JAMACCA PLAIN, MA Jamaica Plain Historical Society, Page 1 of 4 Jamaica Plain Historical Society The Jamaica Plain Historical Society was founded in 1987 and sponsors occasional lectures weekly series of walking tours during the summer. The Society maintains an extensive archiv maps, photographs, and other materials. The archive is open to members and researchers by appointment. Contributions to the archive are always appreciated. We also welcome contribu historic essays about Jamaica Plain for use in our newsletter and on this web site. If you are researching a specific topic about Jamaica Plain history, we will help you get started. Please email or call 617-522-1150. Please consider joining the Society. Membership is just $10 per year. Membership privileges include: Newsletters Admission to the archives Discount on publications Members Night (a social event) Walking Tour click here SCHOOM(E) Historic Maps of Jamaica Plai 1.1.1 Join us today! Books and Pamphlets http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/ 7/12/2004 Jamaica Plain Historical Society Page 2 of 4 Search this site Sign up for the free Jamaica Plain Historical Society email list Historic Jamaica Plain Photographs: Gallery A Gallery B Trolley Gallery A Trolley Gallery B 1970s and 1980s Views Articles and Publications: 1845-1875 Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain 1872 Jamaica Plain Police Report 1940s and 1950s Jamaica Plain by Frank Norton A Guide to Jamaica Plain A Jamaica Plain Bibliography Adams-Nervine Asylum African-American Women in Jamaica Plain History Annals and Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain, 1897 Awakened by the Joyous Sound of Bells Bacon Family Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant, Inventor and Industrialist Boulder at Kelley Circle Reveals History Boylston Schul-Verein and the German Saturday School Bussey Woods Murders Civil War Monument Classic Cleaners Celebrates Golden Anniversary Colonial Stones Mark Miles from Old Roxbury to Old State House Columbus Avenue Commodore Joshua Loring; Jamaica Plain by Way of London Curtis Family and Curtis Hall Dancing School of Miss Marguerite Souther Doyle's Cafe Ellen Swallow Richards and the Progressive Women's Reform Movement First Newspaper in Jamaica Plain Five Eliot Street Forest Hills Cemetery Unlocks Mysteries of Cremation Francis Parkman Memorial Gen. William Hyslop Sumner http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/ 7/12/2004 Jamaica Plain Historical Society Page 3 of 4 Green Street Hamlin Garland: One of the Great Literary Pioneers of America Hellenic Hill History of Beer Making in Jamaica Plain Holtzer-Cabot Electric Company Horatio Greenough, America's First Sculptor Hospital Founded by Women for Women How Jamaica Plain Got Its Name How to Find Out the History of your House and Lot Ignatius Sargent and the Arnold Aboretum In Memory of Walter H. Marx Jamaica Plain Quiz Jamaica Plain Women Who Made History Jamaica Plain's Great Wall Jamaica Plain's Role in the 19th Century Back Bay Fill Jamaica Plain's Two Streets Named After the Chestnut Jamaica Pond Jamaica Pond Historic Photographs Lecture by Nancy Graves Cabot James Michael Curley and the #5 License Plate John Hancock's Jamaica Plain Home Legendary BSO Conductor Serge Koussevitzky Marie Zakrzewska: Medical Pioneer Mayor James Michael Curley "The Rascal King" Moss Hill Memoir Moxie Soda Outsold Coca-Cola Native Americans in Jamaica Plain Orange Line Memories Parochial Education In Jamaica Plain Pinebank, a Former Homestead in Jamaica Plain Perkins and Storey Families Revolutionary War Burial Site Near Arboretum Robert Morse's Pond Odyssey Ross Ledgers Tell of 1926-1941 Jamaica Plain St. John, St. Rose, and other JP Streets Named for Saints Streetcar History in Jamaica Plain Sumner Hill Historic District Sylvia Plath: Jamaica Plain Born Pulitzer Poet T.G. Plant Shoe Factory Taverns, Inns and Public Houses The Footlight Club The Town of Roxbury by Francis S. Drake, published 1878 Weld Family Werewolf in Jamaica Plain http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/ 7/12/2004 3/16/2016 Jamaica Plain Historical Society - Resources JAMAICA PLAIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY DRY E.W. CLARK Co. GENTLEMEN'S Resources Epson® WorkForce Pro Featuring PrecisionCore Technology. Performance Beyond Laser TM Printers. Click on the title of the article you wish to read: A Brief History of Jamaica Plain A Guide to Jamaica Plain A Jamaica Plain Bibliography How Jamaica Plain Got Its Name How to Find Out the History of Your House and Lot The Town of Roxbury by Francis S. Drake, published 1878 Additional Resources If you have problems opening any of the PDF files below, download the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. 1891 Bird's Eye View Map of Jamaica Plain Address at Dedication of the Town-House at Jamaica Plain, 1868 [3.4MB PDF] Boston City Directories (1845-1925) Boston Globe Archive (1872-1923) Requires Library Card Casey Overpass: A visual history Catalogue of the proprietors of Forest Hills Cemetery, 1900 First Church in Jamaica Plain Burial Ground Survey Footlight Club Programs and other historic materials Forest Hills Cemetery (National Register Nomination) [5MB PDF] Forest Hills Cemetery by John Backup 1855 [7MB PDF] Forest Hills Cemetery lecture by Anthony Sammarco (video) Forest Hills Cemetery Rules and General Information, 1925 [1.6MB PDF] Founders and Incorporators of the Third Parish of Jamaica Plain [5MB PDF] http://www.jphs.org/sources-archive/ 1/2 3/16/2016 Jamaica Plain Historical Society - Resources Franklin Park's Hispanic Baseball League Franklin Park: Boston's Central Park (FaceBook Page) The Jamaica Plain Women's History Trail The Loring-Greenough House Historic Maps of Jamaica Plain (1858-1914) Historic Maps of Jamaica Plain (1874-1924) Historic Maps of Jamaica Plain (1884) History of 18 Bartlett Square in Maps by Helen Kendall History of Louder's Lane by Stephen J. Lerman [4MB PDF] History of the Boston Public Library Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury Directory, 1873-74 [16MB PDF] Jamaica Plain Home Movies: 1939-1963 Map of Roxbury (John G. Hales) 1832 Remembering Jamaica Plain Blog History of Roxbury Town by Charles M. Ellis. 1847 [4MB PDF] Walnut Avenue History; Memorable Persons and Places [1MB PDF] Photographic House Reference Series This series of 1450 photographs of Jamaica Plain houses and other buildings was taken by Mark Bulger in the summer and fall of 2008. They serve as a snapshot in time of a number of Jamaica Plain's historic properties. We hope to create additional series of reference photographs in coming years. Visit the gallery. High School Yearbooks The Jamaica Plain High School Yearbooks have been moved to this page. C 1997-2016 Jamaica Plain Historical Society Box 302924 . Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 02130-0053 . http://www.jphs.org http://www.jphs.org/sources-archive/ 2/2 Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond Page 1 of 11 Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond By Nancy Graves Cabot Excerpts from an illustrated lecture given to the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club at the Loring-Greenough House on December 2, 1952. Nancy Graves Cabot (Mrs. Samuel) was born in Newburyport MA, the daughter of Edmund P. Graves, in 1890. She moved with her family to Argentina when she was 9, returning to attend Miss Winsor's School (now, The Winsor School), from which she was graduated in 1908. On October 16, 1909, she married Samuel Cabot (Harvard class of 1906) an industrial chemist, who became president of his family's firm, Samual Cabot, Inc. Mrs. Cabot first became a member of the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club in 1925. She left the rolls for a time and returned in 1944, remaining a member until her death in 1969. Mrs. Cabot was known as an expert on historic textiles. She compiled data for the Textile Department of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the British Museum. She wrote several articles on textiles and gave an illustrated lecture to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society on "New England Embroidered Pictures" in 1944. Mrs. Cabot had four children and 13 grandchildren She died on January 14, 1969, at 79, at her home in Longwood Towers. Her beloved estate on the pond has since become the Cabot Estate Condominiums. On December 2, 1952, Mrs. Cabot presented a lecture, illustrated with lantern slides to the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, entitled: Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond. Later she gave many pieces of her unique collection to the Club, along with the lantern slides. That Mrs. Cabot refers to herself in the third person through most of this talk could well be explained if the typescript, from which this pamphlet was produced, was transcribed after the fact. It was sent to Mrs. Dorothy Winkfield, Club President, in 1953. The memorialist is unknown. The Jamaica Pond collection of pictures was begun soon after the First World War when Mr. and Mrs. Cabot moved into the old Quincy Shaw house on Perkins Street on the northern shore of the Pond, near the Brookline line. From their house on the top of the hill, we have a lovely view of the pond, and overlook the rooftops and spires of Jamaica Plain. On clear days you can see to the Blue Hill range and beyond. In Antiques Magazine for February 1925 there was an article entitled: "Skating Prints" by Aaron Davis, Showing a Lithograph by J. H. Bufford of Jamaica Pond in 1858. It is the same scene that you have here in the Loring-Greenough House in the downstairs hall. It occurred to Mrs. Cabot then that it would be of interest to acquire an original of the Bufford lithograph if possible, and to collect any other pictures and material relating to the Pond that could be found. http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/cabot.html 7/16/2004 Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond Page 2 of 11 Thanks to the help of many kind friends, the collection grew steadily. It now consists of pictures, maps, photographs, letters and journals, all of the 19th century. Previous to 1800 the Pond seems to have been taken for granted: its charms and beauties did not burst into woodcut and illustrations until after the movement of the fashionable world to its shores, for fine residences and recreation. Of its earlier history there are a few meager gleanings of interest. You know of course that geologically it is a glacial kettle hole of great size, similar to the smaller cup-like dry hollows near the old Children's Museum on Pine Bank. Its area comprises about 70 acres. Authorities differ as to its greatest depth somewhere between 50 and 65 feet roughly, in the center. There are some who claim it has no bottom at all. Originally it was called The Great Pond, and the Plain contiguous to it The Pond Plain, but by 1677 both had received the name of Jamaica probably in compliment to Cromwell in commemoration of his valuable conquest of the Island of Jamaica from Spain. A description of Roxbury at the close of the Revolution says: "It has several high hills, which afford an agreeable prospect of the town and harbor of Boston, and one large pond covering about 120 acres, near which is a Plain of a mile in length, known by the name of Jamaica Plain, remarkable for the pleasantness of its situation and the number of gentlemen's houses upon it." This is one of the maps in the collection showing the Pond and its surroundings in 1874. The Loring- Greenough House is not shown but would be at the bottom, just to the left of the title, West Roxbury. From Centre Street, (formerly Old Dedham Road) running horizontally from the bottom on the right the two roads that lead to the pond and skirt it are Pond Street below it on the south, and Perkins Street above it on the north. Perkins Street, originally Connecticut Lane, was named for William Perkins who settled in Roxbury in 1632, not for the Perkins Family who built on Pine Bank in 1802, and who have lived in its neighborhood ever since. Starting at Pine Bank, Edward Perkins's place, the point that juts out into the Pond from the right, I should like to take you for a quick trip around the Pond, naming the different places on the shore at this period. Adjoining it and just below Pine Bank are the large Curtis lands, farms that had been continuously in the Curtis family since 1689. The Curtis orchards were famous for their apples, which were shipped to foreign ports in great quantity. Next we come to five small rectangular properties with the names first Adams, then Winslow, Spaulding, Gorham and Munson. Then, following along Pond Street, near the water passing by the foot of Burroughs Street, just opposite Eliot Street we come to the great storehouse of the Jamaica Pond Ice Co., the main source of supply of ice for Boston for over 50 years. Just beside the icehouse lived a Mrs. Dyman on a small lot, then the almost square Frothingham place that had its entrance on Prince Street, which connects Pond with Perkins. Prince Street at this end was laid through the property that had belonged to the Royal Governor, Sir Francis Barnard, from 1760-1769. It was he, you will remember, who was recalled to England by urgent Colonial request. Sir William Pepperel then occupied the house for a few years, until in 1779 the property was http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/cabot.html 7/16/2004 Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond Page 3 of 11 confiscated by the State and sold to Martin Brimmer of Boston who lived here until his death in 1804. Capt. John Prince then purchased the place where he developed fine orchards, famous for their variety, of pears, plums, apricots, grapes and apples. Beyond the Frothingham land is the long and narrow property of Robert M. Morse, and next to it another ice House of the Jamaica Pond Ice Co. This icehouse is of later construction than the one by Eliot. It is not shown on the map of 1858. We then come to the property of Francis Parkman. the historian. which today is marked with a granite memorial on the site of his house. He spent his summers here from 1852 until his death in 1893. On the corner where Prince and Perkins Streets meet, and running back to the Pond is "Lochstead" the home of David Wallace. Across Perkins Street there is quite a settlement of small places encroaching on the lands of Ignatius Sargent Gradually these small houses were acquired by Mr. Sargent and his son Charles, and demolished for the improvement of the entrance from the Pond to Holmlea the famous Sargent Estate. Then comes the Cabot place, the house built by Quincy Shaw in the 1860s and next to it the land of Mrs. Henry Cleveland and Charles Perkins, sister and brother of Edward Perkins of Pine Bank. Just across Perkins Street, behind Pine Bank, IS Ward's Pond. another lovely, but quite small glacial kettle note Here you have one of the means of transportation between Boston and Jamaica Plain around 1855. It is an illustration from the popular weekly, "Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion". Can you read the sign, "Boston and Jamaica Plain" in large letters on the side? As early as 1826 there was a service of coaches running on the hour between Boston and Roxbury. They were called "Hourlies." And, by 1834, the Providence R. R. had laid a single-track line, for the express convenience of commuters. Access to the Pond, until well on in the 19th century was from the Jamaica Plain side there was no road connecting the Pond with Brookline. Augustine Shurtleff in the "Sagemore", the Brookline High School paper for 1895, describes memories of reaching it from Brookline about 1839. Here you have a woodcut by Winslow Homer