Tue | Oct 21, 2025
A History of Kingston and St Andrew Communities

Around the Kingston Race Course (now National Heroes Park and Circle)

Published:Monday | October 20, 2025 | 7:19 AMMarcia Thomas/Contributor -
Current reminder of a North Race Course house.
Current reminder of a North Race Course house.
Malabre House on East Street.
Malabre House on East Street.
Members of the 2nd Battalion of the Jamaica Regiment stand guard outside of the cenotaph of the National Heroes Park in 2005.
Members of the 2nd Battalion of the Jamaica Regiment stand guard outside of the cenotaph of the National Heroes Park in 2005.
A drawing of Wolmer’s Hostel  –  Cavalier’s Great House.
A drawing of Wolmer’s Hostel – Cavalier’s Great House.
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The 72-acre Kingston Race Course has been an important site in Kingston and St Andrew for sports and recreation since the early 19th century.

It also hosted circuses, evangelists, and concerts. It was a cholera burial site and provided temporary shelter, with Quebec Lodge Lands, for those left homeless by the 1907 earthquake.

The Race Course was renamed George VI Memorial Park in 1953, with a proposal for a Parliament building there. The race course (horseracing track) was moved to Knutsford Park in 1905, and later to Caymanas Park in 1959. In 1973, George VI Park was renamed National Heroes Park.

Montgomery Pen/Race Course

At least for part of the 18th century, the Kingston Race Course was part of Montgomery Pen. In 1754, the 160-acre Montgomery Pen was owned by John Venhorn. On James Robertson’s 1804 Map of Jamaica, it seems that in the latter part of the 18th century, part of the property could have been owned by a Mr. Pinnard.

Montgomery Pen was purchased in 1804 by Captain Nathaniel Foy and Lt Colonel Spencer Perry to be used for equine events. In 1808, it was purchased by Kingston Mayor John Jacques and the Council for about £986. Emancipation and full-freedom festivities were held there on August 2, 1834 and August 1,1838.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Race Course was the centre for public events/entertainment and the playground for the people living in the vicinity, on East Street, at Torrington Pen, at Cavalier’s Pen, at Devonshire/Quebec Lodge; after 1843 in Allman Town, Woodford Park, and in Kingston Gardens, and other communities. Many Haitian migrants, including a former president, lived in the area – note Gadpaille Avenue, Geffrard Place, and the Malabre House along East Street.

Race Course became part of Kingston when the parish boundaries were changed in 1867. My thanks to Deacon Peter Espeut for sharing information.

Devonshire/Quebec Lodge

Quebec Lodge (now Wolmer’s Boys’ and Wolmer’s High Schools for Girls, and The Mico University College) on the north side of the Race Course, was previously Devonshire Lodge, owned by dry goods merchant, S. Laraque and Company. Pierre Joseph Sinéas Laraque, was born in about 1827 in Grand Anse, Haiti. Devonshire Lodge was a pen residence rearing sheep. Laraque died there in October 1876. He was possibly the consul for Haiti. A number of people of Haitian origin then had property around the Race Course.

Devonshire Lodge, thereafter, came into the ownership of Francis Lowe, a Clarendon merchant, owner of Francis Lowe and Company in Chapelton and May Pen. Lowe was custos of Clarendon in the 1860s and ‘70s. Under Lowe, Devonshire Lodge became Quebec Lodge. He sold Quebec Lodge to businessman, Louis Verley, also of Haitian descent, in 1886. Quebec Lodge was the site of the 1891 Great Exhibition.

In the area on the northwest side, there was also the Devon Villa lands and there is a Devon Avenue. In this area, there is also Gadpaille Avenue. It seems to be named for Haitian migrant, Joseph Charles Gadpaille, 1819-1895, and his family, who were merchants in Kingston. They were linked to the Malabre and Denoes families, also of Haitian descent.

