Remember Jamaica Plain?

Kids Honor Officer Joe

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:33:00 +0000

The Boston Globe archive from 1927-79 are now available at the Boston Public Library, so I've taken the opportunity to explore the years of my own childhood. When I did, I found this article about officer Joe Graham, who served as crossing guard at the corner of Centre and Burroughs streets for many years, and was a beloved fixture in the neighborhood. I remember my mother talking about Joe years ago, and as recent as a few weeks ago I saw him mentioned on Facebook. It may surprise some younger people that police served as crossing guards, but it was a different time.

Kids Honor Officer Joe

Boston Globe, May 25, 1963

Big Joe received a 30-foot long grammar school diploma yesterday. It was signed by 550 students at the Agassiz grammar school on Burroughs street, Jamaica Plain, and Joe's only regret is that it is too long to hang on the wall. Joe Graham is a retired Boston police officer. He was on the force for 43 years, and before retiring April 24, had served 38 years as a school crossing officer at Centre and Burroughs streets, opposite the Agassiz school.

Since he first took his post at the school crossing, he has been popular with the students. Each year he took time to train the youngsters is safety.

The students and teachers planned a surprise party for Joe, but he got wind of it about a week ago. They wrote a song for him, and put on a skit in his honor. They also dug up some 30 year old pictures of Joe at his post, with children crowding around him as happily as they did his last day at Centre and Burroughs streets.

Joe is 68 years old, and lives at 11 Weld Hill road(sic), Jamaica Plain.

Maybe Joe will have trouble remembering all of those hours he spent at the crossing, but he'll never forget what happened Friday.

There was cake there and the chef cleverly showed Big Joe in blue frosting against the white candles.

The school orchestra played and the glee club sang and Big Joe was given a mighty hand when he stood up to speak at the school assembly.

And wouldn't you know it... his final words of advice were the same thing he's been telling the kids for so many years: "Be careful crossing the streets, mind your father and mother, and don't misbehave in school."

Link Time: Guerrilla Engineering

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:58:00 +0000

Goldsmith brook, Arnold Arboretum.

We have a new entry into the world of Stony brook/Muddy river scholarship and study:

The Guerrilla Engineer.

While I explored the story of Stony brook in my blog Stony Brook: Gone, But Not Forgotten from a layman's, viewpoint, the Guerrilla Engineer will provide the eye of a civil engineer.

Link Time: Fort Hill History

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:46:00 +0000

I've added a relatively new history site to my link list: Fort Hill History. A very good job is being done looking at Fort Hill/Highland Park and Roxbury history in general. Check out Jamaica Plain's next door neighbor to the northeast.

Four Years of Cows and More!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:00:00 +0000

My first post on this blog was October 25, 2007. In honor of that event, and in light of the fact that I just don't have much to add these days, I thought I'd repost the first entry.

Boston Globe, December 3 1908

Cow Tramples On Meredith

Animal Runs Amuck in Jamaica Plain.

Charges Would-Be Captors With Lowered Horns.

Last Seen Going Toward Franklin Park.

A black and white cow ran amuck yesterday noon in the heart of Jamaica Plain, knocking down at least one person, demolishing fences and causing a panic on the streets of the district.
Jeremiah Meredith of 15 Call st, Jamaica Plain, was trampled on by the infuriated animal on Williams st, near the railroad bridge of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad and his head was badly cut. A report that a woman was attacked by the cow at the corner of Blue Hill av and Seaver st the police were unable to verify.

The cow was first seen acting in a peculiar manner on Rockview st, Jamaica Plain, about noon. Its antics soon attracted the attention of people on the streets, and some men endeavored to catch the animal: but when the cow reared and kicked and charged at them with horns lowered most of them went on their way.

Some however, followed the vicious animal as she nimbly jumped fences and tore at furious speed through yards of houses making her exit from the enclosures by breaking down other fences.

As the infuriated cow was passing through Williams st, followed by a large number of men, women and children, who gave it a wide berth, Jeremiah Meredith endeavored to intercept its flight. He put his arms about the cow's neck, in an effort to hold her, but the cow shook him off and then trampled on him as he lay in the street, cutting his head severely.Patrolman O'Brien of division 13 at this moment appeared on the scene, but the cow continued its wild run though Williams st toward Franklin park, while the police officer assisted Mr Meredith to his home.
Who the cow belongs to, whence she came or whither she disappeared are still mysteries to the police of the Jamaica Plain station. It is thought the animal may have been bitten by a dog affected with rabies.

Jabez Coney, Who Are You?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:39:00 +0000

The Eliot School of Jamaica Plain was founded in 1676, and financed by money and in-kind donations, and by donations of land to provide long-term income. Most notably, John Eliot gave 75 acres to provide for the school. This was probably in multiple parcels, perhaps salt marsh for hay, an upland woodlot for fuel and/or land to be leased for farming. By the end of the 18th Century, the trustees of the school saw that they might better serve the institution by selling off plots of land and investing the capital. This required a trip to the state legislature for permission to amend the will of John Eliot. And so, around the year 1800, Eliot street was laid out between the road to Dedham (now Centre street) and Jamaica Pond.

At the time, there were few roads in the community. The Highway or Main road ran from Roxbury south to Dedham and beyond to Providence. Also relevant to the Eliot property, Pond street served as the Road to Newton. From the Dedham road, it ran to the pond, turned south along the water (now the Jamaicaway) and continued towards Brookline as it still does today. In May of 1834, Mr Jabez Coney became one of the first to buy an Eliot street plot and build a house.

Plan of Eliot street properties, 1849, showing the northwest half of Eliot street. Coney property at corner of Eliot and Pond streets.

Above we see a property plan from 1849, drawn for John C. Gore, who had purchased and divided the properties to the left. By this time, Coney had divided his property (marked in red above) and sold the smaller plot to an Elisha James. The house that James would build still stands on the property.

So far, we have a name, a date, and a property plan. But who was the man? What kind of person was building a house overlooking Jamaica Pond on the new Eliot street? Confusion over this question is what has kept this entry on the back burner for so long. A Jabez Coney shows up in historical documents as the owner of a major machine shop and foundry in South Boston in the first half of the 19th Century. There is also mention of a Jabez Coney of Dedham, housebuilder. So who was Eliot street's Jabez Coney?

It took some time to sort this question out, and I'm reasonably confident that I've got the answer now. A Jabez Coney was born in Dedham in 1774. In 1800, he married Irene Gay. The two would go on to have four children: Sally, Jabez, Irene and Hannah, all born in Dedham. In 1834, Jabez Coney buys three quarters of an acre land from the Trustees of the Eliot School.

But wait... in October of 1827, Jabez Jr. had married Mary Whiting of Dedham. So who bought the land in Jamaica Plain, father or son? State records show that Jabez Coney of Roxbury died in May of 1841 at 67 years old. That's Jabez senior, so we know that he had, indeed, moved from Dedham to Jamaica Plain (then part of Roxbury). So old Jabez only had seven years at most in Jamaica Plain, and his disappears from the story. What about the son?

