Jamaica Plain

When I was first accepted into Emerson College, one of my main concerns of leaving Philadelphia for Boston was the lack of “diversity” the college had to offer. I grew up as a minority in a predominately African American neighborhood. My mother told me to visit Jamaica Plain when I arrived in Boston because it reminded her of Germantown—our home.

            She explained to me that in Jamaica Plain, African Americans had a prominent presence in the neighborhood as well as other various ethnicities. She said that although Jamaica Plain was considered one of the “bad” parts of Boston, it had great restaurants and thrift shops. She mentioned that artists started moving into the neighborhood because of the lower priced real estate.

            When I moved into Emerson, in the heart of the Theatre District, I was distracted by the city around me. It was a smaller and cleaner than Philly, and the Commons were beautiful. After many months playing a resident of Boston, I thought I was well on my way of “conquering” the city. I had not however visit Jamaica Plain, the first neighborhood I heard about in Boston. When March finally arrived, we finally took the Orange line out to JP in order to find some cool thrift stores. 

            We walked up and down Centre St, shopped for a bit, had lunch at a Fair Trade Café, and went home. Without much exploration I found JP nothing like the way my mother described. It was “artsy” of and the thrift stores were there but it did not feel like home.

            After my initial confusion on why my mom’s description of the neighborhood was incorrect, I realized that she had not lived in Boston for over two decades. How silly of me!

            Jamaica Plain was annexed into Boston in the mid 1870’s. The neighborhood consisted of factories, breweries, and residential houses. In the late 19th century, Frederick Law Olmsted designed and built a series of connected parks (the Emerald Necklace) in Boston, many of which bordered Jamaica Plain. Complications with building train lines through JP resulted in demolished houses and abandoned commercial properties. Middle class families fled Jamaica Plain, resulting in lower housing prices.

         In 1976, when my mother lived in Boston, Jamaica Plain was not the same neighborhood that I know today. The Jamaica Plain Historical Society wrote that 

“The housing stock of the area attracted new groups – among them blacks moving to northern cities from the South after the War, and in the 1960s and 1970s many new Cuban, Puerto Rican, and other Latin American immigrants, while many of the white working class residents of Jamaica Plain remained, from necessity and from choice.  As these new groups had little money or political power, Jamaica Plain lost much of its claim to adequate funding and services – its houses, still beautiful, often tended toward decay.”

         Today, Jamaica Plain is the epitome of a gentrified neighborhood. When I interviewed a resident, a white 35 year old mother, who lived in JP for over ten years, she said that she liked the diversity of JP but noticed that It has become "more white" within the past couple of years. She also said that the properties were costing more money and that the public schools were horrible.

            In the 1980’s more students moved into Jamaica Plain because of the lower costs. Today, Jamaica Plain has become the home for upper middle class families (living in the beautiful Victorian houses), students, and artists. Jamaica Plain is also known for their large gay and lesbian community.

            When I visited Jamaica Plain in April I ended up sailing in the middle of Jamaica Pond. Jamaica Pond was created by glacial action. It covers about 70 acres, is 1.3 miles in circumference, and is as deep as 70 feet in some locations. Before 1848 the pond supplied Boston with fresh water through an underground aqueduct. The Jamaica Plain Ice Company has icehouses along the pond, and Boston locals loved to skate on the pond in the winter. A two-year resident of JP said his favorite part of JP was the pond (he was sitting on a bench by the pond and obviously gave me a smartass answer to the question “What’s your favorite part of the pond?”) For as longer than Jamaica Plain has been a part of Boston, the pond has been the center of resident activity.

            Jamaica Plain is a fascinating (and beautiful) place. I cannot believe how much it has changed since my mother was a resident of Boston. Now that I am living in this city, a whole new identity of JP exists. It’s amazing how much a place can change (demographics, businesses) and stay the same (Jamaica Pond= awesome.) Here are some links for a broader picture of Jamaica Plain…

Jamaica Plain Historical Society

Jamaica Plain High School Yearbook 1976

"Love thy neighbor as thyself" -Deborah Scott c/o 1976

Jamaica Plain Demographics

Photo Credits: Kristy Robinson