The Eliot School is one of the oldest, continuously running, educational institutions in the United States. It is located at 24 Eliot Street in Jamaica Plain. Reverend John Eliot, who came to Boston from England in 1633, made the first contribution to the school’s endowment fund In 1676. In 1701, thirty-eight of the inhabitants of Jamaica or Pond Plain gave various sums from two shillings to a pound, 14 pounds 1s. in all, to be paid annually for twelve years for the support of a school. Payments were made in grain, half Indian (corn) and half English (wheat) at the price of the day. The first school was built on the land given by John Ruggles in 1676 and was located where the Soldiers Monument now stands in the middle of Centre St.
