Jamaica Plain's Little Ireland

Plan of the south portion of the Greenough estate - August, 1850.


Keyes street extension - east of the railroad tracks.


Five generations of Greenough inhabited Jamaica Plain, between 1783 and 1924. The original 50 acre estate stayed in the family until the third generation of Greenoughs began developing the estate and selling off property. I'm focusing here on the south-most portion of the property, which was developed by the eldest sibling, David S. Greenough the third. The plan above shows Carolina avenue, Starr street (later Call street), Lee street and Keyes street. Keyes street later became McBride street (discussed here), and it's Keyes street that we'll be looking at today.

The name Keyes comes from John Keyes, who purchased the south-most end of the Joshua Loring property at the same time as the Greenoughs aquired the larger, northern portion. The Keyes property ran from the edge of this plan - the McBride/Boynton street back yard border - south towards Forest Hills, and probably included today's Boynton, Hall, Rosemary, Spalding and Anson streets. Keyes was a tanner, and ran a tannery somewhere on the site.

While this and other plans of the Greenough property show house lots with frontage of 90 feet and more, the lots of Keyes street were mostly a uniform 50 feet wide. Before the 1840s and the development of Green street, Jamaica Plain was dotted with estates of an acre and larger, so Keyes street was clearly aimed at a different market than the Boston businessmen who had settled into the Jamaica Pond area. In fact, as the list of buyers below shows, Keyes street was laid out to provide homes for the Irish laborers who had flooded into Jamaica Plain in the immediately preceding years. These small lots for the Irish immigrants were put on the far edge of the Greenough property, away from Centre street, Jamaica Pond and the northern part of the Greenough estate, which would be sold off in much larger lots to wealthier buyers.

The second plan shows Keyes street extension, on the Washington street side of the railroad tracks. This was the location of the Jamaica Plain Gas Company, which provided the fuel for the gas lamps of the community until bought out by Boston Gas at the end of the 1800s. They actually produced gas on the site from coal, as I've discussed here. At least one lot on this plan appears on the list below, so I've added this plan for completeness.

Going down the list of buyers below, the first thing that jumps out at me is that most of them appear to have already lived in the town of West Roxbury (which existed from 1851-1874). Most of those probably lived in Jamaica Plain, rather than the less populous Roslindale or today's West Roxbury district. So if the Irish just arrived in Jamaica Plain in the 1840s, and this was one of the first developments of housing for lower income workers, then where had they been living before they bought these lots? My guess is that many of the listed laborers probably lived in on the existing Yankee estates as live-in handymen. The 1850 Census lists many such Irish in Jamaica Plain, women as servants and men as laborers. They may also have lived and worked on the farms that still operated of the outskirts of the community, such as those near today's Morton street and Franklin Park. There are house builders, carpenters and masons among the buyers, a blacksmith and a plasterer. Edward Ward, the plasterer, got his lot by virtue of his wife Mary, who purchased the land in her own right, free and clear of her husband's interference. You'll often see the generalization that women had no legal independence during this era, but deeds such as this one show otherwise.

With the Gas company at one end of Keyes street and the horse car barns soon to come to South street (1858). Keyes street was well situated to serve as the new Irish district of Jamaica Plain. Over time, the neighborhood would extend north to Carolina avenue and south to new streets along South street. It's no accident that the first Catholic church in Jamaica Plain was built a block from Keyes street and next door to the horse-car barns and the jobs they provided. Where the Irish went, the church followed.






August, 1850 - Peter Dolan, Roxbury - Lot 9.

September 1851 - Daniel Sweet, Roxbury, Housewright - Lot 60.

October 1852 - Michael Dunlavy, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 6.

October 1852 - Patrick Condray, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 7.

January 1853 - William O. Farrell, housewright - Lot 11.

May 1853 - John D. Neif, Blacksmith - Lots 1 & 2.

June 1853 - Michael Harney, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 5.

October 1853 - John Mahar - Lot 3.

October 1853 - Patrick Fahy, Yeoman - Lot 12.

October 1853 - Edward Dolan, West Roxbury - Lot 4.

March 1855 - Michael Mulry, West Roxbury - Lot 22.

November 1856 - Lawrence Kelly, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 6.

December 1856 - Thomas Byrne, West Roxbury, Stone layer - Lot 13.

June 1857 - Patrick Comerford, West Roxbury, Carpenter - Lot 17.

