Down All The Days
The other night I was taking another look at the Library of Congress picture gallery I mentioned earlier and this picture gave me food for thought. Note the caption:
A Syrian neighborhood near the shipyards. Slum area where many shipyard workers live. Winter Street, Quincy, Massachusetts.”
The first thing I wondered was what did the photographer mean by ‘Syrians?’ Today we’d assume that meant someone from the nation of Syria, but there wasn’t any such political entity in 1940. The land that comprises modern day Syria was occupied by France from 1922 through the First World War and was part of the Ottoman Empire for most of the preceding 400 odd years. So, was the photographer referring to someone from that geographic area? Was the word also meant to refer to folks from Lebanon, then under French occupation as well, or perhaps it was a catch-all term for anybody who came from the Middle East?Whoever they were, there was enough of them for the neighborhood to be known as their ethnic enclave – so where did they go? And when – that’s not a ‘Syrian neighborhood’ today. Did they pick up and move on after the boom years of World War Two ship building? Or did they follow the path of so many other immigrant groups in America and vanish by assimilation?
It’s interesting to consider that even sixty seven years ago Quincy was a cosmopolitan kind of place. Yes, I know ‘Quincy’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ don’t exactly go together in your mind – hell, they don’t in mine – but consider: my neighbors are Vietnamese; the girl who took my money at lunch was Brazilian; the gentleman sitting at the table next to me were speaking Chinese and at another table men were speaking what I think was Russian; and my bartender(s) are Irish. All this in Kilroy’s home town.
EXTRA: while I’m blogging Quincy, I’d like to point out that wikipedia has some nice photos of the absolutely gorgeous original portion of the Thomas Crane Library.
i’d friggin kill for irish bartenders these days. i’ve had quite enough of college drop-outs that don’t even pretend to pour guinness properly. bastids.
I had seen that shot as well….that hasn’t changed much over the year, has it?
It’s a great site and you can find some really great shots around and about in there so – good luck and happy viewing!
There are non irish bartenders????? How odd.
You piqued my interest with the Syrian angle and, while I didn’t find much, I did find this little quip from the Patriot-Ledger in an article about the Imam of the Islamic Center of Quincy: “The Islamic Center was built in 1963, at a time when its members were mostly Lebanese and Syrians who had been in the Quincy area for generations. The congregation now includes more than two dozen nationalities.”
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2005/02/12/news/news04.txt
This 2nd article mentions Syrians on the Point starting in thw 1930s.
“By the 1930s, a handful of Syrian and Lebanese Muslim families were following much the same practice, often gathering in the back room of Ma’s Lunch, a diner owned by one of the families.”
http://www.southofboston.net/specialreports/faith/pages/day3.shtml
Winter St. eh? That’s interesting as well in light of your other post today. Winter St. is where Kilroy’s Bar is now.
Jim, that’s interesting stuff. From it we can make an informed guess that by ‘Syrian’ the photographer meant someone from French Syria i.e. modern Syria and Lebanon.
I have access to a lot of databases through school – I should do some digging, if only to satisfy my own curiousity.
There were, and are, many people of Armenian descent as well still in the area, although most have vanished by assimilation. There was also a Syrian bakery nearby when I was a child, but I can’t remember the exact location. It’s my theory that the area was populated by many people of Middle Eastern descent, but that particular immigrant poplution cooled off a bit, so there are none that are obvious examples anymore.
Many of the old businesses on Washington Street were owned by “Syrians”, but have since closed or moved on. Let us not forget that Zildjian drums (from Turkey) were born in Q-Town.
Many people still in the neighborhood from the shipyard families that are of Middle Eastern descent are often assumed Italian. Many also came to work as masons in the quarries and settled there because there was cheap, multi-family housing.
Examples: I have an aunt that is Syrian (married my great uncle – Irish), I dated an Armenian from Quincy (on his father’s side, mother Dorchester Irish), and I went to parochial school with at least a few Quincy people that were of Lebanese backgrounds.
Other areas that have not often though of immigration populations are Houghs Neck and Germanton (Germans, obviously, Finnish (another uncle), and Swedish – who settled in that area because of the fishing grounds).
[...] Some time ago I published a brief post musing on the ‘Syrian’ neighborhood in Quincy. Today I came across this photo, with the following caption: In center of the picture is Phoebe Thomas, an 8-year-old Syrian girl, running home from the factory all alone, her hand and arm bathed with blood, crying at the top of her voice. She had cut the end of her thumb nearly off, cutting sardines in the factory, and was sent home alone, her mother being busy. The loss of blood was considerable, and might have been serious.” [...]
The Quincy Syrian Bakery was owned and operated by my family the Thomas’! 721 Washington at the rotary has many great memories. My uncle Louis and my grandfather George were two of the greatest bakers in the world at the time. The family moved onto Sahara Syrian Bread corporation and Blazing Salads in Quincy center. As far as Syrians, all who claim to be Lebanese that were born before 1948 are Syrian ! Lebanon was a region of Syria till that point.
The Quincy Syrian Bakery was owned and operated by my family for over 50 years. I am glad some remember the best Syrian bread and pasteries ever produced.
The bakery was owned by my family, the Thomas’. I am glad you have fond memories of the bakery.