Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/312/metro/A_mosque_in_the_making+.shtml

On November 8, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "after 10 years of planning, city officials and leaders of the Islamic Society of Boston plunged ceremonial shovels into the dirt on a Roxbury corner yesterday to launch construction of what will be the largest mosque and Islamic center in New England - a spiritual home for the state's growing Muslim population. The prayer space is desperately needed: Local mosques have been so overcrowded that worshippers sometimes kneel in parking lots... Organizers also look forward to the educational opportunities the center can provide through a public library and an extensive lecture series sponsored by Roxbury Community College, and eventually a 15-classroom school. Together, leaders hope the center will help reduce negative sterotypes of Muslims that have lingered since last year's terrorist attacks."