Merry Christmas

Ninety-two years ago the Nemaskett Press wished its patrons a Merry Christmas by means of colorful and somewhat idealized image of a Pilgrim hauling a yule log. This year Recollecting Nemasket likewise wishes its  readers a Merry Christmas and a happy, safe and healthy New Year.

Santa House, 1954

Certainly among the most fondly recalled memories for many adults are childhood visits to Santa, when with list in hand and nerves steeled we went with firm resolve to inform the jolly old man of all our Christmas wants and desires.

For a number of years in the early 1950s, the Middleborough Retail Merchants’ Association sponsored a Santa Claus who had an established “office” in one of the Center Street storefronts and “visiting hours” during which children could pay him a call with their list of wishes for the coming year. Each year, Santa’s arrival was announced in the local Gazette and he arrived courtesy of the Middleborough Fire Department upon one of their engines, sirens blaring and lights flashing.

Speaking directly to the community’s children in 1953 regarding the arrival of Santa Claus that year, the Gazette reported: “The Middleboro retail Merchants Association is very pleased to announce that a committee quite some time ago contacted the North Pole, and made arrangements to have St. Nick come to Middleboro …. We are very fortunate, children, to have Santa coming to Middleboro because he is extremely rushed at this time of year, and it is being done with the kind cooperation and needed assistance of many local people.” Santa arrived that year by means of Ladder No. 1 to a workshop decorated by Middleborough High School art students.

The popularity of this community Santa (and the lack of an available vacant store front the following year) prompted the proposal for a separate headquarters for the gentleman from the North Pole which ultimately led to the creation of the Santa House in 1954.

Under the direction of Alton Kramer, the Merchants Association in conjunction with the shop class of Middleborough High School constructed a small house on the grounds of the Middleborough Post Office at Center and Union Streets. “The proper artistic scenes for Santa’s stay here shortly after Thanksgiving for a two week period [were] arranged by students of Miss Sylvia Matheson’s art classes.”

To add to the festive atmosphere in the downtown district, colored overhead lights and decorations were strung across Center Street as a joint project between the merchants and the schools.

Santa arrived at his new home on Friday, December 10, 1954, and his appearance was described in the pages of the Gazette. “Santa Claus arrived here Friday afternoon at 3.30. Heralded by a police car with siren wailing, the old gentleman was seated in a chair atop Engine 1. He was dressed in the traditional red outfit trimmed with ermine. His luxuriant white beard hung down to his belt as he waved to the crowds of children dashing along the sidewalks trying to keep pace with the fire engine. The engine came down South Main street and turned up Center. It stopped in front of the Post Office lawn, where Santa’s holiday home had been completed several hours before his arrival. He jumped down very spryly for a chubby old timer, and waded through a mob of screaming children.” The initial line of children wishing to visit extended down Center Street “for some distance.”

The 1954 event proved enormously popular and was repeated for a number of years afterward, with the Santa House being set up on the first Sunday in December by members of the Merchants Association. Although the 1955 season curiously was to have featured Santa arriving at the Santa House by helicopter, these plans “were cancelled on orders from Washington” which no doubt wisely objected to a helicopter landing on its post office grounds. Instead Santa arrived in the local traditional manner of a fire engine, the delight of the children no less diminished by the absence of the helicopter.

Typically, hours at the Santa House throughout the era were set for Friday and Saturday afternoons as well as evenings for children to visit. Though the Santa House was a popular holiday tradition, it quickly lapsed. In 1971, Clint Clark eulogized that “the Santa Claus quarters, we remembered, was little more than a flimsy structure. But the path led to ‘Santa’ and that made it as magical and grand as a dream castle to the hundred of youngsters who came to confide their Christmas hopes.”

Better yet to remember the Santa House from its earliest days, from a time when Center Street was packed wall-to-wall (or store-to-store) with retailers, when residents would come to shop, to dine and simply to meet one another. The account from December, 1954, recalls an era when downtown Middleborough remained the heart of the community at Christmastime.

