except for 1980, no Democratic presidential candidate has won with less than 67% of the Jewish vote. (In 1980, Carter obtained 45% of the Jewish vote. See below.) During the 1952 and 1956 elections, Jewish voters cast 60% or more of their votes for Democrat Adlai Stevenson , while General Eisenhower garnered 40% of
448-488: A bachelor's degree. The median household income in Mattapan is $ 44,744. There are an average of 12,345 people per square mile. Approximately 35.6% of Mattapan's population is foreign born, and slightly more than half of those who are foreign born have become United States citizens (53.8% of foreign born citizens). Since 1980, the majority of Mattapan has been inhabited by foreign born citizens, and until about 1990 many of these foreign born inhabitants became U.S. citizens; after
560-625: A cheap means of housing the thousands of newly arrived immigrant workers who filled the factories of the area. The economics of the three-decker are simple: the cost of the land, basement and roof are spread among three or six apartments, which typically have identical floor plans. The three-decker apartment house was seen as an alternative to the row-housing built in other cities of Northeastern United States during this period, such as in New York City , Boston , Philadelphia , Baltimore , and Washington, D.C. Three deckers often account for
672-419: A disproportionate majority of their structure fire response involves the buildings." Other common contributors to the flammability of three-deckers include primitive electrical systems such as knob-and-tube wiring , antiquated natural gas appliances such as gas-on-gas stoves, and petroleum-based shingle siding . Three-deckers were built in large numbers, in some areas comprising entire neighborhoods, but by
784-491: A disproportionate number of structure fires. Three-deckers were most commonly built in the emerging industrial cities of central New England between 1870 and 1920. There are large concentrations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island . Worcester, Massachusetts , was the likely origin of the type, with Francis Gallagher (1830–1911) held to be the originator. Other cities make the same claim, and they can also be found in
896-445: A few apartment style buildings, some of which can be found on River Street. Most apartment complexes have a maximum of three bedrooms. These apartments were built recently and an example of this is Mattapan Heights, which was an abandoned rehabilitation facility that was then turned into a gated community with major townhouse apartment styles. Other types of housing are ‘School Housing by Lower Mills’; these complexes are new development in
1008-429: A historical art form. They tell us how Jews have survived being uprooted and transformed. Many immigrant narratives bear a theme of the arbitrary nature of fate and the reduced state of immigrants in a new culture. By contrast, ethnic family narratives tend to show the ethnicity more in charge of his life, and perhaps in danger of losing his Jewishness altogether. Some stories show how a family member successfully negotiated
1120-466: A major role in left-wing politics and, after 1936, in Democratic Party politics. Although American Jews generally leaned Republican in the second half of the 19th century, the majority has voted Democratic since at least 1916, when they voted 55% for Woodrow Wilson . With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt , American Jews voted more solidly Democratic. They voted 90% for Roosevelt in
1232-454: A major-party ticket when he was chosen as Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore 's vice-presidential nominee. The elections of 2000 and 2004 saw continued Jewish support for Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry , a Catholic, remain in the high- to mid-70% range, while Republican George W. Bush 's re-election in 2004 saw Jewish support rise from 19% to 24%. In the 2008 presidential election , 78% of Jews voted for Barack Obama , who became
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#17327718283021344-433: A means to define Jews in a world that threatened to overwhelm and absorb Jewish uniqueness. The journal represented the ideals of the menorah movement established by Horace M. Kallen and others to promote a revival in Jewish cultural identity and combat the idea of race as a means to define or identify peoples. Siporin (1990) uses the family folklore of ethnic Jews to their collective history and its transformation into
1456-687: A minority population of the older Sephardi Jewish families remained influential. Jewish migration to the United States increased dramatically in the early 1880s, as a result of persecution and economic difficulties in parts of Eastern Europe. Most of these new immigrants were Yiddish -speaking Ashkenazi Jews, most of whom arrived from poor diaspora communities of the Russian Empire and the Pale of Settlement , located in modern-day Poland , Lithuania , Belarus , Ukraine , and Moldova . During
1568-701: A mixed race, and 6.5% were devoted to other races. According to the Boston Redevelopment Authority 72.4% of the population living in Mattapan were born in Massachusetts, 23.6% were born outside of the state, and 3.2% were born outside of the United States. Of those born outside of the United States 33.2% were born in Haiti and 17.2% were born in Jamaica. For the total adult population, 38.9% graduated from high school, while only 14.7% have
1680-646: A mixed-use, mixed-income residential-retail project slated for the Mattapan station parking lot". At this point in time, the project to convert the Trolley into buses will not be carried out. The Fairmount Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail also serves Mattapan at the Morton Street and Blue Hill Avenue stations, providing service to downtown Boston and the suburbs. The Fairmount Corridor Commuter Rail Line currently runs from South Station south through
1792-516: A per-capita basis for incorporated areas in the US are Kiryas Joel Village, New York (greater than 93% based on language spoken in home), City of Beverly Hills, California (61%), and Lakewood Township , New Jersey (59%), with two of the incorporated areas, Kiryas Joel and Lakewood, having a high concentration of Haredi Jews, and one incorporated area, Beverly Hills, having a high concentration of non-Orthodox Jews. The phenomenon of Israeli migration to