entitled, "Skating on Jamaica Pond, near Boston". It appeared in Ballou's Pictorial for Jan. 29, 1859. You can see Homer's signature on the small sled on the right. http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/cabot.html 7/16/2004 Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond Page 4 of 11 The paper describes it thus: The graceful picture below was drawn expressly for us by Mr. Homer, and faithfully represents the favorite winter sport on Jamaica Pond. The larger figures in the foreground were sketched from life, as their spirited and natural action indicates, and are likenesses of individuals, which will be readily recognized by their friends. The topography of the distant shore of the pond is accurately sketched, as any resident of the locality will testify and the whole is an expressive record of winter amusements at one of the most popular end fashionable places in the vicinity of Boston. The companionship of ladies on the skating field, and their earnest participation in the sport is a pleasing novelty. A larger and perhaps less aristocratic scene was published in Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in 1858. Here you can plainly see, in the background, the ice House at Eliot Street and on the left, buildings that, by comparison with a map of the same date seem to be Farrington [and] Amory houses. In the figures there is verve and élan, there is feminine dash and there is conjugal devotion. Three on the extreme left find warmth in the bottle rather than in exercise. There is a small iceboat in the distance and a line of figures as rhythmic as Rockettes, executing "Snap the Whip." And here is the Bufford Lithograph of 1858 that appeared in Antiques Magazine in 1925, the start of the collection. On the extreme left in the background are the trees of Pine Bank. The Farrington, Amory and Curtis houses must be there but have not been identified. There is a grace and style here, ermine and silk top hats, the mood gay, but more restrained than in 1850: the past picture. Dorr's In her diary for the years 1855 to 1859, Elizabeth build Rogers Mason of Boston, who later married Walter Cabot of Brookline, has a description that fits the scene verideze, before you. N. On Jan. 26, 1855 she writes: (Extract from the diary of Elizabeth Rogers Mason, (Mrs. Walter Cabot) owned by Charles C. Cabot.) Jan. 26, 1855 / failed to mention a new amusement which has arisen on the Boston horizon skating Last Wednesday, having heard or the performances of some of the ladies who live on Jamaica Pond, the two Mrs. Bacons (née Low) and many others, a party of girls determined to go out to the omnibus to see them. The weather was fine, and having had an early dinner, and borrowed Fanny Cary's skates, Willy and / proceeded to the omnibus on Park Street corner, at quarter of three where we found Mrs. Sam Hooper and Annie, Lucy Sturgis, Nelly Hooper, and the Grays a Mr. Lord and his sister of New York and Mr. John Hanson, Mr. Joe Gardner etc. Arriving at Green's corner in little more than half an hour, we walked onto the Pond, where we http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/cabot.html 7/16/2004 Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond Page 5 of 11 found crowds of people skating, or learning, sliding, laughing, etc. / put on Fanny's skates, and was able to stand on them very well and to be pulled about, that is by taking the arm of some one who skated well, / could follow, taking no motions myself, but without losing my balance. Mr. Fay was very polite, and carried me many times over the ice, also Mr. Edward Perkins, Mr. Gardner, and others. In coming home, it snowed hard, and the walk to the cars by which we returned, which is more than half a mile, was by no means delightful. Neither can / say much for the walk from the Providence depot through Charles Street, which was wet, cold and horrid. Jan 30, 1855 Good skating again / was glad to arrive at length at the omnibus. Our party, which was very large, soon more than filled it, SO that some of the gentlemen got a carriage, and invited Mrs. Hooper and myself to ride in it. We, making ourselves small rode on the back seat with Willy and Mr. Lord, Frank Palfrey and Mr. John Higginson occupied the front one. The pond was covered with people amounting to five or six hundred, the afternoon was brilliant and / enjoyed it excessively. Jan. 31, 1855 This morning called for Lucy Sturgis and raced down at ten to the Providence depot. Here we found Willy Amory, Mr. Higginson, the Grays, Mr. Lord, Mary Quincy, George Dexter, and others. The weather was brilliant, the skating splendid, and to our great surprise, we met a good many people on the pond. We all had a very grand time; one sees people in such an easy, pleasant way. Altogether we passed a very gay morning, and returned by the omnibus at one, in very high spirits. Feb. 1, 1855 notwithstanding the snow, which fell fast, called for the Hoopers, and with them proceeded to the omnibus for Jamaica Pond. Mrs. Hooper, Annie, Suzy Welles, Charlotte Gray, Lizzie Winthrop and myself, with Mr. Higginson, Mr. Gardner and Willy formed our party. We thought ourselves very energetic, and were mutually surprised to find each other. Lucy Sturgis rode out with Mr. John Reed Arrived at the pond and we found Mr. Willy Otis, Mr. Peabody, Mr. Palfrey, and all the world. Sheltons, Mary Coolidge, Mr. Dixon, Mr. Brimmer, an assembly in fact. Mr. Otis was in great distress, because having promised to carry Mattie Parker out in his wagon, he had thought her in jest and had driven out without even calling for her, while Charlotte Grav left her at half after ten, waiting with all her things on. / enjoyed the afternoon more than ever before. The sun had checked the wind. It was mild; good skating and / felt remarkably well. / crossed the pond with Lucy Howard, who does not skate better than myself, several times, we found long lines of a dozen all taking hold of hands, we were pushed in a sleigh belonging to the Bacons, and in a kind of high chair on runners, which Mr. Joe Gardner had made expressly for the purpose; and altogether it was splendid. / never felt a sensation of cold, even in my feet, which generally suffer horribly, and was in high spirits. In crossing the pond on our return / had my first real fall, for being behind the others, and dragged very rapidly by a long stick, / came suddenly to very rough ice without perceiving it, and measured my length, without injury, however, except to my bonnet, and in getting very wet from the snow. We rode in sitting in each other's laps, the omnibus being perfectly crowded, and at home found Aunt Ellen and Uncle John to tea. Mon. Feb. 8, 1858 A fine dry day though windy. Skating as a matter of course. We tried a little pond called Ward's near Jamaica but found it terribly windy, and crossed over to Jamaica where under the lee of the shore we had a very nice place. http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/cabot.html 7/16/2004 Historic Pictures of Jamaica Pond Page 6 of 11 Sat. Feb. 27, 1858 Went out to Jamaica Pond this morning. The ice rather poor. Lewis Cabot was there and very pleasant. Thurs. Mar. 4, 1858 Went out to Jamaica Pond today, but the skating was poor excepting a little patch twenty feet long, where / tried the outer edge alone, and did not get it. Fri. Mar. 5, 1858 Went to Jamaica Pond but it was so bitterly cold that / was perfectly exhausted when / got home. Jan. 25, 1859 Went out skating with Nellie Hooper to Jamaica. Jan. 26, 1859 Went today to some meadows near Jamaica Pond. Perfect ice and hot weather. Jan. 31 1859 Went to Jamaica Pond to skate after dinner. reddest Feb. 1, 1859 Went out this morning to Jamaica. A snowstorm came Thursday. Feb. 6, 1859 Buried the skating, rather to my relief for one cannot stay at home when it is good. By March 5, 1858 perhaps thrill and enthusiasm had waned a bit for she Park records "Went