Economy
How Fear of Disease Transformed Boston’s Swampy Back Bay
A deadly outbreak of cholera in the mid-19th century prompted Boston to embark on one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in U.S. history — reclaiming the Back Bay.
Illustrator: Nolan Pelletier/Bloomberg CityLab
(This is the third of three stories that look at how cities and their economies recovered from historic epidemics. You can read the first one on Amsterdam here and the second one on Paris here.)
For mid-19th century refugees escaping to Boston from Ireland’s Great Famine, the journey across the Atlantic must have seemed like one from frying pan to fire.