1904-469: A population of 3983 (12.2%) with no high school education. Mattapan Community Health Center, located in heart of the Blue Hill Avenue, has been providing community and public health services to the Mattapan and Hyde Park communities for more than 40 years and is the only health center in the city. It is the primary source of care and resource for its residents and community members. Its mission
2016-455: A potential 7.0–7.4 million Americans of Jewish descent. Those higher estimates were however arrived at by including all non-Jewish family members and household members, rather than surveyed individuals. In a 2019 study by Jews of Color Initiative it was found that approximately 12-15% of Jews in the United States, about 1,000,000 of 7,200,000 identify as multiracial and Jews of color . The overall population of Americans of Jewish descent
2128-399: A profound impact on the Jewish community in the United States, especially after 1960 as Holocaust education improved, as Jews tried to comprehend what had happened during it, and especially as they tried to commemorate it and grapple with it when they looked to the future. Abraham Joshua Heschel summarized this dilemma when he attempted to understand Auschwitz : "To try to answer is to commit
2240-426: A respectable 35%, but during Bush's re-election attempt in 1992, his Jewish support dropped to just 11%, with 80% voting for Bill Clinton and 9% going to independent Ross Perot . Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996 maintained high Jewish support at 78%, with 16% supporting Bob Dole and 3% for Perot. In the 2000 presidential election , Joe Lieberman became the first American Jew to run for national office on
2352-540: A sense of complete identification and solidarity born of our own painful historic experience." During the World War II period, the American Jewish community was bitterly and deeply divided and as a result, it was unable to form a united front. Most Jews who had previously emigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe supported Zionism , because they believed that a return to their ancestral homeland
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#17327718283022464-447: A similar overall typology, with a bay window on the front, and prominent porches. Various external features typify the three-decker. Windows are usually located on all four sides of the building, including a street-facing bay window on each floor. Utility porches are located in the rear, and typically not visible from the street. Some three-deckers feature a single front door that access all three units; others feature one entrance for
2576-484: A similar split among Israelis and led to a parallel rift within the pro-Israel lobby , and even ultimately to the United States for its "blind" support of Israel. Abandoning any pretense of unity, both segments began to develop separate advocacy and lobbying organizations. The liberal supporters of the Oslo Accord worked through Americans for Peace Now (APN), Israel Policy Forum (IPF) and other groups friendly to
2688-401: A smaller number of converts to Judaism . The American Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions , encompassing the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance . Depending on religious definitions and varying population data, the United States has the largest or second largest Jewish community in the world, after Israel . As of 2020, the American Jewish population
2800-459: A state's presidential primary election. For congressional and senate races, since 1968, American Jews have voted about 70–80% for Democrats; this support increased to 87% for Democratic House candidates during the 2006 elections. The first American Jew to serve in the Senate was David Levy Yulee , who was Florida's first Senator, serving 1845–1851 and again 1855–1861. There were 19 Jews among
2912-494: A supreme blasphemy. Israel enables us to bear the agony of Auschwitz without radical despair, to sense a ray [of] God's radiance in the jungles of history." Zionism became a well-organized movement in the U.S. with the involvement of leaders such as Louis Brandeis and the promise of a reconstituted homeland in the Balfour Declaration . Jewish Americans organized large-scale boycotts of German merchandise during
3024-563: A twofold experience—one of the spirit and one of our history. ... From our Jewish historic experience of three and a half thousand years we say: Our ancient history began with slavery and the yearning for freedom. During the Middle Ages my people lived for a thousand years in the ghettos of Europe. ... It is for these reasons that it is not merely sympathy and compassion for the black people of America that motivates us. It is, above all and beyond all such sympathies and emotions,
3136-471: Is a very high density among the physical structures in Mattapan. The Affordable Housing plan in Mattapan is available to residents who have little income. Boston Public Schools (BPS) operates public schools in Mattapan. Ellison/Parks Early Education School is in Mattapan. Elementary schools include James J. Chittick, Mattahunt, and Charles H. Taylor. Mildred Avenue K-8 School is located in Mattapan. The Young Achievers Science and Mathematics Pilot K-8 School,
3248-681: Is demographically characterized by an aging population composition and low fertility rates significantly below generational replacement. However, the Orthodox Jewish population, concentrated in the Northeastern United States , has fertility rates when taken alone which are significantly higher than both generational replacement and that of the average U.S. population. The National Jewish Population Survey of 1990 asked 4.5 million adult Jews to identify their denomination. The national total showed 38% were affiliated with
3360-516: Is estimated at 7.5 million people, accounting for 2.4% of the total US population. This includes 4.2 million adults who identify their religion as Jewish, 1.5 million Jewish adults who identify with no religion, and 1.8 million Jewish children. It is estimated that up to 15 million Americans are part of the "enlarged" American Jewish population, accounting for 4.5% of the total US population, consisting of those who have at least one Jewish grandparent and would be eligible for Israeli citizenship under
