45 Years Ago…
I was weeks away from graduating from Bridgewater State College. It had been a tumultuous senior year and it wasn’t over yet. Ronald Reagan was elected the previous November. John Lennon was murdered in December. The American hostages held in Iran were released in January moments after Reagan was sworn in.
I was taking a photography class and had been strolling around Dedham looking for interesting subjects. The billboard pictured above stood facing Route One near the edge of the parking lot of the current Staples. It had been put up at the beginning of the hostage crisis, with the tally updated regularly until it reached 444 days. On January 21, a representative from Ackerly Communications, who had sponsored the message, added the words “At Last,” changed the count to zero and painted over the tears that had been streaming from Lady Liberty’s eyes.
A little over two months later, on March 30, the president was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. in Washington D.C. And before I would walk across the stage in May to receive my degree, the country would be shocked by yet another act of violence when Pope John Paul II was shot as he rode through St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
Recent events in the news brought me back to that unforgettable senior year. The exclamation point and question mark added to the billboard after the hostages were released reflected the mood of many of us then, as they do today.
Explore posts in the same categories: ...all the old familiar places, Dedham Then and Now
Dedham Tales 
March 30, 2026 at 9:36 am
I thought the billboard was the one across from the White Dove …in the corner of the parking lot for the little strip of stores on High Street….M&M Pizza/Subs….and the laundramat and next to that the seamstress ?
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March 30, 2026 at 9:52 am
It was by the intersection of Rte One and Eastern Ave- maybe you’re thinking of the same one, it was at the edge of what’s now Gonzalez Field but easily seen from that section of High Street
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March 30, 2026 at 10:08 am
Oke doke.
You are referring to the furniture store that once had freight cars deliver furniture on the depressed train tracks. At one time there was a World Gym after the furniture store. The billboard was the one facing Rudy’s gas station/South Shore Bank. The area filmed during the filming of the Friends of Eddie Coyle.
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March 30, 2026 at 10:10 am
Yes- I don’t recall what store was there in 1981, it might have been Child World.
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March 30, 2026 at 9:47 am
Jim,
That is quite a string of memorable events! And I can see how recent events have stirred your memories. Although I do recall all those events, I would not have been able to tie them together or recall what year they were. Interesting how one can sometimes tie such memories of world events to one’s own life….
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March 30, 2026 at 9:56 am
David- I guess everything stuck out in my mind because it was my last year in college. I do remember the billboard, having taken the photo for that class. I wonder if any news organizations will note that Regan was shot 45 years ago today.
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March 30, 2026 at 10:13 am
Yes, the Boston Globe includes that event in today’s “This day in history” listing.
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