The history of Dedham, Massachusetts in the 20th century saw great growth come to the town. It played host to the
Sacco and Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...
trial, saw the
Endicott Estate
The Endicott Estate is a mansion built in the early twentieth century, located at 656 East Street in Dedham, Massachusetts “situated on a 15-acre panorama of lush green lawn that is punctuated by stately elm, spruce and weeping willow trees.” ...
and a number of schools constructed, a great deal of economic development, and growth in the number of services provided by the Town.
Government
A bill establishing a representative town meeting was established in 1928, and then amended in 1948.
[ It was almost amended again when a resident used a friendly representative in a neighboring community to introduce and pass a bill in the General Court.][ A Charter was adopted later in the century, and amended again in the 21st century. The Department of Public Works was created in 1933. ]
Fire Department
The first fire chief was appointed in 1920.[ Prior to that there was a four-member Board of Fire Engineers who had charge over fires.][ ]Hurricane Carol
Hurricane Carol was among the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island in the United States. It developed from a tropical wave near the Bahamas on August 25, 1954, and slowly strengthened as it ...
knocked down the East Dedham firehouse's 80 foot bell tower on August 31, 1954.[ It flew across the station and landed on 219 Bussey St, the house next door, where Louise Guerrio was feeding her one-year-old son, Joseph.][ It also crushed three cars parked on Bussey St.][
A firehouse was constructed on Westfield Street, near High Street, in 1906.][ The lower level had horse stalls, a stable room, a hose wago, and engine room, and an opening to the paddock in the rear. The second story had a sleeping room, a company room, a lavatory, a bath, and a hay and grain room. The building housed horse drawn steamer engines. It went out of service sometime in the 20th century, but still exists as a private residence.][
Firefighters began wearing uniforms in 1906.
]
Police Department
After the department purchased its first police motorcycle in 1923, Abe Rafferty was appointed the first motorcycle officer. By 1936, there were 18 officers.
In December 1973, the Dedham Police Department investigated the sighting of several unidentified flying objects
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
over town.[ A young couple on a date had their car followed by UFO while they drove through Dedham.][
]
Headquarters
The department was located on the first floor of Memorial Hall
A memorial hall is a hall built to commemorate an individual or group; most commonly those who have died in war. Most are intended for public use and are sometimes described as ''utilitarian memorials''.
History of the Memorial Hall
In the aft ...
until Town Clerk John Carey locked the doors for the last time on March 16, 1962. The building was demolished in April 1962 after a new town hall was built on Bryant St. The police took up temporary residence in the new town hall for a year[ while a new police station was built on the Memorial Hall property.
On April 29, 1963, the Police Department moved into their new headquarters on the corner of High and Washington Streets.][ It included a ]fallout shelter
A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War.
During ...
in the cellar that featured walls of 6-inch reinforced concrete and a lead window cover that could be put in place to shield occupants from fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
resulting from a nuclear explosion
A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, t ...
.[ It also housed the Civil Defense Communication Center.][
]
Recreation
In the early 1900s, the ancient Indian burial ground near Wigwam Pond was leveled to make way for athletic fields and a commercial shopping area. The last person known to have been buried there was Sarah David, the wife of Alexander Quapish.
The Recreation Department was begun in the 1930s with an effort to build and staff three playgrounds around town. By the 1960s there were 10 playgrounds. The first Recreation Commission was elected in 1941.
In 1951, the Town of Dedham purchased a three acre plot from the Paul estate for $2,625 and built Paul Park on it. Several hundred people attended the dedication ceremony on June 8, 1952.
The Commonwealth took much of the Town Forest in the 1950s to construct Massachusetts Route 128
Route 128, known as the Yankee Division Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts maintained by the Highway Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Spanning , it is one of two beltways (the othe ...
. The state returned 71 acres in the median to the Town in 1972 for use of hikers and picnickers.
Baby Cemetery
Land purchased in the late 1940s by Joseph Stivaletta, a local developer, was once home to the Temporary Asylum for Discharged Female Prisoners.[ He discovered 11 small, oval stones made of marble marking the graves of children and, rather than disturb them, set the land aside and did not build a home on it.][ When ]Massachusetts Route 128
Route 128, known as the Yankee Division Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts maintained by the Highway Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Spanning , it is one of two beltways (the othe ...
was being constructed, Stivaletta convinced then-Transportation Secretary John Volpe
John Anthony Volpe (; December 8, 1908November 11, 1994) was an American businessman, diplomat, and politician from Massachusetts. A son of Italian immigrants, he founded and owned a large construction firm. Politically, he was a Republican in i ...
to move the road rather than disturb the graves.[ Volpe's family came from the same small town in Italy as Stivaletta.][
Town Meeting voted to accept the cemetery in 1998 after being gifted the land from the Stivaletta family.][
]
20th century representation in the General Court
Dedham was represented by a number of women and men in the Great and General Court
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...
of Massachusetts.