3472-415: Is one reason why three-deckers are often situated on narrow lots and are rectangular shape, with the smaller sides at the front and the rear. In the textile mill city of Fall River, Massachusetts , thousands of wood-framed multi-family tenements were built by the mill owners during the boom years of the 1870s to house their workers. Many more were built by private individuals who rented their apartments to
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3584-466: Is seeing another major population shift, albeit a natural turn over of housing, as a large number of immigrants from Haiti and other Caribbean countries continue to move in. Mattapan now has the largest Haitian community in Massachusetts, and is also largely made up of African Americans and immigrants from other Caribbean countries. In 2013 the population in Mattapan was 36,299. Of this total 11% were Caucasian, 82% were African American, 1% were Asian, 2% were
3696-508: Is to, "Improve the quality of life for residents of Mattapan and surrounding communities by providing comprehensive, accessible, affordable and culturally appropriate community health care services, including primary and preventive health care services." It is also the founding partner of the Boston HealthNet and it is affiliated with Boston Medical Center and Brigham & Women's Hospital . The Mattapan Adult Day Health Program
3808-608: The American Jewish Yearbook that the American Jewish population totaled 7.15 million, making up 2.17% of the country's 329.5 million inhabitants. In the same year, the American Jewish population was estimated at 7.6 million people, accounting for 2.4% of the total US population, by other organization. This includes 4.9 million adults who identify their religion as Jewish, 1.2 million Jewish adults who identify with no religion, and 1.6 million Jewish children. The American Jewish Yearbook population survey had placed
3920-651: The Anti-Defamation League was asked by the conference to apologize for criticizing ZOA's Morton Klein . The conference, which under its organizational guidelines was in charge of moderating communal discourse, reluctantly censured some Orthodox spokespeople for attacking Colette Avital , the Labor-appointed Israeli Consul General in New York and an ardent supporter of that version of a peace process. As of 2020,
4032-603: The Law of Return . Jews were present in the Thirteen Colonies since the mid-17th century. However, they were few in number, with at most 200 to 300 having arrived by 1700. Those early arrivals were mostly Sephardi Jewish immigrants, of Western Sephardic (also known as Spanish and Portuguese Jewish ) ancestry, but by 1720, Ashkenazi Jews from diaspora communities in Central and Eastern Europe predominated. For
4144-467: The National Register of Historic Places . Recently, a new wave of three-decker apartment houses has been built in areas of Boston as an alternative to the townhouse style condominium or apartment buildings more typically associated with suburban areas. Boston's zoning regulations allow new three-family houses to be constructed in areas with existing three-deckers. However, building codes for
4256-724: The New York metropolitan area , establishing the world's major concentrations of the Jewish population. In 1915, the circulation of the daily Yiddish newspapers was half a million in New York City alone, and 600,000 nationally. In addition, thousands more subscribed to the numerous weekly papers and the many magazines in Yiddish. At the beginning of the 20th century, these newly arrived Jews built support networks consisting of many small synagogues and Landsmanshaften (German and Yiddish for "Countryman Associations") for Jews from
4368-682: The Reform tradition , 35% were Conservative , 6% were Orthodox , 1% were Reconstructionists , 10% linked themselves to some other tradition, and 10% said they are "just Jewish." In 2013, Pew Research's Jewish population survey found that 35% of American Jews identified as Reform, 18% as Conservative, 10% as Orthodox, 6% who identified with other sects, and 30% did not identify with a denomination. Pew's 2020 poll found that 37% affiliated with Reform Judaism, 17% with Conservative Judaism, and 9% with Orthodox Judaism. Young Jews are more likely to identify as Orthodox or as unaffiliated compared to older members of
4480-587: The Republican Party . The 114th Congress included 10 Jews among 100 U.S. Senators : nine Democrats ( Michael Bennet , Richard Blumenthal , Brian Schatz , Benjamin Cardin , Dianne Feinstein , Jon Ossoff , Jacky Rosen , Charles Schumer , Ron Wyden ), and Bernie Sanders , who became a Democrat to run for President but returned to the Senate as an Independent. In the 118th Congress , there are 28 Jewish US Representatives. 25 are Democrats and
4592-732: The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) tried to counterbalance the power of the liberal Jews. On October 10, 1993, the opponents of the Palestinian-Israeli accord organized at the American Leadership Conference for a Safe Israel , where they warned that Israel was prostrating itself before "an armed thug", and predicted and that
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4704-507: The working-class and middle-class families, often in multiple rows on narrow lots in the areas surrounding the factories. They were derided as poor-quality buildings, shoddily constructed from flammable balloon framing : a 1911 report by the Massachusetts State Housing Committee in Massachusetts decried the three-decker as "a flimsy fire-trap and a menace to human life". It is estimated that by 1920,
4816-564: The "thirteenth of September is a date that will live in infamy". Some Zionists also criticized, often in harsh language, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres , his foreign minister and chief architect of the peace accord. With the community so strongly divided, AIPAC and the Presidents Conference, which was tasked with representing the national Jewish consensus, struggled to keep the increasingly antagonistic discourse civil. Reflecting these tensions, Abraham Foxman from
