LEADING  MANUFACTURERS  AND  MERCHANTS  CITY  OF  BROOKLYN


TOWN OF JAMAICA.


ONE of the most delightful and tempting of the suburban regions of Brooklyn, 
Jamaica, occupies the southwestern portion of Queens County. An ancient town, 
it is, like good wine, all the better for being old. It was first settled, as 
far back as 1656, by Robert Jackson and a few others from Hemp- stead, and the 
first regular town meeting was held February 18th of the following year. 
Rusdorf was its original name, conferred by the Dutch, but this was 
afterward changed to the present one, Jamaica, being a variation of the Indian 
Jameco. A singular phrase, almost in the form of a stipulation, occurring in the 
confirmatory deed obtained from the Rockaway tribe, runs as follows: 
"One thing toe be remembered, that noe person is to cut downe any tall tree 
wherein Eagles do build theire nests." 

It is, perhaps, to the early spirit which prompted this injunction that the 
present generation owes the existence of the many ancient and majestic trees 
that lend their dignified presence to the streets of the village. Nor are these 
the only venerable symbols of the dusky past. The hands of destruction have 
spared some houses that antedate the days of the Revolution, fit companions 
for the noble trees that guard them. 

The five common schools that now affords abundant means of education to the children 
of our citizens are the outcome of the "scoule" established two hundred years ago-l676. 

The inducements held out to new-comers show that the pioneers were of liberal mind 
and enterprising spirit, and anxious to put the settlement upon a business basis 
by bringing into it business men. So we find that in 1663 one John OULDFIELD was 
voted by the people a home lot and twenty acres of meadow land, on condition that 
he would take up his abode here, build a tannery, and carry on the tanning trade. 
He accepted the invitation, and, moreover, pledged himself "to make such lether as 
will passe under ye seal." In 1670 the town bound itself to construct a dam for a 
grist mill, to be erected by Benjamin COLE, who was to reciprocate the courtesy by 
grinding "ye towne's come before strangers." Similar bait was held out to 
others, and the town presently took on growth and strength, as these were accounted 
in those times. 

Jamaica was incorporated a town in 1814, and was granted a more specific and efficient 
charter in 1855. Market gardening has for quite a number of years been the principal 
employment of the bulk of its people, and the constantly increasing demand created 
by the rapid and persistent growth of New York and Brooklyn has necessitated the highest 
possible improvement and cultivation of the soil, a diminution in the size, and a 
corresponding increase in the number of the farms. The walks and drives through this 
exuberant farm and garden country are charming exceedingly, and the picture it presents 
in spring and summer is one of rare and memorable beauty. 

The village of Jamaica is situated ten miles east from Brooklyn or New York, four 
miles south from Flushing, on the Long Island railroad, at the point where it separates 
into several branches. It is emphatically a railroad centre, and from the station seemsy 
this, and nothing more." One goes but a very short distance from it, however, before his 
attention is arrested and his interest excited. He finds here a city in miniature, but 
whose light and air and atmosphere are better, purer, more bracing than those of any 
city he ever saw or dreamed of. It is a suburb, mind you, of the two largest cities 
in the Union; many of their business men have homes here, some of them well-to-do or 
rich, many of only modest means, not a few of them clerks on small salaries, but they 
demand all the comforts and luxuries which nineteenth century civilization in the 
Empire State means and embraces. And all these are here. 

The number of public schools is exceptionally large, than which there are none in the 
State whose system of instruction is more efficient or thorough. Still higher 
educational advantages are afforded by :
Maple Hall Institute, 
Union Hall Seminary, and St. Monica Academy. 

The principal religious denominations common to this latitude are represented here 
by the 
Episcopal, 
Methodist, 
Baptist, 
Roman Catholic, 
Reformed, 
Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, some of whose edifices are artistic examples of 
sacred architecture. 

Four local newspapers-one of them German-are published here, abundance of good water 
is furnished by the Nassau Water-Works Company, gas and electricity arc plentiful. 
The village is well policed, has an efficient fire service, and its sanitary provisions 
and condition are superior. Besides many handsome, desirably stocked mercantile 
establishments, its manufacturing interests are considerable. 

The present population is about four thousand. 


With Special Thanks to: Cathy Harrison Speciale
Transcribed exclusively for the Brooklyn Genealogical Information Pages: Nancy E. Lutz

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