Now we have to leave Jamaica Plain. Jabez Jr. shows up in the 1850 census, age 45, living in South Boston with his three children, aged 10 t0 21, his mother Irene, age 72, and 18 year old Mary Burns of Ireland. This raises two questions: what happened to Mary Coney, his wife, and who was living on Eliot street? Mary Coney disappears from Massachusetts records - I find no evidence of her death. The second question will be examined later.

Location of Coney machine shop, South Boston.

Close-up of Coney shop.

Although Jabez Jr's life was not in Jamaica Plain, we've gone this far, so let's discuss him. He opened his machine shop in South Boston in 1837 (shown above, circa 1850), and for a time it was one of the largest in the nation. In 1843, he began work on the iron-hulled steamer the McLean for the United States. In 1848, Coney was building locomotives - there is reference online to two built for the Old Colony line. In 1850, Coney's shop provided the machinery for the war steamer Saranac. That same year, he was confined to his home by a 'paralytic condition' (stroke?), and the company would close down.

In spite of his paralysis and the loss of his company, Jabez the younger apparently was able to keep active. An online search reveals that Jabez Coney submitted patent applications for several inventions. At the time, he was listed as a 'consulting engineer.' And there is one reference to him being associated with South Boston's Globe Locomotive Works as well. He would die in 1872 at a Silver street address, within walking distance of his old shop.

To close out the Jamaica Plain aspect of the story, the property was sold by son Jabez Jr. and his older sister Sally Hersey in February of 1870 to George H. and Irene Williams. And as it happens, George and his brother John, owners of a harness shop on Centre street, and both land developers/speculators in Jamaica Plain for many years, had married the two remaining Coney siblings, Hannah and Irene. So the property actually stayed in Coney hands - Irene Coney Williams, widow of John E. Williams, ended up with it. By 1884, the house was in the hands of an F.H. Downs, and the Coneys would be gone from the corner of Eliot and Pond streets. Irene did, however, remain on Eliot street, in a mansion on the corner of Eliot and Dane street that still stands. Irene would survive until 1895.

I started out this effort a few years ago when I noticed the Coney machine works in South Boston. At the time, I didn't have a sure connection between the Jamaica Plain and South Boston Jabez Coney.

So let's summarize what we've learned. No, the South Boston Jabez Coney was not the Jamaica Plain Jabez Coney, so Jamaica plain doesn't get credit for one of the leading manufacturers of the era. However, they were father and son. Also, we now know that all three Coney daughters came to Jamaica Plain, and married there. Hannah and Irene married into the Williams brothers and their Jamaica Plain real estate empire, and Sally married a Charles Hersey, and stayed at least for a time in the community. And when the property was finally sold,it was purchased by daughter Irene, and held by her for at least a few years more. And that's more than you ever imagined you'd want to know about the Coneys of Eliot street.

Lucrecia Crocker School

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Lucretia Crocker school (City of Boston Archive Flickr photo group).

Crocker school, Bickford street, 1895.

Once more, I have to add a school that I've long had in mind. This time, I must confess the failure was one of memory, rather than material. The school sat between Bickford and Parker streets, and under the shadow of the Plant shoe factory. The Crocker opened as a primary school, consisting of grades 1-3.

The eponymous Lucretia Crocker deserves more attention than I can do justice to here. She was very active in education, with a particular interest in the sciences, and was one of the first women to be elected as a Supervisor of the Boston Public School system. For more about here, please go here.

Canterbury Street School

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:53:00 +0000

Canterbury street school (BPL Flickr photo group).

Canterbury street school, marked in red, 1874 (JP Historical Society).

In my effort to document every pre-recent school in Jamaica Plain, I had failed until now to include the Canterbury street primary school. It sat on the corner of Canterbury and Bourne streets, just south of Forest Hills Cemetery. The photo above, just available online in the Boston Public Library Flickr photo group, shows a typical wood frame primary school of the time. What is most interesting to me is that the school was located in what was at the time the middle of nowhere. The map fragment above shows houses along Canterbury street, and a wider view would show more on Canterbury street to the south, and further on along Mt Hope street, but the total number of houses in the area was small. I'm guessing that these people either worked at the Cemetery or on farms in the area.

The Manual of the Public Schools of 1890 lists the following:

Elizabeth Kiggen, West St., Hyde Park. Cls. I. and If.
Mary E. Roome, 68 Day st., Roxbury. CI. III.
Ella Norton, Janitor, Sargent st., Rosliudale.

Two teachers for three classes, and one janitor.

Central Congregational Church Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 23:31:00 +0000

The original Central Congregational Church at the end of Seaverns avenue burned in 1935. This photo comes from the BPL Flickr group. I've already posts about Central Congregational here and here.

Lost and Found: The Peter Parley Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:52:00 +0000

Abram French house, Parley Vale (BPL Flickr group).

Abram French estate, Centre street, 1874 (JP Historical Society).

I've written about Samuel Goodrich, AKA Peter Parley in the past here and here. Parley avenue, Parley vale, Peter Parley road and Goodrich road all honor the (once) famous 19th Century author and editor of children's books, politician and ambassador to France. His property, expanded over the years by many purchases, ran from Green street to somewhere between Parley avenue and Robinwood street, and from Centre street back to the railroad tracks. As the property was sold off in pieces, it has been impossible for me to determine the exact location of the original Goodrich house.

So now I know, if I can trust the caption of the above photo. The caption reads "Old Abraham French House, "Peter Parley's" old house, Parley Vale, Jamaica Plain," although the correct name is Abram French. Mr French owned a substantial crockery and glassware business on Franklin street in downtown Boston.

By the time French purchased the house and land, the estate, while still substantial for the district, was much smaller than the original Goodrich property. Green street extended back from Centre street to Washington street, and Chestnut avenue cut behind the property from Green to Boylston streets.

This house, then, would have received visits from Daniel Webster, Senator and one of the greatest orators of his time, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, whom Goodrich published before he was well known. We can imagine the carriages coming down Centre street from Boston carrying the great men of the day to visit the famous Peter Parley, and the politician Samuel Goodrich. Eventually, Goodrich went to Paris as the United States Consul to France, and would never return to live in Jamaica Plain. The estate has been divided many times, and the house is gone, but his carriage-way remains as Parley avenue. And if you walk in from Centre street to Parley Vale, the traffic of Centre street seems to disappear, and you might almost hear the carriages.

Sweet Nut Margarine

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:40:00 +0000

Sweet Nut Margarine trade card.

Inside.

Best as a spread
On biscuit and bread
And best for making cake

In cookies and pastry
In makes them most tasty
And you want it whenever you bake

Benefit Brand Sweet Nut Margarine.
Sweet Nut Butter Company
Jamaica Plain Mass.