to Jamaica Pond today but it was so bitterly cold that I was perfectly exhausted when I got home." Although the skating scene on this sheet of music is entitled: "View on boston, Jamaica Pond", it does not show in the slide. The very same Skating Polka can be found dedicated to other bodies of water Central Park, for instance. However, this may be the original one, and it does look like Pine Bank in the background. It serves to show you the last word in fashion for the period on the young lady in the foreground, who has discarded the bonnet for the daring new hat, known as the "Tom and Jerry." And you get a good view here of the skates that James DeWolf Lovett has described so graphically in his reminiscences Old Boston Boys. Ice skates in those days were clumsy affairs, the front end piece curling back over the foot in a large scroll usually ornamented with a brass acorn fixed upon its tip. A simple straight spike fitted a hole bored in the boot heel and the skate was held on to the boot by straps, necessarily drawn up almost to the breaking point and crossing over the top of the foot, thus most effectively stopping all circulation and causing an excruciatingly painful coldness in that member. This appeared in Ballou's Pictorial 1855. It was taken from the shore near Burroughs Street and looks toward Pine Bank, beyond to the slope on which Quincy Shaw built his http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/cabot.html 7/16/2004 Jamica Plain Through Time Page 1 of 5 Jamaica Plain Through Time Like most settlements in the Boston area, Jamaica Plain traces its origins back to Puritan times. These voyagers from England settled the area in 1630. The Reverend John Eliot founded the Roxbury Meeting House in the 1600s, and in 1689 he donated a 75-acre tract of land for the establishment of a school which would be open to all children white, black, or Native American. Jamaica Plain as it appeared in 1832. (BPL). (Click image for larger version) West Roxbury, as Jamaica Plain was known, grew from a few farms into a quiet country town with large estates for the wealthy. By the 19th century, however, the area began to undergo changes. In 1826. the first omnibus lines were established from Boston to Jamaica Plain. Eight years later. the Boston and Providence Railroad arrived in Jamaica Plain in the Stoney Brook Valley. Depots at Stony Brook and Green Street were established. The railroad's arrival led to a large increase in the development of the farms and estates that occupied the "Jamaica Plains". Development increased SO rapidly in the area that the tracks were later elevated on a stone embankment. Unfortunately, this embankment served to divide Roxbury from West Roxbury, and the two areas developed very differently. (They were reunited in 1987. with the completion of the Southwest Corridor.) JANAICA PLAIN. MASK JAMAICA MAY JAMAICA PLAIN OMNIBUSES. NEW ARRANGEMENT APRIL 1, 1853. The Coaches will leave Jamaica Plain at 6. 10. 11. 18, A. M. and 1,2,3, 4 and Leave Boston at 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, A. M. and I, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6, 7, 8, 9, P. M. The Coaches leaving Jamaica Plain at 8 aud 10, A. M., and I and 4, P. M. will pass round through Eliot and Pond streets and May's Lane BEFORE leaving the Office, while the Coaches leaving Boston at the same hours will pass through the same streets AFTER arriving at the Office. FARE, 12 1-2 Cents, or 10 Tickets for 31. BUNDAY# a Coach leares Jamaica Plain at y 1-4, M. and 2, P. N., and Boston al 12, . and 5 FARE, 25 CENTS Six TICKETH FOR 1. OFFICE IN BOSTON, No. 2 MON I'GOMERY PLACE. or Private parties call be provided with ut any time at short notice Horses, Carriages, and Haddle Hurser to Jet at the étable on Centre street, (formerly the Seaver Stable.) Also, Stabling for Hones. BURBANK & THOMPSON, Proprietors. The Jamaica Plain station on the Boston and Providence Railroad. An 1853 schedule advertising Jamaica Plain Omnibuses. (BPL) (BPL) (The station sits at the current location of the Green Street stop on the Orange Line) In the mid-1850s development in Jamaica Plain was spurred yet again by transportation. The City of Roxbury, and town of West Roxbury granted a horsecar franchise to the West Roxbury Railroad. The first line was built in 1857 down South and Centre Streets and extended all the way to Roxbury Crossing in Roxbury. Later that year. the lines was connected to the Tremont Street track in Boston when the Metropolitan Railroad leased the West Roxbury Railroad. This provided a direct connection between Jamaica Plain and downtown Boston, and began the "Streetcar Suburb" era of Jamaica Plain. http://web.mit.edu/jdreed/www/11.016/assignment2.html 1/7/2009 Jamica Plain Through Time Page 2 of 5 JA MAICA The business district of Jamaica Plain as it existed in 1874. You can clearly see the "Town Hall" (Curtis Hall), "Jamaica Station" (Green Street Depot), and the streetcar line down the middle of Centre and South Streets. (Map of Boston, 1874, G.M. Hopkins & Co.) Cludd fall The following year, a new streetcar line was built on Washington Street, spurring more development to the east of Centre Street. In the 1870s, the lines were "double-tracked", and ridership increased dramatically. This significantly reduced the amount of time necessary to travel from Downtown to Jamaica Plain, and the area became even more attractive to upper middle-class families who desired to move away from the city. The streetcar lines were electrified in 1893, and in 1897, the desire to have a direct connection to the new Tremont Street Subway spurred the construction of yet another direct line from Jamaica Plain to Park Street, under the auspices of the West End Street Railway company. The current streetcar line was officially opened in 1903. Six years later, the El arrived at Forest Hills Station, and Jamaica Plain was afforded a rapid connection to Downtown, making the area even more desirable to businessmen who worked in Boston, yet wished to live further away. A Jamaica Plain horsecar stops in front of the car-barn on South Street in 1880. (BPL) A Jamaica Plain electrified streetcar leaves the car-house on South Street in 1898. The early electrified cars were nothing more than two horsecars joined together, which saved costs by recycling old equipment. http://web.mit.edu/jdreed/www/11.016/assignment2.html 1/7/2009 The Perkins and Storey Families Page 1 of 3 Find Luxurious Home Plans Mansion Floor Plans Home Plans More Mansion Floor Plans From over 90 premiere designers Mansion house plan blueprints for Home plans at The Home Store Search our database by square ft Register and receive a free CD- homes up to 12,000 square feet. Building modular homes in NH. for your Luxury home plans ROM Ads by Goog The Perkins and Storey Families By Walter H. Marx When China trade merchant brothers Thomas and James Perkins headed south of Boston for summer country homes in the early 1800's, the younger Thomas built a house (now gone) near Jamaica Plain in Brookline, at Heath and Warren Streets, while James chose the shores of Jamaica Pond, building Pinebank T in 1802. Pinebank III pitifully stands today or the site, the only residence spared in the Jamaica Park Project of the 1890's. Here James died in 1822 with Pinebank goir to his grandchildren: Charles, Edward and Sarah. Sarah continued to live there after she married Henry Cleveland in 1838 Her letters, which are preserved in the New York Public Library, tell of her early life at the house: boating on the Pond starting at the Perkins Boathouse on the Cove (which was filled in by the city by 1920), long horseback rides, and the like. reception of CH-Dair. Photograph courtesy of Peter Rolla After her husband's early death in 1843, Mrs. Cleveland relinquished her share in Pinebank to Edward upon his marriage. By 1848 he had torn down Pinebank I to build a French-style mansion with mansard roof, which Sarah termed not to her liking. She described the first home's demolition to Charles, in Europe, and 20 years later, recorded the burning of Pinebank II due to a chimney fire on February 10. 