Public schools
Quincy School
In April 1909, Town Meeting voted to appropriate $60,000 to build a new Quincy School and $6,000 for furnishings, fittings, and grading.[ The original school, it was said at the time was "only held together by the last coat of paint nd hadclearly outlived its usefulness."][
The new school was completed on budget and built at the intersection of Greenhood, Quincy, and Bussey Streets.][ It was dedicated on June 4, 1910.][ Within the two-story building were ten rooms.][ It measured 79' by 140' and was made of brick with sandstone trimming. The interior was outfitted with hard pine.
The new school was used until 1982 when declining enrollment and ]Proposition 2½
In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
forced its closure. Town Meeting authorized the sale of the property to a developer in 1982, but only after off-duty police officers and firefighters were able to find and bring enough Town Representatives to reach a quorum.[
]
Dedham High School
Dedham High School
Dedham High School is a public high school in Dedham, Massachusetts, United States, and a part of the Dedham Public Schools district. The school was founded in 1851 by the oldest public school system in the country. It earned a silver medal from '' ...
began playing Norwood High School in an annual football contest in 1920.[ Over the years, there have been several notable incidents. In 1946, thousands of fans swarmed the field for about 20 minutes after a Norwood touchdown pass was brought back on an offensive interfernce penalty.][ During the closing minutes of the game, the crowd threw stones and other objects at the officials.][ The Dedham Police Department had to escort them off the field after the game.][
In 1956, seven boys from Norwood High School threw bottles of blue and white paint, the school colors, through the windows of Dedham's School Department administration building to celebrate their team's win the day before.][ While they admitted to the paint, they denied being involved with the smashing of 22 windows at Dedham High School on Thanksgiving Day.][
]
Crime and trials
Sacco and Vanzetti
The historic Sacco and Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...
trial was held in the Norfolk County Courthouse
The Norfolk County Courthouse, also known as the William D. Delahunt courthouse, is a National Historic Landmark at 650 High Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It currently houses the Norfolk County Superior Court. It is significant as a well-p ...
in 1921 under heavy police guard. The two were Italian-born American anarchists, who were arrested, tried, and executed for the killings of Frederick Parmenter, a shoe factory paymaster, and Alessandro Berardelli, a security guard, and for the robbery of $15,766.51 from the factory's payroll on April 15, 1920. Many believe that they "were the innocent victims of political and economic interests determined to send a message about the rising tide of anarchist violence."
The trial opened on May 31, 1921, with heavy security. Police were stationed at every entrance of the courthouse and all those entering were searched for weapons. The State Constabulary patrolled outside on horseback and motorcycles and the courtroom was retrofitted with bomb shutters and sliding steel doors that could seal off that wing of the courthouse in case of an attack. The cast iron shutters on the windows were designed and painted to match the wooden ones on the rest of the building. The courtroom was so protected that "the trial would be conducted in a far more formidable cage than the simple prisoner's cage that surrounded Sacco and Vanzetti during their trial." The "cage" in which the defendants sat was "more like a fancy Ferris wheel car" than a cage designed to hold prisoners. It has a tall back, an open front, and no top.
During the trial, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis (; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.
Starting in 1890, he helped develop the "right to privacy" concept ...
, who was then in Washington, invited Sacco's wife to stay at his home near the courthouse. Sacco's seven-year-old son, Dante, would sometimes stand on the sidewalk outside the jail and play catch with his father by throwing a ball over the wall.
Brandeis was not the only member of the nation's highest court to be involved with the case. Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judicia ...
, then a law professor at Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, "did more than any individual to rally "respectable" opinion behind the two men, saw the case as a test of the rule of law itself."
At one point, the trial moved outdoors, to Norfolk Street behind the courthouse, so the getaway car could be viewed. Testimony was also offered outdoors.
The 12 jurors were sequestered at the courthouse for the entirety of the six week trial. They slept on cots in the courthouse's gran jury room and bathed in the basement of the jail. To celebrate the 4th of July, they were brought to Scituate, Massachusetts
Scituate () is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census.
History
The Wampanoag and their neighbors have inhabited ...
and given a lobster dinner.
To get a full jury, courthouse officials had to go to extraordinary lengths. Over 600 men were interviewed, with the most common reason for dismissal beinging their opposition to the death penalty. One man, a sugar dealer, tried to pretend that he was deaf in an attempt to get out of serving on the jury. When he was discovered, by answering a question posed by the judge, the Sacco and Vanzetti were sent into fits of laughter.
After 500 potential jurors were interviewed, but only seven selected, deputies from the Norfolk County Sheriff's office went out to workplaces, club meetings, concerts, and elsewhere to bring in additional potential jurors. One man, ultimately selected, was brought from his wedding dinner. The Quincy man had to postpone his honeymoon until after the trial.
At one point the prosecution presented a cap that was found at the crime scene and which they contended to be Sacco's. When Sacco's lawyers had him try the cap on, however, it was found to be much too small for his head.
Several years later, in May 1926, Frankfurter would travel to the Dedham courthouse to make a motion for a new trial after another man, also in the Dedham Jail, confessed to the crime. The motion was denied by Judge Webster Thayer
Webster Thayer (July 7, 1857 – April 18, 1933) was a judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, best known as the trial judge in the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
Background
Thayer was born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, on July 7, 1857. He att ...
in October and in the next 10 months the Supreme Judicial Court, a federal judge and three Supreme Court Justices, including Brandeis, each denied motions for either a new trial or a stay of execution.
