It is so called because of the two (jora) wooden or bamboo bridges (sanko) that spanned a small stream at this point.

Apart from the distinguished seat of the Tagore family, traditionally known as the Jorasanko Thakur Bari, it was also home of the Singhas (including Kaliprasanna Singha), the Pals (including Krishnadas Pal), and the families of Dewan Banarasi Ghosh, Gokul Chandra Daw, Narsingha Chandra Daw, Prafulla Chandra Gain, Tarak Nath Pramanik and Chandramohan Chatterji.

[1] The Oriental Seminary, founded in 1829, was one of the earliest privately-run, modern educational institutions in Kolkata.

[5] Jorasanko was historically an important centre of the shell industry in Kolkata, but it has been on the decline in recent years.

The first significant play staged there was Krishnakumari, written by Bengali playwright Michael Madhusudan Dutta.

[2] Finding a dearth of Bengali-language plays to stage, Ganendranath held a contest to promote Bengali playwrights.