Nearly every community member in the Parkway area is familiar with the name Billings, due to the widely used Billings Field.

People know the field for football, they know it for the Corrib 5K, they know it for years ago they would flood it in the winter to make an ice rink.

But very few actually know the history behind the namesake.

The Billings family helped shape 19th century West Roxbury through their businesses, land/farm ownership, and civic involvement. Their story begins in colonial-era Milton, within the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where Ebenezer Billings and his wife Mariam raised their eight children. The family’s fortune started with the success of their tavern, which Ebenezer owned and operated.

Two of Ebenezer’s sons, Lemuel Billings (1757-1842) and Benjamin Billings (1765-1829) moved to Roxbury (modern-day West Roxbury) to start their own businesses.

According to the West Roxbury Historical Society (WRHS), Lemuel built a large tomb for the Billings family at Westerly Burying Ground. He was a hatter whose home and shop was located at the corner or present-day Centre and Lorette streets.

Benjamin was known as a “pelt monger,” operating a tannery and clothing business that turned animal hides into leather. In the 1780s, he married Susannah Weld, who was part of the Weld lineage; one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most prominent families in the area. The couple lived on a 35-acre property near Centre and LaGrange Streets that Benjamin purchased from Lemuel. Benjamin built the Billings Leather Dresser and Breeches Factory, where he processed sheep skins, goat skins, and wool. Much of his material came from the extensive farmland owned by his father-in-law, David Weld.

During the late 18th century, Benjamin became quite wealthy, and extended his property from Bellevue Hill to the Charles River. This was plenty of space for Susannah and their eight children. After his death, Benjamin’s son, Joseph Henry Billings (1808-1874), took over the family business – J.H. Billings & Co., also known as the Billings Sheepskin Factory.

Joseph owned the land that is now Billings Field, which was filled with shrubs and fruit trees. A small creek deposited into present-day Billings Field, which extended from the Charles River. Multiple other Billings family members resided across the street. In July 1866, The Boston Transcript reported that a “gang of three men” stole $2,500 worth of wool bales belonging to Joseph. Eleven wool bales were eventually recovered in South Boston.

Joseph had four children and died in 1874 due to a stroke. In 1879, the Boston Post ran an auction notice that stated: “In WR, corner of Centre and LaGrange streets, will be sold on premises, the old homestead of the late Joseph H. Billings, being a part of the well-known Billings farm, comprising a dwelling house containing 12 large rooms, a large barn containing 13 stalls w/ room for 10+ stalls.” Joseph’s homestead spanned 250,000 square feet. The old sheepskin factory burned down in 1891.

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Another notable member of the Billings family is Robert Charles Billings (1819-1899), grandson of Lemuel Billings. Robert graduated from Boston Latin School and then worked for Faulkner, Kimball & Co., a Boston dry goods and textile firm led by Thomas Tarbell and Charles Faulkner. After Tarbell’s retirement, Robert received a one-quarter share in the business and remained a wool merchant for the rest of his life.

Robert left behind a great legacy. In his will, he left more than $1.5 million in public gifts, benefiting institutions such as Harvard, M.I.T, the Boston Medical Library, Wellesley College, as well as support for schools/facilities serving the blind and elderly. Billings Hall at Wellesley College is named in his honor.

Many members of the Billings family were friends with Theodore Parker and active in the parish, especially Joseph. Inside Theodore Parker Church, the Sarah Weld Billings Dana Memorial Window, often called the “Guardian Angel,” is the oldest Tiffany stained glass window in the church and was installed in 1893 by Dana’s son. Benjamin, Joseph, and Robert are discussed in a book about the Unitarian Church, titled “Some Recollections of the Pastors and People of the Second Church of Old Roxbury, West Roxbury,” written by Charles Mackintosh in 1901. (It can be read here: bit.ly/4cUF88V) Robert left money for the Unitarian Church in his will.

Robert Billings created a perpetual trust for the maintenance of Westerly Burying Ground, where he is buried. Fifteen descendants of the Billings Family are interred at Westerly, which sits next to the old sheepskin factory site and is less than a block away from Billings Field.

Around 1899, the land now known as Billings Field was designated as a playground. In the early 1900s, it was named Billings Field after the Billings family (Source: Atlascope Boston). The greenspace where the Billings’ sheep, cows, and horses once grazed is now used for basketball, tennis, baseball, pickleball, and more.

Present-day West Roxbury was settled as part of Roxbury in 1630. WR seceded from Roxbury in 1851, and was annexed by Boston in 1874. West Roxbury Main Streets (WRMS) celebrated WR’s 175th Anniversary in May. For more information about the event, visit wrms.org/west-roxbury-175

Tune in next week for Part 2 of the Billings Family History.