The 1970s was a tumultuous decade in Boston. Vietnam War protests were held across the country – 50,000 people attended one such event in April 1970 in Boston. On a local level, the Boston school desegregation conflict dominated the whole decade. The John Hancock Building went up – and down – after a 1973 storm sent some of its glass panels crashing to the ground. And, in 1978, a massive blizzard struck Boston.
Thankfully, this decade wasn’t just about war, inequality, conflict, and disasters. Corita Kent’s Rainbow Swash mural went up, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and the Celtics secured multiple NBA Championship titles and, in 1979, radiologists at Mass General figured out how to use MRIs as a diagnostic tool.
Most of these images reflect everyday scenes in people’s lives during the 1970s, while a few reflect the way in which our city – and country – was changing.
- A demonstration against the Vietnam War was held on Boston Common in 1970.
Wikimedia Commons/Nick DeWolf
- The Thompson Square Station in 1972.
Wikimedia Commons/Unknown This elevated station was on the Orange Line and closed in 1975.
- This shot, captured in 1973, shows a layer of smog blanketing Boston.
Wikimedia Commons/The U.S. National Archives The photo was taken at the Columbia Point rotary.
- Judging by this shot taken in 1973, Comm Ave hasn’t changed that much.
Wikimedia Commons/The U.S. National Archives
- An aerial look at City Hall Plaza in 1973.
Wikimedia Commons/NARA Completed in 1968, City Hall was relatively new and controversial at this time. Do you like this piece of Brutalist architecture?
- This was Boston’s skyline in 1973!
Wikimedia Commons/Peter H. Dreyer
- The townhouses of Back Bay look like a series of dollhouses in this 1975 aerial shot.
Wikimedia Commons/Roger Wollstadt from Sarasota, Florida Newbury Street is at the forefront of the picture and, all the way in the back, is Comm Ave.
- Another view of the skyline - this one from 1975.
Wikimedia Commons/City of Boston Archives from West Roxbury Check out the 1970s cars!
- An anti-nuclear protest held in 1977.
Wikimedia Commons/By Derzsi Elekes Andor
- Government Center Plaza in the aftermath of the Blizzard of 1978.
Wikimedia Commons/City of Boston Archives from West Roxbury
- A band marches down Hanover Street as part of the 1974 North End Christmas Parade.
Flickr/Flickr/City of Boston Archives
- Bostonians strolling outside Filene’s during the 1970s.
Flickr/Boston Landmarks & Archeology
We’d love to see your shots featuring 1970s Boston. Feel free to share them in the comments!
Wikimedia Commons/Nick DeWolf
Wikimedia Commons/Unknown
This elevated station was on the Orange Line and closed in 1975.
Wikimedia Commons/The U.S. National Archives
The photo was taken at the Columbia Point rotary.
Wikimedia Commons/NARA
Completed in 1968, City Hall was relatively new and controversial at this time. Do you like this piece of Brutalist architecture?
Wikimedia Commons/Peter H. Dreyer
Wikimedia Commons/Roger Wollstadt from Sarasota, Florida
Newbury Street is at the forefront of the picture and, all the way in the back, is Comm Ave.
Wikimedia Commons/City of Boston Archives from West Roxbury
Check out the 1970s cars!
Wikimedia Commons/By Derzsi Elekes Andor
Flickr/Flickr/City of Boston Archives
Flickr/Boston Landmarks & Archeology
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