CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
HISTORY
DESIGN ISSUES
SOCIAL ISSUES

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Click here for data from census tract 901. (From U.S. Census 2000).

CONDITIONS:
The Erie Ellington area of Dorchester lies just east of Franklin Park and south of Grove Hall near the edge of Roxbury. Since the 1960s, the area has been adversely affected by a large number of vacant lots in varying conditions. In recent years, however, Erie Ellington has been the site for new housing construction and other improvements, in particular 50 attractive, award-winning, and highly energy-efficient affordable housing units. Other vacant lots have been transformed into small, well-maintained neighborhood parks and much of the most dilapidated housing in the area has been renovated in recent years.

Erie Ellington contains a mix of housing types, with two- and three-family homes being the most common.

"Green" housing and Erie Ellington Homes:
In 2000, the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation built 50 new housing units on Erie and Ellington Streets. The new units have made a dramatic difference in the landscape of the neighborhood and represent a major step in the rejuvenation of the area. They are also an example of innovative "green design," which not only conserves natural resources, but also translates into lower energy bills and better indoor air quality for residents. 

Other elements of green design exist in the neighborhood. For example, there are two solar panels in use at a triple-decker home at 92 Ellington Street.

Erie Ellington Playground:
The Erie Ellington Playground is located on the corner of Erie and Ellington Streets. Considered dangerous and in terrible condition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the playground is in excellent condition in 2002, and includes colorful, modern play equipment, a circular track area for skating with trees in the center, several benches, and an open grassy area. A wrought-iron fence encircles the playground.

Vacant land:
Erie Ellington demonstrates that vacant lots can be either an attribute for a neighborhood or can attract dumping and crime. In this neighborhood, vacant lots are generally attributes to the neighborhood, especially when they have neatly trimmed grass, are fully fenced with attractive materials such as white picket fencing or wrought iron, have one or more mature trees, and contain no cars. Many such vacant lots exist in this neighborhood.

Positive vacant land:
Examples of the types of vacant lots that are community attributes include a grassy lot with a stately, mature maple tree on the corner of Columbia Road and Hewins Street and a grassy lot with white picket fencing across from the Erie Ellington Playground on Erie Street. The Erie Ellington Garden on Erie Street is an example of a former vacant lot that has been transformed into a beautiful, well-used space that unquestionably adds to the cohesiveness, health, and stability of those who live in the neighborhood.

Detrimental vacant land:
Examples of vacant land with no grass, fencing, or trees include the trashy lot with a broken fence on Erie Street near the intersection with Wolcott Street next to the Erie Ellington Garden; the paved former service-station on the corner of Old Road and Ellington Street; the overgrown lot on Drummond Street with a chain-link fence and three abandoned cars; and the unfenced lot on the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Glenway.

Clusters of vacant lots:
One entire block of Erie Street (between Glenway and Ellington Streets) is comprised of vacant lots of various degrees of use and repair. These vacant lots are clustered around the Erie Ellington Playground.

Another vacant lot that is notable because of its large size is at the point where Erie and Ellington Streets come together at Greenwood Street in a parcel that borders a commuter rail line (8 Greenway Street, parcel #1401658000). This long thin lot is owned by the City of Boston through foreclosure. It is largely open land with mature trees. Much of the lot has been made easy to walk through because of wood chips that inhibit weed growth. A chain link fence borders the lot and a gap in the fence allows access to the land. In the summer of 2002 the lot had three abandoned vehicles in it and one boat. One of the vehicles -- a large van -- was filled entirely with tires. Glass and trash were strewn across the lot. Maples and birches, hunks of concrete, and more tires were found both within and outside the property. This strip of land borders a larger area owned by the State for the commuter rail. A well-maintained fence separates the lot from the railroad land. The lot lies across the street from a number of bright, beautiful new homes.

NOTE: In May of 2002, City assessing data is not up-to-date in this area. The new buildings on these streets (completed in 2000) are not reflected on the City of Boston mapping system.

Vacant buildings:
Old Road is a short stretch of street that runs parallel to Blue Hill Avenue near Peabody Circle. A burned out, vacant, boarded-up building lies on Old Street and significantly detracts from the street and the area in general. Another notable vacant building is located at 135 Ellington Street across the street from a group of new Erie Ellington Limited Partnership homes.

