These cards were made by Rust Craft in the late 1950s. The colorful graphics and clever novelty additions (the cat in the above card made a meowing sound when you pressed it, the britches in the card below were on a spring) were characteristic of the company’s output during their early years in Dedham.
The Dedham Museum and Archive will be celebrating the card company’s creativity with its new exhibit : Rust Craft: A Quarter-century of Artistry in Dedham, coming in November. On display will be dozens of cards from Rust Craft’s Dedham years (1955-1980) as well as photographs, artifacts and original artwork from one of the company’s artists. A reception, which is free to the public, will open the exhibit on November 12 from 6:30-8:30. Light refreshments will be served after welcoming remarks by Museum staff and Christine West, daughter of Vincent Battaglia, long-time Rust Craft artist, whose original artwork is featured in the exhibit. If you worked for this company, or just enjoyed sending or receiving one of their clever and colorful greeting cards, you don’t want to miss this exhibit.
Don’t miss this fun event coming on Friday! This year’s theme is The Striped Pig, a unique event in Dedham history that I wrote about in my Dedham: Historic and Heroic Tales from Shiretown book. Read a short summary below. Hope to see you there!
Sheet music from the 1838 ballad
The Annual Military Muster in September 1838 on Dedham’s Lower Plain (present day Hyde Park) was looking like it would be a gloomy affair. Earlier in the year, temperance advocates had succeeded in getting the Massachusetts legislature to pass the “15-gallon law,” which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages in quantities less than 15 gallons. And what’s a military muster without access to abundant quantities of rum and whiskey?
Enter an inventive local who saved the day and unwittingly created a nationwide phenomenon that is still talked about to this day. The crafty vendor erected a tent on the field, with a sign inviting one and all to see the “Great Curiosity” of a Striped Pig. After paying their 6 and ¼ cents, patrons were indeed treated to the spectacle of a large and apparently contented pig, adorned with dark stripes looking suspiciously like fresh black paint. As a bonus, each paying customer was given a FREE glass of rum, thus quenching their thirst without breaking the law!
Within days the story of Dedham’s Wonder had spread across the country, and the Striped Pig was being celebrated in music halls and taverns far and wide. The phrase entered the nation’s vocabulary meaning both a ruse to skirt an unfair law (“We’ll have to try a Striped Pig device”) and a way to describe a drunken person (“Looks like he’s been riding the Striped Pig”). Striped Pig political parties were formed, some of which helped to bring an end to the 15-gallon law (and the re-election hopes of Governor Edward Everett who had signed it into law).
The Dedham Museum celebrates the creativity of that enterprising entrepreneur and his determined efforts to raise the “spirits” of Dedham’s citizens on that late summer night almost 200 years ago.
I will be sharing stories from my most recent book World War II Massachusetts at the Morse Institute Library in Natick this Thursday, September 11 at 6:30. This will be the 22nd talk I have given since the book’s publication in March 2024. What I most enjoy when giving these presentations is chatting with audience members who remember the events I have written about and share their stories with me. It is always exciting to hear about the blackouts, scrap drives, shortages, and rationing from the people, now in their mid-eighties, who experienced these events as children.
Here is a link to the Morse Institute website which has more information about the talk. Come on by if you’re in the area and want to hear some unbelievable tales of the Bay State home front during the war.
In early July 1975, DPW Commissioner Paul Sullivan authorized the white fence rails around the Dedham Common to be painted red, white and blue in honor of the country’s upcoming Bicentennial. The response by neighborhood residents was swift and overwhelmingly negative. At a special meeting of the select board attended by over 90 concerned citizens, the board voted 3-2 to keep the color scheme as is, despite the presentation of a petition signed by over 100 residents. After learning of several not-so subtle threats to repaint the fence, town officials posted a 24-hour guard at the Common for a few days.
Over the next few months, while there were several unsuccessful attempts to return the fence to its traditional white color, the newly formed Historic Districts Commission was able to meet and settle the matter once and for all. In September the Commission voted to make a request of the select board to repaint the fence by October 15. Commissioner Sullivan stated he would abide by the Commission’s request, and after a week’s rain delay the fence was repainted by volunteers on October 23.
Epilogue
On June 29, 1976, this headline appeared in the Patriot Ledger: Selectmen Order Common Grass Mowed. The article went on to describe the “harvest” of tall grass that had not been mowed since the fence painting brouhaha almost a year before. DPW Commissioner Sullivan explained that he thought the Common was under historic commission control, and would cut the grass only if ordered to by selectman. “It was nice hay,” he remarked, with the article noting that the commissioner was never one to forget a favor or a slight.
Aside from some Karen Read supporters setting up by the Common at the intersection of Routes 135 and 109, the past 50 years there have been free of excitement and controversy. Today, the rails of the fence are unpainted, and will most likely remain that way throughout the country’s semiquincentennial (250th) celebration next year.
The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company as seen in a 1950s postcard view (courtesy of Dedham Museum and Archive)
I can’t really improve upon the caption that accompanied this picture in newspapers across the country on July 24, 1955, the day after the greeting card company opened its new headquarters in Dedham:
700-YEAR-OLD “BLESS HOUSE” CEREMONY, symbolic of inviting good luck to the opening of a new building, was reenacted yesterday as the Rust Craft Greeting Card Co. officially opened its nine-acre plant in Dedham, Mass. Perched atop the clock tower of the new building were these authentically garbed musicians, drumming out evil influences and summoning the good with long heraldic trumpets. 10,000 visitors toured the $3,500,000 plant and watched the making of greeting cards.
During the ceremony described above, six drummers beat kettle drums from the cupola of the building, driving evil spirits away, while trumpeters facing the four points of the compass sounded their 4 foot-long horns, calling good and gentle spirits into the building. Just to cover their bases, company officials invited Father William Kenneally from St. Mary’s Catholic Church and Reverend Rudolph Roell from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to give blessings as well.
Later in the afternoon, town officials presented Rust Craft co-founder Donald Rust with a silk flag bearing the company logo, along with a large, framed replica of the original Indian land deeds to the Rust Craft property. Also on hand was goodwill ambassador “Rustie,” described by the Transcript as “a living greeting card herself, warm and friendly, lovely to look at, and with a cheery greeting for everyone.”
“Rustie” the ‘living trademark’ of the Rust Craft Company stands by the plane she piloted on nationwide promotional tours. Note her dress, which is printed with a variety of greeting card images.This full page ad from the Transcript shows the excitement surrounding Rust Craft’s relocation from Boston to Dedham.
This is the logo used by Rust Craft for several years after their move to Dedham, perhaps inspired by the unique medieval opening day ceremony of that hot July day 70 years ago.
Rust Craft operated in Dedham until 1980 when it moved its operations to Pennsylvania, before going out of business in 1982. The Dedham Museum and Archive is putting together an exhibit highlighting the people, products, and pictures of the company’s 25 years in town. If you have any stories to share, or photos/artifacts to loan us for this exhibit, we would love to hear from you! Please email us at memories@dedhammuseum.org
You may have heard about the furor in Newton over the city’s decision to paint over the street lines that for years had traditionally been green, white and red, the colors of the Italian flag. This story is remarkably similar to the “Battle of Dedham Common” 50 years ago. Certainly, the emotions of those involved are just as strong as they were for Dedham residents of half a century ago. Read the linked story, and see if you don’t agree.
Kevin Hampe, clerk-treasurer of the Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves, talks to Chronicle’s Ted Reinstein outside the old Norfolk Hotel on Court Street, where the society was founded in 1810.
Monday June 9, 7:30 on Channel 5 (WCVB)- I will be on Chronicle talking to Ted Reinstein about Dedham’s Town Forest as part of his “Who Knew?” series. Also on the segment will be the Fairbanks House, Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves and the Dedham Museum and Archive. Here’s a link to the promo; be sure to watch!
While researching various subjects in the Dedham Transcript archives for this blog, I frequently come across the Dedham Playground write-ups published every week in the summer. These summaries were written by the high school and college students who worked at the various playgrounds around town and would include the names of all the neighborhood kids who had attended that week and a description of the activities they were involved in. I found many mentions of my own name and that of my sister and all the kids in my Tower Street neighborhood who used to frequent Paul Park in the late 60s-early 70s. Along with volleyball, baseball, pot holder making and plaster of Paris, one regularly mentioned activity was Kalah. I have fond memories of playing this game for hours on end, and when I became an elementary school teacher I introduced it to my students as Mancala, which it is commonly known and sold as today. At first I thought that Kalah was a nickname the Paul Park kids made up, but then I found this Transcript headline from 1958 and I knew I needed to do some more research.
As it turns out, Kalah was a brand name for the mancala-type game invented here in Boston in 1940 by Yale Graduate William Julius Champion, Jr. It is believed that Champion adapted an ancient bean counting game from either Asia or Africa to create a 20th century version. Champion founded the Kalah Game Corporation in 1958 and the wooden boards were manufactured in various places, including Holbrook, Massachusetts, until the 1970s. Beginning in the late 1950s, recreation departments in towns across the country were sponsoring tournaments at playgrounds and community centers, and Kalah had taken its place among such timeless pastimes as checkers, chess and horseshoes.