4928-481: The 1910s and 1920s. There they are locally referred to as "Three Flats". Three-deckers are usually defined by the style of their roofs, being either gable , hip , or flat-roofed , with preference often varying regionally. For instance, hipped and gabled three-deckers are dominant in Worcester. In smaller cities, such as Lawrence or Albany, New York, two or two and a half story variants are common, while retaining
5040-491: The 1930s to protest Nazi Germany . Franklin D. Roosevelt 's leftist domestic policies received strong Jewish support in the 1930s and 1940s, as did his anti-Nazi foreign policy and his promotion of the United Nations . Support for political Zionism in this period, although growing in influence, remained a distinctly minority opinion among Jews in the United States until about 1944–45, when the early rumors and reports of
5152-600: The 1950s, a number of them had been abandoned or razed because of suburban growth and urban renewal . Their reputation as poor quality and dangerous persisted into the 1970s. Starting in the early 1980s, however, they became desirable again as older streetcar suburbs began to gentrify , often by buyers looking for homes where they could live in one unit and rent the other two, thus helping them pay their mortgage . As condominiums became more common, many were converted into individually-owned units. Since 1990, many three-deckers in Worcester, Massachusetts, have been listed on
5264-409: The 1990s, many people who immigrated to the United States did not become U.S. citizens[1]. The largest percentage of the population who were immigrants to the United States are Haitian (33.2%), while Jamaicans and Trinidadians make up about 27.6% of Mattapan's population. Though Mattapan is racially diverse, the predominant language is English. About 18.9% of the population speak French; this includes
5376-422: The 435 US Representatives at the start of the 112th Congress ; 26 Democrats and 1 ( Eric Cantor ) Republican. While many of these Members represented coastal cities and suburbs with significant Jewish populations, others did not (for instance, Kim Schrier of Seattle, Washington; John Yarmuth of Louisville, Kentucky; and David Kustoff and Steve Cohen of Memphis, Tennessee). The total number of Jews serving in
5488-436: The American Jewish population is, depending on the method of identification , either the largest in the world, or the second-largest in the world (after Israel ). Precise population figures vary depending on whether Jews are accounted for based on halakhic considerations, or secular, political and ancestral identification factors. There were about four million adherents of Judaism in the US as of 2001, approximately 1.4% of
5600-641: The Boston neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and terminates in Readville section of Hyde Park. It consists of approximately 9.2 miles of track, nine stations (South Station, Newmarket, Uphams Corner, Four Corners / Geneva, Talbot Avenue, Morton Street, Blue Hill Avenue, Fairmount, and Readville) and forty-one bridges. It is the only Commuter Rail Branch that exclusively serves the City of Boston and MBTA's Urban Core. The United States Postal Service operates
5712-580: The Democrat, with only 45% support, while Republican winner Ronald Reagan garnered 39%, and 14% went to independent (former Republican) John Anderson . During the Reagan re-election campaign of 1984, the Republican retained 31% of the Jewish vote, while 67% voted for Democrat Walter Mondale . The 1988 election saw Jewish voters favor Democrat Michael Dukakis by 64%, while George H. W. Bush polled
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#17327718283025824-551: The House of Representatives declined from 31 in the 111th Congress . John Adler of New Jersey, Steve Kagan of Wisconsin, Alan Grayson of Florida, and Ron Klein of Florida all lost their re-election bids, Rahm Emanuel resigned to become the President's Chief of Staff; and Paul Hodes of New Hampshire did not run for re-election but instead (unsuccessfully) sought his state's open Senate seat. David Cicilline of Rhode Island
5936-595: The Israeli response; the great majority came to accept the war as necessary. Similar tensions were aroused by the 1977 election of Menachem Begin and the rise of Revisionist policies, the 1982 Lebanon War and the continuing administrative governance of portions of the West Bank territory. Disagreement over Israel's 1993 acceptance of the Oslo Accords caused a further split among American Jews; this mirrored
6048-867: The Jewish community. Many Jews are concentrated in the Northeastern United States, particularly around New York City . The world's largest menorah is lit annually at Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan , while the largest menorah in New Jersey is similarly celebrated in Monroe Township , Middlesex County . Many Jews also live in South Florida , Los Angeles , and other large metropolitan areas, like Chicago , San Francisco , or Atlanta . The metropolitan areas of New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami contain nearly one quarter of
6160-525: The Jewish vote for his reelection, the best showing to date for the Republicans since Warren G. Harding 's 43% in 1920. In 1960, 83% voted for Democrat John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon , and in 1964, 90% of American Jews voted for Lyndon Johnson , over his Republican opponent, arch-conservative Barry Goldwater . Hubert Humphrey garnered 81% of the Jewish vote in the 1968 elections in his losing bid for president against Richard Nixon . During
6272-592: The Labour government in Israel. They tried to assure Congress that American Jewry was behind the Accord and defended the efforts of the administration to help the fledgling Palestinian Authority (PA), including promises of financial aid. In a battle for public opinion, IPF commissioned a number of polls showing widespread support for Oslo among the community. In opposition to Oslo, an alliance of conservative groups, such as
6384-786: The Massachusett name for Dorchester. Virgin soil epidemics ravaged the Massachusett in the early 1600s, with smallpox killing Chickatawbut and a large portion of his 3000 warriors in 1633, after which his brother and successor as sachem, Cutshamekin sold large portions of Massachusett land along the Neponset River. Migration of Massachusett to praying towns in the mid-1600s and forced internment of Native Americans during King Philip's War led to further declines in native influence on Mattapan, though later Massachusett sachems still held and sold title to lands in Dorchester. At
