With City Councilor Felix Arroyo joining the mayoral race, there is a chance for Jamaica Plain to be home to a mayor for the first time in nearly 50 years.
At least five Boston mayors have hailed from JP, including the legendary James Michael Curley. Here is a list:
- John Collins (1960-66). Oversaw creation of Government Center, Prudential Center and current City Hall.
- James Michael Curley (1914-18, 1922-26, 1930-34, 1946-50; also governor, 1935-37). Famously powerful and infamously corrupt mayor whose small Jamaicaway mansion is now a city-owned facility.
- Maurice Tobin (1938-45; also governor, 1944-46). Later served as US secretary of labor and was namesake of the Tobin Bridge downtown.
- Malcolm Nichols (1926-30). JP’s only Republican mayor, he planned the Sumner Tunnel downtown.
- Andrew Peters (1918-21). Scandal-plagued mayor during the Boston Police strike of 1919, infamous for his reported seduction of an 11-year-old girl named Starr Faithfull.
- Albert Palmer (1883). This little-known mayor ran an ice company at Jamaica Pond and may have lived here.
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