Dorchester, Boston
Dorchester is a Bostonian neighborhood comprising more than 6 square miles (16 km2) in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This dissolved municipality, Boston's largest neighborhood by far, is often divided by city planners in order to create two planning areas roughly equivalent in size and population to other Boston neighborhoods.
Dorchester, Boston | |
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Neighborhood of Boston | |
Left-right from top: University of Massachusetts Boston campus, Neponset River at Lower Mills , JFK Presidential Library, Lawrence Avenue Historic District, Edward Everett Square, First Parish Church of Dorchester | |
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Seal | |
| Nickname: Dot | |
| Motto(s): Pietate, Literis, Industria (Latin) "Piety, Learning, [and] Industry" | |
Dorchester, Boston Location in Boston, Massachusetts | |
| Coordinates: 42°19′N 71°3′W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| County | Suffolk |
| Neighborhood of | Boston |
| Settled | May 1630 |
| Incorporated | June 1, 1630 |
| Annexed by Boston | January 4, 1870 |
| Named for | Dorchester, Dorset |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 91,982 to 134,000 |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (Eastern) |
| ZIP Codes | 02121, 02122, 02124, 02125 |
| Area code(s) | 617 and 857 |
The neighborhood is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated on the ship Mary and John, among others.
Founded in 1630, just a few months before the founding of the city of Boston, Dorchester now covers a geographic area approximately equivalent to nearby Cambridge. It was still a primarily rural town and had a population of 12,000 when it was annexed to Boston in 1870. Railroad and streetcar lines brought rapid growth, increasing the population to 150,000 by 1920. In the 2010 United States Census, the neighborhood's population was 92,115.
The Dorchester neighborhood has a very diverse population, which includes a large concentration of African Americans, European Americans (particularly those of Irish, German, Italian, and Polish origin), Caribbean Americans, Latinos, and East and Southeast Asian Americans. Dorchester also has a significant LGBT population, with active political groups and the largest concentration of same-sex couples in Boston after the neighborhoods of South End and Jamaica Plain. Most of the people over the age of 25 have completed high school or obtained a GED.