OWNERSHIP
CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
HISTORY
ENVIRONMENTAL AND DESIGN ISSUES

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OWNERSHIP:
City of Boston

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CONDITIONS:
Elm Hill Park is a dead-end street and a narrow strip of parkland that runs down the middle of the street. Elm Hill Park lies northeast of Franklin Park and the Grove Hall Mecca in Roxbury. The park is bordered by a wrought iron fence. Various trees and shrubs of different sizes lie within. At its center, the park has a sculpture of people embracing one another that evokes a sense of family love and commitment.

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CONTEXT:
This beautiful, well-cared-for park sets the street apart from others that surround it. Most of the homes around the park are in better condition than homes in the surrounding area. For example the comparison between Elm Hill Park and Gaston Street, which is one block to the north, is striking. Gaston Street is characterized by vacancy, dumping, and vehicular abuse.

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HISTORY:
The homes on Elm Hill Park were built in 1900. Located in what was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in the early- to mid-1900s, Elm Hill Park was the site of a brutal murder of a Jewish rabbi who lived in the neighborhood. The event bound together the various communities in the Grove Hall area for a time, and the residents worked together to make Elm Hill Park a stable, integrated lower-middle class neighborhood. The goal of integration was not realized, however, and the neighborhood became almost entirely African America (Gamm, G. Urban Exodus, 1999, p228-229).

In 1987, the City Parks Department described the park as "in decline" and reported that most of the original plantings were completely gone and had not been replaced (Boston's Open Space: An Urban Open Space Plan 1987 (Volume I)). Subsequently, $200,000 was invested in the park for renovations, and in 1999 the park won the annual Urban Design Award from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

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ENVIRONMENTAL and DESIGN ISSUES:
The retaining wall at the end of Elm Hill Park is in disrepair and threatens the homes on Otisfield Street. Built during the Great Depression, today the wall is crumbling and earth is slipping onto the lower level street.

It is not clear who is responsible for repair of retaining walls that hold earth in place between ledges that separate higher areas from lower areas. The City realizes that home owners cannot afford to fix the wall, but is hesitant to set a precedent by paying for the costly repairs. Project RIGHT (Rebuild and Improve Grove Hall Together) has worked with residents to address these problems.

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