Kids in Chicago playing Kalah in 1960 at the height of its popularity
I’m sure many of you have fond memories of scooping those dried beans from pod to pod while sitting on a splintery bench in a Dedham playground. Here’s to that highly addictive game and here’s to all the college and high school teens who worked at those playgrounds. They kept us safe, entertained, and out of our mother’s hair on those hot summer days.
On Sunday, May 18, I will be giving a talk and signing copies of my book World War II Massachusetts at the Battleship Cove Museum in Fall River. This exceptional historic site is home to the battleship USS Massachusetts, which saw plenty of action in the war after being launched in Quincy in 1941.
Since the book’s publication in March 2024, I have traveled across the state sharing stories of the Massachusetts home front, meeting dozens of interested folks, including many senior citizens who lived through and remember many of the events described in my book. One of my most unique and memorable experiences was presenting at the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, just steps away from World War II-era armored carriers, tanks and planes.
Recently, the events of 1941-1945 are once again making headlines, with the observation of the 80th anniversary of Victory Europe (V-E) Day occurring this week, and the anniversary of the end of the war (V-J Day) coming in August. What better time to learn about this incredible period of our country’s history? Below is a link to the Museum’s website which contains details about my appearance. Both Battleship Cove and the American Heritage Museum are worth a trip any time of the year, but it’s always a boost to see friendly faces in the crowd when I speak. Don’t forgot, you can get copies of my book at any book retailer including the Blue Bunny in Dedham Square, where I can be found working behind the counter during the week.
Many locals remember this building as the East Dedham Branch Library, which was in operation for an incredible 77 years from 1896-1973! This is what the library looked like when it first opened:
The branch Library opened on January 30, 1896. The library’s annual report at Town Meeting that year stated: “The warm interest already shown in the Library is proof that its advantage to the people of East Dedham will be deeply appreciated.” And it was, for the next 77 years!
Others will recall Gates Pharmacy, which relocated here after several moves and closed for good in 1995. Others remember going to the office of Dr. Glickstein the dentist who kept his office here for decades.
Gates Pharmacy opened for business at its original High Street location on May 13, 1952, and closed exactly 43 years later on May 13, 1995. This stone honoring the original owners, brothers James (Jimmy) and Hyman Dubin is located in the park next to 25 Milton Street.
There are few, if any, who are old enough to recall the building’s earlier past. Here is the same building in an advertisement for George Hewitt’s grocery store from the 1893 Dedham Directory:
According to the 1895 publication Boston’s Picturesque Southern Suburbs, “there is no room to doubt that so far as East Dedham is concerned the store par excellence, to patronize, is the family grocery house of Messrs. Geo. Hewitt & Co., on Milton Street…” Hewitt’s shop carried a full line of groceries and meats, as well as clocks, silverware, stoves and ranges.
George Hewitt was an English immigrant who supervised the weaving operation at the Merchant’s Woolen Mills before opening the grocery in 1877. Until his death in March 1902 Hewitt, lived above the store with his wife and nephew Sam, who helped run the business. Tragically, 26-year-old Sam contracted meningitis and died just a few months after his uncle. The property and business were then taken over by Benjamin Rose. Both Rose and Hewitt were members of a fraternal benefit society known as the Royal Arcanum, which explains the sign hanging above the windows.
When Hyde Park merchant and Russian immigrant Moses Guber purchased the property after Rose’s death in 1912, the sign was repurposed.
Moses, wife Annie and daughters Ida and Martha lived above the store, which was operated into the 1940s. Guber purchased several other properties in East Dedham Square, most of which were taken by the town and demolished during the “urban renewal” of the mid-1960s. Moses died in 1955, Annie in 1968. His daughters continued to live together in Dedham until the early 2000s. Ida was one of the first female graduates of the Massachusetts Pharmacy School and worked as a pharmacist at the Faulkner Hospital for 35 years. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 92.
Today, the building houses Akiki’s Styles and Dry Bar, continuing a tradition of business at this location for almost 150 years!
Come to the Dedham Museum and Archive and see the M. Guber sign that sparked this deep dive down the rabbit hole of East Dedham history. If you look closely, you will see faint traces of the original lettering for Arcanum Hall! All historic photos courtesy of the Dedham Museum and Archive.
Posted February 6, 2025 by Jim Parr Categories:Uncategorized
This is the Town parking lot on Eastern Ave., a few days after the historic storm that hit Dedham on this day in 1978. My car is currently parked in that same lot, and even though it is snowing and Dedham schools have a Snow Day, I don’t think I’ll see anything like this when I return to it in a few hours. For more Blizzard pictures, check out the Facebook post of the Dedham Museum and Archive : https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Kbtmhdked/
You can also search on this blog and read my Blizzard posts from 2011. It certainly was a storm to remember!
Today’s firefighters live and work in a time in which they can devote their full energy to the demands of the challenging profession they’ve chosen. From the earliest days of organized firefighting until the mid-twentieth century, however, firefighters often held down several jobs in addition to their departmental duties. One such firefighter, George Austin Guild, was not only the chief engineer of the Dedham Fire Department, but also ran a successful business in town for over forty years.
Guild as a member of the Hero Company. Early firefighters used colorful names to designate both their engines and companies.
George Guild was born in 1836, 200 years after the first Guild, John, came to Dedham as one of the original proprietors. In 1853, at the age of 17 he joined the Hero Engine Company One, headquartered at Connecticut Corner near the Town Common. He served as the department’s chief engineer from 1877-1892, when he retired. He was a popular chief and upon his retirement was feted at the central firehouse and presented with “an elegant easy chair, and handsome, as well as valuable writing desk” according to the Boston Herald.
At the young age of twenty-three, Guild opened his business as a jeweler and watch seller in the old Dixon House, which stood on High Street across from Memorial Hall. The wooden watch sign that hung high above his shop window became one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Square. Guild operated at this location from 1859-1891, when he was forced to relocate to Washington Street as the Dixon building was being torn down to make way for the new Dedham Institution for Savings.
The wooden watch sign can be seen in these two photos of Guild’s shop on High StreetThe Dixon Building with George Guild’s shop as seen in this 1876 birds-eye view map by E. Whitfield. Next to it on the corner of High and Washington Streets is the Phoenix Hotel (current Knights of Columbus Building), which burned to the ground in 1880. Memorial Hall stands on the western corner of High and Washington.
The wooden watch sign adorned Guild’s tiny shop for another ten years until declining health caused him to close his shop after forty-one years in business. At the time of his retirement in June,1901, Guild had been the longest serving tradesman in town.
Two views of Guild’s second shop on Washington Street, across from School StreetSame view as above in 2025
George made his home at 41 School Street where he and his wife Abby raised their three children. Jonathan, the youngest, became a successful Dedham businessman himself, after opening a photography studio on High Street in 1891. On October 26, 1901, the 65-year old George made the short walk to the studio and posed for his son one final time. He passed away at his home just a few weeks later on November 18. The following week an obituary in the Transcript praised him as a “man of sterling traits of character, an honest citizen, a steadfast and true friend, an excellent neighbor, a firm believer in religion, temperance and morality, a good husband, a kind and loving father…”
Guild’s final portrait taken by son Jonathan
The wooden advertising watch is on display at the Dedham Museum and Archive, 612 High Street. You can learn more about the Hero Engine Company and early firefighting in the current exhibit on the history of the Dedham Fire and Police Departments. Museum hours are Tuesday-Friday (11:00-5:00) and Saturdays (2nd & 4th of each month) 11:00-2:00. All historical images used with permission of the Dedham Museum and Archive.
This is the third lost Dedham house featured in my Stone Secrets series, and, it is the only one that was still standing during my lifetime. Although I was only six years old when it was torn down, I do have a memory of it, perhaps because of its resemblance to the Addams Family house from a favorite TV show of the time. The Storrs/Welch house, constructed by local contractor Otis Withington c. 1870, stood south of High Street and east of Mt. Vernon, diagonally across from the Thomas Barrows estate (St. Mary’s parking lot) featured in the last Stone Series post. The large house with its Mansard roof, pedimented windows and decorative porch features is a good example of the Second Empire style, popular in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The first occupants of the house were Royal Otis (R.O.) Storrs, his wife Lora, and three children.
Royal Otis (R.O.) Storrs
A Connecticut native (his younger brothers Charles and Augustus founded the University of Connecticut), Royal Storrs came to Dedham in 1868 and leased the Merchant’s Woolen Mill on Mother Brook, before purchasing the Stone Mill on Milton Street, which he ran with his son Frederick. Storrs quickly immersed himself in Dedham town affairs, serving on the school committee, select board, and library committee, among many other boards and committees. Financial misdeeds, however, resulted in Storrs running up a half million dollar debt to his creditors, forcing him in 1882 to declare bankruptcy and sell the mill. He died on May 25, 1888 at the age of 73, and a few years later his widow put the estate up for sale.
The Storrs property as seen on an 1876 map. Interestingly, Storrs lived across the street from Thomas Barrows, a previous owner of the Stone Milland the subject of the previous Stone Secrets post.
The property was purchased in 1892 by Boston contractor Stephen Tarbell, who only resided there a short time before passing away on January 18, 1894 at the age of 69.
Boston Herald, May 27, 1894- the house has grown to 15 rooms after a large addition was built on the back
The next owners, David and Isabel Greenhood, also occupied the home for a short time, before it was sold to wool merchant James H. Welch.
