Jamaica Plain

Jamaica Plain: Then & Now is a fascinating photographic history of a Boston neighborhood once referred to as the "Eden of America." At one time a part of Roxbury and later West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain was annexed to the city of Boston in 1874. During the next five decades, the neighborhood expanded due to the railroad and streetcars and became known as one of the "streetcar suburbs." In this lavishly illustrated book, vintage images placed alongside contemporary photographs show well-known buildings and streetscapes as they once were and as they appear today. Included are Jamaica Pond, with its icehouses, and the area of Forest Hills, with the elevated line and streetcars, as well as schools, places of worship, and homes. Jamaica Plain today is one of Boston's great suburban neighborhoods, but it has not always been connected to the city. The area has a rich and colorful history that stretches from its rural, pastoral beginnings in the seventeenth century. Jamaica Plain became a part of Roxbury, and later West Roxbury, and served as a summer playground for influential Bostonians before becoming part of Boston in 1874. Today, the neighborhood is a bustling suburban spot that has preserved its natural beauty and resources. Stories abound as to how Jamaica Plain derived its name; some trace it to the flow of rum shipments to the port of Boston following Oliver Cromwell's seizure of Jamaica in 1660. Regardless of how the name came to be, many agree that Jamaica Plain is one of the loveliest areas of New England. The neighborhood's beauty has been protected by such visionaries as Benjamin Bussey, who bequeathed his estate to Harvard College for what is now the Arnold Arboretum, and Henry A.S. Dearborn, the former mayor of Roxbury who established the Forest Hills Cemetery