6496-528: The Midwest. Gradually the Cincinnati Jewish community would adopt novel practices under the leadership Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise , the father of Reform Judaism in the United States, such as the inclusion of women in minyan . A large community grew in the region with the arrival of German and Lithuanian Jews in the latter half of the 1800s, leading to the establishment of Manischewitz , one of
6608-512: The Nixon re-election campaign of 1972, Jewish voters were apprehensive about George McGovern and only favored the Democrat by 65%, while Nixon more than doubled Republican Jewish support to 35%. In the election of 1976, Jewish voters supported Democrat Jimmy Carter by 71% over incumbent president Gerald Ford 's 27%, but during the Carter re-election campaign of 1980, Jewish voters greatly abandoned
6720-698: The Oakland Hall Building's delivery station. In 1923 the reading room was declared a branch of the Boston Public Library. On June 22, 1931 the Mattapan Library Branch opened on Hazelton Street. The current library opened on February 28, 2009 at 1350 Blue Hill Avenue. 42°16′20″N 71°05′13″W / 42.27222°N 71.08694°W / 42.27222; -71.08694 Triple decker A three-decker , triple-decker triplex or stacked triplex , in
6832-516: The Patois, Creole, and Cajun languages. A small portion of the population speak Portuguese Creole (0.3%) The languages spoken at home also vary from age; for example, approximately 68.2% of children who are 5–17 years old speak only English, while 16.9% of those children speak other Indo-European languages. Among adults aged 18–24 years, 23.4% speak other Indo-European languages; while 63.9% of adults who are 18 to 24 years old speak English. As of 2010,
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#17327718283026944-494: The US population. According to the Jewish Agency , for the year 2023 Israel was home to 7.2 million Jews (46% of the world's Jewish population), while the United States contained 6.3 million (40.1%). According to Gallup and Pew Research Center findings, "at maximum 2.2% of the US adult population has some basis for Jewish self-identification." In 2020, the demographers Arnold Dashefsky and Ira M. Sheskin estimated in
7056-597: The United States in large numbers due to antisemitic laws and restrictions in their countries of birth. They primarily became merchants and shop-owners. Gradually early Jewish arrivals from the east coast would travel westward, and in the fall of 1819 the first Jewish religious services west of the Appalachian Range were conducted during the High Holidays in Cincinnati , the oldest Jewish community in
7168-523: The United States, is a three-story ( triplex ) apartment building . These buildings are typically of light-framed, wood construction , where each floor usually consists of a single apartment, and frequently, originally, extended families lived in two, or all three floors. Both stand-alone and semi-detached versions are common. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tens of thousands of three-deckers were constructed, mostly in New England , as
7280-525: The Zip Code 02126 Mattapan Post Office. The zip code also includes parts of Hyde Park, Forest Hills and a large part of the Lower Mills neighborhoods. Mattapan is mainly made up of triple and double decker houses. Each apartment of the triple/double deckers consist of either two or three bedrooms, kitchen, one bathroom and living room. They were designed to house small unit families. Mattapan also has
7392-489: The area controlled by the Neponset sachem Chickatawbut at the time of contact with English explorers and settlers in the early seventeenth century. Although the Massachusett practiced a seasonally shifting settlement pattern, they have left a lasting impact on the layout of current day Mattapan in the form of footpaths that were adopted and eventually transformed into roadways by later settlers: Mattapan and Lower Mills were
7504-424: The average cost of purchasing a home in Mattapan was $ 248,833. The neighborhood is made up of mostly triple decker apartments, and the cost of living is about 33% higher than the national average. A total of 64.3% of people living in Mattapan are renting, while the other 35.7% are home owners. The median household income status for someone residing in Mattapan is around $ 44,744 per year as of 2011. A total of 71.3% of
7616-543: The bottom floor and one that accesses the top two. While usually lacking the ornamentation found on other homes of the Victorian era , three-deckers were sometimes built with decorative details such as porch railings and posts. Three-deckers are constructed from wood and typically use balloon framing , which makes them especially susceptible to destructive fires. Boston-based GBH News noted that "fire officials in Worcester, Fall River, Brockton and New Bedford all say
7728-566: The city of Boston had over 15,000 three-decker houses. Areas such as Dorchester , Roxbury , Mattapan , and Jamaica Plain were popular with the emerging middle class and became " streetcar suburbs " as transportation systems expanded from the older, core sections of the city. Typically, the affordable three-decker homes attracted live-in landlords who would collect rent from the other two apartments. In Worcester, Massachusetts, sewer connection charges were based on street frontage, so builders favored houses with as little frontage as possible. This
7840-590: The commercial heart of the neighborhood, home to banks, law offices, restaurants, and retail shops. The new Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public library opened 2009, at a cost of more than $ 4 million. Mattapan has a large portion of green space within the neighborhood. The Harambee Park , the Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, Clark-Cooper Community Gardens, and historic Forest Hill Cemetery can all be considered by some green space within