Sweet Nut Butter Company, 159 Green street (Bartlett Square) 1924. Click on map for larger image.

The plant was directly opposite the Inbound Green street train station, and set back from Green street itself. I had noticed the company name on the map, but this is the first time I've seen any other reference to the company. The building is gone, as are all the others from the old Bartlett Square, but for one. The small brick building (in red) towards the bottom of the page (away from Green street) is still there. The larger building running alongside the Sweet Nut plant (labeled John J. Meehan) is long gone.

Jamaica Pond - New (Old) Views.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:52:00 +0000

The Boston Public Library has just posted these photos, with quite a few more, to their Flickr group. Let's see if you can figure out where they were shot from.

New Blog - And This Is Good Old Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:59:00 +0000

Since new material for the Remember Jamaica Plain site is coming slow, I thought I'd extend the franchise and do a Boston-themed blog. Thus: And This Is Good Old Boston. Of course you recognize the words:

And this is good old Boston
The home of the bean and the cod
Where the Lowells talk only to the Cabots
And the Cabots talk only to God.

I'll be trying to show the familiar in unfamiliar places, and remember the once-famous and now forgotten. So far I've looked at M.I.T. in Boston, the original Museum of Fine Arts, Boston's Newspaper Row, the gradual growth of the State House, and the Roxbury-South End border. Next up is a look at the South Boston Marine Park. I'll try to add at least one post per week. I may add links to other sites and book reviews as well. Come over and check it out.

Hellenic College

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:11:00 +0000

Bacon estate, 1924.

I thought I had accounted for all the schools in Jamaica Plain, but I've just found that I missed one. Hellenic College is located mostly just over the Boston line in Brookline, but they do own a large plot of land along Prince street, overlooking Jamaica Pond. Here's an Associated Press article announcing the purchase of the former Bacon estate.

Plans for America's First Hellenic University Are Disclosed in Boston Today

August 5, 1939

Plans for America's first Hellenic University was, where disclosed today with the announcement that the Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary has purchased a 25-acre site in Jamaica Plain.

The property, known as the Gaspar Bacon estate, is adjacent to the present 35-acre layout of the seminary, just over the line in the town of Brookline.

The seminary will be the nucleus of the planned university in which those of Greek birth and antecedents are expected to contribute 100 million dollars.

The university, however, will be non-sectarian, although continuing a heritage of Greek culture.

Judge John C. Pappas, who purchased the property on behalf of the seminary, said chapters to foster the university will be established throughout the country.

"Spyras Skouras of New York and California, prominent businessman and industrialist, will lead the campaign for the 100 million dollars," said Pappas.

Pappas and his brother, Thomas, formerly in the diplomatic service, Angelo Cotsidas and Theodore Tonna are underwriting the first structure, a $250,000 building which will contain classrooms, library and gymnasium.

Here's an article on Gaspar Bacon.

Crowell Hatch

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:57:00 +0000

This 1859 map shows the location of the former Hatch house on Centre street, marked in red. The house sat between today's Soldier's Monument on the right and today's Arborway rotary, near the intersection on the left.

I've been sitting on this entry for far too long, in hopes that I would develop more information on the subject, Crowell Hatch. While I haven't found the information I've been looking for, I have discovered an interesting source I can direct readers towards - more on that later.

Crowell Hatch was born in Marshfield in 1740. He followed the route of many at the time, going to sea, becoming a Captain, and then retiring to shore to become a trader, buying ships, provisioning and stocking them, and sending crews out to trade in foreign lands. Hatch first shows up in Jamaica Plain in 1799, buying xx acres of land from Timothy Penny, then of the island of Jamaica. The estate ran between Centre and Pond streets (then the Road to Newton), following approximately the path of today's Orchard street. I've trace the history of this property back in time to Hatch and Penny in a previous article. This was at the same time when James Perkins, who was following a very similar career path, was buying his estate on the opposite side of Jamaica Pond. Hatch's estate also stood adjacent to that of John Hancock, though Hancock no longer inhabited that house.

Hatch has entered into a second earlier article, in which I discussed the Boit family. In 1789, Hatch, then 49 years old, married Hannah Boit, the 24 year old daughter of John Boit, and merchant, importer and leading citizen of Boston. Ten years later, he bought an estate in Jamaica Plain from Timothy Penny.

The Columbia, as drawn by the ship's artist, George Davidson.

Crowell Hatch has two claims to fame that come down through the years to us; both as an investor, rather than a ship's captain. The first is the voyage of the Columbia, the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. Following the publication of Captain Cook's journal in 1784, a group of partners including Hatch (then a resident of Cambridge) bought the Columbia, originally built in the North river yards between Scituate and Marshfield. The ship was put under the command of Captain John Kendrick, with a smaller sloop joining the voyage under the command of Captain.Robert Grey. (Here, I'll add that the Columbia carried in its crew one John Boit, son of John Boit mentioned above).

The goal of the voyage was to collect sea otter skins from the Pacific Northwest and trade them in China. Western traders suffered a fatal weakness when dealing with China at the time. While China had many products desired by the West - primarily tea - the West had little to offer China other than silver. As the United States had no source of silver at the time, expensive three-way trading was required to satisfy the Chinese and gain access to Chinese markets. Sea otter fur was of very high quality, and the Russians had been recently using it in their own China trade.

The full story of the Columbia is beyond the reach of this blog. The first voyage of the Columbia began the American China trade, which would make many Boston and other American seagoing cities' fortunes. Hatch later bought out his partners and sent Captain Grey back to the Pacific Northwest, where he named the Columbia river, and bought millions of acres of land for Hatch. While this second voyage set up the American claim on the Pacific northwest (Oregon), Congress failed to see the benefit of Hatch's great land transaction, and failed to recognize it.

Boston Exchange Coffee House.

The second, and lesser claim to fame for Crowell Hatch is in another investment; in this case, the building of the Boston Exchange Coffee House in 1809. The name belies the significance of the building. The Boston Exchange Coffee House was a seven story hotel, stock exchange and merchant/trader's meeting place built by Andrew Dexter in 1809. At the time, it was the tallest building in the nation. Although Dexter had investors - one of whom was Crowell Hatch - much of the money needed to build the Exchange was generated by fraudulent bank manipulation, from Boston to Detroit. At a time when paper money was mistrusted, and the national government was still not the master of its currency, Dexter had banks print money far beyond their deposit's ability to cover. Much like our own time, these banks were massively over-leveraged. In time, with the Exchange built, the financial house of cards would fall, and Dexter would flee to Canada. Just eight years later, in 1818, the building would be destroyed in a fire.

When I first read of Hatch's connection to the Boston Exchange Coffee House, I was hoping to learn more about him through this story. Unfortunately, he seems to have been a minor, silent partner, and shows up nowhere in the story after his initial investment. Hatch lived in Jamaica Plain at the time of the Exchange construction and financial scandal, and died in 1814 - not the 1805 you may see repeated in old documents on the internet.