On August 23, 1927 the two were electrocuted in the Charlestown jail. The "executions sent hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets of six continents." The American embassy in Paris was surrounded by tanks to fend off rioting mobs and demonstrations in Germany ended with six deaths. In Geneva "over 5,000 protesters destroyed all things American: cars, goods, even theaters showing American films." Frankfurter would write a scathing critique of the case entitled "The Case of Sacco-Vanzetti: a critical analysis for lawyers and laymen." It would first be published in The Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
and then as a hardcover book.
Millen/Faber trial
The brothers Millen, Irving and Murton, alighted from the Yankee Clipper at Readville station
Readville station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail station located in the Readville section of the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by MBTA Commuter Rail Fairmount Line and Frankli ...
on On April 14, 1934 to a crowd of thousands booing and hissing them. A caravan of 40 cars took them from the station to the Dedham jail. When they stopped at the corner of High and Washington streets to ask traffic Officer John Keegan for directions to the jail, Keegan jumped on the running board of the lead car to direct them personally.
The pair, along with Abraham Faber, had robbed a bank in Needham and killed several police officers, including Francis Oliver Haddock and Forbes McLeod. After the robbery and murder, a Dedham selectman recommended that the Dedham Police Department buy a submachine gun.
The trial attracted national attention, and crowds of hundreds, including schoolchildren, waited outside the Norfolk County Courthouse
The Norfolk County Courthouse, also known as the William D. Delahunt courthouse, is a National Historic Landmark at 650 High Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It currently houses the Norfolk County Superior Court. It is significant as a well-p ...
each morning. Several times, people mistakenly walked into the Dedham Historical Society
The Dedham Museum and Archive (formerly known as the Dedham Historical Society and Museum and the Dedham Historical Society), is an historical society dedicated to preserve and establish a greater sense of appreciation for the history of Dedham, ...
, thinking it was either the jail or the courthouse. When Roscoe Ates
Roscoe Blevel Ates (January 20, 1895 – March 1, 1962) was an American vaudeville performer, actor of stage and screen, comedian and musician who primarily featured in western films and television. He was best known as western character So ...
tried to get in, courthouse personnel served him with a fake arrest warrant demanding that he appear at the courthouse. The crime was the inspiration for the 1939 film ''Let Us Live
''Let Us Live'' is a 1939 American crime film directed by John Brahm starring Maureen O'Sullivan, Henry Fonda and Ralph Bellamy.
The script of the film was adapted from the 1936 Harper's Magazine story "Murder in Massachusetts" by Joseph F. ...
''.
Bettina Masserelli
In 1928, 28-year-old Bettina Masserelli of Dedham robbed a store in Everett, Massachusetts
Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States Census.
Everett was the last city in the Un ...
with a male accomplice. When the clerk asked the pair not to take his "bread money," Masserelli told her friend to "sock him." The clerk suffered four broken teeth in the incident and was locked on a coal closet where he was told he was lucky to still be alive.
At the trial, the clerk was able to identify Masserelli, a singer, by her "marked attrativeness" and her "sweet voice." She was found guily and sentenced to 15 years in the women's prison in Framingham. She was the first women convicted of armed robbery in Massachusetts.
While in prison, Masserelli climbed down a rope made of bedsheets and escaped. A few weeks later, she was spotted in a car in Dedham again and the Dedham Police Department began a wild car chase through the streets of town. During the chase, she lept from the moving car and fled on foot. Police eventually found her hiding behind a stone wall.
Endicott Estate
In 1904, the home of Henry Bradford Endicott
Henry Bradford Endicott (September 11, 1853 – February 12, 1920) was the founder of the Endicott Johnson Corporation as well as the builder of the Endicott Estate, in Dedham, Massachusetts. During World War I he served in numerous public c ...
, the founder of the multimillion-dollar Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company had his home on East Street burn to the ground. The fire department was not able to get to the estate in time as they were dealing with three other fires simultaneously, including one at the fire house. Henry cleared the ashes away and built a new homestead on the parcel. The three story building he constructed has nine bathrooms, eight bedrooms, a library, a music room, a ballroom, a mirrored parlor, a butler's kitchen, a linen room, and servants' quarters.
When he died in 1920 he left the building to his stepdaughter Katherine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and Catherina, other variations are feminine Given name, names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria ...
. She died in 1967 without any children and willed the land and the estate to the town for "education, civic, social and recreational purposes". At the time "town didn't know quite what to do with it" and "Town Meeting voted to offer it to the Commonwealth." Governor John Volpe
John Anthony Volpe (; December 8, 1908November 11, 1994) was an American businessman, diplomat, and politician from Massachusetts. A son of Italian immigrants, he founded and owned a large construction firm. Politically, he was a Republican in i ...
took the title to the 25 room estate in a ceremony on December 7, 1967, and intended to use it as a governor's mansion. It soon became apparent that it would be cheaper to build a brand new mansion than to remodel the estate to Volpe's wife's "lavish taste" and "crazy notions" than to renovate the Endicott Estate and in 1969 the Commonwealth gave the estate back to the Town.[Chapter 471 of the Acts of 1969] In 1921 Endicott's widow gave $35,000 to the American Legion to build a clubhouse nearby the estate on Whiting Ave.[
]
Fairbanks House
The 20th century saw a number of near disasters come to the Fairbanks House, the oldest wooden house in the United States.
