BOSTON

"flub of the universe," Ihutonians ~dl their city, m:,gnif,na Oliver Mendell Holmes's more modest is- sessment that it, State Ilouse was "the hub of the solar system" Oric- inally a serawnv neck of land poking seaward, Boston fleshed out during, the 19th century a; dcceloper., tilled in the mar,hy acreage of Bask Bay and the South End. Foundations for the city's schools, hospitals, and great financial institutions were laid then or strengthened. Annexing communitie, like East and South Boston, C...