Charlestown, Boston

Charlestown
Neighborhood
Left-right from top: Houses in Charlestown, Bunker Hill Monument, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Community College MBTA station
Seal
Motto:  Liberty A Trust To Be Transmitted To Posterity
Coordinates: 42°22′31″N 71°03′52″W / 42.37528°N 71.06444°W / 42.37528; -71.06444
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
City	Boston
Settled	1628
Incorporated (Town)	1628
Incorporated (City)	1847
Annexed by Boston	1874
Named for	King Charles I
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
Zip Code	02129
Area code	617/857

Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.^[1] Also called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins the Mystic River and Boston Harbor waterways. Charlestown was laid out in 1629 by engineer Thomas Graves, one of its earliest settlers, during the reign of Charles I of England. It was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Charlestown became a city in 1848 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874. With that, it also switched from Middlesex County, to which it had belonged since 1643, to Suffolk County. It has had a substantial Irish-American population since the migration of Irish people during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s. Since the late 1980s, the neighborhood has changed dramatically because of its proximity to downtown and its colonial architecture. A mix of yuppie and upper-middle-class gentrification has influenced much of the area, as it has in many of Boston's neighborhoods, but Charlestown still maintains a strong Irish-American population.

In the 21st century, Charlestown's diversity has expanded dramatically, along with growing rates of the very poor and very wealthy. Today Charlestown is a largely residential neighborhood, with much housing near the waterfront, overlooking the Boston skyline. Charlestown is home to many historic sites, hospitals and organizations, with access from the Orange Line Sullivan Square or Community College stops or the I-93 expressway.