Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbury during the formation of West Roxbury in 1851 and became part of Boston when West Roxbury was annexed in 1874.Local Attachments : The Making of an American Urban Neighborhood, 1850 to 1920 (Creating the North American Landscape), by Alexander von Hoffman, The Johns Hopkins University Press (1996), In the 19th century, Jamaica Plain became one of the first streetcar suburbs in America and home to a significant portion of Boston's Emerald Necklace of parks, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
In 2020, Jamaica Plain had a population of 41,012 according to the United States Census.
History Colonial era
Shortly after the founding of Boston and Roxbury in 1630, William Heath's family and three others settled on land just south of Parker Hill in what is now Jamaica Plain. In the next few years, William Curtis, John May and others set up farms nearby along Stony Brook, which flowed from south to north from Turtle Pond (in Hyde Park) to an outlet in the Charles River marshes in the current filled-in Fens area of Boston. John Polley followed with a farm which he purchased from Lt. Joshua Hewe in 1659 at the site of the present-day Soldier's Monument at the intersection of South and Centre streets, closer to the "Great Pond", later known as Jamaica Pond. Later, for services rendered during the Pequot War, Joseph Weld received a grant of of land between South Street and Centre Street. His son John built a home along South Street in the area which is now the Arnold Arboretum. The Weld family continued to live in the area for many generations.
In the late 1650s, the name "Jamaica" first appears on maps for the area of Roxbury between Stony Brook and the Great Pond. There are a number of theories regarding the origin of the name "Jamaica Plain". A well-known theory traces the origin to "Jamaica rum", a reference to Jamaican cane sugar's role in the Triangle Trade of sugar, rum, and slaves. There were taverns on the Road to Dedham in the vicinity of Jamaica Plain. Another explanation is that "Jamaica", though a different letter "A" pronunciation, is an anglicization of the name of Kuchamakin, brother of Chickatawbut, the deceased sachem (chief) of the Massachusett tribe, who ruled the tribe as regent to Chickataubut's minor son, Josias Wampatuck.[O'Brien, Jean M. Dispossession by Degrees, Indian Land and Identity in Natick, Massachusetts, 1650-1790 (1997, University of Nebraska press), p. 43] In 1655, the English navy took the island of Jamaica from the Spanish, so it is also possible the area was named to honor this recent British victory.
On some maps, until the mid-19th century, the area was marked as "Jamaica Plains".Cf. 1832 Map of Roxbury (including Jamaica Plains)" - not then spelled as "Jamaica Plain", singular. For full map, see 1832 Map of Roxbury
John Ruggles and Hugh Thomas donated land in 1676 for the building of the community's first school. A gift of of land south of the "Great Pond" by John Eliot provided financial support for the school, which was named the Eliot School (which still exists) in his honor.
During the 18th century, the farms of the Jamaica section of Roxbury transitioned from subsistence to market orientation, serving the growing Boston population. At the same time, wealthy men bought land and built estates in the bucolic countryside. In 1740, Benjamin Faneuil, nephew of Boston merchant Peter Faneuil, bought land between Centre Street and Stony Brook. In 1752, Commodore Joshua Loring bought the old Polley farm and built a home to which he retired. At Jamaica Pond, the provincial governor, Francis Bernard, built a summer home on .
In 1769, the community's first church was built paid for by Susannah and Benjamin Pemberton before permission was granted from the two existing parishes of Roxbury. After many appeals and bargains, the families along South Street and to the west were released by the Second Parish in 1772 and the Third Parish of Roxbury was incorporated, and on May 26, 1773, the colonial legislature granted an act "setting off the nine families and their lands from the First Precinct (or parish) of the Town of Roxbury and annexing to the Third Precinct in the said town." During the occupation of Boston, the colonial assembly met in this building. The church was the only one in Jamaica Plain for seventy years. During that time it became affiliated with the Unitarian church and continues to be known as the First Church in Jamaica Plain. The original white clapboard building was replaced by a stone Romanesque Revival building designed by the architect Nathaniel Bradlee in 1854.
The Minutemen from the Third Parish fought at Lexington and Bunker Hill under the command of Captain Lemuel Child and are commemorated on a plaque next to the Civil War Monument.
In 1775, troops from Rhode Island and Connecticut were quartered with residents of Jamaica Plain. General Washington stationed troops on Weld Hill, today's Bussey Hill in the Arnold Arboretum. The units protected the road south to Dedham (Centre Street), where the American arsenal was kept, in case the British broke the siege of Boston.
With the American Revolution, many of the Tory estate owners fled the country, and were replaced by the rising elite of the new Boston. In 1777, John Hancock purchased an estate near the pond. The widow Ann Doane bought the estate once owned by Loyalist Joshua Loring (which is still standing, as the Loring-Greenough House). She soon was remarried, to attorney David S. Greenough. When Samuel Adams became governor of Massachusetts, he bought the former Peacock Tavern. It was located on Centre Street (near today's Allandale Street and the Faulkner Hospital). With his wealth made in the China trade, James Perkins built his home, Pinebank, overlooking Jamaica Pond in 1802.