Welch was an Irish immigrant working as the wool broker for the Merchant’s Woolen Mills. He and his wife Ellen moved into the large house with their six children and Irish servant in 1897. Welch died in 1909, but for the next five decades the house would be occupied by several of his children and their families. As the twentieth century rolled on, the Welch family witnessed the changes that modernization brought to Dedham and the country. Neighborhoods grew where farms once stood, railroads were replaced by paved roads and highways, obsolete buildings replaced by up-to date ones.
A view down High Street in 1895 and in 2025. The large building with dormers on the north side of High Street, visible in both images, served as housing for employees of the woolen mills.
One of those buildings was the high school on Bryant Ave, which the Welch children had all attended. That school was replaced in 1915 by a large four story brick building on Whiting Ave., which, in turn was replaced by the current high school complex in 1959. Despite the sprawling size of the new facility, and its two million dollar price tag, town officials were aware before the doors even opened that it was not adequate for the growing student population. In early 1965, the town approved an addition that would include twenty-eight new classrooms, a small gym, practice athletic fields and tennis courts. Situated on the other side of the New Haven Railroad tracks, it would seem as if the Welch home was safe from the proposed expansion, but the architect’s plans included the construction of a pedestrian bridge, making the land along High Street the perfect location for the fields and tennis courts. In August, the town voted to take by eminent domain several properties on Elmview Place and High street, including the Welch property.
From the Transcript December 9. 1965. The Welch House stood on Site B where a new athletic field would be built. The driveway would become Recreation Road.The addition would also include a new wing of classrooms facing Mt. Vernon Street.
The house was unoccupied at the time of the taking, and town officials were concerned about vandalism after a copper weathervane was stolen from the barn. The barn burned down in a suspicious fire the following summer, and by September the house had been razed and construction begun.
Transcript/January 6, 1966
During negotiations with the town at the time of the taking, Mrs. Ella Welch, wife of youngest Welch son William, petitioned the town to save some of the “beautiful shrubbery” and the “two fine spruce trees” on the property, but town officials denied her request. Amazingly, several gnarled oak trees along High Street were spared, and today, along with the stone wall, are the only reminders of a once majestic house and the families who lived and died there.
All historic images courtesy of the Dedham Museum and Archive. 19th century photos of the house were taken by Jonathan F. Guild, a well-known photographer who had a studio in Dedham Square for many years.
Posted December 8, 2024 by Jim Parr Categories:Uncategorized
Did you know that the Dedham Fire Department’s Engine 4 is named the Waterwitch, and that it gets its name from a horse drawn engine that was housed on Washington Street in 1832? Or that the town’s first motorized fire engine was a gift from Henry Endicott and his wife? You probably never heard the story of Philander Young (Police Badge #2) and his daring arrest in 1876 of a nefarious East Dedham criminal for clogging on the Sabbath!
Engine 4 with its Water Witch logoThe original Water Witch and its engine house which stood on Washington Street near School Street (Courtesy of Dedham Museum and Archive)
A Dedham police officer on duty in the late 19th century
These are just a few of the fascinating facts you will learn when you visit the Dedham Museum and Archive’s newest exhibit, Two Centuries of Protecting Dedham: The History of the Fire & Police Departments. This exhibit features a timeline of department milestones, dozens of artifacts from both the museum archive and private collections, and many remarkable photographs of Dedham’s dedicated public servants on the job. This is the first project I have worked on in my new role as part-time educator at the museum, and it has been quite an adventure searching through the museum’s extensive archives and finding so many incredible stories of innovation, perseverance and bravery. The exhibit celebrates the new Public Safety Building which opened on Bryant Street in 2023. This up-to-date facility brings the police and fire departments under one roof- an idea that was first proposed in 1894!
Fire Chief William Spillane and Police Chief Michael d’Entremont outside the Public Safety Building, 2024
The Museum is open Tuesday-Thursday 11-5 and Friday 11-4. While you’re there you can do some holiday shopping and find the perfect Dedham-themed gift for you favorite Shiretowner! For more information, visit the Museum website https://www.dedhammuseum.org/
The exhibit will be open until September 2025, but why wait?
Continuing my tradition of celebrating with Rust Craft holiday cards, here is a Thanksgiving offering from the 1950s. Yes, that is a plastic ear of corn on the front of the card. Rust Craft was known for its clever cards featuring 3D elements, pop-ups and whimsical artwork. The company’s later creations were not nearly as interesting. I hope you enjoyed this holiday greeting from Dedham’s past; have a GRAND Thanksgiving Day!
I recently discovered this manhole cover on a Washington Street sidewalk near Dedham Bike and Leather. Most people might walk right by it and not even notice it, but for me it was an instant and strong reminder of my father and his employer for 30 years, the Boston Edison Company (BECO).
My father George Donald Parr began working for the Edison on March 19, 1957. His start date is engraved on the 10 year pin presented him by the company, which I proudly wear on my jacket.
The company began its existence in 1886 as the Edison Electric Illuminating Company; reminders of this original company name can be found on several downtown Boston buildings as well as in the call letters of radio station WEEI. The Boston Edison Company came into existence in 1937 when the Edison Electric Illuminating Company merged with two local competitors. This would be the name of the company for the next 60 years until it merged with Commonwealth Gas and became NSTAR. After a merger with Northeast Utilities in 2015, NSTAR was rebranded as Eversource.
Here’s another reminder I found on a telephone pole in Framingham.
My father worked for the Edison for about 30 years. He was a World War II vet who served in the China-Burma-India Campaign. He was born 100 years ago today in Mattapan. He’s been gone for 20 years, but little reminders like these keep his memory alive for me and my brothers and sisters.
On October 29, 1940, a blindfolded secretary of war Henry Stimson reached his hand into a glass container filled with capsules containing draft lottery numbers, and pulled out the “lucky” number. The previous month, President Franklin Roosevelt had signed the Selective Service Training and Service Act, instituting the first peacetime draft since the Civil War. Across the state, anxious families listened to the radio to learn if their loved ones would be one of the first to be called. In Dedham, 22-year old Stephen Ferris was eating lunch at his Fairview Street home when he heard his mother cry out as his number, 158, was called first. According to the Transcript, Ferris responded by proclaiming “Hooray for Uncle Sam, I’m the first one!”
When the first draftees and volunteers began reporting a few weeks later, local draft boards were encouraged by the Federal Draft Headquarters to honor the new recruits with ceremonies to commemorate their departure. The first such ceremony in Dedham was held on November 18 at the Superior Court House as two hometown boys and one Canton resident (all volunteers) began their year of service. Among the more than 50 well-wishers gathered in the early morning chill were family, clergy, selectmen, draft board officials and members of V.F.W Post 2017. The new recruits then walked a short distance to the train station on the other side of Route One, where they boarded a train headed to Camp Devens after a brief stop in Boston.
This is the railroad station that stood on the eastern side of Route One (current location of Gonzalez Field). The older stone station in the background right opened in 1882, closed in 1933 and was torn down in 1947.
The following January, when larger numbers of men began reporting, more elaborate departure ceremonies were held. An honor guard and small marching band accompanied recruits from the Court House to the train station as appreciative residents watched and cheered along High Street. Draftees were often served refreshments by the Women’s Defense Corps, and given a billfold with cash by the Dedham Association for Men in the Service. In 1944, Naval recruit Phillip Jackson performed his drumming duties one last time before handing over his drumsticks to his replacement and boarding the train to begin his own time of service.
These are just a few of the many inspiring and amazing stories in my latest book, World War II Massachusetts. The book is available at the Dedham Museum and Archive, The Blue Bunny Bookstore, and from all online booksellers. I will be featuring more stories throughout the coming year as the nation and the world observe the 80th anniversary of the events of the last year of the war.
This handsome dwelling once occupied a prominent site on a very busy street in town; much of the stone wall still stands and you probably recognize it. If you want to test yourself, I’ve placed the modern day photograph at the bottom of the page so you can scroll down after you’ve made your guess.
Built in 1834, this was the home of Thomas Barrows, mill owner and prominent Dedham citizen. Born in Middleboro in 1795, Barrows began working in mills in Plymouth County at age 17, making his way to Dedham in 1825 to work as an agent for Benjamin Bussey. Barrows’ life is a perfect example of a rags to riches story. After working at several Dedham mills, Barrows purchased the 1835 Stone Mill on Mother Brook in 1863 and expanded and renovated the mill to manufacture wool products. Barrows had 4 children; his oldest son Thomas was killed in a railroad accident, his daughter Elizabeth married Eliphalet Stone, another influential citizen who lived on Mt. Vernon Street.
This 1876 map shows the Barrows estate on High Street, as well as other Barrows properties, including Barrows Street, which was named after the mill owner.
From History of Norfolk County by D. Hamilton Hurd, 1884
Barrows was president of the Dedham Institution for savings and a committee member of the Brookdale Cemetery Commission. He sold a portion of his land for the development of the cemetery.
The land was purchased by the Archdiocese of Boston for St. Mary’s Church and the house torn down in 1959. For the next 50 years, the elegant stone wall of Dedham granite bordered a parking lot that was quite full on Sundays during the church’s heyday in the 1960s and 70s. The large rectangular lot also served as the playground for students from the school. I recall running up and down that giant tar playground during 7th and 8th grade recess in the early seventies; 50-80 rambunctious middle schoolers running wild under the semi-watchful eyes of just a few nuns.