July 1857 - Mary Ward, wife of Edward, of West Roxbury, Plasterer - Lot 16. ("Sole and separate use and free from the interference and control of her husband.")

August 1857 - Patrick Lawler, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 15.

August 1857 - Henry and Elizabeth McDonald - *** Lots 1,2,3.

February 1858 - Thomas Harney, West Roxbury - Lot 18.

July 1858 - Martin Seaver, West Roxbury - Lot 20.

May 1859 - Richard Corcoran, West Roxbury - Lots 58 & 59.

May 1859 - JP Gas Co. - *** Lot 4 plus a passageway.

May 1859 - Peter Dolan, West Roxbury - Lot 1.

May 1861 - James Gatlety, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lots 41 & 42.

February 1862 - James Dolan, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 57.

May 1863 - Henry Land, Weymouth, Merchant - Lots 44 & 45.

July 1863 - Patrick Gavin, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 46.

October 1866 - Thomas Cunningham, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 47.

October 1866 - Michael Shanahan, West Roxbury. Laborer - Lot 45.

December 1867 - Patrick Condray, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 54.

March 1868 - Roddy Doyle, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 53.

December 1869 - James Gately, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 43.

September 1870 - John and Patrick Devine, West Roxbury, Laborers - Lot 51.

October, 1870 - Michael Donnely, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 54.

September 1872 - John Corbett, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 53.



Source: Norfolk County Registry of Deeds.

Jamaica Plain Historical Society Tour - Sumner Hill

This week's tour features Sumner Hill. We start at the Loring-Greenough house and walk up Greenough avenue to the home of General William H. Sumner, who built the first house in this part of the old Greenough estate. This tour features some great architecture plus the fascinating people who lived there. We have an industrialist, a suffragist and the mother of a Confederate hero.

Tour starts at 11:00 AM at the Loring-Greenough house, weather permitting, and it's free, as always. And as an added bonus, I'll be leading this tour, so come by and say hello.


For more info, go here.

Who is that street named after?

I did my best to list the people that streets are named after. As you approach the end of the 19th Century, it gets harder to figure out who the streets are named for - I'm guessing that most of them were not long-time residents. Thus, no Sheridan, no Hall, no Dunster or Dane streets. No doubt I've missed some easy ones. Unfortunately, no one kept records of who named the streets, or how the names were chosen.



Achorn circle - Edgar Achorn, lawyer, lived along South st.

Amory st - Amory estate.

Ballard st - Ballard family owned land along South st.

Beethoven st - German composer.

Bismark st - German politician.

Boylston st - Nicholas Ward Boylston, owned land from Centre street back to the railroad tracks.

Brewer st - Sarah Brewer lived in the house at the corner of Brewer and Thomas streets.

Brown terrace - land owned by A.S. Brown, businessman.

Burroughs st - William Burroughs laid out road.

Bussey st - Benjamin Bussey - owner of the Arboretum land during early 1800s.

Call st - John M. Call had an estate near Green street train station.

Child st - probably Abner Child - owned land across South street - sold the land for St Thomas' church.

Eliot st - John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians, gave the land on either side for the Eliot School.

Goldsmith place - Benjamin Goldsmith owned a house along Centre st and a slaughterhouse set
back from the road.

Goldsmith st - Benjamin Goldsmith owned a farm along Centre street where the Arborway and the Arboretum are now.

Goodrich rd - Samuel Goodrich, pen name Peter Parley, lived across Centre st.

Greenough ave - D.S. Greenough developed the street from his family's estate.

Hagar st - Daniel Hagar was principal of the Eliot school during the mid-1800s, lived in the area.

Harris ave - Luther Harris, doctor.

Heath st - Heath family, including General Heath, Revolutionary war.

Holbrook st - Amos Holbrook had a house and farm along Centre st beside the Unitarian church.

Hopkins Road - named in 1926 for Sabina Hopkins McCourt, mother of Francis M. McCourt (1886-1956) who purchased and developed the street and surrounding lots (added from comments).

John A. Andrews - Mass. Civil War Governor

Lamartine st - French poet, friend of Samuel Goodrich, whose estate was part of Lamartine street.

Louder's lane - Louder family.

Marlou terrace. - A portmanteau name from Marie and Louis Mahn, owners of the land later subdivided into the street.

May st - May family - John May, settled the land in the 1600s.

McBride st - deceased WW I soldier

Meehan st - Patrick Meehan, builder, developer owned land.