“Most of the lights strung across the streets by high school students had already been turned on. The trees along the sidewalk opposite Santa’s home were also lighted. Store windows were gay with holiday trimming and crowds of shoppers moved along the sidewalks. From one store a loudspeaker had been rigged and Christmas carols as old as time boomed out at the traffic-filled street.

“Overhead it was gray and a cold drizzle came down on the people, but no one seemed to mind or notice very much.

 “The Christmas season had arrived in Middleboro.”

Merry Christmas.

Illustration:
Santa, J. C. Leyendecker. 

Church of Our Saviour Christmas Parish Fair, 1930s

Central Baptist Church Christmas Sale and Play, 1931

Christmas, 1940

In 1940, Middleborough High School Latin teacher Herbert Wilber decorated his classroom with greenery over the chalkboard and a small lighted white pine tree set on a table in the corner.  The simple but effective decorations provided a warm and inviting aspect to the otherwise austere classroom.  The room was located on the top floor of Middleborough High School, now the Early Childhood Education Center, on North Main Street.

Christmas Greetings from P. H. Peirce Co., 1909

At Christmas, 1909, P. H. Peirce Co. which operated a grocery store in what is now the Middleborough Police Station on North Main Street, sent Christmas greetings (courtesy of Wood's Coffee) to local residents by means of this decorative postal card.

In turn, I now send it to the readers of Recollecting Nemasket, wishing you a Merry Christmas and may you have a happy, healthy new year.

Methodist Christmas Concert, 1877

Religious concerts and pageants have been a central part of local Christmas observances since the mid-nineteenth century.  One of the most largely attended of these was a concert held on December 23, 1877, at the Central Methodist Church on School Street. 

On Sunday evening, Dec. 23, a Sunday School Concert was held in the Centre M. E. Church. The principal feature of the evening consisted of an allegorical representation of the Star in the East, or the birth of Christ. Over eight hundred persons were present at the close of the exercises, and many left before the close, and, a large number were unable to gain admission to the audience room. It was, as are all the concerts gotten up by the Superintendent of the school, Mr. F. M. Sherman, a grand success.

Indeed, "success" was a bit of an understatement.  Given that the population of Middleborough was probably just over 5,000 at the time, the concert was remarkably well attended, by both Methodists and non-Methodists alike.

Source:
Old Colony Memorial, “Middleboro’”, January 3, 1878, page 4.

Christmas Greens

A century ago, the harvesting of live greens for Christmas was a lucrative business and one which brought numerous outside entrepreneurs to Lakeville in search of evergreens, holly and laurel.  Greens were taken from the woods of Lakeville in large quantities, frequently by the wagon load, and brought to Boston where they were processed for sale.  The automobile increased access to rural Lakeville and Middleborough so much so that ultimately greens were removed in such quantities as to raise concerns about over-stripping the woods, as well as the taking of greens from private property, the latter issue prompting the attention of local police by 1930.

“The evergreen harvest here has begun," noted one account from Lakeville dated December, 1904, "and many representatives of decorating houses are now cleaning the holly, evergreen, princess pine and laurel from the woods. Mountain laurel, which is found in quantities in this town, and in Acushnet and Freetown, is shipped to Boston, where it is made into wreaths and streamers for decorating purposes. There the streamers sell for about 6 cents per yard, allowing a good margin for the makers. Some have arrived with tents, and will remain for several weeks, gathering the material. The shipment of trees is light, as there are but few good cedar trees suitable for Christmas, and these are carefully guarded.”

A heavy snowstorm on the evening of December 17 which dumped a foot of snow in the region brought the 1904 harvest to a halt.  “The evergreen harvest here has been stopped by the heavy snows, and no more will be gathered before Christmas unless a big thaw comes. For the past few weeks the woods have been well scoured in search of green stuff, and a great quantity of it has been gathered and shipped to the Boston market. A quantity of holly and mountain-laurel has been cut and shipped from here.”