The Town of Dedham purchased a portion of the land in 1976 to develop the Dedham Housing Authority O’Neil Drive Elderly Housing complex. In 2009 the Town purchased the rest of the land (about 2 acres) and used the lot for various purposes including DHS band practice and snow removal. In 2011 about half of the property was developed and private homes were built.
The old Barrows estate in 2013My 7th and 8th grade playground, with my old school in the background.
Come to the Haunted Walking Tour sponsored by the Dedham Museum and Archive-October 19 and 26. This 50 minute tour features a script written by yours truly and features the best stories and legends from Shiretown’s haunted past!
Ames was a prominenent Dedham citizen and renowned almanac publisher who died in 1764. In the fall of 1775, during the siege of Boston, a young Colonial Army lieutenant named Jabez Fitch visited the grave on one of his many excursions into graveyards and tombs in the Boston area. The following diary entry describing Fitch’s visit should help get you in the Halloween mood:
About 12 O’clock…went into the burying yard, where we found Doctor Ames’ tomb open … We several of us went down into the tomb, opened the old doctor’s coffin and see his corpse. The under jaw was all fallen in, the other part of the bone of the head retained their proper shape, the teeth were whole in the upper jaw, but the whole back and rest of the body, as far as we could see, was covered with a black film or skin, which I suppose to be the winding sheet in which the corpse was buried, being blended with the moisture of the body.
I also observed one of the arms to have fallen off from the body and the bones laying by the side of the coffin. While I was thus in a sort conversing with the dead and viewing those melancholy curiosities, I could not help reflecting that nothing of the philosophy and astronomy which once adorned the mind of that person and made him appear great among his contemporaries, was now to be seen in this state of humiliation and contempt… After sufficiently gratifying our curiosity, we moved on…
Ground was broken for construction of the “Charles River Arcade” on this date in 1964.
The opening date of September 1965 proved a little ambitious; the shopping center would not be officially open until 1967 when it would have an additional name, “Dedham Mall.” While almost everybody called it just “the Mall,” the two names were used interchangeably in advertising until the early 1980s. More posts about the Mall will be coming, check out my previous posts “Working at the Mall” and “More Mall.”
Eighty years ago today the ground invasion of Europe began on the beaches of France, beginning a series of intense battles that would eventually lead to Germany’s surrender in May 1945. While this event was a clear turning point in the war, Americans still faced another year of war in Europe and Asia, as well as rationing, blackout drills and shortages at home.
Local residents certainly were glued to their radios listening to news updates on this day in 1944, but some were just as concerned by an incident that happened in Needham near the intersection of Grove and Charles River Streets. At about 4:00 pm on that day, those living in this mostly rural section near the Wellesley/Dover border heard the sound of several aircraft flying overhead. Since the start of the war, residents of suburban Boston had become used to the sights and sounds of aircraft, many piloted by Navy trainees flying out of the Naval Air Station in Squantum, Quincy. The planes heard on June 6 were two Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers, and one of them was clearly in trouble.
A Grumman AvengerThe red dot marks the location of the memorial, not far from the crash site.
The ailing plane sputtered and smoked as it lost altitude and crashed in a fiery explosion into a wooded area. It took firefighters from Wellesley and Needham over half an hour to douse the flames. After the fire was extinguished, the bodies of two flyers were found in the woods a short distance from the wreck. Local papers ran stories on the crash the next day, and while details were few, it was reported that the flyers were members of the Royal Air Force who had been training in Quincy.
One of the witnesses to the crash was a young Wellesley boy named Bob Haigis. Years later, while touring England, Haigis and his wife visited a memorial to a US bomber crew which had crashed while returning from a mission in 1944. Haigis recalled the crash he had witnessed as a youth, and upon returning home began investigating the incident. Haigis then teamed up with the Needham Historical Society’s Henry Hicks and town Veteran’s Agent John Logan to not only identify the two flyers, but to also create a memorial near the crash site. On April 12, 2005 local dignitaries as well as representatives from Needham, England gathered to dedicate a small plaque to honor the service and sacrifice of Lt. Albert J. Dawson and First Class Stanley C. Wells. A small British Union Jack was affixed to the plaque, and flies there to this day, 80 years after the crash.
Among the other witnesses that day was 9-year old H.D.S. Greenway who lived on Charles River St. in Needham. Greenway grew up to become an award winning war correspondent for Time magazine, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. In a 2005 article for the Globe, Greenway describes the horrible scene he witnessed as a boy, with particular emphasis on the heroic actions of the airmen, as they frantically waved Greenway and his brother away from the inevitable explosion and fire.
During the war years, over 100 service members were killed in aviation crashes while training or flying in the skies over Massachusetts. On this significant date, while the world is honoring the thousands who died on the beaches of Normandy, it is fitting to remember these heroes who also died in the service of their country.
This plaque can be found at the base of the fountain inside Brookdale Cemetery. The memorial fountain was dedicated in May, 1953 four years after Mrs. Marietta Paul passed away. Ebenezer Paul served on the Board of Assessors for many years and owned a large farm off of Cedar Street that was developed as the Farview subdivision beginning in the 1920s. This farm stood where the present Dresser and Taylor (Marietta Paul’s maiden name) Avenues, Beech Street and Kimball Road are located. The Paul family also owned the land where Paul Park was created and named for them in 1952.
The fountain and its reflection in the pond were popular subjects for DHS yearbook title pages, for obvious reasons.
Several people guessed Paul Park, and while there was a plaque honoring the Pauls affixed to a large boulder and dedicated in 1952, that plaque has been missing for many, many years.
I have written about the Paul family in several previous posts, check them out if you haven’t already read them. The plaque and the object it was affixed to were a gift from Marietta Paul as stipulated in her will. Do you know where and what it is?
I will be doing a talk on my newest book World War II Massachusetts at the Dedham Public Library on Saturday, May 18 at 2:00. If you enjoy the stories I’ve featured in my Dedham book and on this blog, you don’t want to miss this presentation, where I reveal some of the hidden history and amazing tales from this unique time in our country’s history. Copies of my book will be available to purchase. I hope to see you there!
Admission is free but please register by using the link below.
There has been quite a favorable response to my last post about the wooden street signposts that remain in Dedham. During my search for more of these, I discovered (with the help of Google maps street view) that one had disappeared from the corner of Mt. Vernon Street and Woodleigh Road some time after April, 2022.
April 2022October 2023
Turns out, rather than an example of some nefarious act of vandalism or theft, the missing signpost is an inspiring story of civic pride. For years, this particular signpost has been maintained (including hand painting the faded street names) by nearby resident Paul Reynolds, Fablevision CEO, Blue Bunny mainstay, and long time supporter of Dedham cultural and charitable organizations. After noticing the tipped over post last fall, Paul discovered the bottom had rotted out and could not be fixed.
Not to worry! Through the generous cooperation of the town DPW, a new post has been crafted, delivered and awaits the addition of street names before being placed in its usual corner.
While these signposts are not very practical (hard to read, in need of constant maintenance) and were eventually replaced for those reasons, they clearly stir strong feelings of nostalgia and stand out as something uniquely Dedham. That’s why they should be preserved, and perhaps restored as Paul Reynolds has done, so they can be appreciated for years to come.
Who remembers when these wooden street signs were found all over Dedham? These have to be at least 50-60 years old; I remember one at Sycamore and Tower when I was a kid. These are just a few I found in a short drive around town- maybe you’ve seen more in other locations?
One of my favorite things to do is to find remnants of the past around town and then research the history of that location. Old stone pillars and walls that seem at odds with nearby more modern dwellings are usually signs of a lost building and an interesting tale. This is the first in a series of posts about several Dedham sites with a hidden past.
On the western side of Court Street near Highland Street stand three homes built in the early 1950s. The split-level/ranch design is typical of the time period, but the granite posts that stand on the lawns of these homes are from a much earlier period and indicate that something grand once stood here. Fortunately, the history of the previous structure is well documented and with some help from the staff at the Dedham Museum and Archive and a little sleuthing in the digital newspaper archives I am able to present the story of the Richards House, also known as the Dedham Inn.
Richards House in the late nineteenth century (Courtesy of Dedham Museum and Archive)
The house was built in 1791, and was purportedly designed by famed architect Charles Bullfinch, designer of the nearby Haven House (Dedham Community House), Massachusetts State House, as well as many other historic buildings. Ownership passed through several families before Boston hardware merchant Samuel Richards purchased the house and acreage in 1802. It would remain in the Richards family for over 100 years before being sold, enlarged and converted into an inn in 1915.
1923 ad for the InnPostcard from the Inn with handwritten question “Bullfinch architect?” The Bullfinch attribution was family lore and not actually documented elsewhere.
