Boston’s five-member Public Improvement Commission voted unanimously to rename Yawkey Way Thursday morning.
The bustling stretch adjacent to Fenway Park will return to it’s original moniker: Jersey Street. The Red Sox had asked the City of Boston to change it to Yawkey Way in 1977 to honor former owner Tom Yawkey. Current team owner John Henry, however, expressed his desire last August to change the street’s name again, citing Yawkey’s complicated racial history as his primary motivation.
The Yawkey Foundations issued a statement that “urged the commission to consider all the facts concerning Tom Yawkey’s ownership of the Red Sox and the sweep of his life,” but the city panel approved the Red Sox’ petition to restore the strip’s previous name.