Endicott Elementary School:
The Endicott School is located at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Glenway and McClellan Streets on the edge of the Erie Ellington neighborhood across the street from Franklin Park. A concrete lot surrounds the Endicott Elementary School, leaving virtually no grassy place for children to play on school grounds. In April 2003, Boston Public Schools announced its decision to close Endicott Elementary School at the end of the 2003 school year, in response to budget cuts at the state level. This decision has surprised and upset many residents who point to the growing youth population in this area of the city.

Demo-Dispo housing:
Some of the Theroch Apartments are located on Ellington and Glenway Streets. These apartments were constructed in 1920, foreclosed in 1991, and were renovated by the Demonstration Disposition program administered by MassHousing between 2001 and 2003. In total, the federal government planned to spend $20,966,905 to renovate the 191 units of Theroach Apartments. One hundred and five families were relocated as part of this renovation process.

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CONTEXT:
Demographics:
According to the 2000 Census, residents of Erie Ellington are 82.3% black or African American and 15.2% Hispanic (of any race). Median household income of the census tract that includes the Erie Ellington neighborhood was $29,696 in 2000. Almost 35% of residents are under the age of 18. Seventy-five percent of residents rent their homes; more than 9% of housing units in the area are vacant.

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HISTORY:
Erie Ellington was a predominantly Jewish area between the 1920s and the 1950s. In general, by the mid-1920s, 85% of residents east of Blue Hill Avenue and west of the railroad tracks were Jewish families, while east of the Fairmount Commuter Rail tracks the percentage dropped to a third (Walczak, W., "Codman Square: history (1630 to present), turmoil (1950-1980) and revival (1980-2000)," 2002).

Like much of the area east of Franklin Park along the Blue Hill Avenue corridor, Erie Ellington experienced a period of physical devastation in the 1960s and 1970s related to crooked real estate deals that, along with other factors, destabilized neighborhoods (see Blue Hill Avenue (as a whole)).

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DESIGN ISSUES:
Vacant lots:
As noted above, significant unproductive space remains in the Erie Ellington neighborhood. In many cases, the vacant land attracts dumping and probably crime. One of the larger vacant lots in the area is a lot on Greenwood Street near the commuter rail that is owned by the City of Boston.

Public transportation:
The Erie Ellington neighborhood does not have access to rapid transit despite the fact that the Fairmount Commuter Rail runs directly through the neighborhood. The MBTA is considering increasing the service and number of stops on the commuter rail in the Dorchester/ Mattapan/ Roxbury area and renaming the commuter rail the "Indigo Line." One of the proposed stops is located at the corner of Washington Street (Dorchester) and could significantly improve transit access for Erie Ellington residents.

In April 2005, the $40 million first phase of the MBTA's Fairmount line renovation project began at the Uphams Corner Station. Tracks and signals, six bridges, and the Morton Street Station will also be rehabilitated on the Fairmount line as part of the first phase. The construction of four new stations -- Blue Hill Avenue, Talbot Avenue, Newmarket and Four Corners/Geneva Avenue -- is also planned as part of the project. The project's total cost is pegged at $96 million. (Mac Daniel, "T To Begin Upgrade of Fairmount Rail Corridor," The Boston Globe, April 14, 2005)

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SOCIAL ISSUES:
Youth population:
Almost 35% of residents of Erie Ellington are under the age of 18, yet young people living in the area do not have access to a community center. Some area residents hope to use the recreational facilities and library at the Brunswick Gardens Middle School once the Columbia Road facilities are completed.

Crime:
In August 2004, 15-year-old Jaime Owens, who was sitting on a park bench near Erie and Ellington streets, suffered wounds to her neck and hand after a man jumped out of a creeping minivan and fired several shots, according to witnesses who were with Owens when she was hit. This incident was one of many scattered instances of violence in the city during the summer of 2004 (Sofia Santana, "Youths Unite in Show Against Violence in Parks," The Boston Globe, Aug. 20, 2004).

High rentership:
Because three-quarters of housing units in the area are occupied by renters rather than owners, housing values that rise faster than wages could put many residents at risk of displacement.

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