History
Help Rename Bussey Street Renaming: Choose 1 of the 5 Finalists
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Bussey Street is being renamed, and the community leaders behind the initiative want the community's input on which of the five finalists to rename the street after. The 5 finalists are:
Cuffe
Dick Welsh
Flora
Margaret Fuller
Shiu-ying Hu
Profiles of the five finalists are below
Bussey Street is a vehicular street that intersects the Arnold Arboretum. The street is named after Benjamin Bussey, whose legacy is complicated due to some of his wealth deriving from the profits of trade in products produced by enslaved people in the American South and the Caribbean, according to the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, a major initiative by Harvard University "focused on researching and day-lighting connections between Harvard and its community to both the institution and economy of slavery." A large portion of the Arnold Arboretum, land now owned by the city and leased to Harvard to operate the arboretum, was donated by Bussey, according to the Arnold Arboretum. There are numerous things named after him including Bussey Hill, Bussey Brook and Bussey Brook Meadow on the Arboretum grounds.