Mozart st - Austrian [German] composer. Commenter Eeka points out that Mozart was Austrian. The Germans of Jamaica Plain may have seen him as one of their own.

Newsome park - George Newsome bought estate, moved the old house and developed the street.

Parley ave - Author Samuel Goodrich had estate on site.

Parley vale - Same as above.

Paul Gore st - Gore family owned land along Centre street at site of road.

Perkins st - James Perkins purchased Pinebank land in early 1800s along Connecticut road,
named Perkins street in 1825.

Peter Parley rd - Pseudonym of author Samuel Goodrich - built a house here, but never lived in it.

Prince st - Capt.John Prince bought the old Governor Bernard estate along Jamaica Pond, developed the road between Pond and Perkins streets.

School st - land surrounding School st between Stony brook and Walnut avenue was donated to the Roxbury public school - later Roxbury Latin - by Daniel Bell.

Seaverns ave - Luther Seaverns owned land the fronted on Centre street where Seaverns ave. is now.

Starr lane - Daniel Starr, blacksmith, had a shop set back from Centre street here during the early 1800s. Starr lane was probably a right-of-way to get to his property. His wife actually bought the land in her own right.

Thomas st - Hugh Thomas and wife donated land to the Eliot School.

Walter st - Rev Walter, first pastor of 2nd Roxbury parish.

Warren sq - land formerly owned by Dr John Warren.

Weld avenue - Weld family owned Arboretum land until 1802, and much of Forest Hills after that.

Weld Hill st - Weld family.

Wyman st - Wyman family owned land here.

J.P. Historical Society Tour - Monument Square

Come along this Saturday, July 11, for a tour of the Monument district of Jamaica Plain. The Soldier's Monument, the Unitarian Church, Eliot Hall and the Eliot School are all featured, plus some great examples of Victorian houses and stories of fascinating former residents.

The tour starts at the Loring-Greenough house at 12 South st. at 11:00 AM, weather permitting, and it's free as always.

Tour web page.

Mrs Walker's School

Among the community histories recorded at the Jamaica Plain Historical Society web site is the Reminiscenses of Jamaica Plain, 1845-1875, by Miss Ellen Morse. In it is a passing mention of a Mrs. Walker's school house on Centre street. I've posted entries about some private schools (Stephen Minot, Mrs. McKeige, Mrs. Cranch) but others have been on hold for want of information. While doing a general search for new Jamaica Plain stories, I recently came upon the advertisement above. Not only are we given an address that is in accord with that described by Miss Morse in her memoir, but we also get Mrs. Walker's home address.

That home address, Elm and Walker streets, brings in another thread. I had noticed in the past that on the 1874 map below, a Mrs. Walker lived on the corner of Elm and what we now call Sedgwick street (see below). Directly opposite are a house and an empty lot owned by a G. Walker. The 1873 West Roxbury Directory tells us that Mrs. Mary A. Walker was the widow of Mr. James P. Walker, and Gideon Walker was a carpenter with a business at the Jamaica Plain train depot at Green street. There seems to be no family connection between Mary and Gideon, so we are left wondering whether the street was named for her or him. By 1881, Sedgwick street was extended to John A. Andrew street and Walker street was no more.




G.M. Hopkins, 1874 (JP Historical Society).


For more information about Mrs. Walker, we go to the 1880 census (available at FamilySearch.org). Mary Walker was born in Massachusetts in 1832 of English-born parents. Unfortunately, the online archive says of her husband only that he was born in New Hampshire. Their oldest child, a son, was born in Ohio, followed by two girls, born in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The household in 1880 also included Mary's sister, Martha A. Matthews, and a Miss Hattie F. Seager, both teachers, presumably at Mrs. Walker's school. Also in the house were housekeeper Martha H. Stevens of Maine and servent Katherine Kelley from Ireland.

Regarding the school itself, I'll quote from Miss Morse's reminiscense, which starts at the Unitarian Church at Centre and Eliot streets: " Beyond the Parsonage was the fine house occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Curtis. Then came the house of Mr. Moses Williams, which is no doubt remembered by some of these present.Then came the Hallett House, which was originally a very pretty two-story house. Later with an additional story it was Mrs. Walker's schoolhouse. I associate it as being occupied for some years by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Horton and their handsome daughters and sons. " There may be some confusion as to the exact location of the school-house, but I suspect that it was at the location shown below. In fact, the Moses Williams house preceeded the Curtis house, so we can't rely entirely on memories when sorting these things out.

