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Fort Hill [coextensive with Roxbury Highlands Historic District]
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Fort Hill's name originates from the American Revolutionary War fortification built in the center of the district, now the location of the Cochituate Standpipe.
Location	Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°19′31″N 71°5′40″W
NRHP reference No.	89000147
Added to NRHP	February 22, 1989

Fort Hill is a .6 square mile neighborhood or district of Roxbury. The approximate boundaries of Fort Hill are Malcolm X Boulevard on the North, Washington Street on the South East and Columbus Avenue on the South West.

The geographic area comprising Fort Hill was strategically important during the American Revolutionary War and housed the patriot army defenses during the Siege of Boston. Indeed, Fort Hill draws its name from the earthwork fortification that the patriot army built upon the hill located at the center of the neighborhood. The hill is now the location of Highland Park, which is notable for a Victorian-era tower designed by Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, and landscaping designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.

Fort Hill developed rapidly as a residential neighborhood in the 19th century after the extension of streetcar service from Boston. The availability of public transportation remains vital to the neighborhood today, and Fort Hill is served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Orange Line and Silver Line. The neighborhood features a variety of architecture including Greek Revival and Italiantate houses that predate the American Civil War, classic Boston triple-deckers, row houses and newer green developments. Fort Hill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the John Eliot Historic District or alternatively, the Roxbury Highlands Historic District.

Colonial points of interest

Fort Hill is home to the First Church in Roxbury which, gathered in 1631, was the sixth church founded in New England. The Church has had five different meeting houses at its site at the intersection of Highland Avenue and Center Street, with the current dwelling, built in 1803, still standing today as the oldest wooden frame church building in Boston. The First Church of Roxbury marked the starting point for the April 18, 1775 Midnight Ride by William Dawes who, along with Paul Revere, was dispatched by Joseph Warren to warn Lexington and Concord of the British incursion during the Revolutionary War. The First Church currently is the headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry's activities.

The Dillaway-Thomas House located at 183 Roxbury Street also was used by the patriots in the revolutionary war. The Dillaway-Thomas House was built as a parsonage for the First Church in Roxbury, with construction beginning in 1750. During the eleven month siege of Boston from April 1775 through March 1776, the 4700 soldier right wing of the patriot army camped in Roxbury. Major General John Thomas used the house as his headquarters. The Dillaway-Thomas House now houses the operations for Roxbury Heritage State Park.

Agrarian roots to a street car suburb

Prior to the extension of street cars, Fort Hill contained farms and country estates of wealthy Boston families. Fort Hill began its transformation from agricultural, to industrial, to residential uses in the early nineteenth century. In 1803, what is now known as Washington Street was improved to become the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike, a road that connected Boston with Pawtucket, Rhode Island. As early as the 1820s, a horse drawn bus line was established along Washington Street to carry commuters into Boston, and in 1835 the railroad from Boston to Providence was sighted along the Stony Brook Valley on the North side of Fort Hill.

In 1869, Roxbury built the Cochituate Standpipe, the neighborhoods most widely-known structure, to modernize its water system. T One final development boon significantly increased the attractiveness of the neighborhood. Electric Trolley Service began in 1887 and residents began to move to Fort Hill in mass, creating a market for row houses, triple-deckers and single-family homes.

Immigration and diversity

During the early twentieth century, Fort Hill experienced an influx of immigrants of English, Irish and German descent. The influence of German immigrants, in particular, can still be felt in some of Fort Hill's architecture in the area around Egleston Square. In the 1940s and 1950s, Fort Hill witnessed another wave of immigration, as many African American people from the American South moved into the neighborhood as part of the Great Migration. Fort Hill and Roxbury in general began to become known as the heart of black culture in Boston.

Today, Fort Hill is home to a ethnically and linguistically diverse community. Fort Hill has been recognized for its sizable population of residents with Irish, Puerto Rican, Dominican, German and Sub-Saharan African roots. Over the last decade Fort Hill has experienced an influx of professionals, artists and students, many of whom attend Northeastern University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design or Wentworth Institute of Technology. Fort Hill is also often referred to as a neighborhood that is notable for having a high concentration of residents living with same-sex partners, and has a history of its residents fadvocating for gay rights.

Transportation

Fort Hill is served by the MBTA's bus and rail services, roadways and public bicycle trails.

• Orange Line (MBTA). The Orange Line (MBTA) rapid transit train line, runs along the North side of Fort Hill and stops at Jackson Square and Roxbury Crossing.
• Silver Line (MBTA). Two Silver Line bus rapid transit lines originate in Dudley Square MBTA Station and serve downtown Boston, among many other areas.
• Buses. Fort Hill is served by numerous MBTA bus routes. In particular, Dudley Square MBTA Station is a transfer point between for 15 local MBTA Bus routes.
• Cars and driving. Fort Hill contains a few major roads, including Washington Street, Columbus Avenue and Malcolm X. Boulevard. Most of the residential areas of the district allow for resident and nonresident street parking.
• Bicycle paths. The Pierre Lallement Bicycle Path runs along the Southwest Corridor Park from Forrest Hills to Back Bay.
• Commuter Rail. Many commuter rail lines are easily accessible by riding the Orange Line subway train to the Ruggles and Back Bay stops.

Education

Fort Hill is served by Boston Public Schools, which assigns students using an algorithm based on, among other things, the preferences of the applicants and the location of a student's home. Fort Hill is home to a number of primary and secondary schools including Nathan Hale Elementary School (PK-5), Timilty Middle School (6-8), and the John D. O'Bryant School of Math & Science (7-12). Fort Hill hosts two institutions of higher learning, Roxbury Community College and Emmanuel College's retreat center.

Notable Residents

• William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879), journalist, abolitionist, lived in a Fort Hill home the last 15 years of his life.
• Edward Everett Hale (1822–1909), author, historian and Unitarian minister.
• Louis Prang (1824–1909), printer, lithographer and publisher.