South End Conversations

Story-sharing, recorded interviews, and other methods of documenting the experiences of South End residents was the topic of the South End Seniors’ December Conversation. Listen to stories about growing up in the South End, as seen through personal experience and the shared connection of the Cato and Kruckemeyer families. Chris and Kate were born in the South End. Ken, who moved there at age 25, often says that it is where he “grew up.” Ken and Chris share personal, family and neighborhood vignettes, while Kate, trained in folklore and oral history, will frame the discussion and offer some strategies for documenting your own family (and neighborhood) histories. (Photo: Crossing guard Mrs. Russo escorts Rice/Bancroft school kids across Columbus Ave., Boston 1974. By Ken Kruckemeyer)

Ken Kruckemeyer

Kenneth E. Kruckemeyer is a research associate at the Center for Transportation and Logistics and a lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. He is also a private consultant specializing in the design of civic infrastructure, focusing on integrated public transport systems, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and roadway and bridge design. His current work combines theory and practice, and centers on public transportation systems in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Chicago, Illinois. As part of MIT's collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico and The University of Illinois at Chicago, Mr. Kruckemeyer teaches and supervises student research on transportation facilities and urban design. He also provides technical advice to the Chicago Transit Authority on the rehabilitation of its transit network. Mr. Kruckemeyer served as associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works from 1983 to 1991. There, he was responsible for Bridge and Highway Engineering, and co-authored the book: *Bridge Design--Aesthetics and Developing Technologies*. In the 1970's and early 80's he was project manager of the Southwest Corridor Project in Boston, a $750 million investment in railroad and rapid transit facilities, city streets, parkland and urban revitalization that received a Presidential Design Award and was named the Outstanding Engineering Achievement of 1988 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.