The Greenough estate of roughly 50 acres remained intact until the mid nineteenth century. At that point General William Hyslop Sumner married the widow of David Stoddard Greenough III. He started to subdivide and develop the acreage. It’s this development that will be touring today – it took his name and became known as Sumner Hill. Like most of Jamaica Plain, the creation of this neighborhood depended on transportation. It was a quick walk from Jamaica Station in Woolsey Square, a stop on the Boston and Providence Railroad – what we know today as the Green Street T stop.
Sumner Hill is one of the 3 National Historic Districts located in Jamaica Plain. We have the nomination to add it to the National Register of Historic Places on our website (approved June 1986). Its area is bounded by Seaverns Avenue, Centre Street, South Street, Carolina Avenue and the Southwest Corridor Park. The district, which encompasses 365 acres, contains 63 buildings and 18 structures.