"BORN AT 83 BEALS STREET, BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS"

JFK BORN 108 YEARS AGO TODAY

Brookline, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On May 29, 1917, one hundred and eight years ago today, future President of the United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born here in Brookline*, a suburb of Boston.

JFK, or Jack as he would be called by family and friends, was the second child of Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr. & Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.  Jack was born in the second floor of the family home located at 83 Beals Street.

Dr. Frederick Good, the Kennedy family physician, chose the bedroom nearest the windows to provide plenty of sunlight for the birth.

The house, built in 1909, was repurchased by the Kennedy family in 1966, restored and gifted to the National Park Service.

*Brookline, located in Norfolk County, Massachusetts is part of the Boston Metro area & is bordered by six Beantown neighborhoods.  

First settled as 'Muddy River' in 1638, it was incorporated as Brookline in 1705.

SOURCE

"Centennial of the Birth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy: May 29, 1917-May 29, 2017," JFK+50, www.jfk50.blogspot.com/

JFK Birthplace Home

Collector's Piece

by RR Creations, Inc

1995

"IN THE BED NEAREST A FRONT WINDOW"

JFK BORN 104 YEARS AGO IN BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS

Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On May 29, 1917, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, a "streetcar suburb" of Boston.

JFK was the second child of Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.  Dr. Frederick Good delivered the baby in the second floor bedroom utilizing the twin bed nearest a front window.

The birthplace of the future 35th POTUS is located at 83 Beals Street.  The home was built in 1901 and is now owned and operated by the National Park Service.

SOURCE

"John Fitzgerald Kennedy Birthplace, Brookline, Massachusetts, Houses of Presidents, Childhood Homes, Family Dwellings, Private Escapes and Grand Estates," by Hugh Howard, Little, Brown & Co., New York, 2012.

   

 

John F. Kennedy Birthplace

83 Beals Street

Brookline, MA

National Park Service Photo

CENTENNIAL OF JFK'S BIRTH 1917-2017

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2324

CENTENNIAL OF THE BIRTH OF JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY: 
MAY 29 1917-MAY 29 2017

Boston, Massachusetts (JFK+50) One hundred years ago at 3 o'clock Eastern time this afternoon, May 29, 1917, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in the "streetcar suburb" of Boston known as Brookline.  It was on a Tuesday.  The future 35th president of the United States was born in the 2nd floor master bedroom of the family home at 83 Beals Street.

JFK, who would be called Jack, was the second child of Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy.  The baby was delivered by Dr. Frederick Good.  The twin bed nearest the window was chosen for the birth to provide the best light for the doctor.

The Kennedy birthplace home had been purchased for $6500 by Joe Kennedy, Sr. in 1914. JFK would live in Brookline for four years.  He would be baptised at nearby St. Aidans Roman Catholic Church.  The family moved to Riverdale, New York in 1921.

The house at 83 Beals Street is a Colonial Revival structure which boasts a spacious porch.  It was built in 1909.  In 1961, Brookline placed a bronze plaque in front of the house to mark it as the birthplace of the new POTUS.  In late November 1963, 10,000 mourners gathered outside to pay tribute to the martyred president.

In 1966, the house was bought back by the Kennedy family for restoration and on May 29, 1969 it was "dedicated and gifted to the National Park Service."

Today, May 29, 2017, at 3 p.m.United States Navy jets will fly over the Kennedy birthplace in Brookline to pay tribute to the 35th president's birth a century ago.  A daylong celebration in Boston will include a dedication of the JFK "Forever" stamp by the USPS and a speech by Representative Joe Kennedy III.  The Navy jets will also fly over the JFK Library at Columbia Point. 

SOURCES

"John Fitzgerald Kennedy Birthplace, Brookline, Massachusetts," Houses of the Presidents, Childhood Homes, Family Dwellings, Private Escapes and Grand Estates, by Hugh Howard, photography by Roger Straus III, Little, Brown & Company, New York, 2012.

"Navy jets fly over to mark JFK centennial," by Leslie Anderson, The Boston Globe, www.bostonglobe.com/

JFK Birthplace
83 Beals Street
Brookline, MA
Limited Edition 
Collector's Piece
RR Creations Inc. 1995

PATRICK BOUVIER KENNEDY LAID TO REST

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2035

BABY PATRICK KENNEDY WOULD HAVE HIGH SURVIVAL CHANCE TODAY

Brookline, Massachsetts (JFK+50) The infant son of President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, was laid to rest here at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline fifty-three years ago today, August 10, 1963.

