The West End Museum — Attraction in Boston

As a young person, I experienced the destruction of Lowell's Little Canada in the 60's and at 73 years old it remains a traumatic memory. The West End Museum brought tears to my eyes because the stories told by former residents of Boston's West End and the historical documentation of how they were victimized by a dehumanization process to justify the cruelty of the powers that be to sweep them away like trash and justify their actions felt like they were describing my experience in Little Canada.

I lost an Aunt who died after being forcibly displaced and it haunted to hear Boston West Enders tell of similar fates of those who died of broken hearts after living their all their lives only to be swept away from the homes and community they loved.

Graduate students of graduate school programs of urban design/planning and public policy should be required to visit the museum and learn the human costs of imposing plans on people without involving them in the planning process or forcibly displacing them.

You will never find large populations of wealthy white people forcibly displaced to justify goals for the "betterment of the greater, larger community," it is only done to the poor and/or marginalized. The horror of wondering if you and your friends and family will next be forcibly displaced by a force you don't understand as a child is an experience that shaped my life.

I still feel PTSD symptoms when I see it happen to others under any circumstance, whether victims of forced displacement done by urban planning or by the greater injustices like having an ICE vehicle pull up to them on the street at any moment to yank a different friend away and wondering when that car will pull up to you or a dear family member next. Or to have a large invading force militarily destroy your home and leave your loved ones cast to the wind while hearing your tragedy minimized or even attempted to be rationalized or justified by those perpetuating their crimes against you.

Visit the West End Museum, it is the only museum I know of anywhere, at least in the U.S., that documents and sensitively and intelligently insures that the pandemic of "urban renewal" projects that destroyed the West End, my Lowell Little Canada neighborhood and the numerous, mostly Black neighborhoods throughout America were cruelly destroyed and victimized its residents to serve the economic goals of the...

The museum is small, and there is almost no parking nearby, but they pack a lot in with the interactive exhibits: you watch a short film and then circulate a room containing artifacts, videos, and interactive exhibits. The docent was friendly.

My one complaint is that I felt smothered. The introduction was extremely detailed: the person literally pointed to every section of the room to tell me what I would find there, and made sure I knew how to use the interactive exhibits.

Then, when I did start exploring on my own, my focus was interrupted by an ask to show me how to use an exhibit I had just started exploring and was deep in focus reading.

After that startle my heart rate was up and I was anxious and tense (tensed my ankle so bad I can’t stand on it anymore. I am fragile and startling is the worst for my body). My focus was so broken, I moved quickly through the rest, but was interrupted again by “you’re missing a lot! I can show you how to use that other exhibit,” and then he did.

My advice would be to leave people alone. Once you go into such detail at the beginning, don’t interrupt. Offer yourself for questions if people need, but don’t smother them.

I can’t focus when I know I am likely to have my focus interrupted, and that meant I couldn’t explore anymore.

Very friendly guy. Very insightful museum. I just needed the space...

I just walked past this place randomly, when I was just walking around Boston. I'm glad I did, even though I had no idea what the place was about being from the UK!

The museum was quite interesting talking about the history of the area, the "famous" people, including the late Leonard Nimoy, who had only passed away a few months before my visit, and had apparently visited the museum a couple of times through the years.

Bob, who seemed to run the museum was very helpful. At first, I was slightly "put off" by his enthusiasm for the museum, but you soon realise, he's not a bad guy, and his enthusiasm for the museum actually made it a more interesting experience.

If you like to know about local history (in any country, or city), this museum is definitely worth going. There is no admittance fee, they just ask for a $10 donation.

Thanks again to Bob. Robert From Jersey, UK (if you remember...