Revolution to annexation
The early years of the 19th century continued the trends of the post-Independence years. An aqueduct was built to Boston and inner Roxbury by the Jamaica Pond Aqueduct Corporation, which provided water to Boston, Roxbury and later the Town of West Roxbury, from 1795 to 1886. Carriages carried people to Roxbury and Boston on Centre Street (then, the Highway to Dedham), and in 1806 on the new Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike toll road (present day Washington Street). In 1826, "hourlies" ran from Jamaica Plain to Roxbury and Boston on a regular schedule, and the 1830s brought larger "omnibuses" to carry the growing passenger base. The first train line reached Jamaica Plain in 1834 when the Boston and Providence Rail Road began service, with special low "commuter" fares offered residents in 1839. Stops at Boylston Street and Tollgate (present day Forest Hills) were joined by a station at Woolsey Square (Green Street) at the request of local residents.
Green Street, laid out in 1836 to connect Centre Street and the Toll road, (Washington Street) became a hub of local artisans and builders. Soon after, Centre Street near Green Street became a retail main street, with grocers attracting local business providing products from the West Indies and common household goods. During the 1840s, as commuters from Boston settled in Jamaica Plain, the local market grew, with artisans and businesses - with proprietors living in the community - providing much of the needed products and services. In the Stony Brook valley along the rail line adjacent to Roxbury, a small industrial center formed, with small chemical factories, tanneries and soap factories taking advantage of the running water, isolation, access to transportation, and available land. Reflecting the growing population, a number of new churches were built. Four churches opened and served the new, more varied population.
By 1850, the once agricultural community had seen a significant change in its population. Only 10% of its heads of household were listed as farmers, while 28% were businessmen and professionals, and another 20% were Irish-born. In an effort to stem the increase in property taxes to support the rapidly urbanizing inner Roxbury area, the owners of the large estates in Jamaica Plain led a successful effort in 1851 to secede from Roxbury and form a new, suburban town of West Roxbury. Meanwhile, growth continued unabated. In 1850, David S. Greenough developed the south end of his family land into four streets, including today's McBride Street. Three years later, he sold land along the east side of the railroad tracks for the new Jamaica Plain Gas Light Company. In 1857, the new West Roxbury Railroad Company extended their horse rail car line to a depot on South Street, at the site of today's public housing project opposite McBride Street.
During the same years, ice houses lined the south shore of Jamaica Pond. Ice was harvested each winter by the Jamaica Plain Ice Company and sold in Boston and beyond until the 1890s, when the City of Boston bought the pond. During the China trade ships going toward the Orient needed ballast and excess harvested ice was used from the Pond. Ships went around Cape Horn up to San Francisco where the ice was sold. Continuing the transportation development that both served Jamaica Plain's commuters and spurred further urban development, the Boston and Providence company added a second track in 1860, a third in 1870, and a fourth in 1890. Many of the new residents were Irish and Catholic, and to serve their needs the Archdiocese of Boston began construction of St Thomas Aquinas Church on South Street, with a grammar school following in 1873. In less than a generation, Jamaica Plain had changed significantly, and the wealthy estate owners no longer held power. In 1873, West Roxbury residents – most living in Jamaica Plain – voted in favor of annexation to Boston. The Town of West Roxbury had grown from 2,700 residents in 1850 to 9,000 in 1875, and many of the new residents wanted the advantages of the services (street grading, sewer lines) that the City of Boston could provide.
Formation of Boston neighborhood
As Jamaica Plain became a part of Boston, the rate of growth continued to increase. The triple decker house, a defining image in urban New England architecture, first showed up in the 1870s, and spread rapidly in the 1890s. In Jamaica Plain, the first commercial blocks were built in the 1870s, with the first brick commercial building erected in 1875. In 1873, the imposing brick police station was built on Seaverns Avenue, and a year later the recently built Eliot School was renamed West Roxbury High School, only to be changed to Jamaica Plain High School after annexation. The Stony Brook valley had long been the industrial center of Jamaica Plain. In 1871, the Haffenreffer brewery opened near Boylston and Amory Streets, taking advantage of the Stony Brook aquifer and the presence of German immigrants in the area. The same year, the Boylston Schul Verein German social club opened just across the railroad tracks, one of many organizations that served German residents in the neighborhood. To the south, the B.F. Sturtevant Company opened an industrial fan factory in 1878 along the railroad tracks between Williams and Green Street, which grew to employ 500 employees. In 1901, the factory suffered a massive fire and the company moved to Hyde Park several miles south.