Who Is the Jenny Lind in New Bedford’s Jenny Lind Street?

Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind was born on October 6, 1820, in Klara in central Stockholm, Sweden. So how is it that there is a street named for her in New Bedford?

Well, since you ask, I will tell you.

I don't know.

Jenny Lind was a Swedish opera singer often called the "Swedish Nightingale" and was one of the most recognized singers of the 19th century, performing in Sweden and all across Europe, according to TheFamousPeople.com website.

The site states that legendary 19th century showman P.T. Barnum persuaded Lind to launch an American tour in 1849.

On February 5, 1852, Lind married German composer and conductor Otto Goldschmidt in Boston. Lind performed in Boston as part of her tour of America.

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According to the Provincetown Banner, a tower that resembles a castle battlement at the Cape Cod National Seashore in Truro may have a connection to Lind.

The tower may have been a part of the Fitchburg Railroad Station in Boston before the station was demolished. According to legend, Lind performed in a hall at the railroad station, but when crowds angry at not being able to gain entrance to the hall revolted, Lind allegedly climbed to the top of the tower and performed for the people gathered below.

There is no known record that Jenny Lind ever visited or performed in New Bedford, yet there is a Jenny Lind Street in the city. There are also streets named for Jenny Lind in Taunton and North Easton, Massachusetts, and Jenny Lind Way in Dartmouth.

Streets named in Jenny Lind's honor are also found in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

There is a hospital named for Lind in England, and an island in Canada bears her name.

Lind included among her friends German composer Felix Mendelssohn, Hans Christian Anderson and Thomas Edison, for who she may have cut a recording of her singing.

Jenny Lind died on November 2, 1887, at Wynds Point in Malvern, England.

Why a street in New Bedford nears her name may forever remain a mystery.