CONDITIONS
CONTEXT
TESTIMONIES

Click here for map and orthophoto

Click here for data from census tract 819. 

CONDITIONS:
This is a distinctive, special area in terms of culture, education, history, and recreation. Crawford Street is on a hill, and is valued by residents for the views it provides in the Walnut Street area.

Educational resources:
This community is rich in educational resources, with the Ellis, Higginson, and Trotter public schools, as well as the expansive and attractive Crispus Attucks Children's Center, all in very close proximity to one another. The Ellis School is adjacent to the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), a museum located in a historic mansion built from Roxbury Puddingstone at the crest of a hill on Crawford Street.

Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists:
The area has other significant cultural and educational resources, particularly a historic mansion known as Abbotsford, which houses the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA). The mansion is situated on the top of a hill, and is surrounded by a well manicured lawn, outcroppings of Roxbury Puddingstone, and sculpture. The building itself is also constructed of puddingstone. The mansion is a striking landmark offering cultural enrichment that showcases the achievements of people of African American descent.

Crawford Street Playground:
Also adjacent to the museum is the 2.64-acre Crawford Street Playground, which features a little league field that doubles as a football field and soccer field for local children. Crawford Street Playground has five points of access, including access from the Ellis School. Residents of the surrounding communities use the playground as a neighborhood pass-through and it is in excellent condition. It is ideally positioned for heavy use by youth from the community and schools that surround it.

Horatio Harris Park and surrounding neighborhood:
The 2.36-acre Harris Park is characterized by enormous, visually stunning outcroppings of Roxbury Puddingstone. Older children and adults can clamor over the rocks, which afford a view of the surrounding community. This is a passive park with paved walking paths, trees, tables, benches, and stationary metal animals that young children can climb on.

Wrought iron lights line the walkways. A wide, low stone wall of Roxbury Puddingstone lines the park and is used for sitting and relaxing by park visitors. The park lies on the outskirts of the Heart of the City.

The park lies at the center of four residential streets with homes that are closely spaced -- Walnut Avenue, Townsend Street, Harold Street, and Munroe Street. Of these, Townsend Street has the highest density. The park unifies the streets and is their focal point. The attractive Queen Anne Revival style row houses on Harold Street are known as the Harriswood Crescent and were originally part of the Horatio Harris estate. They were built in 1890 around the park, which was then known as Fountain Square. According to the Boston Historical Society and Museum, Harriswood Crescent "recalls rural England 200 years before with its wood and stucco half-timbering combined with brick and rough-hewn stone" ("Roxbury, Massachusetts - A brief history," The Boston Society and Museum).

Intersection of Abbotsford, Crawford, and Harold Streets:
Abbotsford, Crawford, and Harold Streets converge at the top of a hill around a circular center of trees and grass. There are at least four educational facilities in this immediate area (Higginson School, Ellis School, Trotter School, the Crispus Attucks Children's Center). Playing fields, churches, children, and parents dominate the area, which is also distinctive because of its extreme topography. The views from this area, accordingly, are well known and appreciated by local residents and visitors to the Roxbury's highlands.

Back to top

CONTEXT:
Humboldt Avenue is the dividing line between two Roxbury census tracts. The census tract that pertains to this area, which is west of Humboldt Avenue, has very similar demographics but a a significantly higher economic status than residents just east of Humboldt Avenue. According to the 2000 U.S. census, residents were more than three-quarters black and 22 percent H
In 2000, the median household income for the area was $37,500 ($18,929 or 102% higher than the median household income for the adjacent census tract east of Humboldt Avenue). In the Crawford/ Walnut area, 12 percent of residents live below the poverty level, while in the adjacent census tract east of Humboldt Avenue, 33% of live below the poverty line. The economic disparity between the two areas grew significantly between 1990 and 2000.

Back to top

TESTIMONIES:
"There are lots of schools right here. But not too many for the number of kids we have in this community" (Roxbury resident on Crawford Street, May 2002).

Back to top