The newly established Dedham Inn quickly became a popular venue for social gatherings such as anniversary parties and wedding showers. An early guest was 17 year-old Hollywood starlet Mary Miles Minter and her mother/manager Charlotte Shelby who arrived in August 1919 to film a silent version of the book Anne of Green Gables. Earlier that summer, a scouting team from RealArt Pictures had chosen Dedham for location filming, with the landmark Fairbanks House serving as the farmhouse where orphan Anne Shirley lived with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. Also staying at the Inn was the film’s 49-year old director William Desmond Taylor. During their stay at the Inn, despite their age difference, Mary developed a serious (one-sided) crush on the dashing British director. Taylor would be murdered in his Hollywood bungalow in February 1922, and the ensuing investigation would reveal correspondence from the young actress that provoked a scandal that eventually ended Minter’s career and most likely caused copies of the film to be destroyed, making it one of thousands of missing silent films. The murder of Taylor remains unsolved to this day. The complete story of this 1919 filming is featured in my book Dedham: Historic and Heroic Tales from Shiretown.
Cartoons in the Boston Post published at the time of the filming of Anne of Green Gables
Its close proximity to the courthouse made the Inn a gathering place for anyone with court business including attorneys, jury members and judges. Throughout the famed 1921 murder trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, jurors were housed overnight in the grand jury room of the Superior Courthouse and took their meals at the Dedham Inn. During the appeals process for the convicted men, it was reported that trial judge Webster Thayer had made numerous prejudicial statements outside of the courtroom throughout the trial; many of these statements were made to reporters during lunch breaks at the Inn. In a clemency request to Governor Alvan Fuller in May 1927, affidavits were filed by several reporters who had heard the judge’s remarks firsthand. Globe reporter Frank Sibley wrote that Judge Thayer would often discuss the case with reporters while gathered in the Inn’s private dining room, and several witnesses, including Sibley, recalled how on one walk back to the courthouse, the judge angrily denounced defense attorney Fred Moore by stating “I’ll show them that no long-haired anarchist from California can run this court!” All appeals on behalf of the accused failed and Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 23, 1927.
Judge Webster ThayerThe Inn in the 1920s (Courtesy Dedham Museum and Archive)
In the early morning hours of February 6, 1939, the Dedham Fire Department responded to a call from inn owner George Thorley. The entire department, under the direction of Chief Henry Harrigan, fought the flames for five hours, battling slippery conditions and icy equipment in a vain effort to save the landmark. While Thorley, his wife and daughters and three guests all managed to escape, Josephine the family’s cocker spaniel, was unable to get out. The beloved pet was credited with saving the occupants of the Inn by waking them with her barking before the fire got out of control. On the morning after the fire the walls of the historic inn still stood, but fire had gutted the interior and the building was razed. A faulty furnace was cited as the likely cause of the fire. The property was subdivided and the three single family homes that stand there now were built between 1950-1951. Today, four granite fence posts are all that remain of this once elegant and well-known property. Those posts, along with this post, remind us of the Dedham that used to be.
Ok. I confess, this was a trick question. The bell is not presently in Dedham, but it did hang in the belfry of the First Baptist Church on Milton Street for over 90 years. Congrats to Robert Morrissey for figuring out the location of the bell. If you want to see the bell in person, you’ll have to take a road trip to Falmouth, where it has resided for over 50 years. The journey of this historic bell from East Dedham to a private garden almost 60 miles away is an interesting and somewhat delicate subject.
The East Dedham Baptist Church was officially established in 1843, and in 1852 a new wooden church was built at the corner of Myrtle and Milton Streets. Through the generosity of Jonathan Mann of Canton, a 2000 lb. bell was cast in Boston by the William Blake Company and presented to the congregation on February 20, 1882. The church underwent renovations in 1910 and a belfry was built to house the bell, which would hang there for the next 62 years. In 1919 the church was renamed the First Baptist Church.
The First Baptist Church in 1936/courtesy of the Dedham Museum and Archive
By 1972, time had taken its toll on the wooden structure, and church leaders determined that the building would have to be torn down completely and replaced. The demolition took place in August, coincidentally the same summer that the famed Avery Oak came down in a storm. Demolition was done by the John J. Duane Wrecking Company of Quincy.
Dedham Transcript August/1972
Here’s where the bell makes its mysterious departure from old Shiretown. According to church sources, the congregation, being in tough financial straits, offered the bell to the demolition company as partial payment. Meanwhile, husband and wife Charlie and Margaret Spohr were living on six beautiful acres in Quissett, a village in Falmouth. For decades the Spohrs had been transforming their property alongside Oyster Pond into a series of unique and lush gardens; Margaret tending to the plantings, Charlie taking care of the “decorations.” which included millstones, chains, anchors, (75 of them!), lanterns and…bells. When the Duane Company offered to sell the bell to Charlie, he enthusiastically accepted and made it a prized feature of his collection.
Fellowship Bible Church 2024
Back in Dedham, a new church was built and dedicated on September 30, 1973, and stands there to this day. In 1994 the congregation voted to change its name to the Fellowship Bible Church, and a diverse community of believers continues to carry out the mission of the church.
Upon the death of Margaret Spohr in 2001 (Charlie passed away in 1997), the property was left to the Charles and Margaret Spohr Charitable Trust which maintains the gardens and welcomes visitors free of charge all year. In 2005, church pastor Dr. Omar Adams wrote to the trust requesting that the bell be returned, or offered for sale. In the letter, Adams expressed the desire to celebrate the church’s 160 year history in Dedham, and hoped it could be returned in time for the dedication of an addition to the 1973 building. That did not happen, and the bell can still be found on the grounds of the Spohr Gardens.
While the current church administration holds no ill feelings to Spohr Gardens, they do feel a connection to the bell and would welcome an opportunity to display it on church grounds. In the meantime the bell can be seen in its beautiful garden setting in Falmouth. Here is a link to their website where you can plan your trip and find out more information about this unique Cape Cod destination.
This is a little tricky, I’ll be really impressed if anyone knows where this bell is located. I stumbled upon it quite by accident. If you think you know the location of this piece of Dedham history, please respond in the comments section of the blog, below.
Anyone who has spent any time walking the paths of Wilson Mountain off Route 135 will recognize this forlorn chimney standing on a small hill a short distance from the parking area. Some of you (myself included) will remember a time when a log cabin stood on the site, and you may have even had some nighttime adventures here. I’ve been researching this part of Dedham recently, and have discovered some amazing facts, the first of which I’ll share in the form of this short item from the Dedham Transcript of December 27, 1924.
Some of the logs still remain on the groundYou can see the impressions of the logs that once made up the walls of the cabin
Shortly after the start of World War II, Harry I. Caesar, a New York businessman and president of the American Kennel Club came up with a unique plan to help the US war effort. Noting that dogs, with their superior senses of hearing, vision and scent, had long been in use by both enemy and ally armies, Caesar outlined a program that would call for the recruitment, training and deployment of at least 125,000 of the nation’s pet dogs for civilian defense and military guard duty. By the spring of 1942, the Dogs for Defense program was well under way, with regional centers (including one in Dedham) set up for the intake and training of “volunteers.” Those Fidos and Rovers who passed their initial training (many were sent back home for being too friendly) were assigned guard duty at military installations across the country; some were even sent overseas to serve in combat zones.
Boston Globe/July 20. 1942
A kennel was established in Newton as the New England intake center, and a training school was conducted in Dedham on the old Karlstein polo grounds (near the present Rashi School) on the banks of the Charles River. The first class of thirty-five pooches graduated in July after eight weeks of training and was sent off to undisclosed assignments following emotional farewells with their owners.
It is inconceivable that families today would willingly put the family pet in harm’s way for periods of up to two years or more with the possibility that their beloved doggo might not return at all. But in 1942, the response was overwhelming, with families and even children sending letters and photos to the program’s directors vouching for their dog’s ability. Initially, volunteers were required to be well behaved purebreds between one and five years old, weighing at least fifty pounds and standing eighteen inches high. As the need increased, mixed breeds were accepted (although chows were found to be unreliable and rejected).
from the Dedham Transcript
Dedham boasted at least 2 dogs who served: Teddy, a Belgian shepherd owned by the John Allgaier family and Bessie, owned by the Ford and Josephine Friend family. Bessie was assigned to a coast guard station, and coincidentally, Ford was eventually able to serve in the Coast Guard Reserve as a machinist’s mate. Bessie was returned to the Fords after the war’s end, displaying one behavior quirk from her time in the service: every Fourth of July when the local fireworks displays began booming and banging, Bessie would hit the ground and run for cover under the nearest table, as she had been trained. After a long, happy life with her family in Dedham, Bessie passed on and was buried in the backyard wrapped in her favorite blanket.
Globe/ November 8, 1943
Six-year-old English setter Mose of Milton was returned by the army due to his friendly nature. Fourth-grader Lloyd Beckett Jr. happily greeted the dog after removing the blue star service flag that had hung in the window during Mose’s absence.
You can read about more hero dogs and view Bessie’s honorable discharge in my new book World War II Massachusetts, available online, in bookstores or directly from me.
The Town of Dedham is currently conducting a survey of residents to gather ideas for the future use of the transfer station site off Washington Street. Built as an incinerator in 1961, the facility was closed in 2019 and currently serves as DPW storage. But did you know it was built on land that once served a much different purpose?
