Immigrant History Trail Highlights the Legacy of BCNC’s Historic Home

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The Immigrant History Trail installed a plaque at 34-36 Oak Street to highlight the historical significance of Parcel C, a site that has long been a cornerstone for Boston's Chinatown community and home to BCNC’s Boston site.

Excerpt from Immigrant History Trail:

“We want a community center, not a stinky parking garage. 我們要的是社區中心，不是臭氣熏天的停車場。

Parcel C was home to immigrant families until the 1950s, when most of these row houses were razed as part of the federal Urban Renewal Program. In the 1970s, activist volunteers began to utilize a vacant row house at 34-36 Oak Street to provide community services.

To highlight the community's claim to the land, the Quincy School Community Council (now BCNC) brought community members together to paint the Chinatown History Mural designed by artists David Fichter and Wen-ti Tsen on the 34-36 Oak Street row house. A replica of the mural can be seen inside the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center lobby at 38 Ash Street. The City of Boston deeded the building to the Center for $1 in 1987, after defeating a legal challenge by Tufts-New England Medical Center.

For over a decade, the community opposed three different hospital proposals to build a parking garage on Parcel C. In 1993, the Coalition to Protect Parcel C for Chinatown organized an independent referendum in which community members rejected the latest garage proposal by a large margin of 1692:42. Despite the overwhelming sentiment against the garage, it took eighteen months of protests and petitions for the Boston Redevelopment Authority to designate the parcel for community-oriented development.

Hundreds of residents who opposed the parking garage proposal then participated in community meetings to plan for development of Parcel C, demanding and winning bilingual participatory processes for planning and development review. In 2004, the Metropolitan opened with a combination of market-rate and affordable housing, rental and condominium, and space for community organizations.”

To honor the community's enduring spirit, BCNC created a replica of the Chinatown History Mural in the lobby of its Boston home at 38 Ash Street in July 2005.