tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54069254957531344492024-03-17T23:03:46.776-04:00Recollecting NemasketWriting About the History of Middleborough & Lakeville, MassachusettsMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.comBlogger552125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-18931444388354278362019-03-17T06:46:00.002-04:002019-03-17T06:48:51.513-04:00Russell's Cabins, 1950During the period between the 1930s and 1950s, before motels
became popular, tourists passing through Middleborough were provided
accommodation in overnight camps and tourists cabins, many of which lined Route
28 from North to South Middleborough. Among them was Russell’s Grove Cabins
which stood on the now vacant parcel opposite Lorenzo’s, later the site of Rae’s
Colonial Gift Shop.
The Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-45439224633480213732018-03-03T17:40:00.000-05:002018-03-03T19:17:06.169-05:00Otis Briggs House (1876)
The gable of the Otis Briggs House (1876) is visible behind the later addition that long housed Steve's Sports Den.
A house on the site of 147 Center Street is first recorded as having been occupied in 1846 by Mrs. Susan Erpell (Erpelle), the widow of C. H. C. Erpell about whom very little is known. During Mrs. Erpell's occupancy, the Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-66413678417057585522018-02-12T10:31:00.001-05:002018-02-12T10:32:10.161-05:00Woolworth's
The F. W. Woolworth Company (Woolworth’s) first came to Middleborough in 1911, establishing a store in the American Building on South Main Street as Middleborough’s first chain department store. Increasing business prompted the company to have a building built to its own specifications on Center Street in 1927-28 (the building most recently occupied by Reedy's Archery), replacing the James Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-15525168645535588202018-02-06T20:04:00.002-05:002018-02-06T20:06:45.147-05:00Winter Scene, c. 1923
A 1920s blizzard has tied up hapless motorists on South Main Street. The sole landmark recognizable today is the Central Congregational Church, the steeple of which can be seen plastered with snow. The buildings on the left have all since been replaced by what is now the Rockland Trust Company. At the time the building at the far left housed Williams' Specialty Shop, a business conducted by Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-8151875527338314362018-01-27T08:13:00.000-05:002018-01-27T08:16:40.846-05:00First Holy Communion, Sacred Heart Church, 1890s
The original Sacred Heart Church was built in 1881 following Archbishop John Joseph Williams' blessing of the cornerstone on July 12, 1881. The church stood on Center Street approximately on the site today occupied by the church rectory and parking lot.
Prior to the construction of the church, the community's Catholic residents worshipped in private homes as well as the upper floor of the PMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-14160903202449873702018-01-26T08:55:00.000-05:002018-01-26T08:55:23.413-05:00B. F. Tripp Trade Cards
Trade cards were a popular means of advertising during the late 1800s. Small and highly-colored, these illustrated cards became widespread with the introduction of color lithography in the 1870s and their free distribution helped retailers and manufacturers advertise their goods. The cards were frequently changed by merchants, helping entice shoppers back for a return visit. Children often Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-56310410836048481212017-12-03T07:46:00.001-05:002017-12-03T07:46:48.558-05:00Nemasket Spring Water Company Drivers
In order to deliver its products, the Nemasket Spring Water Company required several drivers. From left to right are Sulo Jussila, Albert Malefant, George Chilian, Edmund Rondelli, Stan Sinoski and Armen Kayajan. With business reaching a new peak n 1937, the plant began 24-hour operation, requiring a fleet of 10 trucks to deliver its product throughout southern Massachusetts.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-52927109236359238402017-12-03T07:20:00.001-05:002017-12-03T07:20:13.144-05:00Nemasket Spring Bottles
During the 1930s, Nemasket Spring on Plymouth Street produced a variety of beverages, producing under its own name as well as the Cape Cod brand. Early in the decade, the firm bottled its sodas and mixers in pressed green glass bottles manufactured to resemble cut glass. Later, simpler clear bottles were used for bottling the Cape Cod brand sodas. During the mid-1930s, the firm Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-80157964317449093742017-11-22T04:36:00.001-05:002017-11-22T04:36:47.463-05:00What would the Pilgrims have Thought?
This tidbit from the Brockton Enterprise of August 24, 1912 indicates that the cranberry truly was king in Middleborough, the harvest that year even postponing a traditional local meeting of churches.
"There isn't going to be a meeting of the Plymouth County neighborhood convention of the churches next month because of cranberries.
"That sounds rather strange, but Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-19329098384916825342017-10-31T08:57:00.000-04:002017-10-31T08:57:47.505-04:00Workmen Unearth Human Skull, 1931Here's a Hallowe'en tidbit from the pages of the November 20, 1931 Middleboro Gazette.