2024 View1947 View from Town of Dedham Master Plan Report
As you can see, a bath house once stood on the site and Dedhamites flocked there for over half a century to cool off in the waters of Mother Brook. The 1947 view shows the bath house built in 1925 after the original one from 1898 burned down two years earlier. The popular spot was staffed with lifeguards and swim instructors, and swim meets and games capped the season at summer’s end. The swimming area was occasionally dredged to create a real old- fashioned swimming hole, and the beach area was regularly maintained. The NY, NH & H railroad tracks ran northwesterly from Dedham Square under Washington Street across what is now the Dedham Mall parking lot. Brave (also reckless) swimmers would sometimes dive off the railroad bridge, despite the diving platform supplied by the town (see below).
“One of the most popular places in Dedham during the recent hot spells is the bath house at Mother Brook where hundreds of boys and girls have been enjoying themselves daily.” Transcript/July, 1941
Rumors began circulating in the late 40s that the water had become polluted, and the beach and bath house closed for good after the summer of 1952. The town sold a portion of the land in 1955, and the incinerator was approved in April 1960, with construction beginning the following year. While the days of swimming in local waterways are well past, it was a cherished summer activity until the mid-twentieth century, best summed up in this transcript column from July, 1925:
“Every normal child just naturally seeks the water, and swimming is the art that should be acquired by all…And just as long as we support our bath house and just as long as we see these young people sporting in the water, we are sure we have done something, locally, that childhood may be made happy.“
The incinerator at the time of its opening/Courtesy of Dedham Museum and Archive
If you are a Dedham resident, you have until Friday March 15 to take the survey. Here is the link:
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Blue Bunny last night for the release of my latest book World War II Massachusetts. If you missed this event, I will be speaking at two upcoming events in March in Taunton and Framingham. You can always stop in at the Blue Bunny and pick up your copy or contact me directly. Here are links to the March events:
Old Colony History Museum/Taunton- Thursday, March 21
Happy Valentine’s Day from Rust Craft Publishers, which made its home in Dedham from 1955-1980. I plan on doing a more detailed post on this company in the future, but for now just enjoy these vintage valentines and ads from the 50s-60s!
An aerial view of the Rust Craft plant from the late 50s
November 22 marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. For those who are old enough to remember, it was a time of overwhelming shock, grief and uncertainty. I recall watching the funeral at four years old with my mother and being fascinated by the riderless horse with the backwards facing boots in the stirrups. For residents of Massachusetts, the loss of President Kennedy hit especially hard; he was one of “ours.” He was also a hero to Irish Catholic families like mine- the only political items I ever saw in my house were from Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign.
Kennedy campaign poster- it was a popular show and tell item for me and my siblings, hence the many wrinkles.
The response in Dedham to Kennedy’s death was much like that in cities and towns across the state and country. Flags were flown at half-staff, public buildings were closed and draped in black bunting. On Monday November 25, the nation observed a National Day of Mourning, and Dedham’s memorial service began at noon just as the president’s funeral was commencing in Washington. Starting at Memorial Park, town leaders and veteran’s groups marched to the square accompanied by a solemn drumbeat provided by members of the DHS band. Other groups in the procession included the Knights of Columbus, police and fire departments, and the Women’s Auxiliary. The procession ended in front of the police station on High Street where clergy from local churches gave brief remarks. A traditional volley of gunfire was followed by the singing of “America” and the national anthem. The ceremony ended with a bugler playing “Taps.”
This PT-109 tie clip belonged to my grandfather.
With the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays occurring so soon after this national tragedy, residents tried to carry on as best they could, but clearly there was an underlying sadness present in all of the festivities. Out of respect for the president’s memory, the 5th annual torchlight parade and football rally which was to be held the night before Thanksgiving was canceled, but the traditional game against Norwood continued, with the Marauders crushing the Mustangs at home, 30-0. On Friday the 29th, a busy Santa arrived by helicopter at the Dedham Plaza in the morning, then flew over to Mal’s Department Store in Norwood for an afternoon visit. On December 10, at the 153rd annual meeting of the Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves, a moment of silence was observed for Kennedy, who had become a member following his election (it is the custom of the Society to bestow membership on presidents and other politicians). Newly sworn-in President Lyndon B. Johnson was then accepted for membership.
The president had a direct connection to Dedham through his cousin John Fitzgerald, who lived on Meadow Street with his wife Helen and their three children. Kennedy had also visited the town on several occasions during his senatorial campaigns.
This photo of Kennedy’s cousin John Fitzgerald and his family appeared on the front page of the Transcript on November 7, just two weeks before the president’s assassination.
JFK first came to Dedham in 1952 as the Democratic candidate for the senate, appearing at a reception and campaign rally at the Ames Junior High in September and at the Oakdale School in October. In November he would defeat the incumbent republican Henry Cabot Lodge Jr for the senate seat. In 1953 the senator was the featured speaker at the annual meeting of St. Mary’s Holy Name Society, addressing a crowd of 800 in the school hall. Kennedy’s final visit to Dedham was another campaign stop in October 1958, when he and Jackie attended a dinner in their honor at the Hotel 128, followed by a reception at the old Dedham High on Whiting Ave. On November 4, Kennedy won reelection with a whopping 73% of the vote over Republican attorney Vincent Celeste.
A clip-on campaign pin from my grandfather’s collection
In the weeks following the assassination, town leaders began discussing the best way to memorialize the president. Originally selectmen considered erecting a standing memorial somewhere on town property, but that idea was abandoned in favor of something that would, according to the Transcript “embody some of the warmth of the late president for people, some of his love for athletics and his interest in literature.” In the end it was decided that a scholarship in the president’s name would be established at Dedham High. The scholarship was given every year at least through 1973, but does not appear on the list of scholarships awarded to the Class of 2021.
It’s the summer of 1948. Athletes from around the world are gathering in London for the first Olympics in 12 years. In the White House, Harry Truman is gearing up for a presidential run in the fall. The Boston Braves are a few months away from their first National League pennant, (and just a few years away from abandoning the city for Milwaukee). Here in Dedham kids are beating the heat at Mother Brook, East Dedham’s Mill Pond, Cox’s Cove on the Charles or down the river at the new day camp at Noble and Greenough School (still going strong after 76 summers!). Midget auto racing is featured at Norwood Arena which just opened on Rte. 1. You can get a new Motorola television set for $49.95 at Henry’s Radio and Electronics (but you’ll only have programming from WBZ-TV, which commenced broadcasting in early June). Movies and quiz contests are being offered at the 21-year-old Community Theater in the square, and, starting on August 11, movie fans will have a second option for viewing as the Dedham Drive-in opens just off the Providence Pike.
Hundreds of cars are lined up along Elm St as selectmen and local business leaders gather with owner and operator Michael Redstone to cut the ceremonial length of movie film stretched across the drive-in’s entrance. Tonight, a double feature of Disney’s Fun and Fancy Free along with the comedy Blondie in the Dough are shown on the “million dollar” drive-in’s 60′ x 42′ screen.
In the fall of 1947, the Board of Selectmen granted Michael Redstone a permit to build an “open air theatre” on 23 acres of land that had at one time been the site of Farquhar’s Nursery, but in recent years had become an eyesore, after gravel and loam was repeatedly removed, creating an unattractive and unsafe moonscape. Redstone, a Boston native, had been successfully operating an outdoor theater on Long Island for ten years, and the Dedham location would be an exact copy.
The drive-in concept was introduced to the world in Camden, New Jersey in 1933 by entrepreneur Richard Hollingshead. Since then, some 800 theaters had been built across the country with the first Massachusetts location opening in Weymouth in 1936. Dedham was about the 20th drive-in theater to be built in the state.
The Drive-in, as seen in this mid-fifties view, was located on Elm Street, the screen standing in nearly the exact same location where the Showcase Cinema de Luxe at Legacy Place now stands.
Initially, the drive-in was marketed as a family-friendly place you could take the kids in their pajamas to watch a movie, eat a meal, play on the playground, and enjoy a smoke. Over time, first run movies were replaced by “B” movies that were popular with teens, who probably didn’t really care what movie was playing. Throughout its history, Dedham offered a mix of wholesome entertainment and schlocky horror/beach flicks, as evidenced by the ads below:
19501963January 1967- there were some years that the drive-in was open year-round!
The Dedham Drive-in was the first theater in Redstone’s Massachusetts Drive-in empire. The Revere location opened 2 weeks later, followed by Neponset Circle, VFW in West Roxbury, Suffolk Downs, and Natick (a joint venture with another company). Redstone’s sons Edward and Sumner eventually took over management of the company, and Sumner Redstone transformed it from a regional theater operation to a multi-billion-dollar company when he purchased Viacom, Inc. (CBS, Paramount, Nickelodeon, MTV) in the 1980s. Today National Amusements is headquartered in Norwood and operates about 1,500 theaters across the US and Canada. Sumner Redstone passed away on this date in 2020 at the age of 97 leaving an estimated $2.6 billion estate.
The Redstone Drive-in Empire in 1957
One of the traditions at the theater was the annual sunrise Easter service, which began in 1954. The first service was sponsored by the United Christian Youth Movement with 500 in attendance. St. Luke’s Church on East St. began hosting the services in 1961 and continued to do so through at least 1977.
