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is a neighborhood in Boston, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan.
It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, MBTA bus lines and the nearby MBTA Orange Line.
Six miles south-southwest of downtown Boston, Roslindale was originally part of the town of Roxbury. In 1851, current day Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury seceded from Roxbury to become the Town of West Roxbury. The area voted in 1873 to be annexed to the City of Boston.
In the 1880s, the area was called South Street Crossing, due to the railroad's intersection with South Street. However, when the community applied for a post office district of its own, the name "South Street Crossing" proved to be unacceptable to the government. The name "Roslindale" was suggested by John Pierce, a well-traveled member of the community, who told the assembled citizens that the area reminded him of the beautiful historic town of Roslin, Scotland, outside Edinburgh. Pierce thought the area was like a dale because of the hills surrounding it. Thus the combination of "Roslin" and "dale" was submitted to the United States Postal Service and the name "Roslindale" was formally established.
Roslindale grew residentially as a classic streetcar suburb. The railway was built after the American Civil War, and spawned a new round of commercial development. Roslindale saw steady growth in its residential population, beginning in the 1880s, with the introduction of the horse-drawn street railway service between Forest Hills and Dedham.
On March 14, 1887, a Boston & Providence Railroad train, inbound to Boston, was passing over a bridge at Bussey Street, in the current Arnold Arboretum, when the bridge collapsed, killing twenty-three and injuring several hundred. This is considered one of the first major rail catastrophes in the country, and contributed to the widespread inspection of train bridges across the U.S.
In the 1920s, Roslindale Village assumed the configuration it has today, with tree-lined Adams Park at its center. Roslindale falls in a crease between several other Boston neighborhoods and the parts of Roslindale adjacent to these surrounding neighborhoods take on the characteristics of those neighborhoods. For example, the western part of Roslindale blends seamlessly with West Roxbury's one and two family residences and tree lined streets; and Roslindale's northern area consists of dense two and three family residences amidst light industrial buildings similar to the adjacent Stony Brook corridor in Jamaica Plain.
The Roslindale business district (called "Rozzy Square" by the locals) has been struggling for 20+ years to reinvigorate itself as a federal Main Streets district but has been met with limited success. Prior to the rise of the shopping malls in the 1970s, Roslindale was a major shopping district for the city of Boston, with department stores, showrooms, numerous food markets, etc. The arrival of the shopping malls with its acres of parking effectively killed Roslindale Square for several decades. The district has improved somewhat, but by most accounts still has a ways to go before it regains its former glory as a shopping destination.
Roslindale is a diverse neighborhood—the ethnic breakup as of 2000 was 56% Non-Hispanic White, 16% Black or African-American, 20% Hispanic or Latino and 3% Asian or Pacific Islander.