On August 18, 1964, a 17-year-old Dedhamite who lived down the street was driving and missed a left hand turn from Whiting Avenue onto East Street. It was raining, and the pavement was wet. His car ended up in the east wing of the house, with the rear bumper flush with the wall. The 1957 sedan remained in the house overnight until it could be removed the next day. The accident prompted a stone wall to be erected which prevented another car from hitting the house in 1973.
A group of arsonists tried to burn the house down on July 4, 1967. Powderpost beetles were exterminated from the house in the 1970s.
Private Schools
In 1922, the Noble and Greenough School
The Noble and Greenough School, commonly known as Nobles, is a coeducational, nonsectarian day and five-day boarding school for students in grades seven through twelve. It is near Boston on a campus that borders the Charles River in Dedham, Massa ...
moved from Boston to Dedham. They purchased the Nickerson Castle and turned the estate into a campus in Riverdale along the Charles River. In 1957, Ursuline Academy moved from Boston's Back Bay to a parcel in Upper Dedham. The Ursuline nuns
The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of consecrated women that branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula, in 1572. Like the Angelines, they t ...
who ran the school purchased the property which included a grand manor house designed by Boston architect Guy Lowell
Guy Lowell (August 6, 1870 – February 4, 1927), was an American architect and landscape architect.
Biography
Born in Boston, Lowell was the son of Mary Walcott (Goodrich) and Edward Jackson Lowell, and a member of Boston's well-known Lo ...
. The house, described as "one of the grandest of grand mansions west of Boston, and comparable to what one would see in Newport," was built by Francis Skinner for his new wife Sarah Carr, in 1906. Today, the mansion once known as the Federal Hill Farm has "the richest and most elaborate residential rooms in Dedham" and serves as a convent for the sisters who run the school.
Churches
In 1907, the Methodist congregation built a new church in Oakdale Square at the corner of Oakdale Avenue and Fairview Streets. St. Luke's Lutheran Church expanded their chapel in West Roxbury in 1917 before building a new church at 950 East Street, on the site of the former Endicott School, in 1960.
The 1852 Baptist church in East Dedham added a bell tower to the church in 1911. A new church was built on the same site in 1972. In 1994, Roslindale's Grace Baptist Church merged with the Dedham church, and the new congregation became known as Fellowship Bible Church.
The Riverdale Congregational Church grew out of a Sunday School class held in William Lent's boathouse. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bingham donated money and land to build the church, which was completed in 1914 and expanded in the 1960s. When the church closed, the church donated their remaining funds in 1992 to be used as a scholarship for a member of the graduating class of Dedham High School
Dedham High School is a public high school in Dedham, Massachusetts, United States, and a part of the Dedham Public Schools district. The school was founded in 1851 by the oldest public school system in the country. It earned a silver medal from '' ...
who attended the Riverdale School.[ , the building was used by the Calvary Baptist Church.
The ]Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...
congregation first held services in the Odd Fellows Hall in 1920 and in 1930 moved to the Masonic Hall. In 1932, they bought Nathaniel Ames
Nathaniel Ames (July 22, 1708 – July 11, 1764), a colonial American physician, published a popular series of annual almanacs. He was the son of Nathaniel Ames first (1677–1736) and the father of Nathaniel and Fisher Ames. The family was ...
' house, moved it to the back of the lot, and built a new church. The cornerstone for the church was laid in December 1938 and a steeple was added after 1940. The first service was held on March 3, 1940.
By the 1930s, St. Mary's was one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese with over 6,000 parishioners and 1,300 students in Sunday School. During the middle of that decade there were four priests and six nuns ministering to the congregation. In the 1950s, it became clear that a second parish was needed in Dedham, and so St. Susanna's Church was established in 1960 to serve the needs of the Riverdale neighborhood.[ When St. Susanna's opened it had 300 families, while 2,500 stayed at St. Mary's.][ Before the first mass was said in the new church on February 11, 1962, services were held at Moseley's on the Charles.
]
Economy
Dedham Square
In 1900, the Greenleaf Building was finished on the corner of High and Washington Streets, opposite Memorial Hall. It was designed and built by Luther C. Greenleaf and his architectural firm of Greenleaf and Cobb.[ The building was home to the waiting rooms and offices for the trolley company, stores, a banquet room, offices, and an apartment for the janitor.][ It was razed in the 1940s.][
On March 1, 1967, Ma Riva's Sub Shop opened in Dedham, where Emily and Addie's was in 2018.][ It eventually would become D'Angelos and then bought out by ]Papa Gino's
Papa Gino's, Inc. is a restaurant chain based in Dedham, Massachusetts, specializing in traditional thin crust pizza along with pasta, subs, salads, and a variety of appetizers. As of 2022, there are 80 Papa Gino's locations in Connecticut, Mass ...
.[ Both are still headquartered on the old Route 1 in Dedham.
In 1903, there were nine blacksmith shops in Dedham. The last one listed in the town directory, Frank P. Kern of Williams Street, appeared in 1941.