1868. Two years later, Edward built the Pinebank (number three) that we know today. Sarah termed its 11,000 white molded bricks from England "the 11,000 Virgins of St. Ursula" and gave her avid stamp of approval. She made her observation from her home, Nutwood, built in 1866 on the ridge opposite Pinebank on the tongue of high land on the Pond's north sho next to the Quincy Shaw's. This land she shared with Charles, now home from studies in Europe, in a house called Oakwood, approached by the now leaf-covered stairway at Perkins and Chestnut Streets. Both sides of Chestnut Street on the Boston side were Perkins land until the area on the Ward's Pond side was sold to the Jamaica Plain Aqueduct Company-to become parkland in the 1890's. Oakwood and Nutwood stood until the early 1970's when they became part of the Cabot Estate Condominiums and (unlike the Shaw House) were demolished. As an art historian and author, Charles became the best-known Perkins of his generation. The former school on St. Botolp Street was named for him. Graduating from Harvard in 1843, he studied art in Italy and France, before turning to music. Some of his works survive. He specialized in Renaissance Art, and several books that he authored became basic texts in the field. Like his neighbors, he made time for civic causes like the Boston Art Club, the Boston School Board (1870-83), the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Handel & Hayden Society. Charles gave the Beethoven statue that today graces the Ne England Conservatory, and pushed for music and art training in American schools. He also lectured before the Lowell Institute. http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/perkins.html 2/18/2005 The Perkins and Storey Families Page 2 of 3 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Mass. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Charles Perkins' life ended tragically in August 1886, when he was thrown from a carriage and instantly killed. His son Charles, Jr., an architect, took over Oakwood and lived out his life there. Though the Cleveland's had children, like the Shaw's, they were gone from the Pond by 1920. Into Nutwood moved Charles Moorfield Storey and his wife Susan. Son of eminent jurist and author, Moorfield Storey of Roxbury (1845-1929), Charles graduated from Harvard in 1912, and had garnered a law degree by 1915. He entered a Boston law firm, but was in Washington on government business during World War I. A hater of political corruption like his father and endowed with a keen sense of public duty like his neighbors, Storey soon was on boards that watched over Boston City Hall. He was active in academic institutions and various societies, while also sitting on the boards of various companies. Storey is remembered for his political collision with Governor Curley, who in 1935 removed Storey from the watchdog Finance Commission on a trumped-up charge to make room for a gubernatorial crony. Storey, a tall, slim man with a high sense of public duty, took it all in stride. The Governor's Council later passed a resolution proclaiming belief in Storey's integrity. He served the Commission again from 1939 to 1942. Storey worked for the government once more in World War II and lost a son in action. The family regretfully moved out of 229 Perkins Street in 1974 and six years later Charles Storey died in Brookline at age 91. His recipe for longevity was walking three miles a day, eating fish, and being happy, satisfied, and interested in what one does. His Nutwood lives on il exterior and interior photographs preserved in various places in the City. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography; National Cyclopedia of American Biography; Obituary, Boston Globe, March 20, 1980; C. Everitt, The Tavern at 100, 1984; Cabot, Skating on Jamaica Pond; S.P. Shaw, grandson. Reprinted with permission from the November 6, 1992 Jamaica Plain Gazette. Copyright © Gazette Publications, Inc. Home http://www.geocities.com/jphistoricalsociety/perkins.html 2/18/2005 Yellow Harelopers. Danny D.Smith. 173 HILL HOUSE. At Merryweather this was the toilet facility before the days of running water at the Casino (q.v.). HORN, see Around the Horn. INDIAN POINT. This ocean front camp in Georgetown, Maine was purchased by John Richards in 1932 for his parents upon their retirement from Merryweather. From 1932 to 1937 other family members managed Merryweather during which time Henry and Laura Richards stayed away. The name of the house was Roscahegan at Indian Point. In the 1960s, this place was owned by Philo T. Calhoun, the Rhode Island attorney; and, in the 1980s, by Peter W. Cox, editor of the Maine Times. INSTITUTE, see Perkins Institute. JAMAICA PLAIN. This suburban community south of Boston was the place of residence of Robert Hallowell Richards, brother of Henry Richards. Here his first wife Ellen Henrietta (Swallow) Richards organized one of the most efficient of households in America as she is known as the founder of Home Economics. LAWTON'S VALLEY. This summer residence of Julia Ward Howe in Portsmouth, Rhode Island is described in Maud Howe Elliott, This was my Newport (1944) in chapter 4, "Lawton's Valley." Many letters of Julia Ward Howe are dated from Lawton's Valley. This summer residence was sold by Samuel Gridley Howe, to the chagrin of his wife, and they then bought Oak Glen (q.v.). LESNIAN. The estate of the baronial von Rabé family in East Prussia (now Poland). Anne Crawford, daughter of Thomas and Louisa (Ward) Crawford, married into this family, and her aunt Julia Ward Howe visited her here and disgraced herself by speaking to the servants, such were the rigid social barriers between classes. Julia did not consider herself disgraced and kept on talking! LIGHT. [The Merryweather Light] This memorial to the Merryweathers who perished in the First World War was designed by Henry Richards, the lantern in cast bronze by J. Gregory Wiggins, and constructed by Charles Foster Batchelder, still exists in pristine condition at North Belgrade, Maine. The poem on the light by Laura E. Richards constitutes the last words in the autobiograhy of Henry Richards. LILLIPUT. The name of the residence of Maud Howe Elliott, in widowhood, on Lovers' Lane in Newport. Here she received her admirals, including Nimitz. LOVERS' LANE. The street in Newport, Rhode Island where the Pinebank Mansion - Wikipedia Page 1 of 3 Coordinates: 42.319629°N 71.119545°W Pinebank Mansion From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pinebank Mansion was a Queen Anne-style house sited on a hill overlooking Jamaica Pond in Boston, Pinebank Mansion Massachusetts. Built in 1868 by John Hubbard General information Sturgis, it was the only mansion retained by Frederick Architectural style Queen Anne-style Law Olmsted in his plans the Emerald Necklace park system. [1] It was the only original structure remaining Town or city Jamaica Pond Park Boston, Massachusetts in the park system [2] at the time of its demolition in 2007. Country United States Construction started 1868 Completed 1870 [1] Contents Demolished January 2007 1 History Client Edward Perkins 1.1 Perkins family home Design and construction 1.2 City of Boston Architect John Hubbard Sturgis 1.3 Demolition and afterward 2 References 3 External links History Perkins family home The Queen-Anne Style Pinebank is the third house that sat on the site overlooking Jamaica Pond. The first house was built as a summer home in 1806 by James Perkins, senior partner in the China Trade shipping firms of James and Thomas Handasyd Perkins. His grandson, Edward Newton "Ned" Perkins, replaced the first house in 1848 with an elegant mansard-roofed home for year-round use. After this burned down in 1868, Ned instructed his cousin and architect John Hubbard Sturgis to build the third Pinebank house. City of Boston The city of Boston acquired Pinebank in 1892. It was damaged by a fire in 1895 and rebuilt, then used as the headquarters of the Boston Parks Commission. [1] In 1913, Pinebank became the first home of Boston Children's Museum, and served in that role until 1936. From 1936 to 1970, it was occupied by the engineering department of the Boston Parks Commission. [1] From 1970 to 1975, Pinebank was used for a city-sponsored community arts program. After that, fires in 1976 and 1978 destroyed the interior and seriously damaged the roof. