smith's village
'Rietti's Town' 1826
Abraham
Rietti, an Italian-Jewish business man in Kingston, laid out a suburban
development on a property he owned along the Spanish Town Road,
consisting of 14
streets named numerically. It was aimed at a lower
middle-class population. Later this
area was renamed 'Smith's Village'
or 'Smith Village' after Governor Lionel Smith
(1836-9) who oversaw the
ending of the apprenticeship which followed Emancipation in
1834. Full
freedom was celebrated on August 1st, 1838.
At
some point streets in Smith's Village were
renamed, two becoming
Victoria and Albert Streets
after the new Queen (1837) and her husband,
and
two becoming Metcalf Street after the Governor
after Smith, and Elgin Street, after Lord Elgin,
Governor from 1842 to 1847. Nuttall Street may
have been named much later after the Anglican
bishop.
