Statue Thomas and Jane Walford were the original English settlers of the peninsula between the
Charles and the
Mystic. They were given a grant by Sir Robert Gorges, with whom they had settled at
Wessagusset (
Weymouth) in September 1623 and arrived at what they called Mishawaum in 1624.
John Endicott, first governor of
Massachusetts Bay Colony, sent William, Richard and Ralph Sprague to Mishawaum to lay out a settlement. Thomas Walford, acting as an interpreter with the Massachusett Indians, negotiated with the local
sachem Wonohaquaham for Endicott and his people to settle there. Although Walford had a virtual monopoly on the region's available
furs, he welcomed the newcomers and helped them in any way he could, unaware that his Episcopalian religious beliefs would cause him to be banished from Massachusetts to
Portsmouth,
New Hampshire within three years. Originally a
Puritan English city during the Colonial era, Charlestown proper was founded in 1628 and settled July 4, 1629, by
Thomas Graves,
Increase Nowell, Simon Hoyt, the Rev. Francis Bright, and
the Spragues (Ralph, Richard, & William Sprague), among some 100 others who preceded the
Great Migration.
John Winthrop's company stopped here for some time in 1630, before deciding to accept the invitation of
William Blaxton to settle across the
Charles River with him on the
Shawmut peninsula. This was the first act in the foundation of the city of
Boston. 's "Great House" in City Square, uncovered during the
Big Dig , Charlestown, and Bunker Hill, between 1890 and 1910 in 2025, with the
Zakim Bridge and
West End, Boston in the distance The territory of Charlestown was initially quite large. From it,
Woburn was separated in 1642,
Malden in 1649 (including what is now
Melrose and
Everett) and
Stoneham in 1725.
South Medford, the land south of the Mystic River (now surrounded by Somerville), was known as "Mistick Field" and was transferred from Charlestown to
Medford in 1754. This grant also included the "Charlestown Wood Lots" (the Medford part of the Middlesex Fells), and part of what was at the time Woburn (now Winchester). Other parts of Medford were transferred to Charlestown in 1811. Still-rural
Somerville was split off in 1842 as Charlestown was urbanizing.
Everett,
Burlington,
Arlington and
Cambridge also acquired areas originally allocated to Charlestown.
Landfill operations eliminated the narrow
Charlestown Neck that connected the northwest end of the
Charlestown Peninsula to the mainland at
Sullivan Square. On June 17, 1775, the Charlestown Peninsula was the site of the
Battle of Bunker Hill, named for a hill at the northwest end of the peninsula near
Charlestown Neck. British troops unloaded at Moulton's Point and much of the battle took place on
Breed's Hill, which overlooked the harbor from about 400 yards off the southern end of the peninsula. Charlestown, including its wharves and dockyards, was almost completely torched during the battle by British forces. The town was not appreciably rebuilt until the end of hostilities but, in 1786, the first bridge across the
Charles River connected Boston with Charlestown. An
Navy Yard was established in 1800;
Charlestown State Prison opened in 1805. The
Bunker Hill Monument was erected between 1827 and 1843 using
Quincy granite brought to the site by a combination of purpose-built railway and barge. Notable businesses included the
Bunker Hill Breweries (1821) and
Schrafft's candy company (1861). The
Charlestown Branch Railroad opened in 1840 to Sweet's Wharf. Tudor Wharf was the departure point for the ships of the
Tudor Ice Company. Around the 1860s an influx of
Irish immigrants arrived in Charlestown. The area long remained an Irish and Catholic stronghold similar to
South Boston,
Somerville, and
Dorchester, to the extent that the informal demonym "
Townie" continues to imply the working-class Irish, as opposed to newer immigrants. During the
Civil War, over 26,000 men joined the
Union Army and
Navy at the
Navy Yard, which was also responsible for constructing some of the most famous vessels of the conflict: the
Merrimack, the
Hartford, and the
Monadnock. Following the war, the city commissioned
Martin Milmore to construct its
civil war memorial, dedicated in 1872 and still standing in the community's Training Field. The city developed a water supply from the
Mystic Lakes and, on October 7, 1873, a vote was held to determine whether Charlestown should leave Middlesex County and join Boston as part of Suffolk County. Out of its 32,040 residents, 2240 voted in support of the merger and 1947 opposed. Boston residents also approved the question, 5,960–1,868. Charlestown's separate city government was dissolved the next year. During the early 1960s, the city initiated plans to demolish and redevelop sixty percent of the housing in Charlestown. In 1963, the
Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) held a town meeting to discuss their development plans with the community. The BRA's dealings with Boston's
West End had created an atmosphere of distrust towards
urban renewal in Boston, and Charlestown residents opposed the plan by an overwhelming majority. By 1965, the plan had been reduced to tearing down only eleven percent of the neighborhood, as well as the removal of the
elevated rail tracks. Throughout the 1960s until the mid-1990s, Charlestown was infamous for its
Irish Mob presence. Charlestown's
McLaughlin Brothers were involved in a gang war with neighboring
Somerville's
Winter Hill Gang, during the
Irish Mob Wars of the 1960s. In the late 1980s, however, Charlestown underwent a massive
Yuppie gentrification process similar to that of the
South End. Drawn to its proximity to downtown and its colonial, red-brick, row-house housing stock, similar to that of
Beacon Hill, many yuppie and upper-middle-class professionals moved to the neighborhood. In the late 1990s, additional gentrification took place, similar to that in neighboring Somerville. Today the neighborhood is a mix of yuppies, upper-middle-class and middle-class residents, housing projects, and a small working-class. One of the oldest neighborhoods of Boston, Charlestown is home to the Bunker Hill Monument and historic Charlestown Navy Yard. Charlestown today is a mainly residential neighborhood with an institutional presence. Major institutions include
Bunker Hill Community College, Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, and a facility of Massachusetts General Hospital. Many commercial ventures line the Mystic River along Medford Street and Terminal Street. The Navy Yard, home to , is now part of the
Boston National Historical Park, which marks the southern edge of the neighborhood. The waterfront has two marinas, Constitution Marina and Shipyard Quarters Marina. == Geography ==