Each year larger and larger quantities of greens were removed from Lakeville, leading to concerns of over-stripping the woods.  “The collection of greenery, holly and laurel for Christmas is underway here. As has been the custom with collectors of this holiday decoration they have invaded Lakeville, and are carrying off the stuff in team loads,” recorded the Middleboro Gazette in December, 1908.  One new innovation which contributed to this process was the automobile.  Where city residents had previously been dependent upon intermediaries to acquire their Christmas greens, the automobile permitted city dwellers to enjoy a day-trip to the country where they would pick pines, holly and other specimens with which to decorate their homes.  “The greenery business in the section for Christmas was the heaviest [in 1912] for years. There were large numbers engaged in the pursuit, and one man alone marketed 400 wreaths. The advent of the automobile, cruising through the country, caused a large amount of greenery, especially holly, to be carried away by the drivers to their homes.”

The annual search for Christmas greens in Lakeville and surrounding communities continued throughout the first decades of the twentieth century and appears to have contributed to the decline of a number of species locally, most notably American holly (Ilex opaca) which was formerly abundant in local woods.  In 1929, the scarcity of holly inlocal woods was lamented and attributed at the time to a "severe and protracted drought" in the summer and fall of that year.  What holly could be found was quickly taken by gatherers of Christmas green, irreparably damaging trees and furthering the ecological decline of the plant locally.

By 1930, many local property owners had had enough, and began reporting the removal of greens to the local police as indicated by the following news report from December, 1930:

There have been several complaints received by the police from land owners in various parts of the town that their woods are being entered and stripped of holly and other evergreens without authority and in some cases holly trees have been stripped to such an extent that they will die.  One man reports that automobiles have come to his place Sundays and leave full of small spruce or pine branches while others come and get small cedar trees.  Arthur Winslow and Edwin C. Bennett of Marion road are among those who have reported to the police.  Chief Sisson is checking up on this trespassing and prosecutions are likely to follow.

Middleboro Gazette editor and owner Lorenzo Wood commented upon the situation in late December.  Clearly unapproving of the unauthorized removal, Wood was at a loss to provide a solution, as the geographic expanse of Middleborough (as well as Lakeville) did not easily lend themselves to prevantative patrols by local law enforcement.

Christmas Greens advertisement, Middleboro Gazette,

November 24, 1933, page 8

During the winter of 1933, Susan B. (Merrihew) Brackett of

Rock Village was advertising winter greens for sale culled

from local woods.  Among the greens offered was holly

which at the time was still present in local woods though

increasingly difficult to locate.

From the number of complaints received by the police this holiday season of the reckless slashing and taking away of Christmas greens from the woods in this section without permission from the owners makes one wonder what kind of complex these people are laboring under and where the principles of the rights of others comes into the picture.  Holly trees, which in a great way are becoming extinct in many localities, have been hacked and stripped of their branches leaving them to die, trailing evergreens have been pulled up by the yards and small cedar and hemlock trees have been carted away by the hundreds, all without the slightest regard to the owners of the land or tees thereon.  In some of these instances, the trespassers have probably cut a tree for their own use, but in most cases it has been a commercial proposition and the trees no doubt have found their way into the markets of the nearby cities.  One of the rankest cases of this utter disregard for others' property came to the attention of the police this week when a local farmer complained that a fine blue ornamental spruce of nine years growth which stood near the roadside had been cut down and taken away.  Last summer the owner refused $25 for this fine tree and now probably with a few days use as a holiday ornament it is of no use to anybody, and to think that a tree that would serve the purpose just as well could be bought from regular Christmas tree dealers for 50 cents.  It all fits into the jig-saw puzzle of conditions of today when apparently there is disregard for law on all sides.  In the case of these tree thefts, what can be done about it?  Nothing much except when one happens to catch the intruder and hail him into court.  To watch for these depredations would take a police force as large as a regiment.

Illustration:
"Budding Pinecones", photograph by Caro Willis, November 23, 2008, used under a Creative Commons license

Sources:

Unidentified newspaper clippings, James H. Creedon Collection, Middleborough Public Library, “Evergreen Harvest at Lakeville”, December 5, 1904 and “Lakeville”, December 20, 1904

Middleboro Gazette, “Lakeville”, December 18, 1908, page 2; “Middleboro”, December 27, 1912, page 5; "Woods Stripped of Evergreens", December 12, 1930, page 2; "The Spectator", December 26, 1930, p. 1.

