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Street bisecting Arnold Arboretum renamed to honor enslaved woman
Formerly known as Bussey Street, Flora Way was dedicated Saturday to the woman who lived in the neighborhood during the 18th century.
After a community vote, the busy Boston thoroughfare that bisects the Arnold Arboretum was officially renamed Friday to honor an enslaved woman named Flora who lived nearby.
Formerly known as Bussey Street, Flora Way was dedicated by Harvard University and local officials to the woman who lived in the neighborhood during the 18th century. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, and multiple city councilors attended the ceremony.
“Flora was the clear choice of the 378 residents from the street’s contiguous neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale who submitted their input, as well as from an additional 120 citywide and statewide respondents,” the Arboretum said in a statement earlier this month.
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Councilor Ben Weber, who represents Jamaica Plain, spoke just inside the Arboretum’s Walter Street Gate.
The renaming came after local advocates – including JP Centre/South Main Streets, the Roslindale Village Main Street, Weber, and Councilor Enrique Pepén – prompted a look into the complicated legacy of Bussey Street’s eponym.
Benjamin Bussey was an 18th century businessman who donated a large portion of the 281-acre green space. While Harvard University researchers have not found evidence that Bussey enslaved people himself, the researchers reported that he made his fortune from goods like coffee and sugar produced by enslaved people. With his wealth, he purchased land in Jamaica Plain which would later become Arnold Arboretum.
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The community voted this spring on five finalists, including a 1940s botanist and other enslaved people. According to the Jamaica Plain
Historical Society, Flora was a woman who was enslaved by the prominent Dudley family, who’s name was removed from several Roxbury landmarks in 2019. Her biography states that while there’s not much known about Flora herself, her name will also reflect the Arboretum’s lush greenery.
The Boston Public Improvement Commission approved the change to “Flora Way” on Oct. 10, ending two years of advocacy to remove Bussey’s name from the bisecting road, the arboretum announced.
But Bussey isn’t going away completely. Bussey Hill, Bussey Brook, Bussey Brook Meadow, and a nearby railroad bridge are all maintaining his legacy. The Arboretum said it does not want to “demonize” Bussey.
“He was also a generous philanthropist, whose gift of his farm to Harvard eventually became a large part of Arboretum’s historical landscape some 30 years after his death,” they wrote.
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