Easter Sunday, April 18, 1954. Note the large cross to the left of the screen on the roof of the projection booth. The screen was enlarged at some time before the fall of 1955. Photo by Frank Van Pelt/Parkway Photo Service
The drive-in was in operation until about 1979; although some sources state it closed in 1982. The Showcase Cinema 1-3 (a Redstone operation) opened next door in 1973. In part 2 of this tale, I will share the one and only time I went to the Dedham drive-in, as well as the controversy that nearly cost the theater its license in 1970. Here are a few more images. Please feel free to share your stories in the comments section!
Mid-fifties signs at Rte 1 and Elm Street (top) and Elm St facing 128 (bottom)
I’m pretty sure that Dedham is the only town in the U.S. with a town ordinance that reads like this:
“No person shall set fire to or burn, or cause to be moved through any way or street of the Town, any waste material, paper, wood or any inflammable substance on any wagon, cart, buggy, push–cart or on any vehicle, with the intention of setting fire to or burning same on any way or street of the Town.”
The bylaw was adopted in 1959 in response to the resurrection of a dangerous, unique, and beloved Dedham tradition- the burning of old farm wagons in Oakdale Square on either “the night before” of July 3rd, or the night of the 4th itself. Beginning some time in the early 20th century (my research found the oldest recorded reference to be 1922) thousands of people would gather in the square to witness the event. In the 20’s and 30’s, police and fire officials merely watched and made sure nobody got hurt. The spectacle usually began at midnight when some brave youth would climb the roof of the Good Shepherd Church and ring the bell.
The wagons came from local farms in Dedham and surrounding towns. As authentic farm wagons became scarcer, teenagers would make their own and hide them in back yards and garages until the big night. In 1938, no wagons were found or made, so an old outhouse had to do. Usually the fires got so intense the windows of the stores in the square would crack and the tar underneath would melt. The last Oakdale Square burning was in 1963, when revellers threw rocks and full cans of beer at police and firefighters when they arrived on the scene. After that the burnings disappeared for a few years before the tradition was revived in the Manor. After an explosion and the melting a vinyl-sided house in 1990, police chief Dennis Teehan finally put an end to the burnings.
1963 was a pretty memorable 4th of July in Dedham. On the positive side, 40.000 people turned out for the annual parade which featured 20 bands and some 5,000 marchers. The town’s fireworks display was described as “the best ever.” However, the rowdy element put a damper on the festivities with their actions; hurling rocks and bottles at firemen, ignoring police directions, and tossing cherry bombs into the crowd, one of which landed on the parade float carrying Miss Massachusetts, who abandoned the float for the safety of a car for the remainder of the parade. Ah, the good old days.
I remember hearing about the wagon burnings when I was a kid, but I never witnessed one. After the publication of my Dedham book, the wagon burnings was the most popular topic brought up at book signings and talks. Maybe you have some more tales to add to the collection? Pass them along and have a Glorious Fourth!
Brian Keaney correctly identified the Verizon building on Washington Street. I remember in 6th or 7th grade scrounging thin multi/colored wire from their trash so I could give it to the girls in my class to make rings out of. I bet most of us have never been inside this building. Here’s a little history:
387 Washington Street. The cornerstone is visible on the right behind the tree.Smith Market on Washington Street, 1936. Memorial Hall (future site of the new Town Green) is to the right Image courtesy of the Dedham Museum and Archive
In July of 1954 the 88-year-old wooden J. Everett Smith Market building on Washington Street next to Memorial Hall was knocked down to make way for the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company’s new telephone exchange building. Construction began on the buildig in late 1955 and the cornerstone was laid on April 4, 1956. Inside the cornerstone a metal receptacle was placed which held “records and memoranda which describe fully and graphically the town of Dedham as it exists today” (Dedham Transcript)The gathered crowd included selectmen, telephone company officials, the town’s postmaster, police chief Walter Carroll, State Representative Francis Harding, Father William Kennedy of St. Mary’s Parish who delivered an invocation, and Reverend Leland Maxfield of the Westwood Baptist Church who delivered a benediction.
The old telephone exchange building on Church St, built around 1920.
The construction of this building brought about a significant change for Dedham residents: the introduction of direct dialing. For years residents could only make operator assisted calls; the Dedham telephone exchange was DEdham 3. Calls were forwarded by operators at the telephone building on Church St. next to the library. Beginning at 2:01 AM on Sunday, December 1, 1957, customers could dial directly and had their numbers switched over to the new Dedham exchange of either DAvis 6 or DAvis 9. Ads began appearing in the Transcript in the fall informing customers of the change and instructing them how to use dial servce. The Avery School PTO even had a workshop for telephone users complete with an instructional film.
Workers had been busy since the beginning of the year, installing wires and cables, and attaching dial inserts to the older phones of customers. Residents also had the opportunity at this time to obtain a new phone in a variety of colors other than the usual black. The changeover to the new service caused the layoff of 176 operators who worked out of the Church St. building.
To commemorate this historic achievement, a long-distance call was made to Dedham, England. The call was placed by Dedham Historical Society president-emeritus Dr. Arthur Worthington from the society’s headquarters on High Street and included members of the society, telephone company executives, and Dedham Country Day 6th grader Sally Reed who got to speak with her English pen-pal. Also on-hand were Selectman Arthur Lee and Miss Margaret Dooley, who had been the chief operator at the Church St. facility for 39 years.
Telephone exchange names were phased out in the 1960s, but live on in popular culture, as in the Glen Miller song Pennsylvania 6-5000 and the book and movie Butterfield-8.
While there are still some customers with land lines who are connected through the building, today it is mainly a switching center for FIOS internet/telephone/television users.
Be the first to identify the location in the picture below and win a copy of my book Dedham: Historic and Heroic Tales from Shiretown! You must post your answer in the comments below, not on Facebook. I will announce the winner and identify the location in another post. Good luck!
On June 12, 1973, I ended my 8 years at Saint Mary’s when I received this diploma in a graduation ceremony in the upper church on High Street. I was the last of 5 siblings to graduate from St. Mary’s; the school would close permanently in June 1975 before my younger brother was old enough to attend (despite having been enrolled at his christening in 1969).
In December 1972, Monsignor Charles Dewey, pastor, announced that the Sisters of St. Joseph would no longer be staffing the school effective June 1975. At the time there were 9 nuns teaching the 16 classes of approximately 525 students. The possibility of continuing the school with lay faculty was discussed, but in the end the decision was made to close. The school served as home to several other educational institutions including the British School of Boston and the Rashi School, before being torn down in 2010.
The cornerstone for the original building (we called it “the old school”) was laid on June 16, 1935, with 500 people attending the ceremony. The “new school” opened in the fall of 1958 and increased the school’s capacity to 650 students. My 1st, 2nd and 4th grade classrooms were all in the “old school,” where the desks still had holes for ink bottles and were bolted to the floor. There were about 85 graduates in the Class of ’73, which means there were over 40 students in each classroom with just one teacher. Some of those classmates are still good friends, and I hope to see many of them as we gather for a reunion in August.
My grandparents sent me this card for my graduation
On Sunday, May 28, a statue will be unveiled in East Dedham to honor the memory and service of William B. Gould. The ceremony will take place at Gould Park on Milton St., just down the street from where Gould, along with his wife Cornelia, raised his family. Red Sox announcer Joe Castiglione will emcee the event and the keynote speaker will be Princeton University’s Professor Tera Hunter. For more information on the ceremony, you can visit the Gould Park website: https://gouldmemorial.org/ The following is an excerpt from my book Dedham: Historic and Heroic Tales from Shiretown which summarizes Gould’s extraordinary story.
An obituary appearing in the Boston Globe on May 24, 1923 describes the accomplishments of 86-year old William Gould of Dedham, including command of the local GAR post, and his service on the Union ships Cambridge, Ohio and Niagara. The notice states that Mr. Gould enlisted in the navy in 1863, which while is a true fact, does not tell the complete story. What is not stated is that Mr. Gould was born enslaved in North Carolina and escaped to the Navy in a daring move with seven other slaves.
On the night of September 21, 1862, twenty-four-year-old Gould and his seven companions set their plan into action. After darkness had descended, the men boarded a small boat in Wilmington, North Carolina and began rowing south on the Cape Fear River, heading for the open sea. If they could manage to maneuver their boat downriver twenty-eight miles, slip past the Confederate held Fort Caswell and get picked up by a Union ship, they would have their freedom. Such escapees were considered “contraband” of war, property seized by the Union forces.
Gould and his mates reached the Atlantic Ocean in the morning hours of September 22, and hoisted their sail. They were soon spotted by crew members of the U.S.S. Cambridge and taken aboard. A few days later they took an oath of service and were made crew members.
William Gould was an extraordinary man. He was educated and literate as evidenced by the diary he began shortly after his escape and continued through most of his naval service. Amidst the many passages describing the routine life of a sailor, Gould expressed his passionate insights against the southern way of life and the institution of slavery. Gould served until the end of the war and eventually made his way to Dedham in 1871, where he and his wife Cornelia raised a large family on Milton Street.
Gould was a master plasterer, and in the 1880s was awarded a contract to do the interiors of St. Mary’s Church on High St. He was a respected and honored citizen of the town, serving as the commander of the Grand Army of the Republic post and writing for various publications. Gould was also a founding member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Oakdale Square. In the late 1950s, his grandson William Gould III discovered a diary kept by the original Gould. This diary was annotated and published by Gould’s great-grandson William Gould IV. It is an important document of American and African American history, being one of only a few diaries written by black sailors.
