West Quincy is a neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

. It is bordered on the north by Wollaston, on the east by Quincy Center

Quincy Center (Quincy, Massachusetts)

Quincy Center is an area of Quincy, Massachusetts, centered along Hancock Street and covering the downtown area of the city. The area is a retail shopping locale and also includes the City Hall, the Thomas Crane Public Library, several churches, including the United First Parish Church, where John...

, on the south by South Quincy

South Quincy (Quincy, Massachusetts)

South Quincy is a neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts. Located in the south central portion of the city, South Quincy is bordered on the north by Quincy Center and West Quincy, on the east by Quincy Avenue and the Quincy Point neighborhood, on the south by Braintree and on the west by Interstate...

 and on the west by the town of Milton

Milton, Massachusetts

Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 27,003 at the 2010 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and architect Buckminster Fuller. Milton also has the highest percentage of...

 and the Blue Hills Reservation

Blue Hills Reservation

Blue Hills Reservation is a state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, it extends into Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedham south of Boston.-Description:...

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History

Known in the seventeenth century as the "Woods District" of old Braintree

Braintree, Massachusetts

The Town of Braintree is a suburban city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a town, Braintree adopted a municipal charter, effective 2008, with a mayor-council form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The population was 35,744...

, West Quincy was the location of two important firsts in United States history. In 1644, the Braintree Furnace located on what is now Crescent Street in West Quincy was founded by John Winthrop the Younger as the first operational iron blast furnace

Blast furnace

A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...

 in the country. In 1826 the Granite Railway

Granite Railway

-References:** privately printed for The Granite Railway Company, 1926.* Scholes, Robert E. , .******Dutton, E.P. Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines around Quincy and Milton including the Granite Railroad.* * *...

, the first commercial railroad in the United States, was constructed in West Quincy. It was built to transport granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 from Quincy to the Neponset River

Neponset River

The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. The headwaters of the Neponset are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near the Gillette Stadium...

 for water transit to Charlestown

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...

 for the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument

Bunker Hill Monument

-External links:****: cultural context**...

. Granite from the quarries in West Quincy was also used in the construction of other notable structures, including King's Chapel

King's Chapel

King's Chapel is "an independent Christian unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association" that is "unitarian Christian in theology, Anglican in worship, and congregational in governance." It is housed in what was formerly called "Stone Chapel", an 18th century...

 (1754) and the Custom House

Custom House Tower

The Custom House Tower - now Marriott's Custom House Hotel - is a skyscraper in McKinley Square, in the Financial District neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Construction began in the mid-19th century; the tower was added in the 1910s...

 (1849) in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, United First Parish Church

United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts

United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, is a Unitarian Universalist congregation, established as the parish church of Quincy in 1639. The current building was constructed in 1828 to designs by Alexander Parris...

 (1828) and Quincy City Hall (1844) (image) in Quincy Center and the Merchant's Exchange Building (1842) at 55 Wall Street in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/LM/LM038-REGENTWALLSTREETHOTEL.htm. Over twenty granite quarries were excavated in West Quincy before operations wound down in the mid-twentieth century.

Transportation

Adams Street, Copeland Street, Furnace Brook Parkway

Furnace Brook Parkway

Furnace Brook Parkway is a historic parkway in Quincy, Massachusetts. Part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, it serves as a connector between the Blue Hills Reservation and Quincy Shore Reservation at Quincy Bay...

, Quarry Street and Willard Street are major thoroughfares in West Quincy. Interstate 93

Interstate 93

Interstate 93 is an Interstate Highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95; its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91...

 runs south-north through the neighborhood along Willard Street and the former route of the Granite Railway

Granite Railway

-References:** privately printed for The Granite Railway Company, 1926.* Scholes, Robert E. , .******Dutton, E.P. Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines around Quincy and Milton including the Granite Railroad.* * *...

, with Exit 8 at Furnace Brook Parkway and Exit 9 at Bryant Avenue allowing direct access to West Quincy. Massachusetts Route 37

Massachusetts Route 37

- Route description:Route 37 begins in the north end of the city of Brockton at Route 28. After crossing the Middleboro-Lakeville Line and passing the Montello Station, it enters the town of Holbrook. It winds through the center of that town, where it intersects Route 139...

 formerly ran along Willard Street to Granite Avenue in Milton, ending at Gallivan Boulevard in Boston. This alignment was changed in 1968, with Route 37 now ending in the town of Braintree

Braintree, Massachusetts

The Town of Braintree is a suburban city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a town, Braintree adopted a municipal charter, effective 2008, with a mayor-council form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The population was 35,744...

. West Quincy is served by bus routes 215, 238, and 245 of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...

, with connections to the subway and commuter rail via Quincy Center station

Quincy Center (MBTA station)

Quincy Center is a station on the Red Line subway at 1300 Hancock Street and Washington Street, serving the Quincy Center area of Quincy, Massachusetts. Its other facilities include nearby stops on the MBTA Commuter Rail, Old Colony Lines, and bus connections at street level.-History:Quincy Center...

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External links

• Quincy, Massachusetts official site: http://www.quincyma.gov/Living/neighborhoods.cfm
• Quincy's Granite Legacy, Thomas Crane Public Library
• United State Geological Survey Geographic Names Information Service:613028 West Quincy