In an attempt to highlight and protect some of Uphams Corner’s lesser-known historical landmarks, the Boston Preservation Alliance (BPA) is calling on residents to identify important pieces of the neighborhood’s history.

During an open workshop titled “Uphams Corner: Places worth preserving, stories worth telling,” held on Thursday (June 9) at St. Mary’s Church, a small group of local history enthusiasts met with BPA’s lead researchers, combing through a preliminary report that highlights 28 residential and commercial properties that have been brought to the Alliance’s attention over the course of a two-year survey.

Once completed, the BPA hopes to use this report to guide their own advocacy for the protection of historic landmarks, as well as inform elected officials, developers and residents of often overlooked historical sites that may otherwise face demolition with untold stories.

“This is not a report that is going to collect dust,” said BPA education coordinator Erica Lindamood, who directed the meeting and has led the research effort. “We want to be sure that this report gets into the right hands.”

In it’s current state, the report is a collection of images and brief entries about notable locations around the Uphams Corner neighborhood, ranging from historical mainstays like the Strand Theatre and the Pilgrim Church, to more obscure attractions like a small mission-style comfort station found in the Old North Burial Ground and the Uphams Corner Market Building, which housed Boston’s first one-stop supermarket in the 1920’s.

While this is not the first time an organization has attempted to stake out points of historical interest in Boston’s neighborhoods, Lindamood said the project’s reliance on local input will help preserve the buildings most important to the people who experience them on a daily basis.

“What we’re trying to do is capture what we hear from members of the community, rather than saying ‘this building is important, this building isn’t.’”

Although the report was met with enthusiasm by many in attendance, some questions about the content of the report remain.

Resident Mike Sands said that while he was impressed with the collection of historic sites, the report lacked “an editorial voice, something that could tell a story of how Uphams Corner has evolved.”

Other concerns remain around why particular homes were singled out for the report while residences of similar styles and ages were omitted, although BPA executive director Sarah Kelly explained that when identifying historic houses, the project focused more on representative pieces to guide future construction, rather than identifying every building of note.

Uphams Corner is the second neighborhood in the city reviewed by the BPA, which began this project in East Boston and will soon expand to Allston and other regions of the city that lack historic protections.
Currently there are 10 city-mandated historic landmark districts, which receive additional protection when new development projects could potentially alter the historical character of the area, none of these regions fall within Dorchester or Mattapan.

BPA has in the past focused its efforts on more well-known historic sights in the Back Bay, Beacon Hill and Downtown Crossing neighborhoods, but Kelly said the push into lesser-studied parts of the city is part of a proactive approach to preservation, one that offers residents an inventory of important locations and background information long before the threat of possible demolition.

Beyond the practical applications for the report, Kelly said the process serves a dual role of giving residents pause for thought as they consider what makes their corner of the city unique.

“We’re trying to broaden the definition of ‘historic,’” Kelly said. “Historic, to us, means places that people in the community believe contribute to their quality of life, their understanding of history and how they understand the environment around them.”