7952-445: The community. Recreation Areas/ Green Space Ryan's Playground provides water sprinklers, swings and other activities for children to enjoy. Almont Park and Hunt's Park are also fun for kids, as they provide a range of sporting facilities such as tennis courts, basketball courts and more. Shopping Districts- Mattapan Square is the shopping district hub, featuring multiple stores. These infrastructures are well grouped together, as there
8064-585: The conflict between ethnic and American identities. After 1960, memories of the Holocaust , together with the Six-Day War in 1967 had major impacts on fashioning Jewish ethnic identity . Some have argued that the Holocaust highlighted for Jews the importance of their ethnic identity at a time when other minorities were asserting their own. In New York City, while the German-Jewish community
8176-646: The earliest confirmed settlements in the Mattapan area to the Woodland period beginning 2000 years ago, when the archaeological record attests to hunting, fishing, and shellfish gathering around the Neponset River and quarrying for stone points in the Blue Hills . Mattapan was the name given by Massachusett Native Americans to an area north of the Neponset River, possibly meaning "a sitting down place" related to mattappu or "he sits down." It fell within
8288-410: The elections of 1940, and 1944, representing the highest of support, equaled only once since. In the election of 1948, Jewish support for Democrat Harry S. Truman dropped to 75%, with 15% supporting the new Progressive Party . As a result of lobbying, and hoping to better compete for the Jewish vote, both major party platforms had included a pro-Zionist plank since 1944, and supported the creation of
8400-410: The ensuing deterioration of the neighborhood, especially along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor. According to Levine and Harmon, the reason behind this orchestrated attack on the community was to lower market values to buy property, sell the housing with federally guaranteed loans at inflated prices to black families who could not afford it, and to get the white community to buy property owned by the banks in
8512-542: The fact that some of them were denied the right to vote or hold office in local jurisdictions, Sephardi Jews became active in community affairs in the 1790s, after they were granted political equality in the five states where they were most numerous. Until about 1830, Charleston, South Carolina had more Jews than anywhere else in North America . Large-scale Jewish immigration commenced in the 19th century, when, by mid-century, many German Jews had arrived, migrating to
8624-455: The first African American to be elected president. Additionally, 83% of white Jews voted for Obama compared to just 34% of white Protestants and 47% of white Catholics, though 67% of those identifying with another religion and 71% identifying with no religion also voted Obama. In the February 2016 New Hampshire Democratic Primary , Bernie Sanders became the first Jewish candidate to win
8736-579: The first time, the English Plantation Act 1740 permitted Jews to become British citizens and emigrate to the colonies . The first famous Jew in US history was Chaim Salomon , a Polish-born Jew who emigrated to New York and played an important role in the American Revolution. He was a successful financier who supported the patriotic cause and helped raise most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution. Despite
8848-541: The formation of new centers, as Jewish school enrollment more than doubled between the end of World War II and the mid-1950s, while synagogue affiliation jumped from 20% in 1930 to 60% in 1960; the fastest growth came in Reform and, especially, Conservative congregations. More recent waves of Jewish emigration from Russia and other regions have largely joined the mainstream American Jewish community. Americans of Jewish descent have been successful in many fields and aspects over
8960-461: The former industrial cities of New Hampshire , Maine , and Connecticut , as well as the New York City area (particularly in northern New Jersey and Yonkers ) and Upstate New York, where they are commonly seen as far west as Utica. Three-deckers are also found in Canadian cities with strong ties to New England, particularly Halifax, though they are less ubiquitous. They were primarily housing for
9072-488: The horrors of the Holocaust. This attention was based on a natural affinity toward and support for Israel in the Jewish community. The attention is also because of the ensuing and unresolved conflicts regarding the founding of Israel and the role for the Zionist movement going forward. A lively internal debate commenced, following the Six-Day War . The American Jewish community was divided over whether or not they agreed with
9184-494: The largest producers of American kosher products and now based in New Jersey , and the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the United States, and second-oldest continuous published in the world, The American Israelite , established in 1854 and still extant in Cincinnati. By 1880 there were approximately 250,000 Jews in the United States, many of them being the educated, and largely secular, German Jews, although
9296-538: The late 19th and early 20th centuries abandoned a racial definition of Jewishness in favor of one that embraced ethnicity. The key to understanding this transition from a racial self-definition to a cultural or ethnic one can be found in the Menorah Journal between 1915 and 1925. During this time contributors to the Menorah promoted a cultural , rather than a racial, religious, or other views of Jewishness as
9408-475: The main fords of the Neponset River prior to contact, and present day Adams St. and River St. connected Mattapan to fishing weirs at Lower Mills and the Neponset River outlet, while Squantum St. and Center St. in Milton connected it to shell fishing at Moswetuset Hummock and quarrying in the Blue Hills , respectively. Dorchester was settled by English colonists in 1630 and a source from 1634 lists "Matampan" as
9520-810: The mid-20th century, there were American Jews who were among the most active participants in the Civil Rights Movement and feminist movements. A number of American Jews have also been active figures in the struggle for gay rights in America . Joachim Prinz , president of the American Jewish Congress , stated the following when he spoke from the podium at the Lincoln Memorial during the famous March on Washington on August 28, 1963: "As Jews we bring to this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate,