]
Oakdale
A six storefront building was built in Oakdale Square at the corner of Oakdale Avenue and Sanderson Avenue in 1925.[ Neighbors complained, however, that it would create a "blind corner" for motoroists, and the building inspector tried to shut the construction down.][ The builder, John Picone of Newton, sued the Town to resume construction.][ The case made it to the ]Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...
where Associate Justice Henry K. Braley ruled in favor of Picone.[ The main store in the building would go on to house Danny's Supermarket, ]Stop & Shop
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide.
Sto ...
, Tedeschis, and 7-11.[ ]7-11
7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...
shut down in the fall of 2022.[
The ]Rust Craft Greeting Card Company
The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company was an American greeting card, printing company and owner of television stations.
The company
The company was founded in a bookstore in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1906 by its owner, Fred Winslow Rust. The compa ...
moved to Dedham in 1954 from Kansas City.[ In 1958, they built what was at the time the largest greeting card factory in the world on what is today Rustcraft Road. They were the first company to sell greeting cards with a fitted envelope and introduced cards for Easter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, anniversaries, and more. The building has been used for a variety of other purposes since 1980.
]
East Dedham
By the early part of the 20th century, East Dedham had become developed as a busy mill village.[ The neighborhood had schools, churches, and homes, in addition to the commercial district known today as East Dedham Square centered at the intersection of High and Bussey Streets.][ The textile mills along ]Mother Brook
Mother Brook is a stream that flows from the Charles River in Dedham, Massachusetts, to the Neponset River in the Hyde Park section of Boston, Massachusetts. Mother Brook was also known variously as East Brook and Mill Creek in earlier times. ...
began closing in the 1910s and 1920s, however, as owenrs sought cheaper labor and more favorable conditions in the south.[
]
Dedham Drive-In
On August 11, 1948, the Dedham Drive-In opened on the Providence Pike. The Town Selectmen and business leaders joined Michael Redstone
Michael "Mickey" Redstone (born Max Rothstein; April 11, 1902 – April 4, 1987) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Northeast Theater Corporation'','' now National Amusements, Inc.
Biography
Redstone was born on April 11, 1902 in Bo ...
in cutting a ceremonial length of film as hundreds of cars lined up on Elm Street to get in. ''Fun and Fancy Free
''Fun and Fancy Free'' is a 1947 American animated musical fantasy package film produced by Walt Disney and released on September 27, 1947 by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the ninth Disney animated feature film and the fourth of the package films th ...
'' and ''Blondie in the Dough
''Blondie in the Dough'' is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Abby Berlin and starring Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, and Marjorie Ann Mutchie. It is 21st of the 28 Blondie films.
Plot
Dagwood and his boss are frantically se ...
'' played on opening night. It was the 20th drive-in in Massachusetts.
Permission to build the "open air theater," an exact copy of the drive-in Redstone had operated on Long Island for the previous 10 years, was granted in the fall of 1947. Prior to the construction of the drive-in, the 23 acre parcel was an eyesore. It had housed Farquhar's Nursery at one point, but a "moonscape" was created after it closed and gravel and loam was removed from the site.
Originally, the screen was the 60 feet by 42 feet, but it was enlarged sometime before the fall of 1955. Over time, the theater stopped showing first run films and instead ran B movies
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
.
In 1954, the United Christian Youth Movement held the first of an annual sunrise Easter service at the theater. St. Luke's Lutheran Church
Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, also known as The German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Saint Luke's and St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, is a historic Lutheran church located on Restaurant Row at 308 West 46th Street between Eig ...
took over in 1961, and they continued the tradition until at least 1977.
The drive-in closed in the late 1970s or early 1980s. In 1973, Showcase 1-2-3, a traditional indoor movie theater also owned by Redstone, opened next door. Legacy Place was built on the site in the 20th century, and the Showcase Cinema de Luxe sits on the exact site of the old drive-in.
Television and film
Dedham has been the setting or filming location of a number of films and television shows:
*In 1920, a film version of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
's poem '' The Bell of Atri'' was filmed in Dedham on the Town Common. The screenplay was written by Ethel Howard Lincoln, a Dedhamite. The hundreds of extras, or "supes," put on their 18th century attire in Memorial Hall
A memorial hall is a hall built to commemorate an individual or group; most commonly those who have died in war. Most are intended for public use and are sometimes described as ''utilitarian memorials''.
History of the Memorial Hall
In the aft ...
. The extras had a picnic on the Common while the major players ate at the Dedham Inn.
:The film was used as part of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center (MSPCA-Angell) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with its main headquarters on South Huntington Avenue in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Bos ...
' "Be Kind to Our Dumb Animals" campaign. The film was lost in a fire at the MSPCA in 2008.
* In the 1980s, the Endicott Estate
The Endicott Estate is a mansion built in the early twentieth century, located at 656 East Street in Dedham, Massachusetts “situated on a 15-acre panorama of lush green lawn that is punctuated by stately elm, spruce and weeping willow trees.” ...
was featured in an episode of '' Spenser: For Hire''.
