News Flash

Residents are invited to the unveiling of a local historic marker commemorating Boston Cottages on Saturday, May 20 at 3 p.m. at 1350 Thurmond St. near the entrance to Paisley Magnet School.

The Boston Cottage Co. subdivision was developed just outside the city limits by white investors in the late 19th century and offered modest homes for sale and rent to mostly African Americans, many of whom worked in downtown tobacco factories.  

Speakers at the unveiling will include Mayor Allen Joines; Mayor Pro Tempore Denise D. Adams; Edwin Bouldin, Historic Resources Commission; Sandra Stinson of the Boston Thurmond Community Engagement Roundtable; Pastor Fomba Karva of Saints Home United Methodist Church; Patricia Caldwell, president of the Boston Thurmond Community Engagement Roundtable; Regina Hall, executive director of Boston Thurmond United; and David West, of the Boston Thurmond Community Engagement Roundtable. The Saints Home Methodist Church Choir will perform.

MARKER TEXT:

In 1893, Boston Cottage Co. sold the first lots here, just north of the Winston city limits and west of Old Town Road. Builders constructed small rental houses for African Americans, many of whom worked in tobacco factories. Except for 40 sold lots, Adolphus H. Eller purchased the entire Boston Cottage Co. plat in 1900. He sold lots individually throughout the following decades. Trustees of Boston Cottage M.E. Church, later Saints Home M.E. Church, bought a lot on Thurmond Street in 1900. The County Board of Education bought two lots for Boston Cottage School in 1901. The neighborhood was replatted and lots sold as North Cherry St. Development beginning in 1924.