Patrick, who was born five and a half weeks premature three days earlier, died in the early morning hours of August 9, only 39 hours after birth.  The Kennedy baby died as a result of complications of hyaline membrane disease which was common in premature births.  25,000 babies died every year from the disease.

According to Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, however, if Baby Patrick had been born in 2013, his chances of survival, because of improvements in medical care for premature babies, would have been 95%.

Baby Patrick, who was born at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, weighed 4 pounds 10 1/2 ounces at birth.

The funeral mass, celebrated by Richard Cardinal Cushing, archbishop of Boston, at his residence, was attended only by members of the immediate Kennedy family.

According to David Powers, the President put a gold Saint Christopher's Medal, which had been a present given to him by Jacqueline, inside the casket.

At graveside, President Kennedy "tightly gripped" Patrick's small white coffin.
Kenny O'Donnell and Dave Powers wrote...

"The loss of Patrick affected the President and Jackie more deeply than anybody except their closest friends realized."

A couple of months later, JFK left the Harvard-Columbia football game at halftime to visit Patrick's grave.  The President asked Kenny and Dave to make sure he wasn't followed by the press.

Standing in the cemetery, looking down at the headstone marked KENNEDY, JFK said to Dave and Kenny...

"He seems so alone here."

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy's remains are now alongside his parents at Arlington National Cemetery.  

SOURCES

"A Kennedy Baby's Life and Death," by Lawrence K. Altman, M.D., The New York Times, July 29, 2013, www.nytimes.com/

"Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye:  Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy," by Kenneth P. O'Donnell and David F. Powers, Little Brown and Company, Boston, 1970, 1972.

Grave of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy

Arlington National Cemetery

Photo by John White (2016)

HAPPY 99TH BIRTHDAY JFK

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1964

JOHN F. KENNEDY WOULD HAVE BEEN 99 YEARS OLD TODAY

Brookline, Massachusetts (JFK+50) The thirty-fifth President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, would have been 99 years old today, May 29, 2016.  Next year on this date will be the centennial of JFK's birth.

Jack, the second child born to Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy, was born at the family home at 83 Beals Street in Brookline.  The future president was the namesake of his grandfather, John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, once the mayor of Boston.

The birth came at 3 in the afternoon in the 2nd floor master bedroom.  The twin bed nearest the window was chosen to give the best light.  Dr. Frederick Good was the family obstetrician who delivered Jack. 

The proud father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., a Harvard graduate, was the president of Columbia Trust Bank in East Boston.  Joe Sr.'s dad, Patrick J. Kennedy, was a ward boss and Irish-American community leader in Boston

Jack Kennedy at 6 months

JFK Birthplace Historic Site

Jack and Joe Junior    

JOHN F. KENNEDY BIRTHPLACE

Brookline, Massachusetts (JFK+50) Joe and Rose Kennedy had lived in the home on Beals Street in Brookline since their marriage in 1914.  Mr. Kennedy paid $6500 for the house which was built in 1909.

Mrs. Kennedy said  she loved the "space and air" of the community although it required a 15 minute walk to reach the trolley line.

The house at 83 Beals Street was JFK's home for his first four years of life. In 1921, the Kennedys moved to a larger house in the same neighborhood. 

JFK was christened on June 19, 1917 at nearby St. Aidan's Catholic Church where Joe Jr. and Jack would serve as altar boys.   Jack attended the Edward Devotion School, Noble and Greenough Lower School and the Dexter School.

JFK Birthplace National Historic Site

83 Beals Street

Brookline, Massachusetts

THE KENNEDYS OF BEALS STREET

"Intimately modest and furnished in original Kennedy family heirlooms and  period reproductions, the home at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts conveys a sense of familiarity.  The beds are covered with Irish linen bedspreads embroidered with thistles, shamrocks and other Irish symbols.

Mrs. Rose Kennedy, who conducts visitors through the home by way of a recorded tape, says...

'We were happy here, and although we did not know about the days ahead, we were enthusiastic and optimistic about the future.'"

The house, sold to a family friend in 1927, was repurchased by the Kennedys in 1966.  It was restored to the original 1917 appearance with the supervision of Rose Kennedy.   The home was donated to the people of the United States in 1967."

SOURCE

*"The Kennedy's of Beals Street," by Tony Fusco. Collectibles Illustrated, Nov/Dec 1983.

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy 

JFK Birthplace Dedication 

National Park Service Photo (1969)