* The 1982 cult classic ''Pieces
Piece or Pieces (not to be confused with peace) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* Piece (chess), pieces deployed on a chessboard for playing the game of chess
* ''Pieces'' (video game), a 1994 puzzle game for the Super NES
* P ...
'' was filmed mainly in Madrid, but also included the same Dedham Square bank robbed in ''Eddie Coyle.''[
]
Anne of Green Gables
William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...
's 1919 silent film ''Anne of Green Gables
''Anne of Green Gables'' is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery). Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, t ...
'' was filmed in Dedham. After the studio purchased the rights to the book, they sent a scout to New England to find a filming location. He declared Dedham to be the "quaint New England village" they were looking for, but choosing the Fairbanks House as the title home was an odd choice as it did not resemble the Nova Scotian farmhouse that served as the inspiration.
It was the favorite role of star Mary Miles Minter
Mary Miles Minter (born Juliet Reilly; April 25, 1902Louisiana Birth Certificate, Caddo Parish, No. 119, Book A, Page 97, Birth Date: April 25, 1902, Name: Mary M. Reilly ic – Original Caddo birth record was recorded as "J.H. Riley's Child" ...
, who starred as Anne Shirley. It was while in Dedham that Minter fell in love with Taylor, who was 30 years older than she was. Taylor and the film crew arrived in Dedham in July and filmed at First Church and Parish in Dedham
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
, St. Paul's Church, the Endicott School, the lawn of the Endicott Estate
The Endicott Estate is a mansion built in the early twentieth century, located at 656 East Street in Dedham, Massachusetts “situated on a 15-acre panorama of lush green lawn that is punctuated by stately elm, spruce and weeping willow trees.” ...
, the Charles River
The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...
, the Captain Onion House, and the Dedham Woods. They also filmed in Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...
.
In addition to local landmarks, there were 75 locals who were cast as extras, and James Burke's Jersey cow and Arthur Benson's "prize porkers" were also shown. The film also starred Paul Kelly.
A picnic was held at the Fairbanks House for the film crew after production finally ended in August, having been delayed by an unusually rainy summer. Minter spoke at the Fairbanks family reunion where she was presented with a bouquet of American beauty roses. It was released on November 23, 1919. On December 1st, the film was shown for the first time in Memorial Hall
A memorial hall is a hall built to commemorate an individual or group; most commonly those who have died in war. Most are intended for public use and are sometimes described as ''utilitarian memorials''.
History of the Memorial Hall
In the aft ...
. There was a second showing later in the week and two more the following week.
It is considered to be a lost film
A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress.
Conditions
During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...
. After Taylor was murdered, and Minter and her mother were named suspects, the studio and many theater owners destroyed their copies of the films.[ None are known to have survived.
]
''The Friends of Eddie Coyle''
On October 17, 1972, The Friends of Eddie Coyle
''The Friends of Eddie Coyle'' is a 1973 American neo-noir crime film starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle and directed by Peter Yates. The screenplay by Paul Monash was adapted from the 1970 novel '' The Friends of Eddie Coyle'' by George ...
was shot at the Dedham Plaza, showing W.T. Grant's, Woolworth's, Barbo's Furniture, Liggett's Drugstore, Capitol Supermarket, Friendly's, and Plaza Liquors. A few weeks later, on December 1st, the crew shot the film's opening scene in Dedham Square. The South Shore Bank was the used as the bank robbed in the film. Local businesses including Geishecker's, P.J.'s Pastry Shop, McLellan's, and Gilbert's Package Store can be seen as the movie's bank manager drives through the Square. Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
signed autographs for fans in between takes.
Technology and modernization
East Dedham urban renewal project
In 1965, Town Meeting voted to declare East Dedham Square "blighted" and undertake an urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
project.[ The measured passed by a single vote more than was needed to reach the two-thirds majority required.][ The project was scaled back from 26 to 14 acres, but nine residential properties were taken, forcing the relocation of 42 families.][
Much of East Dedham Square was raised. In the 1920s, the neighborhood was home to a haberdashery, an undertaker, stables, a grocery story, a bakery, a pharmacy, a dentist, and more. After the project, a ]strip mall
A strip mall, strip center or strip plaza is a type of shopping center common in North America where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front. ...
, public housing, a parking lot, and condo development took their place.
Telephone history and changes
The first transatlantic direct dial telephone call was made by Sally Reed in Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...
, to her penpal, Ann Morsley, in Dedham, Essex
Dedham is a village within the borough of Colchester in northeast Essex, England, on the River Stour and the border of Essex and Suffolk. The nearest town to Dedham is the small market town of Manningtree.
Governance
Dedham is part of the ele ...
, in 1957.[ It was witnessed by Reed's teacher, Grace Hine, Dedham's former chief telephone operator of 39 years, Margaret Dooley, Selectman Arthur Lee, and several representatives of ]New England Telephone and Telegraph Company
The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company was a very early, short lived company set up to develop the then-new telephone. It should not be confused with the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company that was formed a year later and was one ...