9632-640: The mill workers and their families. This style of housing differed greatly from the well-spaced boardinghouses of the early 19th century built in Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts , or the cottages of Rhode Island. A different three-story style apartment house is also common in urban working-class neighborhoods in northern New Jersey (particularly in and around Newark , Jersey City and Paterson ). They are sometimes locally referred to as "Bayonne Boxes". Similar brick apartment buildings were built in Chicago in
9744-469: The most dramatic period of ethnic transition in Boston. Hillel Levine and Lawrence Harmon, in their 1991 book The Death of an American Jewish Community , argue that redlining , blockbusting , and fear in neighborhood residents created by real estate agents brought about panic selling and white flight . The banking consortium Boston Banks Urban Renewal Group (B-BURG) allegedly drove the Jewish community out of Mattapan and are held partially responsible for
9856-659: The most liberal programs of the New Deal . They continued as a major element of the New Deal Coalition , giving special support to the Civil Rights Movement . By the mid-1960s, however, the Black Power movement caused a growing separation between blacks and Jews, though both groups remained solidly in the Democratic camp. While earlier Jewish immigrants from Germany tended to be politically conservative ,
9968-514: The neighborhood of Mattapan. Mattapan's demographics are diverse, with a large population of Haitians , Caribbean immigrants, and African Americans. Mattapan has public services such as a recently renovated community health center, and constable services. Mattapan MBTA Station is the last stop of the Red Line Extension Trolley which is accessible via Ashmont and other points along the route in Dorchester and Milton. Mattapan
10080-505: The new buildings are far more stringent today, with requirements for fire sprinkler systems and handicap access. Jewish American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish , whether by culture , ethnicity , or religion . According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research , approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi , 3% identify as Sephardic , and 1% identify as Mizrahi . An additional 6% identify as some combination of
10192-546: The number of American Jews at 6.4 million, or approximately 2.1% of the total population. This figure is significantly higher than the previous large scale survey estimate, conducted by the 2000–2001 National Jewish Population estimates, which estimated 5.2 million Jews. A 2007 study released by the Steinhardt Social Research Institute (SSRI) at Brandeis University presents evidence to suggest that both these figures may be underestimations with
10304-488: The other 3 are Republicans. All 10 Jewish Senators are Democrats. Additionally, 6 members of President Joe Biden 's cabinet are Jewish ( Secretary of State Antony Blinken , Attorney General Merrick Garland , DNI Avril Haines , White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain , Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas , and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ). Members of the American Jewish community have included prominent participants in civil rights movements. In
10416-558: The poverty level. The Mattapan-Ashmont trolley line of the MBTA serves Mattapan as well as several bus routes. In the beginning of 2016, the Mattapan trolley was in danger of being derailed and being transformed into bus routes instead, which would be more cost effective than keeping the trolley as rail line. However, Boston officials have fought to cancel this transformation because although this would be more cost effective, property values would decrease and would "most importantly, torpedo
10528-408: The residents working in Mattapan are blue collar workers and the remaining 28.7% are white collar workers. About 64.5% of households are family households, while the other 35.5% of the people living in Mattapan are not family households. The medium family income is approximately $ 54,119. As of 2011 26.2% of households received food stamps/SNAP. Out of that percentage, 49.5% of those households were under
10640-551: The same period, great numbers of Ashkenazic Jews also arrived from Galicia , at that time the most impoverished region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a heavy Jewish urban population, driven out mainly by economic reasons. Many Jews also emigrated from Romania . Over 2,000,000 Jews landed between the late 19th century and 1924 when the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration. Most settled in
10752-477: The same town or village. American Jewish writers of the time urged assimilation and integration into the wider American culture , and Jews quickly became part of American life. Approximately 500,000 American Jews (or half of all Jewish males between 18 and 50) fought in World War II , and after the war younger families joined the new trend of suburbanization . There, Jews became increasingly assimilated and demonstrated rising intermarriage . The suburbs facilitated
10864-489: The state of Massachusetts. As of 2015, Mattapan also has a large population of African Americans, Jamaicans, and other Caribbean immigrants. During the 1960s and 1970s, Mattapan underwent a major change in the makeup of its population. It shifted from a predominantly Jewish neighborhood to one that is now largely African American and Caribbean American having a population of 37,486 that is over 77% African American and Caribbean American. The period from 1968 to 1970 made up
10976-450: The suburbs. Gerald Gamm disputes these allegations in his 1999 book Urban Exodus , arguing that differences between the Jewish and Catholic communities in Boston constituted the greater contributing factor. As Jewish people moved out of Mattapan, Caribbean Americans and African Americans began to move in. According to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 70.3% of households are family based rather than single men and women or couples. It