No doubt by now you're forgotten that at the top of this article, I hinted of more to come. Crowell Hatch does have another claim to fame (or rather infamy) - one that very few people would have been aware of until very recently. One of the first online references I found to Crowell Hatch - which now seems to have disappeared - described him as being "of black-birding memory," or some such phrase. When I looked up the term, it was as I expected: black-birding referred to catching slaves, or dealing in the purchase and sale of the same. This is what stopped me from writing the Crowell Hatch entry: I was hoping to find more evidence that Crowell Hatch had traded in slaves. It should be no surprise that it should be true - Boston was built on trade among the colonies and with other nations, and slaves were just another cargo to them until at least the Revolution and the outlawing of slavery in Massachusetts in the 1780s.

I never did find the evidence I sought, but recently I returned to the subject, and an online search came up with a new source of information on Captain Hatch. A group of amateur historians from the South Shore of Massachusetts has set about telling the story of the voyage of the Columbia expedition: Hit and Run History. In association with WGBH.com, you can watch their story in a series of videos. The episode featuring Crowell Hatch and slavery can be seen here. The Hit and Run History folks have taken local history to the next step, producing their own 'television' documentary, piece by piece.

For a good read about this largely-forgotten episode in Boston's history, read The Exchange Artist: A Tale of High-Flying Speculation and America's First Banking Collapse by Jane Kamensky.

John Boit's journal of the second voyage of the Columbia.

Mass. Historical Society Columbia voyage page.

The Discovery of the Columbia River - a nice article published in a series Old South Leaflets. I can't find a date. The Old South Meeting House produced a series of educational articles on American history through the late 19th Century to go with their lecture series on the same topic.

Louis Agassiz - Honored in Jamaica Plain

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:00:00 +0000

In 1896, two new grammar schools were opened in Jamaica Plain: The Bowditch for girls and the Louis Agassiz for boys. The Agassiz was located at the corner of Burroughs and Brewer streets, behind a Centre street commercial block. So who was Louis Agassiz, and why was this school in particular named for him? I can't say for sure - no records were kept - but I will propose an answer with some confidence.

Louis Agassiz school, Brewer and Burroughs streets.

Louis Agassiz was born in 1807 French-speaking Switzerland, and was educated broadly in Natural History - what we would call botany and zoology, or simply biology. After studying new fish species early in his career, he shifted to the new fish fossils that were being found at the time. He soon became a world leader in both modern and paleo-ichthyology.

In spite of his fame in these fields, Agassiz is best known today for being the leading proponent of the then-new idea that there had, in the past, been Ice Ages, in which much of the Northern Hemisphere was covered in vast sheets of ice. This Agassiz deduced from his home country, where glaciers still covered mountainsides, and evidence of past, larger glaciers were spread through the countryside. For a culture with no clear idea how old the world was - outside the six thousand-odd years of Biblical history - this idea was beyond ground-breaking.

In 1846, Agassiz traveled to the United States to study the natural history of North America and to give a series of lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston. Once here, he was offered a job at Harvard, and became founder of Museum of Comparative Zoology and taught a generation of scientists. Posterity has not been so kind to Agassiz in remembering him as one of the leading scientific anti-evolutionists of his day - Agassiz and Darwin looking at the same evidence and seeing very different causes. In the 1860s, Agassiz returned to his study of South American fishes, going on months-long voyages to see his subjects in their natural habitats. He passed away in 1873, one of the country's and the world's most famous scientists.

So now we know something of Louis Agassiz's fame. But why was this particular school in Jamaica Plain named in his honor in 1896? Perhaps the answer is simple as his fame, but there is more to the story. The first Agassiz connection is a slender thread, but an interesting one. During the mid-19th Century, a Village Hall was built on Thomas street near Centre street. The building had various uses over the years, serving as a schoolhouse and a Grand Army of the Republic meeting hall, but it was also used to house lecture series for the public at a time when educational talks on scientific and literary subjects had broad popularity. In her Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain, 1845-1875, Ellen Morse describes just such a visit by the great Louis Agassiz:

"Distinguished lecturers came then to the platform of the old hall, Mr. Homes and Professor Agassiz being among those whom some of the boys and girls of those days remember most vividly. Professor Agassiz' benevolent, kindly face and his broken English gave him great charm, even if we couldn't follow much of his scientific instruction. What a privilege it was to hear such men in those days when they traveled all over the country to deliver their fine lectures! How did they ever survive the long journeys in stagecoaches and the resting places in country hotels and cold bed-chambers?"

So the Man Himself spoke in Jamaica Plain within a stone's throw of the future site of the eponymous school. Interesting, but there is much more to the story.

In 1850, Agassiz married Elizabeth Cabot Cary, an educator who would be a co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College. Their daughter Pauline would marry Quincy Adams Shaw, who became one of the richest men in Massachusetts through his investment in the Calument and Hecla copper mine in Michigan. The Shaws settled on an estate overlooking Jamaica Pond on Perkins street. Pauline, already discussed in an entry here, used her wealth to aid many progressive causes, including the establishments of Boston's first Kindergartens.

So Pauline Agassiz Shaw, daughter of the great man, wife of one of the state's leading businessmen, and famed philanthropist in her own right, was a resident of the community at the time the school was built - and named. In fact, one of the first of her kindergartens was located in the very Village Hall where her father had lectured years earlier. Isn't it reasonable to speculate that the school could have been named in her father's honor as a respectful tip of the hat to Mrs Shaw as well? As I said, there can be no proof, but the story sits together well. It's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Sadly, the 'new' Agassiz school on Child street is now slated to be closed, and the name Louis Agassiz will no longer be honored in Boston. In this, Agassiz joins a long list of those lost to posterity in the Boston school systems massive down-sizing since the baby-boom years of the 1960s. The stories of all those whose names have been lost would fill a book, and the loss to Boston history is sad indeed.

*In a final note, I can't discuss Louis Agassiz without using the 'R'-word. I was reading a local internet comment section recently, where the name Agassiz had come up. One of the commenters asked if the readers knew that Agassiz was "one of history's most notorious racists." Granted that the internet is the land of hyperbole - and ignorance - but this kind of thing needs correcting. There will be no more Jamaica Plain content - the following is an effort to get this matter off my chest. Please feel free to ignore it.

Louis Agassiz's name and fame have long passed from public knowledge - 19th Century Natural Historians are not on the tips of contemporary American's tongues. Outside of those interested in paleontology, geology and ichthyology, the man was barely known in this country outside his adopted Cambridge and in Jamaica Plain - and even there, he was less a man than a label for a building. So where did the commenter I cited get his/her information?

Stephen Jay Gould was a paleontologist, head of the same Harvard museum as Agassiz had founded, and a prolific writer of popular science articles and books. It was Gould who found letters written by Agassiz and published quotes from then one hundred years after the man had died. The 'money quote' from Agassiz was a description of an encounter with an African-American waiter in a restaurant. Agassiz tells of a visceral response to his close encounter with this African man - he describes the man in as ugly terms as we could imagine.

