Allston/Brighton

Summer Events Schedule

 

 

 

 

Allston/Brighton: The what

Brighton-Allston 200 Bicentennial

September 23

Allston Village Street Fair & Parade
Noon-6 p.m.
The Allston-Brighton neighborhood celebrates its 200th birthday this year with a year-long series of events celebrating and promoting diversity and vitality, and the events on September 23 will be a good time for all. The street fair will feature local musicians and bands, artists and craftsmen, storytellers and children’s entertainment while showcasing the area shops, open house studios and ethnic cuisines. The annual parade begins in Packard’s Corner and ends in Oak Square.
Free
www.brighton-allston200.com

4th Annual Brian J. Honan 5k Run/Walk
Noon
Funds raised from this road race benefit the Brian J. Honan Charitable Fund, established in honor of the late, and much-loved, Boston city councilman to carry on his commitment to bettering the community. The family-friendly course is designed for competitors of all ages and levels, and covers 3.1 miles in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood. Medals will be given to the first three finishers in each age group and participants can expect professional timing, a pace car, on-course and finish-line refreshments, USA Track and Field sanction and certification and more!
$17 registration fee before September 14, $20 after and on race day.
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. at The Kells of Boston (161 Brighton Ave.)
www.brianhonan.org


EVENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Allston/Brighton: The where

Brighton-Allston Heritage Museum
The museum’s opening on February 24 of this year marked the beginning of Allston-Brighton’s year-long Bicentennial celebration and serves to celebrate the diversity of the neighborhood. The permanent exhibition in Gallery A highlights six main themes, Early History, Transportation, Agriculture & Horticulture, Industry & Commerce, Suburbanization, and Institutional History, which have contributed to the neighborhood’s rich history. “Brighton Transformed: From Native American Settlement to Urban Diversity” displays a vast array of historical photographs, artifacts, books, maps signage, letters, models, dioramas, oral history and interactive Web-based stations. Featured are pieces of Paul Revere pottery and a sterling silver trumpet used by a Brighton Fire Chief in the 19th century. The Inner Gallery, or “The Winship Gallery,” commemorates the family that founded both of Brighton and Allston’s signature industries-the Cattle Trade and Horticulture-and is designed to accommodate a series of rotating exhibits. Its first exhibition, “Bull Market: the Rise, Prominence and Decline of New England’s Cattle Industry,” traces the rise and eventual decline of New England’s cattle trade from 1776 to 1960. The central motif of this gallery is a portrait of Capt. Jonathan Winship, the son of the founder of the cattle industry and the man who founded the local horticultural industry in 1820.
20 Chestnut Hill Ave.
www.bahistory.org/BHMuseumFirst.html

The Sports Depot/Allston Depot
Modern-day Brighton was dependent on the establishment of the railroad. As the rail line expanded and more visitors came through town, the population grew therefore creating a demand for more than just the one station near Winship Gardens in North Brighton. The third station, Cambridge Crossing, was replaced by the grand Allston Depot in 1887, named for the popular local artist Washington Allston. The Boston Landmark’s stone building was designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, the successor firm to H.H. Richardson, the famous architectural practice that designed Trinity Church in Copley Square. The last of several rail facilities in the neighborhood, the building now houses the beloved restaurant and bar, The Sports Depot, which opened in 1988. Legend says that after Sox-slugger Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1919, he left for New York from the Allston Depot.
353 Cambridge St.
www.sportsdepotboston.com
www.bostonhistory.org/m_brighton.php

Chestnut Hill Reservation
As Boston’s population grew over the course of the 19th century, the need for a consistent supply of safe drinking water and an effective way to fight fires grew with it. The construction of an extensive water-supply system linking Long Pond (now Lake Cochituate) in Natick to the Brookline Reservoir was completed in 1848, but it wasn’t until 1865 that the Cochituate Water Board was granted authorization to create a distribution reservoir in Chestnut Hill. A number of buildings were erected at the site to help facilitate the distribution of water, including the Low Service Pumping Station, which supplied water to the ever-expanding downtown area and was designed by renowned architects Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, and the Gate House #2 which was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by Wheelwright & Haven. The reservation, a designated City of Boston Landmark and included on the National Register of Historic Places, houses a winding path loved by runners, and walkers alike and now luxury condos.
2400-2450 Beacon St.
www.mass.gov/dcr

Allston/Brighton: The skinny

• Famous residents of the neighborhood include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg who lived in Allston as a child, “The Lemonheads” singer and guitarist Evan Dando, and Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin who was born and bred in Brighton.
• You may have heard of a little known team called the New England Patriots but did you know that in its early years the Patriots, known then as the Boston Patriots, played their 1970 season at Harvard Stadium in Allston. The Boston Braves, MLB’s Atlanta Braves predecessor, played at Braves Field (now Boston University’s Nickerson Field) in Allston from 1916-1952.  
• The Allston-Brighton neighborhood was established as part of Watertown in 1630, but conveyed to Cambridge in 1634. It was known as Little Cambridge until 1807 and, after a tumultuous political process, Brighton became annexed to the city of Boston in 1874. Allston, which was a sub-neighborhood, and never a freestanding town despite its deep history, is now annexed to Boston as well.