History

Don’t Try to Harvest Ice from Jamaica Pond, Instead Learn About History of Harvesting Pond Ice

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Before modern refrigerators produced ice, people had to gather ice where it naturally formed -- like from Jamaica Pond. Jamaica Plain Historical Society (JPHS) member Charlie Rosenberg provided a presentation in 2023 about this fascinating industry and the over-sized role it played in Jamaica Plain’s economy. By 1880, the Jamaica Pond Ice Company had 22 icehouses on Jamaica Pond with a storage capacity of 30,000 tons, according to JPHS. It's important to keep in mind that ice was a commodity available only to the very rich and to those who could harvest it themselves. That changed as the ice harvesting industry became increasingly mechanized, and the new technologies allowed more people to enjoy the benefits of ice year-round.

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History

Photos: Construction of the Southwest Corridor Rail Lines from 1980s

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The Southwest Corridor rail lines were constructed in the early 1980s. Check out these photos from back then that include construction of the rail lines, English High School, views of downtown, and more. All photos courtesy of the Jamaica Plain Historical Society/Will and Sharlene Cochrane. All photo information provide by Jamaica Plain Historical Society.  

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History

Take a Summer Tour with Jamaica Plain Historical Society (P.S. They’re Free)

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Have you wanted to know more about the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain? Then you should take one of the free tours offered by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society this summer. Whether you just moved to Jamaica Plain or lived here all your life, you will definitely learn a thing or two, or three, or 22 things about JP neighborhoods. There are tours of Stony Brook, Hyde Square, Sumner Hill, Green Street, Woodbourne, Jamaica Pond, and of Monument Square. Click here for more info about individual tours.

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Entertainment

Pride Month Book Talk ‘A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement’ Virtual Event on June 12

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In celebration of Pride Month, the Jamaica Plain Historical Society is co-sponsoring a virtual book talk with Dr. Wendy Rouse about her book Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement on June 12. Rouse is a professor of History at San Jose State University, and her book explores the important role of queerness and queer suffragists in the fight for the vote. The book highlights the alliances that queer suffragists built and the innovative strategies they developed to protect and preserve their most intimate relationships as they defied the gender and sexual norms of their day. This event is co-sponsored with the Boston Public Library Connolly Branch. Click here to register for this virtual event that begins at 6:30 pm.

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History

Part II: The History of 48 Rockview Street and the Fisher-Bang Family

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This is Part II of this article that has been republished on Jamaica Plain News with permission from the author and the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. Click here for Part I.

DANA WALKER FISHER, SR. AND EDITH GEORGE (TWEEDY) FISHER
Learn more about Joy’s Fisher ancestors from Mansfield, MA in a supplemental article here. Joy’s paternal grandparents Dana Sr. and Edith Fisher lived in Mansfield until 1900, at which time they moved to 17 Akron Street in Boston. On October 23, 1900, Dana Sr. joined the Boston Police Department as a reserve officer in Division 2, at the Milk Street station. On May 16, 1901, he was appointed as a patrolman at the same station.  On January 21, 1904, Dana Sr. and Edith had their first child, Dana Walker Fisher, Jr. (Joy’s father).

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History

Part I: The History of 48 Rockview Street and the Fisher-Bang Family

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The following article has been republished on Jamaica Plain News with permission from the author and the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. “I was introduced to Joyce “Joy” Fisher by a mutual friend who knew I loved Jamaica Plain history, especially the history of houses and the people that lived in them. Joy and I met for the first time in November 2021 to talk about the history of her family. From then on, I visited her every Monday at her house to kibbitz about history and our lives, and most importantly, to bake! The following article is part oral history and part research from primary sources, including publicly available records and Joy’s personal family collection.

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Arts

JPHS Presenting Play About JP Woman Who Was First to Graduate MIT with Architecture Degree

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In 1891, a 23-year-old woman from Jamaica Plain won an architecture contest to design the Woman’s Building for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago -- and while that should have been the beginning of a great career for Sophia Hayden -- her life's story ended being quite harrowing. While doing research, a Jamaica Plain Historical Society member learned that Hayden was from Jamaica Plain, and was the first woman to get an architecture degree at MIT. "We thought her story deserved to be better known and we always do an event for Women's History Month," said JPHS President Gretchen Grozier. On March 12, there will be a reading of the play Sophia Hayden Deserves Better by Stephanie Alison Walker. It is a fictionalized version of her story for dramatic purposes.

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Business

What Do You Want to See In This Empty Centre Street Storefront?

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Centre Street commercial spots don't stay empty for long. But this one at 753 Centre St., has been empty for almost three years. Optical Designs moved from the location in February 2020, and no other business has moved into this commercial location located across from Dunkin' at the corner of Centre and Thomas streets. So what would you like to see go in this location? If it's a restaurant, renovations would need to be made to create a kitchen.

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History

There Are Still Gaslights in Jamaica Plain

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Gaslights once lined most of the streets in Jamaica Plain. Originally, lamplighters went around to light them each night and then extinguish them in the morning. Later, gaslights became automated and the lamplighters were charged with maintaining all the lamps on their assigned routes - as explained in this article: The Old Lamplighter. In Jamaica Plain in 2021, we have just a few of these sentinels of the past left:
Burroughs Street - 3 lights can be found on Burroughs:
One is at the intersection with the Jamaicaway. One is at Regent Circle
One’s whereabouts is not known (possibly Agassiz Park?)

31 Jamaica Street
2 Paul Gore Terrace
Meehan Place (this street runs off of Green Street)
10 Union Avenue (rear)
Forest Hills Street - 2 lights can be found on Forest Hills St:
Two different types at #327 (the Pole Yard)
165 Allandale Street (two here!)
90 Allandale Street
Long-term JPHS member Sarah Freeman provided the list of gaslights, which she said JPHS' Michael Reiskind had provided by memory previously.

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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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