Workmen Unearth Human Skull
Mystery surrounds the gruesome finding of a human skull by Calvin R. Hosford, Albert Carr and Fred Blanchard yesterday morning as they were excavating for a small building on the new state highway [Route 28] on East Grove street on Mr. Hosford's property. As the menMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-76563055046740089392017-10-28T21:53:00.000-04:002017-10-28T22:10:47.739-04:00Lorenzo's 1971
Before Lorenzo's built a dining room in 1972, sit-down dining at the West Grove Street Italian restaurant meant a snappily-uniformed car-hop who brought your meal to you in your car. Although car-hop service is a thing of the past, Lorenzo's remains a Middleborough landmark. Here the staff and owners Lorenzo and Geraldine Grosso have assembled for a picture in 1971.
Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-28734763746173092262017-07-30T21:51:00.000-04:002017-08-13T07:43:20.302-04:00Bicycle! Bicycle!"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like."
Bicycling as a recreational pastime and a means of transport flourished in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Middleborough. Not all were pleased with this development, however, including resident curmudgeon James A. Burgess who wrote the following to the Middleboro Gazette Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-90947863608411448732017-07-28T18:16:00.000-04:002017-07-28T18:16:13.745-04:00Battis Field DedicationThe following
souvenir scorecard was distributed as part of the dedication celebration for Battis Field, November 8, 1941.
Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-38472843665316589382017-05-02T09:37:00.002-04:002017-06-18T18:37:03.066-04:00Lakeville Trolley Scare, 1910
Find it difficult to retrieve change you drop down between
the seat and the console in your car? Well here’s a bit of unnerving news from
1910 Lakeville.
Dynamite Scare.
Passengers Fled from Car Near Lakeville.
Workmen Dropped Stick of Explosive, but No One Hurt.
Excitement
prevailed on the electric car from Elliott’s Corner [East Taunton] to the
Lakeville town house [October 31] Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-24993645910732441502016-11-26T05:12:00.000-05:002016-11-26T05:12:25.553-05:00Middleborough High School Popularizes FootballFootball emerged as a popular sport in Middleborough in the late 1800s, largely through the efforts of Middleborough High School students who formed the first teams in town. The school itself initially provided little direction or organization. Teams were formed informally by the students who, as recorded by newspaperman James H. Creedon, were responsible for engaging their own coach and Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-73244953032872219882016-01-28T20:51:00.000-05:002016-01-28T20:51:19.580-05:00Thomas Panesis, c. 1925
Thomas Panesis in his canopy express truck, circa 1925.
As part of the fruit and produce business Panesis conducted in Middleborough, delivery wagons and later trucks were operated. The photo depicts Panesis in what is believed to be the GMC truck he acquired in June 1922. (Four years later, in June 1926, he added a Chevrolet delivery truck).
Panesis had poor luck with both the wagons and Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-59900072044617737632016-01-28T20:49:00.000-05:002016-01-28T20:49:04.403-05:00Panesis Fruit Store, 1906
The photograph is of the original Center Street fruit store of Greek immigrant Thomas Panesis (who appears second from the right).
Panesis entered the fruit selling business at Taunton in 1899 and later became familiar with Middleborough where he operated delivery carts following 1901. In 1906, Panesis relocated to Middleborough, occupying a small building which stood between the Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-54984570133639808342016-01-28T20:44:00.002-05:002016-01-28T20:44:28.468-05:00Bob's Diner
The diner that stood at the Four Corners between 1939 and 1973 was built upon the site of a wood-frame building that had stood there since before 1800. That building was demolished by Alphonse D. Fish who installed a new diner on the site in December 1939. Kenneth Keedwell initially leased the diner which was later operated as Bob’s Diner and Emery’s.
In Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-14359813681495155642016-01-28T20:32:00.001-05:002016-01-28T20:32:29.273-05:00Andrew B. Gibbs
A large number of Middleborough residents continued to engage in agriculture well into the twentieth century, including Andrew B. Gibbs (1854-1937) pictured here. Gibbs operated a farm and dairy on Tispaquin Street for many years in the late 1800s and early 1900s and it is from him that Garabed Kayajan purchased his milk business in 1920. The oxen beside Gibbs were a welcome addition to any Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-82185232362215126102016-01-14T22:48:00.000-05:002016-01-14T22:48:02.400-05:00May Flower Lodge A. F. & A. M., 75th Anniversary Program, 1939Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-39160281550685256432016-01-14T22:43:00.000-05:002016-01-14T22:43:47.238-05:00May Flower Lodge A. F. & A. M., Membership Roster, c. 1937Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-11572528392820427852016-01-14T22:35:00.001-05:002016-01-14T22:35:36.552-05:00May Flower Lodge A. F. & A. M., Ladies' Night Pogram, 1929Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-70896847336170451732016-01-14T22:33:00.001-05:002016-01-14T22:33:19.414-05:00May Flower Lodge A. F. & A. M., November 1938 Program
Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-17303278949581277172016-01-14T22:28:00.001-05:002016-01-14T22:28:41.510-05:00May Flower Lodge A. F. & A. M., September 1954 ProgramMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5406925495753134449.post-43660549371815376082016-01-14T22:26:00.001-05:002016-01-14T22:26:28.772-05:00May Flower Lodge A. F. & A. M., January 1955 ProgramMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12950591025983948991noreply@blogger.com0