.[ The call took place at the ]Dedham Historical Society
The Dedham Museum and Archive (formerly known as the Dedham Historical Society and Museum and the Dedham Historical Society), is an historical society dedicated to preserve and establish a greater sense of appreciation for the history of Dedham, ...
and was placed by the president-emeritus of the Society, Dr. Arthur Worthington.[
The call was made possible by the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company’s new telephone exchange building at 387 Washington Street.][ Construction had begun on the building in July of 1954 when the previous wooden structure, the 88-year-old J. Everett Smith Market building, was demolished.][ It was not until late in 1955 when construction on the new building began.][ The cornerstone was laid on April 4, 1956, with a time capsule placed inside.][ At the cornerstone laying ceremony were several selectmen, telephone company officials, the town’s postmaster, police chief Walter Carroll, and State Representative Francis Harding.][ Father William Kennedy of St. Mary’s Church delivered an invocation and Reverend Leland Maxfield of the Westwood Baptist Church offered a benediction.][
The new facility enabled Dedham residents, starting at 2:01 am on Sunday, December 1, 1957, to make direct dial calls. Previously, residents asked an operator at a building on Church Street next to the Dedham Public Library to connect lines using the exchange DEdham 3.][ The new direct dial exchanges were either DAvis 6 or DAvis 9.][ The telephone company ran ads in the Dedham Transcript to alert customers to the change, and the Avery School PTO hosted a workshop to help explain the new system.][ While the new systems enabled residents to obtain new phones in colors other than black, it also resulted in the layoffs of 176 operators who worked in the Church Street facility.][
, the building is mainly a switching center for Verizon FIOS internet, telephone, and television subscribers.][
]
Automobiles
Around 1900, Dr. Harry K. Shatswell of School Street built and drove a "steam powered horseless carriage" through the streets of town.[ This was two years after the first automobile went on sale in the United States. That same year, Theodore Burgess purchased three French automobiles for himself and his wife, who is thought to be the first woman to drive in Massachusetts.][ In 1903, there were 11 cars registered in Dedham.][
]William Kissam Vanderbilt
William Kissam "Willie" Vanderbilt I (December 12, 1849 – July 22, 1920) was an American heir, businessman, philanthropist and horsebreeder. Born into the Vanderbilt family, he managed his family's railroad investments.
Early life
William Kiss ...
was pulled over by Dedham Police Department officers Smith, Hatch, and Crocker in August 1906. He was accused of "scorching" through town at a speed of 30 miles per hour. Vanderbilt was driving from Boston to his family vacation home, The Breakers
The Breakers is a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, US. It was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.
The 70-room mans ...
, in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
. He claimed he was warned of the speed trap
Speed limits are enforced on most public roadways by authorities, with the purpose to improve driver compliance with speed limits. Methods used include roadside speed traps set up and operated by the police and automated roadside 'speed camera' ...
in West Roxbury
West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to the ...
and thus was only doing 12 miles per hour as he drove through town with his wife and a mechanic. His brother had been pulled over for speeding on the same stretch of road just one week earlier. Vanderbilt said he was going to fight the ticket, and crowds gathered outside the courthouse the following week in hopes of seeing the tycoon and racecar driver. They were disappointed, however, when he attorney arrived instead to pay the $15 fine.
Holidays
Independence Day
Wagon burnings
Beginning in the early 1900s and continuing until the 1990s, bonfires would be held first in Oakdale Square and then in the Manor to celebrate the 4th of July
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music)
In music a fourth is an interval spanning four staff po ...
. It would usually begin at midnight, either on July 3 or July 4th, when a young person would climb onto the roof of the Church of the Good Shepherd and ring the bell. This would signal others to bring old farm carts they had stolen into Oakdale Square and light them ablaze.
In the early days, through the 1930s, police and fire officials were on hand to keep order and maintain safety. As farm carts became scarcer as Dedham and surrounding areas became more developed and less agriculutral, people would begin building their own carts for the express purpose of burning them. Other times, carts would be stolen from other area communities that still had a large farm presence such as Medfield or Sharon. They would be hidden in backyards and garages until it was time to bring them to the fire.
In 1938, when no carts could be found, an old outhouse was used instead. A cart had been stolen fron Canton, but police stopped the boys who were transporting it.
The fires would often grow so large and so intense that windows in the Square would crack and tar would melt. By 1959, the fires had grown so intense that the Town adopted a by-law, perhaps one of a kind, to outlaw the practice:
“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 last fire in Oakdale Square took place in 1963. When police and the fire department arrived to shut it down, they were pelted with rocks, cherry bombs, and full cans of beer from the thousands of people there. When the fire department attempted to douse the flames, a reveler jumped into the firetruck and turned off the ignition. He was arrested.
This proved to be too much for Police Chief Walter Carroll and Fire Chief John Hartnett, and they vowed to end the tradition. July 4, 1964 was rainy, which get the crowds at home, and the police shut down Oakdale Square on the evenings of July 3 and July 4, 1965.
Several years later, the tradition was revived in the Manor but, after an explosion and an intense fire melted the siding on a nearby house in 1990, the tradition was finally ended. In that year, propane-soaked wood in a camper trailer exploded, leading to destruction. A block party was held in MacDonald Square and attended by hundreds of people, preventing a fire from taking place. Smaller attempts were made in the following years, but the tradition died after that.