11088-619: The systematic mass murder of the Jews in Nazi-occupied countries became publicly known with the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps . The founding of the modern State of Israel in 1948 and recognition thereof by the American government (following objections by American isolationists) was an indication of both its intrinsic support and its response to learning
11200-502: The three categories, and 25% do not identify as any particular category. During the colonial era, Sephardic Jews who arrived via Portugal represented the bulk of America's then-small Jewish population. While their descendants are a minority nowadays, they represent the remainder of those original American Jews along with an array of other Jewish communities, including more recent Sephardi Jews , Mizrahi Jews , Beta Israel-Ethiopian Jews , various other Jewish ethnic groups , as well as
11312-496: The turn of the 20th century, the population of Mattapan was largely Caucasian, but starting in the late 1960s, blockbusting intentionally designed to destabilize the neighborhood drove many long-term residents out of Mattapan. In the 1980s, a significant number of Haitians immigrated to Mattapan, leading to the current demographic population. Mattapan has become an important center for the Haitian cultural, social, and political life in
11424-482: The wave of Jews from Eastern Europe starting in the early 1880s were generally more liberal or left-wing and became the political majority. Many came to America with experience in the socialist, anarchist and communist movements as well as the Labor Bund , emanating from Eastern Europe. Many Jews rose to leadership positions in the early 20th century American labor movement and helped to found unions that played
11536-492: The world after the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in Israel. Several other major cities have large Jewish communities, including Los Angeles , Miami Baltimore , Boston , Chicago , San Francisco and Philadelphia . In many metropolitan areas, the majority of Jewish families live in suburban areas. The Greater Phoenix area was home to about 83,000 Jews in 2002, and has been rapidly growing. The greatest Jewish population on
11648-503: The world's Jews and the New York City metropolitan area itself contains around a quarter of all Jews living in the United States. According to a study published by demographers and sociologists Ira M. Sheskin and Arnold Dashefsky in the American Jewish Yearbook, the distribution of the Jewish population in 2020 was as follows: The New York City metropolitan area is the second-largest Jewish population center in
11760-496: The years. The Jewish community in America has gone from being part of the lower class of society, with numerous employments barred to them, to being a group with a high concentrations in members of the academia and a per capita income higher than the average in the United States. Scholars debate whether the historical experience of Jews in the United States has been such a unique experience as to validate American exceptionalism . Korelitz (1996) shows how American Jews during
11872-453: Was also noted that Mattapan has among the highest percentage of people who speak French in their homes. Based on percentages in Mattapan, the cost of living is 8% lower than Boston, the total crime rate is 27% higher compared to Boston, the number of high school graduates are 11% lower than Boston, employment is 9% lower, and housing is 23% lower than Boston. The majority of homes in Mattapan are triple decker apartment buildings. Today Mattapan
11984-524: Was elected as the House Minority Whip , the first Jewish Republican to be selected for the position. In 2011, he became the first Jewish House Majority Leader . He served as Majority Leader until 2014, when he resigned shortly after his loss in the Republican primary election for his House seat. In 2013, Pew found that 70% of American Jews identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party , with just 22% identifying with or leaning toward
12096-558: Was founded in 1980. It provides day health services to senior living in Boston areas. Boston Public Library operates the Mattapan Branch Library. On December 18, 1849 a Mattapan resident named Increase S. Smith opened the Mattapan Library Association. In 1870 Dorchester, Massachusetts , which included Mattapan, was annexed into Boston. The Mattapan branch began as a reading room attached to
12208-450: Was named and first inhabited by Native Americans . Although humans are known to have inhabited eastern North America for at least 15,000 years, the presence of a continental ice sheet extending south to the level of Long Island and Cape Cod would have limited human habitation in Mattapan until the end of the last Ice Age , about 11,700 years ago. Sea level rise since then and disruption of soil layers from urban development in Boston limit
12320-529: Was the only Jewish American who was newly elected to the 112th Congress; he had been the Mayor of Providence . The number declined when Jane Harman , Anthony Weiner , and Gabby Giffords resigned during the 112th Congress. As of January 2014 , there were five openly gay men serving in Congress, and two are Jewish: Jared Polis of Colorado and David Cicilline of Rhode Island. In November 2008, Cantor
12432-418: Was the only solution to the persecution and the genocide which were then occurring across Europe. One important development was the sudden conversion of many American Jewish leaders to Zionism late in the war. The Holocaust was largely ignored by American media as it was happening. Reporters and editors largely did not believe the stories of atrocities which were coming out of Europe. The Holocaust had
12544-492: Was well established 'uptown', the more numerous Jews who migrated from Eastern Europe faced tension 'downtown' with Irish and German Catholic neighbors, especially the Irish Catholics who controlled Democratic Party politics at the time . Jews successfully established themselves in the garment trades and in the needle unions in New York. By the 1930s they were a major political factor in New York, with strong support for
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