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Who Remembers Kalah?

June 5, 2025

An original Kalah board made in Holbrook, 1960.

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.

Categories: ...all the old familiar places, JP's Dedham
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Dedham Manhole Covers and Memories: A Tribute to My Dad

November 23, 2024

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.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Categories: Dedham Then and Now, JP's Dedham
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50 Years Ago…

June 12, 2023

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

Categories: ...all the old familiar places, JP's Dedham, Lost Dedham

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Hop on in…

April 1, 2023

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 3/31/2023
The 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).

Categories: ...all the old familiar places, JP's Dedham
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Snow Day!

February 28, 2023

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!

Our Hill

Our hill was not so big a hill,

But still, it was the only hill

In any backyard up and down the street.

And days when wind and winter chill

Dropped snow upon our little hill

It was the place where neighbor kids would meet

For coasting down that snowy hill,

A simple childhood winter thrill

That kept us in the cold outdoors all day.

And down and up we crossed that hill

And didn’t stop the fun until

The cold and darkness drove us all away.

The next time that it snows you will

Find new kids sledding down that hill

The way we did so many years ago.

Their happy shouts of joy will fill

The skies above that ancient hill

And echo over freshly fallen snow.

Categories: ...all the old familiar places, JP's Dedham
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Dance Fever

December 23, 2022

This is me tearing up the dance floor with my mother in April, 1972 at my sister’s wedding reception at the Legion. As you can tell by my joyful expression, ballroom dancing was a favorite activity of mine, and I credit that love of the Terpsichorean arts to this man:

Russell Curry ran a Junior High Dance class in Dedham from the early 1950s through the 70s. The classes were held in the Oakdale School gym. According to the Transcript, Curry offered “instruction in ballroom dancing, Virginia Reel and a ‘Rock’ step, social graces, including introductions, reception lines, and general party behavior.” The boys wore suitcoats and ties, the girls wore dresses and white gloves, and upon arrival would sit on opposite sides of the gym until the dance selection was announced. Then the boys would take that long stressful walk across the floor to choose a partner. The only part of the class more stressful than this was “ladies’ choice.” At some point in the evening, the boys would take the arm of their partner and join the long receiving line to greet the evening’s chaperones, who were seated at the stage end of the gym.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Chaperone, my name is James Parr and this is Abbie Normal.” Handshakes all around, and then back to the dance floor to tackle the Rock step to the strains of “A Horse With No Name.”

Surprisingly, the classes were more popular with girls than boys, as evidenced by this Transcript headline that ran just 2 days before classes were to start in October, 1971.

Several of my DHS ’77 classmates and I are described in the article as the “brave crew of boys” who had already signed up for seventh-grade beginner classes. I remained part of the brave crew for the rest of seventh grade, but did not continue my studies the following year.

Arlington born Russell Curry was a well-known figure in the Boston dance scene beginning in 1938 when he joined his mother’s Curry School of Dance, an enterprise she had started in 1920. During World War II, Curry worked with the USO traveling to local army camps teaching dance steps to servicemen. In the 1950s, he began instructing young people across New England in social etiquette and dance. During his heyday, Curry taught over 15,000 students a year in 50 communities across New England.

In this news photo from 1944, Russell Curry and his partner Virginia Touse demonstrate a new dance called “The Boston” at the Hotel Bradford.

Curry retired some time in the 1970s and moved to mid-coast Maine where he continued to teach and choreograph shows for the Boothbay Region Playhouse. He died in Damariscotta in 1997 at the age of 79.

Despite my somewhat unenthusiastic participation in dancing school, I actually learned a few things and could demonstrate a decent waltz step, fox trot or cha-cha if called upon. I bet there are many other members of that “brave crew” and their one-time dance partners out there who could make the same claim.

Categories: JP's Dedham

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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year …

December 23, 2022

Back in the 1960s, my brothers and I had paper routes in town, delivering the Globe, Record American, and Herald Traveler. We got our papers from East Dedham News, which was operated by a man named Bob Stadelmann who was located in East Dedham Square. After the redevelopment of that area, Bob moved his operation to Sprague Street in the Manor. Eventually, I took over the routes by myself, delivering afternoon dailies and the Sunday editions in my Tower St. neighborhood.

Christmas was indeed the most wonderful time of the year for paperboys, for that’s when we got our holiday tips. You can’t imagine the excitement felt by 10-year old me on a cold Sunday morning in December as I placed the thick newspapers between the doors of my customers and found a card-sized envelope that might contain an extra buck or two. This card came from a Mrs. Donavan:

This next card was a cardboard stocking with slots on the inside that held ten dimes. It impressed me so much I’ve kept it for over 50 years! (After removing the dimes). Lillian O’Connor lived about three doors down from me on Tower Street but apparently did not know my name.

I gave up my paper route in high school but continued selling Sunday papers for East Dedham News. Bob’s son Mark would pick me up in his van and drop me off with a stack of papers at this island at the intersection of High and Milton streets, where I would stay until noon, or until I ran out of papers.