This sign hung on the door to the Dedham High gym 50 years ago, and there’s no doubt that every one of the 2,000 or so students in the school knew exactly what it meant. Hang that sign on the gym door today and you’ll get a lot of confused looks and questions…Hair tonic? Gin and tonic? Those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s know that “tonic” was another word for soda. Orange ade, root beer, ginger ale, even Coke were referred to collectively as tonic. It was a common and widespread term around here back then, as seen in this ad from the Globe in 1972:
According to the Globe, the first printed instance of the word to describe carbonated beverages was in 1888 in an article describing the theft of ’10 bottles of tonic’ from a Boston store. For close to a century, folks in Massachusetts and other parts of New England could be assured of getting served a carbonated soda when asking for a tonic. The term has been pretty much abandoned these days (Wikipedia called it “antiquated!” Boy that makes me feel old). It joins these other words from my youth that have faded from modern day usage:
Hassock (ottoman)
Divan (couch- this was my father’s word, not mine)
Dungarees (jeans- see my February 2023 post about Dungaree Day)
Supper (dinner)
Cellar (basement)
Crueler (a horizontal donut, now called a stick)
Feel free to share your own “antiquated” words or phrases from back in the day. And keep that tonic out of the gym!
to the Blue Bunny and pick up a copy of my Dedham book; also available are Framingham Legends and Lore, Murder and Mayhem in Metrowest Boston and 2 books of fun family poetry- perfect for National Poetry Month!
From the Dedham Times 3/31/2023The Blue Bunny is located at 577 High Street- if you haven’t been to the Square in a while, head for Keelan’s Hardware (same spot, updated address).
The fallout shelter sign has been hanging in this spot since the building was dedicated 60 years ago. The fallout shelter was located in the basement behind 6-inch walls of reinforced concrete and housed the Civil Defense Communication Center. A lead shield was available to be placed over the window for protection from radioactive fallout.
The Dedham Police Department moved into their new headquarters on April 29, 1963, almost 60 years ago. The department had been in temporary headquarters at the new town hall on Bryant Street after vacating their original home in Memorial Hall which was torn down the year before.
This was the first and only building built exclusively as a police station in Dedham. Tomorrow, the new public safety building on Bryant Street will be dedicated at a ribbon cutting ceremony at 1:00. Guests are invited to attend the ceremony and tour the new police/fire facility.
The new building at 26 Bryant Street. The combined fire/police facility will also replace the 1930 Central Fire Sation on Washington Street. The Dedham Square Planning Committe recommended in December 2021 that the former police station be demolished, and the site be developed as green space.
I’ve been inside the police station exactly two times. The first time was as an eighth grader doing a report on police work. Some officers showed me around and gave me a blank fingerprint card as a souvenir. About 20 years ago my car was rammed by another one in the Dedham Plaza parking lot and I went to the police station to file an accident report. Feel free to share stories of any time you’ve spent in the Dedham Police Station!
Congratulations to Mary Fontaine who was the first to correctly identify the location!
Posted March 11, 2023 by Jim Parr Categories:History/Mystery
Be the first to identify the location in the picture below and win a set of historic Dedham note cards! You must post your answer in the comments below, not on Facebook. I will announce the winner and identify the location in another post. Good luck!
What kid, or teacher for that matter doesn’t love a snow day? As kids we would get up early and listen to the No School announcements on WHDH or WBZ radio praying to hear “No school, all schools in Dedham.” Then as quick as we could, we’d stuff our feet into Wonder Bread bags and rubber boots and head out the door to go sledding! In the days before the streets were intensely chemically treated and plowed to bare pavement before the last flake has even fallen, the little hill on Tower Street by my house made for great coasting. I’m sure this was the case all around Dedham on quiet streets with even the slightest elevation.
From the Boston Record-American, February 1959: “Pre-schoolers and their mothers take to the street with their sleds…This scene is being duplicated in all sections of New England…This was made in Greenlodge, Dedham.” To be exact, it is the intersection of Heritage Hill and Ledgewood.The same view, January 14, 2023.
If we were feeling really adventurous, we’d take our Flexible Flyers (or Speedaway knockoffs) to the hill at the Capen School. Now THAT was a hill! If you weren’t careful, you could speed-away right onto the basketball court or the woods at the edge of the baseball field, especially if you were flying down the hill on one of those plastic or metal coasters.
From a 1943 report on the schools. That’s a pretty steep hill for downhill skiing!
Other popular sledding locations were the Community House and Federal Hill (Highland Ave) where sledders in the 1890s covered the hill with water taken from a nearby brook to create an ice covered surface for even more thrills. Even the dangers of car traffic didn’t stop some enthusiastic kids in December 1933.
Back at Tower Street, the Parr kids and our neighbors had a safe sledding option right in our own backyard. Even the installation of a rail fence by my father didn’t keep us off that hill.
From December, 1967. If the snow wasn’t too deep and you had enough momentum, you could duck under the fence rail and continue into the O’Berg’s yard next door.I get creative and use my little brother’s plastic bathtub as a coaster. Oh, and I forgot to mention the rocks we had to glide over at the top of the hill.
Those childhood days of sledding are best captured in this poem I wrote recently. Feel free to share your coasting memories in the comments!
Posted October 14, 2025 by Jim Parr Categories:Uncategorized
Walking Tours presented by Dedham Museum and Archive October 18 and 25
This jolly-looking fellow is Martin Bates. He was a prominent businessman and land owner who lived in Dedham from 1788-1869. At one time he owned the Norfolk House on Court Street, one of Dedham’s most popular taverns which still stands today.
This is the Bates family tomb in the Village Avenue Graveyard. On Saturday October 18 and October 25, Martin Bates will exit his tomb to great visitors as the Dedham Museum and Archive presents the first ever “Voices from the Graveyard” Walking Tour. Marty and six other “Dead-hamites” will be on hand to share stories of their lives (and deaths) in old Shiretown. This is a special seasonal event you don’t want to miss- but hurry, some time slots are already sold out and tickets are going fast. Visit the Museum website for more information and for tickets. I’ll be looking for you among the gravestones! https://www.dedhammuseum.org/programs-events/seasonal-walking-tours/
The gravestone of Sally Pond and her infant children, carved by noted Boston area carver John Homer.
Dedham Common, 1890s- Courtesy of Dedham Museum and Archive
50 years ago, communities and businesses began observing the 200th anniversary of the founding of our country, beginning in April 1975 with celebrations and commemorations of the famous battles that marked the start of the Revolution. In the summer of ’75 the town of Dedham saw residents engaged in their own battle, one that could fittingly be described as “uncommon.”
Sometime around the 4th of July, residents in Precinct One were shocked to find the wooden railings surrounding the Town Common had been transformed from traditional white to a Bicentennial color scheme of red, white and blue. The reaction of the townspeople, especially those living on streets adjacent to the Common, was swift and strong. The new paint job was described as “garish,” “an aesthetic outrage,” “the worst of taste” and “inappropriate, incongruous and demeaning.” “It looks like the town trollop,” one woman remarked to a Boston Globe reporter.
Boston Globe July 13 1975
As equally enraging to locals was the process by which the fence received its tacky paint job. Despite the existence of a Bicentennial Commission and a recently formed Historical District Commission, neither group was consulted before Public Works Commissioner Paul Sullivan supervised the work. Sullivan explained that several benches in East Dedham had already been painted the patriotic colors with no public complaint, and when it came time to repaint the Common fence, it seemed like an appropriate way to honor the country’s Bicentennial. “I think it looks wonderful,” he said at a mid-July select board meeting. “Our forefathers would turn over in their graves if they could see it,” was one response to Sullivan’s remarks.
At the July 15 meeting, the select board voted 3-2 to keep the patriotic paint scheme, despite the vocal disapproval of most of the 80-plus in attendance and the presentation of a petition signed by over 100 townspeople demanding the fence be repainted white. At times the meeting became heated, with residents and members of the select board shouting at each other, questioning the taste of those in favor of the red, white and blue color scheme and the patriotism of those opposed. The meeting ended with more than a few attendees asserting that the fence would be repainted white again, one way or another. Hours after the crowd dispersed, a midnight caller to the Transcript calling himself “The Dedham Militia Man” stated “We do not like the fence red, white and blue. The fence now has black crepe paper on it and soon it will be white.” Such threats of civil disobedience were taken seriously by town officials, and a 24- hour police guard was posted at the Common for the next few days.
North Adams Transcript/August 11 1975
News stories throughout New England took a rather bemused tone when describing the kerfuffle, but Dedham residents, especially those living near the Common, took the matter very seriously. Throughout the summer, members of the various historical committees continued to meet to resolve this issue. But for the time being, the fence would keep its “Andy Warhol type pop-art” color scheme.
PART 2 Coming next week: A little history of the Town Common and the resolution to the ongoing disagreement
I am James L. Parr. I grew up on Tower St. and went to St. Mary's and Dedham High (Class of 1977). I teach school in Framingham and co-wrote a book of Framingham history, which led me to write a book of weird Dedham history called Dedham: Historic and Heroic Tales from Shiretown. That book led to this blog. To order your own copy of the book, e-mail me at jameslparr@yahoo.com
Dedham Tales 