Edit: I've done some digging at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds that should clarify the location of the school house. Miss Morse tells us that the school was in the Hallet house, which later housed the Horton family. No Hortons owned property on Centre street during those years, so they must have been renting. The map below shows a house on the corner of Centre and Orchard streets owned by a George Cox.

Mr. Cox was a builder, and in 1869 he bought a lot of land from Dr. Benjamin F. Wing and his wife Adelaide. The land had come to Adelaide from her father, George Hallett. He also bought land from Joseph W. Balch, who had inherited it from his late wife Maria, also a Hallett daughter.

In 1832, George Hallett of Boston had purchased from a Mr. Samuel Billings 10 acres of land between "the Great Road" (Centre street) and "the road to Newton" (Pond street, or today's Jamaicaway). Just five years earlier, Billings had obtained the land from Ellen Gibbs, daughter of Crowell Hatch. Hatch, a sea captain and ship owner, had purchased it in turn from Timothy Penny of Jamaica - the island, not the Plain - in 1799.

So we've traced Mrs. Walker's school house back through it's owners to 1799. Timothy Penny listed the island of Jamaica as his address when he sold the land, so he must have returned there after having spent time in Jamaica Plain. Crowell Hatch is deserving his own entry here, and one will come in time. I know nothing of George Hallett, but while he owned the property, he must have rented the house to the Hortons, who are mentioned by Miss Morse above and show up on the 1859 map below.


Centre and Orchard sts, 1874.


1859 - Centre street runs right to left.


And finally, we can see the old house disappearing in the twentieth century.



1905 - the house still present, but new lots are planned in its place.


1924 - the house is gone, replaced by two brick apartment buildings.


So the forgotten Mrs. Walker and her private school took us back to the turn of the 19th century. What was once a ten acre estate became much of Orchard, Aldworth and Dane streets and Dunster road. The house was one of three that lined Centre street throughout much of the 19th century between today's Soldier's Monument and the Arborway, and sadly all three were sacrificed to squeeze in as many residents as could fit into 20th century Jamaica Plain.

As an added bonus, I picked up another nugget while examining deeds for this entry. The Penny-Hatch deed of 1799 puts the north boundry of the estate on "the road to New Town," that being the road to Newton, or Pond street, also our Jamaicaway. The Boston street atlas lists the origin of Pond street as 1825, but notes that it may have been a public highway previously. Now we know that the public had access to Jamiaca Pond by way of Pond street by at least 1799 and probably earlier. We might speculate - in fact I will - that Governor Bernard's estate of decades earlier may have sat on the same road. So you never know what you'll find when you dig into the details of local history. Mrs. Walker got me back to Timothy Penny of Jamaica, and perhaps to a Royal Governor as well.


Norfolk Count Registry of Deeds:

379:198 5/21/1869 B.F & A. Wing to George D. Cox

382:78 7/22/1869 J. W. Balch to George D. Cox

97:98 8/13/1832 S. Billings to George Hallett.

83:291 11/23/1827 E.M. Gibbs to Samuel Billings

11:40 8/23/1799 T. Penny to Crowell Hatch.

JP Historical Society Tour - Woodbourne

The former St. Andrew the Apostle Church.


Come out this Saturday, June 20, at 11:00 AM (weather permitting) for the Jamaica Plain Historical Society's Woodbourne tour. Running south of Walk Hill street, the Woodbourne area was home to wealthy lawyers and businessmen in the 1800s. The family estates gave way to residental development, including an experimental housing project built by the Boston Dwelling House Company.

The tour starts in front of the former St. Andrew's church on Walk Hill street. And as usual, the price is right (free!).

J.P. Historical Society Tour - Green Street

The Jamaica Club house - formerly at Green and Rockview sts.


Come out this Saturday, June 13, at 11:00 AM (weather permitting) for the Jamaica Plain Historical Society's Green street tour. Green st was laid out in the 1830s, soon after the railroad was built, and the combination of the two could be said to have set off the development of modern Jamaica Plain. Learn about blacksmiths and harnessmakers, schools and factories. Green st. was the home to a trailblazing professional woman and a world-class manufacturer.

For an extra added bonus, I'll be leading this tour (and it's free!), so come out and say hello. The tour starts at the corner of Centre and Green sts.

JP Historical Society tour page.

JP Historical Society Tour

House on Alveston st., Sumner Hill.