So what do we do with such information? At the time Gould's book was released, there were calls to rename schools named after Agassiz. While Boston resisted, the City of Cambridge did so, renaming its Agassiz school in honor of an African-American, presumably to make amends. Should Boston have done the same thing? I think not.

The truth is, in the mid-19th Century, essentially all white people were racists. Abraham Lincoln was a racist, as was Charles Darwin. While white people disagreed over how to treat the races of the world, vanishingly few believed literally that all men were created equal in the biological sense. Indeed, unless we are willing to cut off history's honors at 1965, it's hard to imagine finding more than a handful of racism-free heroes out of all of Western civilization.

Right through the turn of the 20th Century, the Western scientific world held that Caucasians were biologically superior to all other races - a fact that Stephen Jay Gould himself made a minor career out of discussing. In fact, that same Western intellectual elite - and its contemporary butchers, bakers and candlestick makers - believed equally that women (of all races) shared a similar biological inferiority to blacks and other races. Again, Gould makes much of this fact in his columns and books.

Given these facts, I find it hard to pick out Louis Agassiz for opprobrium. Was he a racist? Yes - guilty as charged. He was, however, a man of his time. All of the scientists of his day shared his beliefs to some degree, and to judge him by our contemporary morality is to be guilty of anachronistic history. An examination of his personal beliefs and how they informed his work is a worthwhile endeavor, more for what it may tell us about ourselves than for any pleasure we may get from looking down our noses on him.

Louis Agassiz was one of the great men of his age - warts and all. All heroes have feet of clay, and we point an accusing finger at one at our own risk. Do we really want our own heroes examined so closely? Men like Agassiz and Thomas Jefferson were poisoned by the racist beliefs of their days. At their best, they were also great men, worthy of honor. A maturity that both recognizes their flaws and honors their virtues does honor to ourselves. And some day, our time will be judged as we judge the past. And like them, we have little idea what it is about us that will be found so revolting by our descendants. We can only rest assured that there will be demands that the names of our contemporary heroes be removed from places of public honor.

Note: Commenter Jim adds this.

"One correction, please, Pauline was born to Louis Agassiz's first wife, whose maiden name was Cecile Braun (1809 - 1848). "

Clark's Dry Goods

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:29:00 +0000

Here we have a trade card from Clark's Dry Goods, which was located in White's Block, Centre street opposite Burroughs street. Trade cards had been used for advertising throughout the 19th Century, but became broadly popular with the development of color lithography in the 1870s. By the early 20th Century, their time had passed, replaced by magazines.

Centre street, 1974 (White's Block in red).

White's Block, 1885. Cyrus White lived directly behind his store, on Brown place.

Eugene W. Clark and his shop show up in the 1873 West Roxbury Directory, and by 1885 the Boston Directory mentions a second location at Boylston railroad station, and a home at Maple place, opposite the then-new Police station. The 1905 Boston Directory lists the store and a new home location on St John street. The 1905 Directory also shows Eugene Clark listed as a clerk at the JP post office. A son, Eugene Jr., was employed as a draftsman in Boston, and lived with his father. By 1925, Eugene Sr. is gone, and Eugene Jr. is listed as a architect on Joy street, Boston, and living in Reading.

Just found: E.W. Clark's Dry Goods store, corner of Centre street and Seaverns's avenue.

Ye Olde Engine House

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 01:44:00 +0000

Centre and Thomas streets, 1874.

Centre and Thomas streets, 1868.

I'm back! It's been almost a year since my last Jamaica Plain history post - mostly for a lack of material. Having already picked the low fruit of JP history, and having climbed the tree and crawled out on the branches like a monkey, I'm afraid there just won't be many more entries here. I have, however, found a nugget that I don't think I've discussed before.

The top map shows the corner of Centre and Thomas streets in 1874. The drawing below the map is a property plan from November, 1868. The buildings shown on the 1874 map are shown in the drawing six years earlier. The entire property where the four buildings are located had been owned by John Williams, one of two Williams brothers who owned a harness shop at Centre and Green streets and bought and sold property all over Jamaica Plain.

The fire insurance map at the top of the page shows us building locations and property owners, but in the case of commercial properties, we rarely know exactly what the building was used for. I'm using this property plan to point out that the building marked in red in the plan, but unlabeled in the 1874 map, was at the time the Town of West Roxbury Engine House - the fire station. As far as I know, there is no mention in any records outside of property deeds and this plan of this site being used for a fire house. By 1884, the engine house had moved up Centre street near the corner of Myrtle street, where the building is now used as an ice cream store.

Here we have Engine 12, Roxbury Massachusetts, courtesy of the Boston Public Library Flickr group. I imagine an engine much like this one would have found a home on Centre street as well.

If you want to locate where the old engine house stood, the property was immediately adjacent to today's Blanchard's Liquors. The brick building currently housing Fowler Real Estate now sits on the old engine house property.

Property plan: Norfolk County Registry of Deeds, Vol. 374, page 112.

Eliot street tour

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:19:00 +0000

Eliot Hall.

The third and final set of Jamaica Plain Historical Society walking tours begins this Saturday at 11:00 AM with the Monument Square tour. This tour explores the former Eliot School lands, including a variety of architectural styles on Brewer street and the Unitarian church, Eliot hall, and the Eliot school on the appropriately named Eliot street. Please join me - your humble tour guide - at the Loring-Greenough house at eleven, weather permitting.

Green Street Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:30:00 +0000

The Jamaica Club meeting house.

I'll be leading a tour of Green Street this Saturday, June 5, for the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. The tour starts at the corner of Centre and Green sts at 11:00 AM, weather permitting. As always, the tour is free, so come out and say hello.

Tour schedule

It's That Time - Tour Season!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:00:00 +0000

This Saturday, May 8 begins the annual walking tour season of the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. The Monument Square tour begins at the Loring-Greenough House at 11:00, weather permitting. As always, all tours are the right price - free! - and go on weather permitting.

2010 tour schedule

Moses Day - New and Improved

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:59:00 +0000

Through the generosity of Day descendant Glen Wallace, I've been able to improve on the Moses Day article, including a very nice etching of the man himself. Anyone interested in the article can see it here.

Ice Cream Cone Holocaust.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:01:00 +0000

This 1924 map shows the Cone factory in the small brick (red) building along Union ave. The next, angled brick buildings housed an automotive factory, and the larger brick row housed Farrington manufacturing, makers of jewelery boxes. Those buildings had once housed the Sturtevant blower works, which burned in an earlier and larger fire, before moving to Readville. Note the dotted line running between the two long rows of brick buildings on the left - the space between the buildings represents the path of the Stony Brook conduit, which had been built earlier in the century. The Burnett & Sherman automotive plant is new to me. The complex had housed a series of automotive concerns in the early years of the century, assembling and modifying cars. Burnett & Sherman was a Ford dealer, located on Commonwealth avenue in Allston, and they are listed in the 1925 Boston Directory as manufacturing auto bodies at Union avenue. Farrington lasted into the 1950s - I've written about them here. One section of the old Sturtevant/Farrington factory complex still stands along what is now Amory street extension.

