I remember having a conversation with a friend a few years ago that works at The Liguanea Club. I asked her why was it called “The Liguanea Club” but was located in New Kingston. She didn’t have a clue. I found out quite recently that it could indeed be given that name because New Kingston is located on the Liguanea Plain.
The Liguanea Plain extends across Half Way Tree, Papine, Cross Roads, Downtown, Rockfort and few other places. However, only the upper circle of the Liguanea Plain is considered to be “Uptown” which is what I’ll be talking about.
The area now known as New Kingston started out as the Knutsford Park Race Track. It was 85 acres of land from Knutsford Boulevard to Oxford Road where horse racing and polo matches were held. When the race track was closed down in the mid-sixties, the area remained as a large, dusty vacant lot on which learner drivers practiced.
In the 1600s Port Royal was the capital of trade and the largest residential area of the Island. In 1692 when a massive earthquake destroyed Port Royal, the settlers and residents of the area had little desire to rebuild and thus realized the value of the land across the harbour known as the Liguanea Plain.
At the time of the earthquake, there were around 8 or 9 houses on some 530 acres of land in the Liguanea Plain.
Immigrants gradually started to migrate to Kingston and it continued to grow until January 1907, when a second earthquake followed by a catastrophic fire that lead it to a sudden halt of development. Much of Downtown Kingston was destroyed. Almost 1500 people died and over a million dollars worth of property damage was incurred. Trying to recover and rebuild, people wanted to move out of the old city and they looked to the merchants who owned much of the land bordering the city. They were sitting on gold mines.
The merchants who previously lived above their business places in central Kingston, relocated to the upper circle of the Liguanea plains now known as “uptown”.
There was now a need for sporting and social activities, as the business activities and persons who were considered being part of the “upper crust of society” shifted to St. Andrew.
The Knutsford Park Race Track was later purchased by a conglomerate of businessmen who envisioned this as the “city, built within a city”, hence the name New Kingston.
The Liguanea club was created as a recreational and social club for the upper class in society. Located on Knutsford boulevard, the club owned over 45 acres of land including the Liguanea Park now called Emancipation Park. The Club gave the land measuring seven acres as a gift to the Jamaican Government.
As a result of this “Uptown” status, everything you can think of, is expensive in that area; especially rent. Nevertheless, walking along the streets of New Kingston gives you a different feeling of Kingston and Jamaica at large by moving away from sunny white sand beaches and palm trees to high raised buildings and experiencing the lifestyle of the “upper crust” of the Jamaican society.
