The great debate over renaming Maverick Square

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Not letting East Boston history remain.

History buffs are going back and forth about the renaming of Maverick Square, named after the city’s first slave-owner.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece by Annamarie Hoey that starts it all:

“Six years prior to the arrival of John Winthrop, the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1630, Maverick had settled into what would later become present day Chelsea. It was just a few years after getting a foothold there that Maverick built a substantial fortified home at Noddle’s Island and became the largest landowner in the state after marrying into a wealthy family. Upon the arrival of Winthrop’s fleet of ships, he wielded tremendous influence with the newcomers. For his legacy as one of the nation’s earliest settlers and first European residents of Massachusetts, East Boston’s Maverick Square was named after him.”

Read more at Commonwealth Magazine.

Photograph: Frank Conte