Cavalier’s Pen

Cavalier’s Pen (now Wolmer’s Girls’ and Wolmer’s Preparatory School) and the National Water Commission (NWC) was on the northeast side of the Race Course. This pen existed in 1753 when the proprietor was a Daniel Jovert and Company. It was then quite a large property of 500 acres. It likely included the Allman Town property.

In the early days, the property produced sugarcane, ground provisions, and livestock. Part was in woodlands. Labour was mainly provided by enslaved people. From James Robertson’s 1804 map of Jamaica, a John Hinde-owned Cavalier’s Pen in the latter part of the 18th century. In 1810, the proprietors were John Hinde and William and Sarah Dance, and by 1821, it was owned by John Reid. It seems that there were two houses at Cavalier’s, a great house and smaller one. John Hinde was a merchant and judge and William Dance was commissioner for taking affidavits and Provost Marshall for Kingston in 1799.

Cavalier’s Pen would continue to change owners and have lots sold. Governor Sir John Peter Grant, to improve Kingston’s water supply, bought the rights to the privately owned Kingston and Liguanea Water Works in 1871. To expand Kingston’s water supply, by 1874, he bought a portion of the Cavalier’s Pen lands, where reservoirs were constructed. This is the NWC today.

By 1945, through the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, the Wolmer’s Trustees acquired the Cavalier’s great house as a hostel for the girls. In 1946, the Wolmer’s Girls residence for boarders was transferred to the refurbished Cavalier’s great house. The house was demolished in 1967 only leaving student Ena Neita’s painting and the steps. The property is now owned by the Wolmer’s Trust.

Allman Town

Allman Town to the east of the Race Course was a pen which was subdivided and sold in lots in 1843. It was one of the first post-Emancipation suburban settlements.

From 1845, a south fence was at Lord Elgin Road dividing it from Cavalier’s Pen.

Later, it was also at the border between Kingston and St Andrew. By 1909, land here from Cavalier’s was developed into fashionable residents on Connolley Avenue by William Thomas Connolley. Later, the Caenwood Theological College was nearby on Arnold Road.

Torrington Pen

Torrington Pen and house were to the west of Race Course. Information provided by history specialist, Brett Ashmeade Hawkins, states that this property was purchased in 1868 by exiled Haitian President, General Fabre Geffrard, who fled to Jamaica after he was deposed in 1867.

The renowned black American abolitionist/civil rights leader, Frederick Douglass, visited Geffrard there in 1871. Geffrard died at Torrington House in 1878. Following the death of his wife in 1891, the family sold the property and it was subdivided. Torrington House later became a hotel. Now the memories are in the names Torrington Bridge, Torrington Road and Avenue, and Geffrard Place.

East Street

On the northeast side coming into East Street is the Malabre House in the compound of the Ministry of Education. East Street in the 19th century was an elite residential and commercial area. Colonel Louis Rene Malabre was born in 1769 in Haiti (St Domingue). He had worked with the British Army at a time when Britain had an interest in Haiti. He died in Jamaica in 1814. The Malabres became one of the very prominent Haitian families in Jamaica.

In the 19th century, around the Race Course were mainly middle-income residential communities with substantial houses called lodges. In addition to the properties already mentioned, there were Oxford Lodge and Murcott Lodge.

The Race Course today

Today, the Race Course on the south side is the burial site of Jamaica’s national heroes, prime ministers and cultural icons in National Heroes Park. On the north side are now the educational intuitions, the Wolmer’s schools and The Mico University College. On the east and south sides are now government buildings, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education, Skills and Youth. The memorial to the South American liberator, Simón Bolivar, is near the Ministry of Education.

Regrettably, the residential areas around the park have declined in status, becoming dilapidated and now classified as low income.

The proposal now is that the remaining area of the park will house a new parliament building. Most of the Race Course, besides that dedicated to the national heroes, is an open, barren space, partly used as a car park. It is yet to realise its potential as a much-needed green space in the midst of Kingston.

- Prepared by Marcia Thomas, history enthusiast and member of the Jamaica Historical Society and Built Heritage Jamaica