Franklin Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s preeminent landscape architect. It was the hub of a huge Boston park system. This brochure lays out two walking tours to allow the visitor an opportunity to explore the park.
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Although Green Street was subdivided as early as 1851 for stores, factories and houses it was not extensively developed until the late 1870’s with construction continuing until the early 1900’s. The Bowditch School was completed in 1892 and early in the 20th century the United States Post Office moved from its location on Call Street at Woolsey Square to its new location at the corner of Green and Cheshire Streets.
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Some residents on Germania Street know that Samuel Adams beer and other products are made in the industrial complex on their street. But few seem to know the history behind the smokestack that stands at the end of the street, just beyond a maze of red brick buildings.
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.
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In 1846, the piano manufacturer, Chickering, purchased five of their shore lots where he built a summerhouse "Sunnyside." Francis Parkman bought the house and land in 1854, and the consequent story has been chronicled before. With the Jamaica Plain connection, the Goddard tale itself deserves retelling.
Transformed by transportation over two centuries of time, Forest Hills challenges the definition of neighborhood. About a mile long and a half-mile across, Forest Hills has been shaped by geography more than any other part of Jamaica Plain.
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As the 20th century dawned, it was said that within a mile of Roxbury Crossing there were twenty-five breweries. Now, as this 100-year era begins to bow out, none are still running, though a new one is about to start up.
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Perched on the shady side of Moss Hill, one of Jamaica Plain’s highest hills, Hopkins Road is surrounded by world-famous landmarks including Larz Anderson Park, The Clay Center Observatory at Dexter School, Showa Institute on the former Nazareth Home site, and The British School of Boston. Hopkins Road was named for Sabina Hopkins McCourt, mother of Francis M. McCourt who developed the street in 1926.
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Since at least 1662, Centre St crossed Stony Brook over a wooden plank bridge near Heath Lane. That intersection is today known as Jackson Square, a familiar crossroads at Columbus Ave. and Centre Street, but no public record has been found to determine who the Square was named after.
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