Jamaica Plain is founded.

(OS 9/28) Originally part of Roxbury and then West Roxbury, it its name is said to be derived either from the names of a local Native American sachem (Kuchamakin), its early residents’ fondness for Jamaican rum drunk “neat” or “plain, or to honor the British victory over Spain in Jamaica in 1655. It begins as an area of small farms and then one of summer homes and estates owned by wealthy Bostonians. Development of railroad lines prompts industrial development along Stony Brook. It becomes part of West Roxbury in 1851,* and is annexed by Boston in 1874.* Extension of street car lines prompts increased residential development. in the last half of the 19th century, and it experience increased gentrification in the last half of the 20th century.