Central Cafe Christmas, 1927

Originally located on Center Street near the Four Corners and operated by James Kanakis, the Central Cafe was later run by the Dascoulias family, relocating to its present home near Oak Street in 1940.  While the Central Cafe has long been known for its pizza, it has also featured (and continues to do so) a variety of menu offerings.  Among the most festive was certainly its 1927 Christmas day dinner which included a traditional plum pudding as advertised in the pages of the Middleboro Gazette.

Source:
Middleboro Gazette, December 23, 1927, page 6.

Green School Christmas, 1925

Visit Green School History to read how students at the school celebrated Christmas in 1925.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all the readers of Recollecting Nemasket a happy Christmas!

Illustration:

The Fairman Company, Cincinatti, OH, postcard, early 20th century

If Americans replaced their increasingly obsolete carriages and sleighs with sleek automobiles during the early 20th century, why, too, shouldn't Santa have a shiny new roadster? Although seemingly incongruous today, depictions of Santa Claus posed in automobiles of the era were particularly popular at the time, though they became rarer and rarer as the automobile became a ubiquitous part of American culture and sleighs became a nostalgic reminder of the past.

Central Methodist Church in Snow

Christmas, 1877:

Christmas and New Year's have passed without any unusual occurrence. The Methodist Society had a Christmas tree [gift exchange] in their vestry Monday evening, and on Tuesday evening the Congregational Society held their festivities in Town Hall. Both passed off very pleasantly.

On Sunday evening, Dec. 23, a Sunday School Concert was held in the Centre M[ethodist] E[piscopal] Church. The principal feature of the evening consisted of an allegorical representation of the Star in the East, or the birth of Christ. Over eight hundred persons were present at the close of the exercises, and many left before the close, and a large number were unable to gain admission to the audience room. It was, as are all the concerts gotten up by the Superintendent of the school, Mr. F. M. Sherman, a grand success.

Illustration:

School Street Schoolyard and Central Methodist Church in Winter, late 1890s, photograph

The photograph depicts at the left the facade of the original School Street School which was replaced by the present structure in 1907. Across the schoolyard is seen the Central Methodist Church. The church's unique bell tower was replaced in the mid-20th century.

Source:

Henry S. Sylvester, Middleboro News, excerpted in "Middleboro'", Old Colony Memorial, January 3, 1878, p. 4.

Tripp's Holiday Candy

One of Middleborough's holiday traditions for over a hundred years (1864-1966) was Christmas candy from B. F. Tripp's, later known as Tripp's Candy Kitchen. While it competed locally in the candy business with other notable makers such as Pasztor & Klar at Middleborough Center and Lucy Braley's Candy Kitchen at South Middleborough, Tripp's was the longest-lived and the most fondly recalled of Middleborough's candy makers. Noted for its "Molasses Kisses" and "Nemasket Chocolates", Tripp's (which operated a store on Center Street near the Middleborough Savings Bank Building as well as a second shop in Brockton), also produced hand-pulled candy, particularly at Christmas when hard, sugary candy canes and ribbon candy were in great demand. While most people today recall the latter item as the frequently sticky and easily shattered candy from our grandmother's candy dish, with its satin-like gloss and colorful stripes ribbon candy was enormously popular as a gift item. (One indication of this popularity locally is the fact that in the week immediately preceding Christmas 1914, Tripp's sold over half a ton of ribbon candy).

Click on the above photo of the ribbon candy to see how ribbon candy would have been made by Tripp's. (Courtesy Oliver's Candies, Batavia, NY).

Illustrations:

"Ribbons", photograph by Yvette Jorgens, republished under a Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.

"Candy Canes", Tripp's Waiting Room, Middleborough, MA, advertisement, Middleboro Gazette, December 19, 1913.
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