This Saturday, May 16 will be the first of three Sumner Hill tours through the season. The tour begins at 11:00 AM, weather permitting, and starts at the Loring-Greenough house at Centre and South streets. The tour combines architectural gems with historical context, and tells the stories of a variety of fascinating past residents.

Tour info.

Susan W. Fitzgerald

Susan Walker Fitzgerald was born in 1871 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to well to do parents. She attended Bryn Mawr college, graduating in 1893. After time working at Bryn Mawr and Barnard College, she married Richard Y. Fitzgerald, an attorney. His family's business interests took them west, where Susan and daughter Rebecca left San Francisco just four days before the great earthquake. An illness suffered by Richard returned them east, and after a time Susan took a paying job supervising Pauline Agassiz Shaw's social work in Boston. In 1911, they moved to Greenough avenue, Jamaica Plain.

Susan was active in the suffrage movement, serving as an officer in various local and national organizations. From 1911-1915 she wrote a column three times a week in the Boston Evening Traveller. After a failed campaign for the Boston School Board, she won election to State Representative from Jamaica Plain, being the first woman Democrat to serve in the Legislature (Sylvia Donaldson was elected the same year as a Republican). After a single term, she left politics but remained active in public life.



Boston Daily Globe December 3, 1922



TELLS WHAT WOMEN LEARN IN POLITICS

Susan W. Fitzgerald Talks on Place in Public Life

Representative-Elect Speaks Before Twentieth Century Club


Susan W. Fitzgerald of Jamaica Plain, one of the first two women to be elected to the State Legislature, representing the 22nd Suffolk District, spoke at the Twentieth Century Club yesterday afternoon on was (sic) "The Function of Women in Public Life."

Mrs Fitzgerald said that women were in political offices really to learn, as well as to serve. She emphasized the point that she wished people to regard her as representing the district as whole, and not as simply a women representing women in a district. On the other hand, she said, her interest should be that of the entire community rather than personal or sectional interests.

she said she believed women in office had really more to learn than to give, and that politics was a great school in which women might learn in a great many ways to be good sports, to take work as it comes, to seek no favors, no deference, no advantages - in short to be treated as man to man.

She spoke of the personal interest people had taken in women's work in politics, and said that in her own case that interest had strengthened a personal bond between her and her neighbors as nothing had done in the past. This bond she said was a basis for the right kind of political activity.

She stated that men voters had shown an interest in the candidacy of women for public office, and that this was a proof of the trust in woman's ability to represent people capably.

A question period followed. Samuel Hubbard presided. Dr. E.A.Winship gave a short talk on his travels in Dakota.

Source: Susan Walker Fitzgerald Papers

Church and State

J.G. Hales, 1819 (BPL)


Ward Nicholas Boylston was the son of Loyalist Benjamin Hallowell. After the Revolution and the seizure of the family homestead by the new government, Ward Nicholas, having taken his maternal uncle's name, returned to Roxbury and won back the property in a lawsuit. The house and property were on Centre street, near the corner of what became Boylston street. Read more about The Hallowells and Mr. Boylston here.

Massachusetts was the last state to go through disestablishment - the legal separation of church from state - and that did not happen until 1833. In 1802, residents were still required by law to attend and support their local church. In this case, Mr. Boylston had to get an act of the Legislature to allow him to leave the First Roxbury parish in Roxbury proper and join the Third parish at Centre and South street. Since the parishioners supported the meeting house financially, any movement among parishes could harm the fiscal health of the church, and as such was of concern to the state. In this case, Mr. Boylston got his wish. Perhaps coincidentally, when the Town of West Roxbury was cut from greater Roxbury in 1851, Mr. Boylston's land would sit just inside the northern border of the new town.



Columbian Minerva September 14, 1802.



LAWS

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

In the year of our LORD one thousand eight hundred and two.


An act to set off Ward Nicholas Boylston, of Roxbury, and his estate on Jamaica Plain, from the first to the third precinct or parish in Roxbury.

Section I

Be it enacted by the Senate & House of Representatives, in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same, That Ward Nicholas Boylston, of Roxbury in the county of Norfolk, with his estate there consisting of a Dwelling-House, and nine acres of land more or less, be, and hereby is set off from the first and annexed to the third parish in Roxbury on Jamaica Plain. Provided the said Boylston shall pay his proportion of parish charges due from his to said first parish prior to the date of this act.

June 21, 1802.

By the Govenor approved..