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinebank_Mansion 4/18/2017 Pinebank Mansion - Wikipedia Page 2 of 3 In 1978, Pinebank Mansion was listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places as part of the Olmsted Park System and in 1996, Historic Massachusetts listed Pinebank as one of the state's top ten most endangered historic places. Demolition and afterward The city released a structural analysis report that concluded that the building was unsalvageable on January 10, 2006 ³ and expected the building to be demolished within the year. The Boston Landmarks Commission unanimously approved the demolition in a full vote on September 26, 2006. [4] At that meeting, three different memorial designs were presented by Victor Walker of Walker Kluesing Design Group.15 [5] On December 19, 2006, the city's Inspectional Services Department ordered the Parks and Recreation Department to demolish the building, citing that the structure was a safety hazard. [6] Demolition began on January 3, 2007. [7] Some of the structure's debris was entombed in a vault in the foundation, to be used as reference material if the mansion is one day rebuilt. [8] The memorial design chosen delineates the mansion's perimeter in granite, set flush with the ground, and the outline filled with grass. The front of the house will be marked with a low brick, granite-topped wall that can be used as a bench, and up to three metal signs will contain information on the former building. [9] The exterior steps taken from Hancock Manor will be included in the memorial work. References 1. Porter, Bill (2006-09-11). "Saving a jewel of the 5. Ruch, John (2006-09-22). "Pinebank designs Emerald Necklace". Boston Globe. revealed". Jamaica Plain Gazette, 2. Firestone, Allison (2006-02-06). "City of Boston 6. Daniel, Mac (2007-01-05). "Pinebank mansion is Considers Razing Emerald Necklace's Last on its way down". Boston Globe. Building". Preservation. 7. Ruch, John (2007-01-19). "Pinebank comes down 3. Preer, Robert (2006-01-15). "Demolition Yes, brick by loose brick". Jamaica Plain Gazette. 'Disney' No". Boston Globe. "An engineering 8. Ruch, John (2007-07-06). "Outline, lawn to mark report released last week determined that the city- Pinebank spot". Jamaica Plain Gazette, owned building is falling down and cannot be 9. Preer, Robert (2007-07-22). "Where Pinebank restored." once stood, a memorial patch of green". Boston 4. Ruch, John (2006-10-06). "Pinebank tear-down Globe. OK'd". Jamaica Plain Gazette. External links Friends of Pinebank (http://www.pinebank.org/) "Pinebank, a Former Homestead in Jamaica Plain". Jamaica Plain Gazette. 1991-09-21. Retrieved from"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pinebank_Mansion&oldid=743294185" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinebank_Mansion 4/18/2017 New book by Anthony Sammarco highlights history of Jamaica Plain - Jamaica Plain Gazette Jamaica Plain Gazette Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts Newspaper NEWS New book by Anthony Sammarco highlights history of Jamaica Plain by John Lynds November 6, 2020 0 Comments Known in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as the Jamaica End of Roxbury, the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain evolved from agrarian farmland for over 200 years into one of the more dynamic and inclusive neighborhoods of twenty-first century Boston. A new book by Anthony Sammarco, noted author and historian of over sixty books on the history and development of Boston, entitled, "Jamaica Plain Through Time" Sammarco explores the development of Jamaica Plain from farmland to an urban hub in Boston. According to Arcadia Publishing this photographic history of Jamaica Plain, Sammarco, with contemporary photographs by Peter B. Kingman, has created a, "fascinating book that chronicles the neighborhood from the late nineteenth century through to the twenty-first century." "Jamaica Plain became one of the earliest streetcar suburbs of Boston with various forms of transportation linking it to downtown Boston," said Sammarco in his introduction of the new book. "With horse drawn streetcars, the Boston & Providence jamaicaplaingazette.com/2020/11/06/new-book-by-anthony-sammarco-highlights-history-of-jamaica-plain/ 1/11 New book by Anthony Sammarco highlights history of Jamaica Plain - Jamaica Plain Gazette Railroad as well as the Boston Elevated Railway, by the turn of the twentieth century, the ease of transportation allowed a thriving nexus of cultures to move to a community that not only saw tremendous residential and commercial development, especially with the numerous breweries along the Stony Brook, but also greenspace and open lands that were laid out by Frederick Law Olmstead as a part of the "Emerald Necklace" of Boston. Its bucolic setting led to Jamaica Plain being called The Eden of America." In the book, Sammarco points out that in the twentieth century, Jamaica Plain was also to become the location of numerous hospitals and institutions that provided care for Bostonians. "The Faulkner, Washington, Shattuck, Vincent Memorial, Massachusetts Osteopathic and the Veterans Administration Hospitals; the New England Home for Little Wanderers and the Trinity Church Home; the Boston School of Physical Education, the Eliot School, the Perkins School for the Blind and the Nursery for Blind Babies; the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Children's Museum all contributed to Jamaica Plain's pride of place in Boston," Sammarco continues. The book can now be found on Amazon for $23.44 in paperback form. Sammarco is well known in Boston and within historical circles of the city. He lectures widely on the history and development of his native city of Boston. His books-Lost Boston, The History of Howard Johnson's: How A Massachusetts Soda Fountain Became a Roadside Icon, Jordan Marsh: New England's Largest Store, The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History, and Christmas Traditions in Boston have been bestsellers. Sammarco has taught history at the Urban College of Boston, where he was named educator of the year and serves on the Leadership Council. For his work in history he has received the Bulfinch Award from the Doric Dames of the Massachusetts State House, a lifetime achievement award from the Victorian Society, New England Chapter and the Washington Medal from Freedom Foundation and was named Dorchester town historian by Raymond L. Flynn, mayor of Boston. jamaicaplaingazette.com/2020/11/06/new-book-by-anthony-sammarco-highlights-history-of-jamaica-plain/ 2/11 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond - a knol by Charles Rosenberg Page 1 of 7 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond Jamaica Plain sent ice to points around the globe Learn about the time when "Ice was King" and a thriving industry based on harvesting ice from rivers and ponds was a major industry in Boston and other New England cities and towns. A leader in the global trade of frozen gold This article is based on a talk sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society and presented by Charlie Rosenberg on November 27, 2007 at the First Church in Jamaica Plain. Editorial assistance was provided by Peter