Transcript of oral history interview with Joe Lyons
Description:
Interview of Joseph T. Lyons, conducted by Cecile Wagner. Lyons was born in the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown in 1906 to Irish immigrant parents. He recalls the continued development and subsequent backlash of the Boston Elevated Railway, which has now been entirely replaced by the MBTA. Although too young to remember much of WWI, Lyons recalls the Boston Police Strike of 1919, the leadership of then-Governor Calvin Coolidge, and the economic struggles of the time. For entertainment, Lyon was especially interested in ballroom dancing, and would also attend minstrel shows when not helping his family. There are discussions about Americans' secularism compared to Lyons' earlier years.
