Jamaica Pond was created at the end of the last ice age—between 10,000 and 14,000 years ago—by a retreating glacier. It is a pristine example of a kettle pond, where chunks of ice left behind by the glacier are buried in sediment, melt, leave depressions in the ground, and fill with water. Kettle ponds like Jamaica Pond are typically circular and deep for their size. The pond has a long history of human use—not only as a place of recreation, but also as a place of industry. It was likely utilized by local indigenous communities for fishing. In 1796, the pond was tapped as a water source, feeding water to Boston through a network of wooden pipes. In the mid-19th century, ice was harvested from the pond and shipped worldwide for year-round refrigeration, a major industry at the time. In 1874, one company harvested up to 5,000 pounds of ice from the pond daily. When Olmsted began his work at Jamaica Pond in the 1880s, much of the shoreline was taken up by summer homes. Seeking to preserve the pond's natural beauty, he had all but one—the Pinebank Mansion—destroyed, but otherwise made few additions to the landscape. Apart from the construction of the Jamaica Pond Boathouse and Bandstand in 1913, and the demolition of the Pinebank Mansion in 2007, the park looks much the same as it did in Olmsted's Day.