Old Lucea In Retrospect
Lucea Baptist Church on the far left, Town Hall with clock (old Courthouse) to the far right, Haughton Court cane cultivation at bottom left.

The Baptist Manse is on top of the hill behind the church, and to the right is Etta Browne's house on the ridge behind the coconut tree, an area known as Duke's Hill.

Lower down the road from the church is Elsie Davis house, that area is known as "Ka Kat" with those other houses in the vicinity. Cressey's Lane (Back Lane) name for the Rev. Cressey, starts at that point and ends where there used to be a two story house(not in photo), that host the Lucea Library up to the 60's. Legend has it that the formula for Tia Maria was created by a woman on the second floor.

That first building to the left of the Town Hall was occupied by Lucea Methodist Church and Rusea's school, the building was razed by fire, a new building was erected on the spot for the church in 1841, and Rusea's was moved to the barracks at Fort Charlotte.

Notice that the roofs of these buildings in Lucea were wooden shingles, and were over laid with zinc sheets during World War II, and painted in red to dampen the moonlight reflection.



The Baptist Mission Manse: In front of the Manse was the Baptist school, operated by The Reverend Mr. & Mrs. Orr and assisted by Ms Nellie Shallon. The building may have been a car port, it never had any walls, except for side the Blackboard was located. Rev Orr teaches Latin to the senior students in the Manse, and the Church bell on the hill side was also used as the school bell. The Town Hall: This building housed the Lucea Court House and the Hanover Parish Council. The staircase is missing from the left side, those 22 steps that leads in to the Court House, therefore all entrance to the top floor, was from the internal stairwell. There were Dances held on the second floor in the front, in the same area used by the Courts
The Baptist Church To the left is the road that leads to the Mission Manse, on the rear of the right side was a shortcut that the school children would use. This building was erected mainly from bricks, most likely from the ballast of ships, the second floor view is mainly to bring in light. View of Lucea: This view is from Marley Hill, it is the earliest of these three photos, it shows more buildings at the bottom of the left side, but it is the Browne Wharf that dates it, by the construction of the Wharf.

The Browne wharf at this point, is setting up the crane and the storage building does not have a roof. Bottom right is Ms Nesta Crooks house, the bottom left, was home of Mr Todd a Customs inspector of ships, no idea of the previous owners, property in between buildings was called Brash Yard, a the end of the wall that home was occupied by a Mrs Record, she had a shop on the first floor, and so many children pinched her Fudge. Those hills in the background was the property of Haughton Court, the first municipal Resovior was located at prosper, which was fed by a spring, it is also the source of water in the Venture Gutter .
The Browne wharf with housing for the crane and the storage, with a Slope loading and and unloading, schooners at anchor in the harbor, others are moored alongside other wharfs. It was said that at times there could be two hundred boats in the harbor. Boats would leave from Lucea to England, Trinidad, Panama, Cuba, Columbia, Costa Rica, New Orleans Bahamas, New York City, all the other ports in Jamaica. The cargo could be Lucea Yam, Ackee, Rum, Molasses, Timber, Dyes, Lard, Cocoa, Pimento, Coffee, Spices, Sugar, Banana was one of the last items to be shipped to England. These boats also carried passengers and Mails, the Winsome carried Ice from Montego Bay. The craftsmen made and repair Schooner, Slopes, Yawls, Doughts, Packet Canoes, Lighters, Launches, and Yachts.  Small buildings at the shores were Toilets, there were some toilets that were placed on the wharf, one can be seen in the middle right.


This photo was taken in 1939 for King George Coronation along the Main St of Lucea which is now Hanover St, the flag draped building was owned by the late Jim Reid.  He had a Haberdashery and lived above the store.  Mass Jim, was a champion cyclist in Western Jamaica, in addition to owning a racing Cycle, he also had a Tandem (cycle for two riders) Cycle. Jim Reid could often be seen on long rides, riding from Lucea to Falmouth on one of his evening rides, a total distance of 96 miles. Mr. Reid attends the Lucea Methodist Church in his favorite dress attire, Suspenders and no jacket.   Immediately to the left of Mass Jim store is the house and business place of William Dickson MHR, followed by the Range house and Bigwell Lane, where those two people are, followed by the old Dickson house, the Maxwell building, Leslie Wells lane, a well was located nearby to where the little gutter is. At the entrance to the lane on the opposite side is the Shaggy Monroe building, where he operated a restaurant in the front and a Bakery at the rear, and the upstairs was used for a bed & Breakfast in the 50's & 60's.

Starting on the left this building was owned by the Pharmacist Percy Miller, where he had his Drug Store establishment. Henderson Moo Young bought the building in the late 50's, and had establish a thriving dry goods business, supplying the other dry goods business in the Parish, and Lumber ware house; this is now a Shopping Plaza. The Lane to the left was known as Hanover square. The next building was called Casa Nova, in the 40’s it was owned by the  Shagourey’s with a billiard room upstairs, in later years the bricks were rendered, when the upper floors became apartments. From the middle window you could see the screen of the Cliff Theater. Esau Shagourey had a Haberdashery and next door was the Bata store. The Salvation Army Church and prep school property begins where the zinc fence begins, now home of the Courts furniture store, previously owned by the Nova Scotia Bank. The next building That juts out into the street is still there. On the right, the first building remodel before the 50's, and a step was left in the front, the steps were removed in the 80's. In the 50 to 70's the the first floor was occupied by a Radio repair shop, Barber shop, Lawyers office. next was the Cliff Theater, there was a walk way between it and the Barclays bank, the board building was torn down for a concrete structure, the next building was the haberdashry store of Ms Marzuca, and upstairs was the residence of Esau Shagoury, followed by the Watson-Young dry goods store, with Market St, seperating the Dickson Bridge.














This aerial photo of Lucea was taken before 1964
 


Previous