History

Jamaica Plain’s Gaggle of Civil War Streets

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The Civil War Monument with its marble block inscribed with names, places and dates of the fallen, forms a solid outline of that war's events. The city of Boston reinforced the memory of the Civil War further when it lay out and named the streets in Jamaica Plain. Names focus on heroes of the war: the naval officer Porter, the general Sheridan, post-war president Andrew Johnson, Massachusetts war governor John Albion Andrew (also seen above an arch on the Monument), and perhaps, in a magnificent gesture, Southern commander-in-chief Robert E. Lee. The focus of our street names then shifts to battle areas of the Civil War that took place in The Carolina's including the city of Newbern, North Carolina. Of the 146,730 Black and White troops from Massachusetts (with 13,942 casualties) sent to the war under the zeal of governor John A. Andrew, 23 of those dead are memorialized on our Monument, three died in the Carolina campaigns.

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History

Jamaica Plain Historical Society Neighborhood Walking Tours Begin May 14

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Ever wonder about the history of Hyde Square, Green Street, or Stony Brook? Learn about those neighborhoods and other JP areas through the Jamaica Plain Historical Society's history walking tours series. This is 27th season of JPHS' historic walking tours. All tours are free to the public, and the series kicks of May 14 with a tour Monument Square. The tours are mostly on Saturdays at 11 am, although there are a few Sunday tours this summer.

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History

History of 30 Carolina Avenue and 52 South Street

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At the corner of South Street and Carolina Avenue in Jamaica Plain is a colorful court that hosts lively tennis, pickleball and basketball games throughout the week. Next door, at 30 Carolina Avenue, is a unique brick building and wooden stable that has housed the Penshorn Roofing Company since 1960 (figure 1). If we stand on that corner and turn back the clock over 170 years, we would visit a time of great transformation and growth for the city of Boston and a family that played a significant role in those changes. We would also learn the story of an entrepreneurial immigrant family and the tragedy they endured. Architecture of 30 Carolina Ave
30 Carolina Avenue is a one-and-a-half story Second Empire-style building.

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Development

Two Affordable Housing Developments and Church Recommended for Community Preservation Act Funding

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Two affordable housing developments and a local church were among 52 projects that were recommended to receive Community Preservation Act funding. Mayor Michelle Wu and the city's Community Preservation Committee's recommendations totaled more than $27 million in grants. The two affordable housing projects recommended to receive funding are:

Stonley-Brookley -- $1,975,000 to partially fund the creation of 45 mixed income-restricted homeownership units in a new development. Community Preservation funds will support the 32 affordable units ranging from 80% to 100% Area Median Income (AMI). 127 Amory St.

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History

Did You Know There’s a 12-Sided Jamaica Plain House on National Register of Historic Places?

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The house at 17 Cranston Street is quite unique -- so unique that it was listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The house, built in 1871, is Boston’s only dodecagonal (12-sided) house, according to the Jamaica Plain Historical Society (JPHS). JPHS describes the residence as having a "flamboyant wood frame". Furthermore JPHS states:
Carpenter Gothic and Italianate design motifs characterize its detail , while its format defies classification in traditional building terms. Built on a tri-hexagonal plan approximating a "Y," the house's axes thrust north, east-southeast, toward Hyde Square, facing onto Cranston Street, and west-southwest, toward the cliff delineating the rear of the property. Standing two stories above street level , the house is surmounted by a central, hexagonal cupola.

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History

Learn About The Industrial History of Green Street on Jan. 23

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How many times have you walked down Green Street in Jamaica Plain? What was on Green Street 100 years ago? What was on Green Street in further back than a century ago? Learn about the industrial history of Green Street during a Jamaica Plain Historical Society virtual presentation on Jan. 23.

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History

The Last Streetcar to Arborway

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Saturday, December 28, 1985

It was the last streetcar, or was it? Stepping off the car at South and Custer streets that very early December morning certainly had a death-like feel to it. It was winter, it was cold, and it was dark as the door of the car closed behind me. I stepped onto the sidewalk and watched the two-car train of Presidential Conference Cars (PCCs as they were called) move off into the distance toward Forest Hills. As it rounded a curve in South Street heading to its final destination at Arborway, the sound of its wheels on the tracks echoed off the three-decker houses that framed its route on either side.

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History

The Greenough Family and the Boston Tea Party

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The Boston Tea Party happened on December 16, 1773, and brothers David and John Greenough were embroiled in the controversy, and boycott of tea imported by the East India Company that led to the Boston Tea Party. Learn more about how the Boston Tea Party affected the Greenough family from a lecture by historian Peter Drummey. Drummey is a Jamaica Plain resident and Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society where the Greenough family papers are housed. The lecture was originally held at the Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, and was sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club and the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. The following article is the text of the lecture, was originally published on Jamaica Plain Historical Society's website.

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History

Jamaica Plain Has Been Called ‘Home’ By Five Boston Mayors

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With Michelle Wu being elected as Boston mayor, we thought it would be interesting to look back at the mayors who called Jamaica Plain home. For the record, Wu currently lives one neighborhood over, in Roslindale. James Michael Curley
Many residents have stories about the house in the Curley era: clients who came to the door in the morning for help (as seen in the Curley novel, The Last Hurrah), the long line of mourners at the double funerals of his children, Mary and Leo, in 1950, and the famous people who visited 350 Jamaicaway over the years. The sale of the shamrock-shuttered home of James Michael Curley rightly drew the attention of a new generation to this legendary mayor’s long residence in our area. Though His Honor lived in the house from 1915 onwards, the second longest-serving mayor of Boston (16 years in all) did not die there.

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History

Video: City’s Archaeologist Talks About Boston’s Oldest Buildings

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Boston's Archaeologist Joe Bagley recently spoke at a Jamaica Plain Historical Society sponsored event about his new book Boston’s Oldest Houses and Where To Find Them. Bagley's talk included the two houses in Jamaica Plain that are featured in the book, as well as several others that have interesting connections to JP. Bagley also spoke about the need to landmark historic structures to preserve and protect them. This event was originally held on May 25, 2021.

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