History
For over three centuries...
Although the Eliot School is by no means the oldest American school in continuous existence, it is certainly one of a small group of early Colonial-era schools that survive today.
In 1676, a group of local farmers donated corn and land to support a school in Jamaica Plain. For the next two centuries, the school educated Indians, Africans, and colonial children, funded by an endowment from Rev. John Eliot, Minister to the Indians.
Between 1676 and 1830, the Eliot School occupied several locations in Jamaica Plain, beginning where the Soldiers Monument now stands. In 1831, the school's trustees built the schoolhouse that exists today.
In 1889, the school turned its focus to the arts. “Manual arts,” traditionally practiced at home, were disappearing in modern cities. Called on to supplement Boston’s public school offerings, the Eliot School taught woodworking, cooking, and more. Manual training for schoolteachers followed, then instruction for adults, then children's after-school. People, reports said, attended "to satisfy that instinctive desire of human beings to create," and as "relaxation from their sedentary vocations."
Today, we continue to offer classes to people of all ages in fine and applied arts, still providing an outlet for people to relax from sedentary vocations and satisfy their desire to create.
The school’s 20th century history remains to be written. Please contact us if you would like to help record this history.
Articles
“Eliot School in Session Here Since 1676,” Sandra Storey, Jamaica Plain Gazette, January 21, 2005— “Before 1676 was over, several residents gave land to fund the school. John Ruggles gave the triangular piece of land in front of the Unitarian Church where the Soldiers’ Monument stands. Hugh Thomas and his wife Clement gave their house, orchard, lot and night pasture to the school on the condition that the residents would take care of them as they got older. Others also donated smaller pieces of land.…”
“A Brief History of the Eliot School–The First Two Hundred Years,” Charles Fox, Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts Newsletter, 2004— “In 1689 John Eliot, apostle to the Indians, translator of the Bible into the Algonquin language, and pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, bequeathed in his will seventy-five acres along what is now Eliot Street in Jamaica Plain to a fledgling school to, as Eliot put it, ‘do away with the inconvenience of ignorance.’…”
Archives
Our archives are held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, where they are available to the public. Since the materials are held off-site, contact the Historical Society a few days in advance if you would like to access them. Many thanks to Cynthia Curtner for preparing these materials for the archives.