Pauline Agassiz Shaw (1841-1917) was a social reformer who used her wealth to pay for a vast number of philanthropic efforts including financing the first public kindergartens in America, lobbying for both prison reform and world peace, participating in the woman suffrage movement and founding day nurseries and neighborhood houses (including the North Bennet Street School).
As the plaque says, one of the first public kindergartens in America was on Thomas Street (where the parking lot is today). Financed by Pauline starting in 1877, after a ten-year "trial period" the concept was permanently adopted by the Boston Public Schools.
Her home was on Perkins Street across from the Jamaica Pond (where Cabot Estates are today).
Quote
“I had too much - you will all have too much - and it will require great effort with God’s help to determine to “give” rather than to “hold”, and to think deeply as you spend.”— Pauline Agassiz Shaw (to her children)