Antiques and Horribles parade
As time went on, the Antiques and Horribles parade became less of a lampoon of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts' parade and more of a general costume parade. Those who marched in the parade and the floats they rode on came to be satarical, poking fun at current events and public figures. The 1907 parade included Siamese twins
Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence ...
, the Wild Man of Borneo, a bearded lady
A bearded lady (or bearded woman) is a female with a naturally occurring beard normally due to the condition known as hirsutism or hypertrichosis. Hypertrichosis causes people of either sex to develop excess hair over their entire body (including ...
, a bicycle navy, and a "nondescript what is it--man or woman--a nickle a guess." The ''Dedham Transcript'' said that parade "gave the jokesmiths a grand opportunity to wok off superflous wit."
During World War II, marchers dressed up as Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
were booed during the 1942 parade. The tradition continued until the 1950s, when it became a more traditional parade with bands and others, including Rex Trailer
Rex Trailer (September 16, 1928 – January 9, 2013) was a Boston-based regional television personality, broadcast pioneer, cowboy and Country and Western recording artist. He is best known as the host of the children's television show ''Boo ...
.
Safe and Sane 4th Campaign
During the early years of the century, the Playground Association of America encouraged people to celebrate Independence Day safely, without fireworks or other rowdy behavior. In 1908, the Dedham Transcript ran a list of things not to do on the 4th that was a mixture of both real and tounge in cheek, including:
*Don't encourage small boys to fire large canons.
*Don't throw firecrackers at passing bicyclists.
*Don't aim a sky rocket at an upstairs window.
*Don't put firecrackers on the steps of a church.
*Don't put firecrackers under old ladies' dresses.
Flag Day
In 1967, the Flag Day Parade began and quickly became one of Dedham's most beloved traditions.[ The parade has occasionally rejected controversial floats. In 1975, the Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously refused to allow an anti-busing float during the nearby ]Boston desegregation busing crisis
The desegregation of Boston public schools (1974–1988) was a period in which the Boston Public Schools were under court control to desegregate through a system of busing students. The call for desegregation and the first years of its implemen ...
.[ In 1971, after Arthur "Mr. Wake Up America" Stivaletta claimed to be a co-sponsor of the parade, Recreation Director James E. Dunderdale publicly clarified that the Parks and Recreation Department was the only sponsor.][
]
Fires
1923 dry meadows fire
Starting around 1908, the bogs around the Charles and Neponset Rivers were declared to be "pest holes" and drained. During a drought in the summer of 1923, the now dry meadows caught fire and burned for weeks. Fires burned in Rodman's Woods off of Westfield Street and Job's Island as well as in Broad Meadow in Needham and Purgatory Swamp in Canton.
Smoke was so thick that car crashes were common and a driving ban was instituted in Dedham Square. Streetcars in the area had to be guided by men holding ropes and carrying lanterns. Members of the Department of Public Works and civilians joined the fire department, which only numbered eight men, to try and put out the flames through September and into October.
The fires became an attraction of sorts, with spectators coming to watch frogs, chipmunks, and screeching birds trying to escape the flames. The fire was not extinguished until it rained on October 15. After two months of fire, the stream produced by the rain was as thick as the smoke--which had drifted as far north as Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
at times.
Log Cafe fire
Shortly after 2 a.m. on October 19, 1940, a fire at the Log Cafe on Bridge Street was called in.[ The fire destroyed the Cafe and Breed's boathouse.][ Chief Henry J. Harrigan entered one of the buildings to inspect the progress of the fire when the floor beneath him gave way, causing him to fall 15 feet, stunning him and causing him to become overcome by smoke and heat.][ Fireman Joseph C. Nagle, "despite the blinding smoke and flames, rushed into the building and carried Chief Harrigan outside," suffering burns and smoke inhalation in the process.][
Nagle was brought to the Dedham Emergency Hospital, and a firefighter worked on Harrigan with a pulmanator before he was taken to the Faulkner Hospital by several police officers in an ambulance.][ Harrigan, a 47-year veteran of the force, died slightly after 4 a.m., leaving behind a wife and four daughters.][ A plaque was unveiled in his honor outside the main firehouse on the 75th anniversary of his death, and both Harrigan and Nagle were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.][ Harrigan's funeral at St. Mary's Church was attended by 1,500 people, including chiefs from 100 cities and towns.][
]
Rockland Street
In 1994, a difficult fire broke out on Rockland Street. A woman was trapped inside, and was rescued by members of Engine Company 3. The Henry J. Harrigan Medal of Honor was established to honor the members of Engine Company Three for their bravery.[
]
Wars
World War I
During World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, 642 men from Dedham served, and 18 died.[ The first to enlist was Henry W. Farnsworth who fought with the French Foreign Legion and was killed in action at Tahure, France, in October 1915.][ Robert Bayard also died early in the war. His name is memorlized on a boulder at the Riverdale School, along with two other soldiers from Pine Heights, Charles Clough and Stanley Luke.
Of the 60 soldiers who voluntarily were inoculated with the germs that caused ]trench fever
Trench fever (also known as "five-day fever", "quintan fever" ( la, febris quintana), and "urban trench fever") is a moderately serious disease transmitted by body lice. It infected armies in Flanders, France, Poland, Galicia, