This is site 10 - 11 of 17 Next "B" Site Return to beginning of Beacon Hill
		B10: The Vilna Shul 14-18 Phillips Street Now the Center for Jewish Heritage, the Vilna Shul was built in 1919 to serve the Jewish community on Beacon Hill as a synagogue and community center. Although it closed in 1985, the building is currently being restored as a Jewish cultural center. Before they built the synagogue, the congregation of Lithuanian Jews worshipped in temporary spaces for nearly 25 years. They named the synagogue for the city of Vilna, because they considered it to be the center of Jewish culture in Lithuania, the former home of many of the members. The names of the women who were among the founding members of the synagogue are listed in a plaque in the back of the sanctuary. Although the entire congregation sat on the same level, the women's section was separate from the men's section but equal in size (which was typical of synagogues of that time). The Vilna Shul is also a significant site because it represents the large Jewish community who made their first Boston homes in the old West End and on the north slope of Beacon Hill. "Ours is not the first generation to understand that Jewish women are part of Jewish history. But ours is the first generation with the resources - the wisdom, wealth, and passion - to systematically preserve the record of Jewish women's lives." -- from a publication of the Jewish Women's Archive
		B11: View of Massachusetts General Hospital: Linda Richards and Mary Eliza Mahoney (from corner of Phillips and Grove Streets) Linda Richards (1841-1930) pioneered professional nurses' training at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1873 she had received the first diploma from the country's first nursing school which was organized at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. The hospital, founded in Roxbury in 1863 and run by Dr. Marie Zakrzewska (1829-1902) and a board of women reformers, is now the Dimock Community Health Center. The Palmer-Davis Library at Massachusetts General is named for Sophia Palmer (1853-1920) and Mary E.P. Davis (1840-1924), both students of Linda Richards. Palmer and Davis co-founded the American Journal of Nursing and created the American Nurses Association by bringing together alumnae associations of nurses' training schools. Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926), the first African American woman to become a registered nurse, also graduated from the New England Hospital. Mahoney is honored by a medal awarded annually by the American Nurses Association. Mary Vincent (1818-1887) was an actress whose friends funded the Vincent Memorial Hospital, part of Massachusetts General, in her memory in 1891. The women of the Vincent Club continue to raise money by producing an annual theatrical show. The hospital pioneered in women's health, including the development of the "Pap Smear."