Jamaica Plain Station - In Color

Photo courtesy of eBay.


This postcard is a colorized version - and a nice one - of a black and white postcard that I've seen somewhere online. Based on the windows of the Woolsey block to the far right, this picture must have been taken from the third floow window of the building across Green street. Based on the shadows, it appears to be late afternoon, early evening. It might be just me, but I find uninhabited pictures like this kind of spooky. Where are all the people?

The layout of this postcard tells us that it was printed between 1907 and 1914.

Jamaica Plain Station

Photo courtesy of Ebay


This post card comes from the Divided Back period (1907-1914) of postcard history, and this particular one was postmarked Feb. 20, 1908. We're looking south on the inbound side. You can see the layout of the stations and adjacent buildings here (upper right corner). At the far left, you see the mansard roof of a building owned by the Old Colony Railroad Co. To the far right, the houses you see are on either Everett or Call street.

Agassiz School Postcard

Agassiz School circa 1901-07


This picture is very similar to one that can be found online, but these is a subtle difference in the location of the camera. In the lower left, it says "No. 3 Pub. by the E.W. Clark Co." A Web search gives up no reference to a Clark post card company, but there may be another explanation. There was an E.W. Clark dry goods store in the White Block on Centre street, just around the corner from the school. I suspect that Mr Clark may have had a series of post cards featuring local scenes printed up to sell at his store. The Library of Congress web site tells us that a post card of this design would have been produced during the years 1901-1907. The school was built in 1902, so that cuts one year off the range.

correction: the school was built in 1892, not 1902.