A City Divided: The Building of the Mass Turnpike in Newton (Part II)

Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part column on the Mass. Pike Extension in Newton.

In January of 1962, William F. Callahan sold the final bond to fund the building of the turnpike extension through Newton and was able to break ground on construction shortly afterward. Contractors were hired, and the taking of property by eminent domain began.

Toby Berkman details that, in all, “approximately 350 homes and businesses would be demolished. $4.5 million in property would be destroyed. One-third of the business in Newton Corner would be wiped out. The loss of property would cause an automatic $1 tax increase in Newton.”

While the entire city would feel the effects of the highway, the villages in the northern sweep of the city were the hardest hit. Homes and businesses that generations of families had built together were to be obliterated, and they were notified by a straightforward letter in the mail from the Turnpike Authority. Business owners were given only two months to close up shop and move elsewhere, and homeowners were given just four months to relocate.

To facilitate a speedy transition of ownership, property owners were forced to move out first and negotiate a price after it was no longer theirs. The Turnpike Authority was taking advantage of its tremendous power to bilk people out of the fair value of their homes.

No single neighborhood was hit as hard as the Hicks Street area of West Newton. In the late 1800s there was a large influx of African Americans into Newton, many of them fleeing racial proscription in the south after the Civil War. These people found homes and work in West Newton. Shortly after establishing themselves in the Hicks Street neighborhood, .

This historically African American neighborhood was almost entirely eliminated by the Turnpike. Thirty-two homes were demolished, and black residents who were evicted had difficulty finding a new home in the city due to racial discrimination in the housing market. With cars whizzing past nearby, residents of this neighborhood who remain today have a constant reminder of the damage done to their community by the highway. Thankfully, Myrtle Baptist serves as a home base for those who were forced out of the area in the 1960s.

According to bostonroads.com, “Callahan did not live to see his turnpike completed. In September 1964, five months after [he] died, the Boston Extension was completed to…EXIT 18 (Allston-Brighton-Cambridge). The entire 135-mile length of the Massachusetts Turnpike opened to traffic on February 18, 1965.”

Since its completion, the stretch of the Mass Pike that extends through Newton has caused much less controversy. Undoubtedly changing the city it bisects, the highway is simply part of the physical environment. But let us not forget the hundreds of people who lost their businesses, their livelihoods, and their homes for this road to be built.