O'Brien. As early as 400 BC, Persian engineers had mastered the technique of storing ice throughout the summer months. The ice was brought in from the mountains during the winter and stored in large, specially designed, naturally cooled underground "refrigerators" with six-foot thick walls of special insulating mortar. This ancient practice of harvesting ice was the beginning of what was to become, during the 19th century, a major commercial enterprise here in New England. Before the 19th century, ice was a commodity available only to the very rich and to those who could harvest it themselves. All that changed as the ice harvesting industry became increasingly mechanized and new technologies were developed that allowed more people to enjoy the benefits of ice year round. In North America, ice harvested from rivers and ponds was originally stored in underground vaults similar to root cellars. Nathaniel Wyeth, who was the director of ice operations for ice magnate Frederic Tudor at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, is credited with inventing the ice plow, and in 1825 he conceived the idea of erecting insulated buildings above ground to store ice. These wood buildings were double- walled and insulated with straw or sawdust. A properly constructed and insulated icehouse was thus able to preserve ice throughout the summer and into the following ice harvesting season. Before the appearance of the industrial engine, hauling ice into storage was a slow and laborious process that required the use of horses, heavy ropes and pulleys. By the middle of the 19th century, stationary industrial steam engines were being used to drive ice conveyors at a rapid pace, greatly improving the efficiency of hauling the heavy cakes of ice up to the icehouses on the shore. The first evidence of a commercial ice operation on Jamaica Pond is found on an inset of an 1855 map of Suffolk County showing the E.M. Stoddard and Company Ice Company owning a row of icehouses near the modern day rotary at Jamaicaway and Prince Street. http://knol.google.com/k/charles-rosenberg/harvesting-ice-on-jamaica-pond/1gh4qfhia2omp/4 1/7/2009 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond - a knol by Charles Rosenberg Page 2 of 7 ,DORR cord EGreen. Waymary Academy CH Miller E.T.Parrington Callanson M.M.Smith. C.E.Converse Swell M.M.Smith Lithlink WOLLINOUR Thurne Mallett ED.Buits LulBradish N.H. Henchman it's Health d Russell J. Dave 1.Comma Mrs.l.Prince P.Lancohn 1855 map showing the E.M. Stoddard & Co. ice house. By 1874, Stoddard's business was operating as the Jamaica Pond Ice Company. The Boston Globe reported in February of that year that the Jamaica Pond Ice Company was employing about 350 men harvesting ice on Jamaica Pond, packing the ice into the icehouses, and delivering ice to wholesale and retail customers. The Globe reported that the men were being paid, on average, $1.75 per day. Little is known about Mr. Stoddard, but we do know that Phineas B. Smith was active in the ice business as early as 1855 and was a partner with E.M. Stoddard. Smith was later the president of the Jamaica Pond Ice Company. http://knol.google.com/k/charles-rosenberg/harvesting-ice-on-jamaica-pond/1gh4qfhia2omp/4 1/7/2009 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond - a knol by Charles Rosenberg Page 3 of 7 1874 Hopkins map showing Jamaica Pond Ice Company ice houses on Jamaica Pond. By 1880, the Jamaica Pond Ice Company had 22 icehouses on Jamaica Pond with a storage capacity of 30,000 tons. The company supplied ice to customers in Brookline, West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, South End, Roxbury and Dorchester. At the peak of the harvesting season the company employed more than 600 men with 75 men being employed during the summer. The company had a special brewery department with 100 teams of horses that were used to supply ice to 25 breweries in the area. The Dean Dudley & Company Boston Directory, published in 1873-74, lists the Jamaica Pond Ice Company as having offices at 2389 Washington Street. This building, no longer extant, was located one block from Dudley Square. The same directory shows that Phineas B. Smith, who owned the Jamaica Plain Ice Company, lived at 30 Marcella Street, near the present Jackson Square. By the 1850's it was common for those with moderate incomes to store ice in the home In 1856 system was patented based on ice being placed in the top of a wooden box with natural draft air circulating around it. During the late 1800's dozens of companies entered the market for these devices that came to be known as "iceboxes.") Like any business, the ice industry responded to competition and consumer demands. In 1880, the Boston Globe reported that the standards in the ice delivery business had changed significantly in the past few years; "Previously, one man was employed to drive the ice wagon and dump dirty blocks of ice on the customer's doorstep or sidewalk. Now it is the practice to have two men on each wagon. One of those men will drive the wagon. He will be experienced, trustworthy and well dressed. The other man is known as the "striker." He will carry the ice from the wagon into the house and place it in the icebox. Before doing so, he will insure that the block of ice is cleaned and dressed." http://knol.google.com/k/charles-rosenberg/harvesting-ice-on-jamaica-pond/1gh4qfhia2omp/4 1/7/2009 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond - a knol by Charles Rosenberg Page 4 of 7 Two Jamaica Pond Ice Company employees pose with their wagon and team. In February of 1874, the Boston Globe reported that the Jamaica Plain Ice Company was cutting about 5,000 tons of ice a day and, "will probably fill all of their ice houses by next week. The ice is ten inches thick and crystal clear. The pond will be cleared by the end of this season." The Globe also reported on the wholesale price of ice in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston as ranging from $5 to $12 ton, ,, per reduced to round numbers, the cost of ice to consumers in these four cities is twenty millions of dollars. Add to this amount all that is consumed in the other large cities of the Union, to say nothing of the lesser cities and towns, and one can realize the amount of the ice traffic of the country. How Ice is Harvested The first step in harvesting ice involved removing the accumulated snow on top of the ice. In the early years of the ice industry, snow was considered a hindrance but over time it was learned that the snow acted as an insulator, and by blocking the sunlight, the blanket of snow promoted deeper freezing. The preferred thickness of ice was 15 inches, although 12 inches was considered acceptable. The thicker ice was selected for export because up to half the thickness could be lost during long shipboard voyages. When ready for harvesting, the snow was removed using heavy scrapers pulled by teams of horses. Another method was known as "sinking the pond." This latter method involved boring a series of large holes in the ice to allow water to flow up through the holes and melt the snow, thus bonding the freshly melted snow to the ice and increasing the yield of harvested ice. After removing the snow, the next step was to survey a six hundred square foot area of the ice, marking out the boundary lines with a hand cutter. After the survey, a cutter with two runners forty-four inches apart was used to score the surface of the ice. One of the runners of the cutter was a guide, the other had a large-toothed cutting edge designed to make a preliminary groove two inches deep in the ice. This implement traced a grid pattern on the surface. Then, a twin-bladed cutter followed the pattern laid out by the initial single-blade cutter. Next, an iron ice plow pulled by a team of horses cut down through the ice to within four inches of the bottom. http://knol.google.com/k/charles-rosenberg/harvesting-ice-on-jamaica-pond/1gh4qfhia2omp/4 