Boston Daily Globe March 28, 1925

WALL CRUSHES FIREMEN; ONE DYING.

Trapped in Alleyway Fighting Four-Alarm $150,000 Spectacular Blaze in Cone Factory in Jamaica Plain -- Four Overcome in Building.

Thousands at Scene; Commissioner Glynn Hurt, Aids Rescues.

Trapped in an alleyway, with a smouldering tenement behind them and a tottering, roaring factory in front of them, four Boston firemen stood by their guns to the end last evening, and went down, crushed under a 60-foot brick wall. The fire was at Union av, Jamaica Plain.

No firemen were killed, but four of them were dug out of the blazing debris and sent to the City Hospital.

The injured are:

Lieut George Hennessey, Engine 12, of 38 Lindsey st. Dorchester, multiple contusions and abrasions of the body.

George A. Stuart, Engine 45, 567 South St, Roslindale, compound fracture of the left leg. Probably fatally hurt.

Albert F. Single, Engine 45, 16 Murray Hill Rd, Roslindale, compound fracture of the left ankle.

Lieut Bartholomew J. Dowd, Engine 45, 15 Johnswood road, Roslindale, multiple contusions and abrasions of the head and body.

George A. Stuart’s left leg was crushed in two places by the wall, and he was badly injured internally. Early this morning his name was on the dangerous list at the hospital and he was “very low.” The attendants said he would probably die.

The other three are expected to live. Two of them are officers of the department who clung to lines while sending their men back from the scene on errands.

Fire Very Spectacular

The fire was very spectacular, and because of the situation, was perhaps seen by more spectators than any Boston fire in years. Thousands saw the wall topple on the daredevils who fought to the last inch. A great human cry of horror went up.

The fire was in the Atlantic Ice Cream Cone Company factory, a three story brick structure 40 feet by 100 feet, fronting on Union av and with one side on an alley leading from Union ave to a second alley which runs alongside the railroad tracks at the point.

The factory is located between two railroads, The Providence division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and the elevated railway of the Boston Elevated. It is a short distance beyond the Green-st station of the Elevated. The box which was rung is located at the corner of Green and Amory sts. Four alarms were sounded.

Repeatedly Warned

The firemen who were hurt had repeatedly been warned that they were in danger in the alleyway. The brick factory was in all respects like a blast furnace. The roof had fallen in, carrying floors with it, and from the cellar the entire contents of the building was pouring in a forced draft straight up through the roof and 50 feet in the air.

On the other side of the 15-foot alley, a two and a half story wooden dwelling house, vacated under peremptory order of the Police Department, was smouldering at the roof and sides. Intermittently, flames broke out, covering the roof, and running down the front of the structure, almost scorching the backs of the rubber-coated “gunmen.”

Two of them hanging to each gun, the firemen delayed withdrawing until too late. They hoped by their streams to keep enough of the blaze back into the factory so that the dwelling would be saved. Other engine companies, from outside, were spraying them and the dwellings with a dozen streams.

At 10:30 the roof fell with a terrifying roar. The firemen clung closer to their nozzles. Twenty minutes later, at 10 before 11, the 60 foot wall folded up like a jackknife, swayed in midair, and dropped on the four valiant hosemen.

The blaze was abandoned as the firemen on the other wagons leaped to safety. But it was only for a moment. In a trice the men of Engine 12 had leaped back on their wagon and were searching the blazing debris with frantic streams to keep the wreckage from becoming a funeral pyre.

Rescued From Smoking Ruins

Other companies, not in a position to render this humane service, dropped their task of property saving, and, risking the imminent fall of the other walls and remaining spire of the broken wall, pawed through the smoking ruins of brick and wood until they got their comrades out.

Stretchers arrived quickly. Everybody gave way to let the doctors and firemen work. A Catholic priest started posthaste for the hospital. Fire Commissioner Theodore A. Glynn, himself bruised by the tumbling brick, took command of the rescue work, assisted by Deputy Foley. Chief of Department Sennott, who had been attacking the blaze from another angle, was on the scene within two minutes.

After the unconscious men had been carried to ambulances, the work of extinguishing the blaze went on. A second wall was in danger of collapsing on the Union-st side and crushing another home. This did not happen, however, and all the dwellings were saved from serious damage. Firemen estimated the loss at $150,000.

Four Overcome in Building

Twenty men were at the work in the cone factory when the fire started, and so quickly did it shoot through the building that at least four men were overcome before they could reach the street. No one seemed to know how the fire started, but it was agreed there was a rush of flame from the vicinity of the gas meter. By 10 o’clock a crew from the gas company had shut off the gas main at Green and Washington sts.

James Kelley of 49 Union av. next door to the factory, heard there were men still in the building as other workmen rushed out. He plunged into the smoke-filled doorway, closely followed by patrolman John Kilduff of Station 13.

Between them they half-carried half-supported four men out of the building. Then patrolman Kilduff found the alarm had not been sounded. He ran to the corner of Green and Amory sts and sent in an alarm at 9:35.

By the time the apparatus arrived the flames were bursting through the upper-story windows and tinting the sky. A second alarm was sounded at once and it had scarcely ceased ringing when a third was ordered. Chief Sennott came on the third and when he got to the scene, at 10 o’clock, a forth alarm went banging over the wires.

Shortly after Chief Sennott’s wagon got to the fire, he was followed by Henry A. Fox, assistant chief of department, who took up the work of directing operations from the railroad side. Commissioner Glynn arrived and got immediately where the fight was the thickest.

Thousands of Spectators

Probably no Fourth of July bonfire has ever been witnessed by such a crowd, not has any Fourth of July bonfire been as spectacular. The factory is situated in a hollow, surrounded by vacant lots which form a natural amphitheatre. On two sides the railway structures furnished ideal grandstands. Ignoring instructions of police, thousands made their way to the railroad right of way.

On the other side, passengers on Elevated trains gazed from the windows at the blazing ruin. Motormen slowed down their trains. Sheds, precariously built, bore hundreds of spectators who risked their necks for a view. Every knoll in the vacant lots held spectators who elbowed and scrambled for position.

The streets on the way to the fire looked like the Larz Anderson Bridge after a Yale game. For miles the streets were lined with automobiles filled with spectators, so that a special traffic detail had to be sent from Station 13. Even at that the task was almost hopeless.

Before the traffic men arrived, and while route policemen were establishing fire lines, a fireman stationed himself under the Elevated structure at Green and Washington sts, clearing the way for apparatus, which was arriving momentarily.

