The presence of author Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) in the South End covers many areas and activities. The Louisa May Alcott School was on this site from 1910 until it closed in 1961. A settlement house named the Louisa May Alcott Club, located on 15 Oswego Street north of East Berkeley Street, offered activities to Italian and Jewish immigrants.
In addition, Louisa May Alcott herself lived off and on in the South End, both with her family and as an independent woman. As early as 1835, they lived in three locations in the South End, including rooms on Harrison Avenue and Beach Street, before moving to Concord in 1840. By 1848 the family was back, living in a small house on Dedham Street. For a brief time, Louisa assisted her sister Anna B. Alcott (1831-93) who operated a school on Canton Street. In later life, Louisa often spent summers with the family in Concord and winters in Boston; for example, in the winter of 1873 she brought her family to 26 East Brookline Street overlooking Franklin Square. The South End and Concord came together when Louisa rented a quiet room on West Brookline Street for several months in 1868 where she wrote the sequel to Little Women.