The intersection of High and Milton/Bussey

This job was such an important part of my high school experience, I mentioned it in my senior yearbook profile. I also wrote a poem called “Sunday Morning Lament.” It begins:

I sit all alone on an island in the street.
The wind at my back, the cold in my feet….

and continues…

A rip or a wrinkle in the funnies won’t do.
They all want a paper that’s clean and brand new.

Despite my poetic protestations, it was a good part time job for a high schooler. I sold a lot of papers, made a lot of money in tips and met some interesting characters, one of whom passed me a counterfeit $10 bill one morning. I was so scared, I gave him his paper and his $9.45 in change and stuffed the phony bill in my apron. Later I showed it to my mother who hid it deep in the top drawer of her dresser where it stayed for decades.

My change apron, from the bicentennial year 1976
Returning home to Tower St. with unsold papers, ca. 1975

Categories: JP's Dedham
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Paul Park Bonus Material!

November 14, 2022

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about the Paul Park neighborhood, check this out!

The wife of Ebenezer

was Marietta

His mother was Susan

and his grandmother was Martha

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Who put the Paul in Paul Park? /Part 2

November 12, 2022

So, who DID put the Paul in Paul Park? The quick answer to that question is this man:

Ebenezer Paul bought the house on Cedar Street and surrounding acreage from the Fales estate and moved here with his wife Susan and children in 1867. He farmed the land, and over the years added to his substantial holdings by purchasing adjacent lots. At the time of his death in 1898, Paul’s land holdings extended from Oakdale to Endicott, the Manor and Greenlodge. Upon his death, son Ebenezer Talbot Paul took ownership and management of the property and began subdividing it for housing lots in the 1920s. Here is the 1925 plan for a development which includes the site of my childhood home on Tower Street:

Interestingly, the development was named Ashcroft Wood, but nobody I know ever called it that. Hemlock Street was never built, and Sycamore does not connect with Alden. Neither does Beech connect with Turner, probably due to the huge rock located in what was known as “Ogden’s Woods” back in the 60s.

Here is a plan for another development named “Farview.”.

Mt. Vernon Street was later named Kimball Road, although it is essentially the same street intersected by the railroad tracks. The Cedar Street house can be seen on the left, and although it looks as if old Ebenezer was surrounding himself with a multitude of neighbors on his once quiet farmland, most of the houses on these streets were built in the 50s, long after his death in 1930. As a result of these real estate deals, Paul died a wealthy man, with an estate valued at about $1.3 million in today’s dollars. His wife Marietta passed away in 1949 at age 92. They had no children.

In December, 1951, the Town of Dedham purchased just under 3 acres from the Paul estate for $2,625 (about $30,000 in today’s dollars) for recreational purposes.

Paul Park was dedicated on June 8, 1952 in a ceremony attended by several hundred people. Music was provided by the elementary school orchestra under the direction of Miss Rhona Swarz and the elementary school band under the direction of Robert Shreve. Musical selections included When Johnny Comes Marching Home, And the Band Played On, and The Star-Spangled Banner. Director of Recreation William Ryan described plans for further development of the park including a baseball diamond, bubbler, merry-go-round, swings, slides, fire places, sand-boxes, and picnic tables. Fifteen years later I would sit at one of those picnic tables and make a loop potholder for my mother. Thank you, Ebenezer.

STILL TO COME:

  • More Paul Family history
  • Shenanigans at 390 Cedar Street
  • The Mystery of the Missing Plaque

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A Bunny Tale Part 2

August 13, 2012

Here is the inspiration for Catherine Gruetzke-Blais’s design for her “Regal Rabbit.”

His name is Trooper and he is 4 months old. The Blais family had been looking for a Dalmatian puppy for several months at the time Catherine first heard about the Dedham Public Art Project, and you could say she was “seeing spots.”

The following photos show the transformation from plain white rabbit to Regal Rabbit.  Thanks to Catherine and her daughter Isabelle for the photos.

1.Patching and priming

2. Applying the base coat

3. Stippling for texture. If you look at the rabbit up close, the two-tone base gives it the appearance of marble.

4. Tracing a spot with a stencil made from a rubber shelf liner (top), collaging a paper spot onto the surface (bottom)

5. A few spots appear (top), more spots and some details (bottom)

6. Painting the details.

7. The eyes are made of glass tiles, set in like a mosaic.

8. DONE! Now he will answer Ernie Boch Jr’s invitation to “Come on down!”, and have a clear-coat applied by the Norwood auto dealership.

 

August 8, 2012

Regal Rabbit is installed at the East Dedham shopping plaza on the corner of High and Bussey Streets, not far from Pottery Lane where the original Dedham Pottery was made. He is sponsored by Delapa Properties. He’ll be there for a while crouching in the garden; go visit him and all of the other bunnies around town. They have certainly added a lot of color, creativity and history to our lives as we drive around doing our everyday chores and routines.

Thanks to Dedham Shines for sponsoring this project, to all the artists who participated, and a special thank yu to Catherine Gruetzke-Blais for letting me tag along on her creative journey.

Categories: History/Mystery, JP's Dedham

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