The factory is at No. 47 Union av. On one side of it, separated by only two feet, and dwarfed into insignificance, is the little single dwelling of James Kelley, No. 49. Flames swept and mushroomed out over the roof of this little house for hours, from the second story windows of the factory, but firemen took a stand behind the protection of the gable roof and sent streams into the building. They themselves and the roof were kept dripping by other companies. The roof was somewhat damaged, however.

Spectators marveled that this little house and that of Anna Kelley, on the other side of the alleyway, were not destroyed. Again and again the houses seemed to have been raised bodily to the kindling point, and again and again they smouldered and licked into flame. At such times the spectators would shout “The roof, the roof,” and streams would be switched from the doomed building to these dwellings.

Directly opposite the factory, on the other side of Union av, is another dwelling. This had the protection of the 30-foot width of Union av, but was endangered by the precarious, toppling Union-av wall of the factory. From its front dooryard streams were tossed into the windows of the blazing structure. This dooryard is 10 feet above the street level, which gave the firemen an added advantage. Those streams were manipulated by the crews of Engines 33, 17 and 26. Each had a man watching the toppling wall, ready to order them back.

All of these houses were ordered emptied by the police, who refused to let the occupants stay long enough to take out anything but the most easily portable valuables. A dozen children were taken out of the house of Anna Kelley unhurt.

Another Plant Takes Fire.

In back of the fire, toward the steam railroad, are more wooden structures which would have been easy to kindle. These were kept safely wet down. Also, there are the brick factories and shops of Burnett & Sherman, an automobile company; a wet wash, and a manufacturer of jeweler’s specialties. Burnett & Sherman’s plant caught for a few minutes, but was soon drowned out. Ladder 1 worked over the Sherman plant.

Engine 13 had the post of honor and danger, under the wall, which finally fell. Four hosemen, Arthur J. Belaskyh, Frank J. Scott, Edward Brickley and P.F. Hegerty were on the wagon, working a gun and a line. They were silhouetted against the sheets of flame sweeping up from the building.

The crowd saw the wall crumple, without any noise or other warning. The firemen didn’t see it until it had fallen half-way down, like an avalanche of snow from a sloping roof.

Then they looked up, hesitated for what seemed minutes, and jumped. They jumped on the lee side of the wagon, which saved them from death. They were pelted with fragment, buffeted by bricks, but the wagon took the brunt, and they escaped.

The groan of horror went p from the crowd, which had seen the four firemen go down. In a trice the Engine 13 men were back on their wagon, striving desperately to extinguish the blazing timbers which formed a bonfire about the place where their comrades lay, under a ton of bricks.

A pathetic incident was furnished by the streams which the unfortunate heroes had held, bubbling like streams through the blazing debris. The wires of the neighborhood had long since gone, and were lying about crackling where they touched metal. That put the neighborhood street lights out, and only the glaze of the blaze furnished light for the rescue squads, which blistered their hands, tossing aside burning embers and red-hot bricks, until they made a hole in the ground, where lay their broken and bruised comrades.

Glynn Hurt, Aids Rescues

It was the work of but a few minutes to send stretchers scurrying in four directions. Commissioner Glynn, brushing from his civilian clothes the mortar from the brick which struck him and the mire from the ground where he had been brought to his knees by the crash, plunged into the work.

At his side, and similarly injured, were his aid, Lieut John J. Crehan; Chief Sennott’s aid, Lieut John Goode; Lieut Haleyh of Engine 12 and Hoseman Buckley.

The crash shook the ground for blocks. Rev William P. O’Connor of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes hastened to the hospital to administer the last rites of the Catholic church if necessary.

When the injured men had gone to the hospital, and it was feared some would die, the firemen went back to their work with set faces. For hours the fire blazed but it did no further substantial damage. The factory was at that time a hopeless ruin.

Charles T. Kerwin, 40, of 1475 Columbus av, a “spark” who had been standing beside the firemen when the wall went, and who escaped, was thrown into slight hysterics. He went about pointing to the spot, saying “Four of them. In there. Four of them. In there.”

Commissioner Glynn said his men were handicapped by lack of pressure. The difference between the streams from the six-inch mains in the vicinity of Union av and those from the 16-inch mains of Washington st was noticeable.

Michael Harney, Civil War Veteran

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Three years after David S. Greenough laid out Keyes (McBride), Lee, and part of Call streets and began selling small lots to mostly Irish buyers (read about it here), Michael Harney bought lot 5 for two hundred and sixty-five dollars. Harney was seventh to buy a lot, one of eighty in the development, and he would live on the same street for the rest of his life. While many Irish show up in the 1850 Federal Census, they are mostly domestics, laborers and gardeners living in the houses of Yankee natives. Keyes street was the original low income district of Jamaica Plain, with house lots fronting with 50 feet, rather than the more standard 90 feet at a minimum. Since there was little multi-family housing in Jamaica Plain at the time, these small lots allowed Irish working men the opportunity to buy and build houses in the community for the first time.

I've often wondered who was the last surviving Jamaica Plain Civil War veteran. While the country's last Civil War vets lived into the 1950s, at age 86 in 1925 Harney is a good candidate to start with.

Boston Daily Globe May 2, 1925.

Military Funeral Of Michael Harney

Jamaica Plain Services for Civil War Vet

Michael Harney, 86, Civil War veteran, a native of Jamaica Plain, was buried with military honors this morning. A requiem mass was celebrated in the Church of St Thomas Aquinas, South st, by Rev William P. McNamara.

The flag-draped casket was borne by Deputy Sheriff Thomas F. Lally, Martin Godvin, Anthony Monahan and Thomas McLaughlin. Four members of the G.A.R. were honorary bearers. The Grand Army ritual was read at the house and at the grave in Calvary Cemetery.

There were delegations from St Thomas Aquinas Holy Name Society and Erin Court, M.C.O.F.*

Mr Harney resided on McBride st, formerly Keyes st, for 70 years. He was on the flagship under Farragut at the capture of Mobile, and was one of four volunteers who rowed Farragut in a boat while he inspected the works. He also served in the army during the Civil War. He was present at the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

*Note: the M.C.O.F. was the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Forresters, which was a life insurance group for Irish immigrants. At a time before life insurance was available to the working man, many such groups arose to provide for the families of breadwinners who had passed away. Many were more pass-the-hat organizations than proper insurers, but at a time when there was no government-provided social net, such groups were often all that stood between a widow and her children and the streets.

So Near (Beer), But So Far Away

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:01:00 +0000

Boston Daily Globe May 2, 1924

JAMAICA PLAIN MADE REAL DRY

Near-Beer Saloons Shut for License Hearings

Yesterday was dry day in Jamaica Plain. Not one near-beer saloon was open, pending the issuing of licenses by the Licensing Board. Saloonkeepers, doctors, lawyers and others pleaded with Capt Harriman to allow the saloons to open, pending the hearings on the applications for renewal of licenses.