1/7/2009 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond - a knol by Charles Rosenberg Page 5 of 7 The final cutting of the ice was done with hand tools. These included long-bladed saws with long- handled spades and fork bars. Large sections of the six hundred foot square were cut away, and these floats were ridden like rafts. The larger floats were divided into smaller pieces as it was floated toward the icehouse. The small pieces were then pushed onto a conveyor for a trip to the icehouse 70 feet above the pond surface. Jamaica Pond Ice Company employees with iron horse-drawn ice plows. An ice house and conveyor is seen in the background. Exporting Ice The first cargo of ice to be exported from America was a shipment of 130 tons shipped on the brig Favorite in August of 1805. The Favorite sailed from Boston to the West Indies and her voyage was organized by 21-year-old Frederic Tudor, a Boston Latin High School dropout, in response to an outbreak of yellow fever in the West Indies. Mr. Tudor, who went on to build an empire in ice, and who became known as the Ice King, harvested 200 tons of ice from a pond in Saugus and hauled it with teams to Charlestown, where it was loaded onto the Favorite and sailed to Martinique. While Mr. Tudor's ice exporting venture initially faced widespread ridicule, by 1812 he had developed a thriving export trade and had built a series of icehouses in Kingston, Jamaica. Soon thereafter he established a monopoly on ice trade in Havana, Cuba. In addition to finding and developing markets for the ice, Tudor had to build a far-flung business organization while inventing efficient shipping and storage techniques. He faced a number of other obstacles in his campaign to expand the ice export market including the Embargo Act, in effect from 1807 to 1809, which restricted foreign exports and, following the repeal of the Embargo Act, the War of 1812 which severely curtailed American shipping of all kinds. F.H. Forbes wrote in Scribner's Monthly Magazine in 1875 that, "The loading of ships at Charlestown is, perhaps, one of the most interesting features connected with the ice trade. As the cars pass down the track from the main road to the wharf, where the ships are waiting, they are separately weighed; then the car is moved to a position opposite the gangway of the ship; a long platform, rigged with iron or steel rails, is placed between the car and the gangway of the ship. Over this platform the ice is slid from the car door to the ship's rail The average amount of ice loaded on board ship in one day is three hundred tons, but, upon an emergency, five hundred tons can easily be disposed of." http://knol.google.com/k/charles-rosenberg/harvesting-ice-on-jamaica-pond/1gh4qfhia2omp/4 1/7/2009 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond - a knol by Charles Rosenberg Page 6 of 7 After establishing a thriving export business, Tudor then turned his attention to domestic markets and, in 1817; he established an ice business in Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Tudor moved on to set up trade with New Orleans in 1820 and soon New Orleans became the largest consumer of ice south of Philadelphia. In 1833, Mr. Tudor began supplying ice to Calcutta, India, some 16,000 miles from Boston. The voyage to Calcutta took nearly four months and served mostly ex-patriot British and other colonialists. Modern day travelers to Madras, India, may still visit the very icehouses that were built by Mr. Tudor's company. The following year, Mr. Tudor sent the first shipment of ice to Rio de Janeiro as he aggressively expanded his growing ice empire. Other entrepreneurs harvested ice in Wenham, Massachusetts, and attempted experimental shipments of ice to England (probably shipping it from Beverly) but ultimately they were not successful, as England had begun to import ice from Norway. As late as 1880, signs offering "Boston Ice" still appeared in the ice markets even though the Boston ice trade to England had long since been abandoned. The ice market in New York was SO strong that is was supplied locally by harvesting operations on the Hudson River and Rockland Lake, as well as by ice sent from Boston and other cities. Export of ice from Boston gradually declined as harvesting operations in Maine began to dominate the export market. Large ice operations were established on the Kennebec River and at other locations in Maine. Maine ice operators held several advantages over Boston. Ice could be harvested from the Kennebec River and loaded directly onto ships SO middleman transport costs were eliminated. Additionally, Maine had a longer harvesting season due to its colder climate. JAMATCA A section of a bird's-eye view of Jamaica Plain showing ice houses on Jamaica Pond. The Decline of the Industry The decline of the ice industry on Jamaica Pond was fueled by the conflict between commercial and recreational use of the pond. Large numbers of horses were used to harvest the ice and their waste led to pollution of both the water and the shoreline. A movement to incorporate the pond with the Emerald Necklace park system was also gaining currency. Further, starting in the 1850's, Jamaica Plain began to be heavily subdivided into housing lots when a number of large estates were broken up. Jamaica Plain was losing its rural character and becoming a community of well-heeled homeowners who wielded considerable political and economic clout. The noise, pollution and congestion associated with the ice http://knol.google.com/k/charles-rosenberg/harvesting-ice-on-jamaica-pond/1gh4qfhia2omp/4 1/7/2009 Harvesting Ice on Jamaica Pond - a knol by Charles Rosenberg Page 7 of 7 industry became a thorn in the side of the newly arrived gentry. There were other reasons for the decline that went beyond the local resistance of the newly settled residents of Jamaica Plain. By 1868, the first ice manufacturing plant was opened by the Louisiana Ice Manufacturing Company. And as time went on, the electric refrigerator made the ice company obsolete. By 1913 electric refrigerators were being marketed for household use although both natural and artificial ice continued to be delivered to homes through the end of World War II. After the war, home refrigerators quickly came to displace the icebox in most North American homes and the ice harvesting industry quietly came to an end. Charlie Rosenberg Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts November 2007 Sources Maps: City of Boston, Ward 23, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, O.H. Bailey & Co., 1891 West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain & Roslindale, Massachusetts, G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1874 Jamaica Plain/West Roxbury inset of an 1855 map of Suffolk County held by the Boston Public Library. Newspapers: Boston Daily Globe, February 6, 1874, pg. 8 Boston Daily Globe, January 19, 1879, pg. 2 Boston Daily Globe, February 15, 1880, pg. 2 Boston Daily Globe, February 8, 1885, pg. 9 Boston Daily Globe, February 21, 1889, pg. 4 Books and Periodicals: Scribner's Monthly Magazine, Vol 10, No 4, Aug. 1875 Allston-Brighton in Transition: From Cattle Town to Streetcar Suburb by Dr. William P. Marchione, The History Press, 2007 The Ice King: Frederic Tudor and His Circle, by Carl Seabury, Boston; Massachusetts Historical Society, and Mystic, Connecticut; Mystic Seaport, 2003 Ancient Inventions, by Peter James and Nick Thorpe, Ballantine Books, 1994, ISBN 0345401026 The Frozen Water Trade, by Gavin Weightman, Hyperion Books, 2003, ISBN 078686740X For more information about Jamaica Plain History, visit http://www.jphs.org http://knol.google.com/k/charles-rosenberg/harvesting-ice-on-jamaica-pond/1gh4qfhia2omp/4 1/7/2009 4/18/2017 Jamaica Plain exploring Boston's neighborhoods (Book, 1995) [WorldCat.org] OCLC WorldCat Search WorldCat Search Advanced Search Find a Library