Boston Dedicates Roxbury Square to First Black Deputy Mayor Jeep Jones

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Boston dedicates a Roxbury street corner to Dr. Clarence "Jeep" Jones, the city's first Black deputy mayor. Veterans Commissioner Rob Santiago organized the ceremony, held July 22, at which Mayor Kim Janey — herself the city's first Black and first woman mayor — read a proclamation formally declaring August 6, 2021 Dr. Clarence Jeep Jones Day in the City of Boston. The proclamation credited Jones with co-founding a Norfolk House mentoring program in the 1950s, leading the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and serving as director of the Youth Activities Commission beginning in 1969, when he declared he wanted to "personally know every kid in this city." Ambassador Ray Flynn, a childhood friend of Jones, said, "If I had my way, I might even name the Boston Garden after Jeep Jones." Wanda Jones, his wife, received a replica of the new street sign at the ceremony's close.