But it was Capt Harriman’s day. He and Sergt Michael Healy have long wished to see the day when they would not have to be troubled with complaints regarding saloons. So Capt Harriman stood pat and wouldn’t budge an inch.

Today only two places were allowed to open, one on Amory st and the other at Boylston Station, both being in the good graces of the Licensing Board. All others will have to remain shut until the results of the hearings have been disclosed.

Sergt Michael Healy has worked incessantly in the Jamaica Plain section and his efforts, also those of Sergt Fitzpatrick and liquor officer Gaw, have brought good results.

Fifty Thousand on Jamaica Pond Ice? Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark B.) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:44:00 +0000

Imagine a winter carnival on Jamaica Pond today? No, you can't. Between litigious citizens and CYA politicians, it could never happen, even assuming you could get past the "Save the Pond" types and the NIMBY neighbors. Today's Jamaica Pond in the winter is for looking, not touching.

Boston Daily Globe January 9, 1925.

Herd 50,000 Ashore Fearing a Disaster.

Police Clear Jamaica Pond of Merry Makers When Mayor Sees Ice Threatens to Give Way.

Warning Given by Water Abrupt End to City’s Annual Carnival

Firemen Help to Draw Crowd Skating Races Provide Good Sport

More than 50,000 young people were in the midst of a perfect evening of skating on Jamaica Pond last night, at the annual ice carnival of the city of Boston, when, suddenly, about 9:30 o’clock, nearly 50 policemen appeared and ordered everyone off the ice. Mayor Curley, who had just arrived at the carnival to give out the prizes in the various contests, quickly noticed that large, black patches of water had appeared about the pond. Fearing that the ice, softened by the warmth of the last few days, was about to collapse under the weight of humanity it was bearing and precipitate the merry thousands to their deaths, he ordered the police to clear the pond.

Orders were rushed to the Jamaica Plain station for all men available and in a short time a long thin line of uniformed men was formed on the dark shore opposite the boathouse, the center of of carnival activities.

Big Rush to Shore

The policemen went about their work quietly and then at a given signal the line advanced across the pond, ordering all the skaters to make for the shore. Every precaution was taken not to alarm the merrymakers, but suddenly hundreds seemed to notice the ominous spreading of the black water across the ice and a great rush for the shore followed

But the rush, big as it was, only included a small proportion of the vast throng and the long, thin line of the police quietly continued its advance across the pond, sweeping up the skaters before it like a net clearing a stream of fish.

Mayor Curley was accompanied by Fire Commissioner Theodore A Glynn. When the Mayor ordered the police to work, Commissioner Glynn ordered his aide John Crehan, to go over to Engine 28 nearby and call out several pieces of apparatus for, in case the ice should break, the firemen could save a great many lives with their ropes and ladders.

The apparatus responded quickly and, as the danger appeared to be no more threatening than at first, the Commissioner ordered the apparatus to drive about the shores of the pond, blowing horns and whirling sirens in hopes that numbers of skaters would think that a big fire was going on, and thus leave the ice of their own free will and without being alarmed.

The maneuver was very successful and drew hundreds of boys and young men, and not a few young women.

Great Crowd on Ice

So large was the crowd that it was almost an hour before the ice was finally cleared.

A large number of the skaters, for everyone who attended the carnival seems to be wearing skates, made for the shores of the pond, where their belongings had been left, but, at least 25,000 had parked their shoes and belongings at the places provided about the boathouse, and toward the narrow gangway leading up to the building from the ice, the horde converged.

Fully a dozen policemen had been stationed there to handle the expected jam and they discharged their task admirably but the congestion was tremendous. It was like Revere beach on the Forth. The line of persons waiting their turn to reach the checking room where their shoes had been stored was long, winding about through the crowd for more than 100 yards.

The whole space within the boathouse courtyard was packed with humanity and seats upon which to effect the change from skates to shoes were at a premium.

Hundreds of seats there were, but there were thousands of applicants for them.

Skating carnivals are, as a rule, slow to break up, and the sudden swarming of the thousands of refugees upon the streets of Jamaica Plain attracted great attention and hundreds and hundreds of persons rushed down from their homes to the pond, either fearing or having heard reports that a great disaster had taken place.

Many of the carnival makers had come from out of the district and the sudden rush to the street cars paralyzed traffic for some time. Not only were the cars forced off their schedules but it was almost impossible to find a seat so crowded were the cars.

Crowd Set New Record

One police sergeant declared that he had seen crowds on the pond for more than 29 years, but he never saw so large a host there before.

Before the firing off of the bombs to announce the opening of the carnival, the ice seemed to be in good shape. As the first race started, however, sounds of cracking ice were heard and water started to flow over the track near the starting point. Patrolman Leo Masare of Station 19 and officers Walsh and Noonan of Station 17, on duty at this point, at once moved all persons in the vicinity a few hundred yards back.

The first race was won by Andrew Moore, it being a one-mile event for boys under 18 years of age. He was followed by O. Laguenesse, with Teddy Combs, third.

In the girls’ event in this class, Helen Maloney was the victor with Mary Boucher, second and Genevieve Weikesser, third.

The mile open went to Cecil Atkins and H. McCarthy took second place. James Cadek was third.

At the close of this event, the water was above the soles of the shoes of the skaters so Park Commissioner Myron B. Lewis and other officials decided to call off the racing events.

Fancy skating exhibitions however were given in another section of the pond, featuring Willie Frick and Bill Fleming.

The costumes awards were also made. Miss Corrine Dasey of Dorchester took the first prize for costumes. She is a widely known skater and a member of the Boston Swimming Club. Second prize went to Helen Brady and Mary Dover took third.

The hockey game had just started when Mayor Curley arrived on the scene with his daughters, Mary and Dorothy, and his son James M, Jr. The Mayor was escorted to the raft by Sergt John Fitzpatrick of the police and when he saw the conditions of the ice, notified Park Commissioner Lewis and the sergeant to order the pond closed to skaters, as it was deemed unsafe.

Mayor Acts Quickly

“The lives of our citizens is our first thought,” said the Mayor, “and we must take no chances with them.”

Sergt Fitzpatrick summoned Sergts Holstein, Dennis Kerrigan and Timothy Ferris and under the direction of Lieut George Guard, they with special officer Stanley A. O(?)w notified all the officers on duty of the order, and the police at once began to enforce it.

Fire Commissioner Theodore A. Glynn then said that he would send for his apparatus so as to have the fireman ready if any rescue work was needed. John Crehan, his aid, went for engine 28 and its response was almost instantaneous.

The officials in charge of the carnival included the Park Commissioners, James B. Shea, Myron P. Lewis, and Charles A. Coolidge, John A. Lane, Alfred Geiger of the B.A.A., Hugh C. McGrath, George V. Brown, Ernest Henry, Dick Adler, L.H. Connors, Ross Hoag, Dr. Allan Rowe, and Dr. William P. Kenney.

After his orders had been carried out, Mayor Curley awarded the prizes to the winners on the land near the boathouse.