Bartending School in South Jamaica, NY

South Jamaica is named for its location south of Jamaica; the name Jamaica itself is derived from the Lenape word Yameco meaning “beaver”. This was reflected in the naming of Beaver Pond at the border of Jamaica and South Jamaica. Through the 20th century, the neighborhood was also known as Cedar Manor.

Through the 19th century, what is now South Jamaica consisted of farmland. Early developments in South Jamaica included the Prospect Cemetery opened in 1668, and the Prospect and St. Monica’s Churches opened around 1857. Baisley Pond, created by local farmers from dammed streams, was acquired by the City of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg Water Works Company in 1852 for municipal water supplies.

The Jamaica Race Course was opened in 1894 at Baisley Boulevard and New York Avenue (today’s Guy R. Brewer Bouelvard), and expanded in the early 1900s. Some sources state its official opening year as 1903. Transportation was introduced into the neighborhood at the turn of the century. The Far Rockaway Line streetcar was opened along New York Avenue between downtown Jamaica and the Jamaica Racetrack on September 1, 1896, and was extended to the Rockaways by summer 1897. The Cedar Manor station opened at Linden Boulevard along the LIRR Atlantic Branch in 1906. The Queens Boulevard Line streetcar to Midtown Manhattan was extended along Sutphin Boulevard to 109th Avenue in South Jamaica in April 1916. Baisley Pond Park was opened by the city in 1919.