Oral history interview with Albert Boer

Boston (Mass.). Office of the Mayor · [ca. 1975–1976]

Interview of Albert Boer. Boer moved to the United States from the Netherlands in 1956 to pursue graduate work in community organization at Atlanta University. Boer’s first job was at the Lincoln House in the Castle Square area of the South End, where he advocated for the neighborhood to be designated as a residential zone in order to avoid industrial development. Boer describes the process of urban renewal, redevelopment, and racial demographic change in the South End. Topics mentioned include the New York Streets area, Dover Street, Albany Street, Chinatown, the West End, Massachusetts Avenue, Columbus Avenue, the Prudential and John Hancock buildings, the Southeast Expressway, the Massachusetts Turnpike, the South End Historical Society, the Boston Center for the Arts, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, urban planner Ed Logue, and Mayor John F. Collins. Portions of the interview transcript are duplicated. Transcript includes editorial note by a third party at the beginning.