PARISH HISTORY

Kingston was established in 1692 when an earthquake/tidal wave destroyed Port Royal, a buccaneer's town founded by the English. The advantages of Kingston harbour, which is twenty square miles in area coupled with the protection offered by Palisadoes (a sandpit), were decisive in relocating the town. The plan of Kingston was geometrical, a parallelogram shape with grid street pattern. The center and focal point of Kingston was the 10-acre Central Parade, first used as a market and parade ground.

St. Andrew was originally called Liguanea, part and parcel of the Liguanea Plain. In 1923, the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew were amalgamated for the purpose of Civic Administration. The Corporate Area extends to the limits of the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, and is divided into urban, suburban and rural entities.

Kingston became the capital of the country in 1872 and is now the largest and most important commercial city in the Commonwealth Caribbean. It is well linked to the rest of the island's major roads to north, east and west and radiates over the whole country as the chief centre for higher education, finance, administrative services and international activity; despite the competition offered by tourist resorts like Montego Bay and Ocho Rios which have world-wide reputation.

The introduction of coffee into St. Andrew in the year 1778, served to establish the Blue Mountain coffee which now ranks high in the international markets. Fisheries are well developed and the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation currently has responsibility for the most important fishing beach areas. Kingston and St. Andrew also boasts of important mineral deposits and mines.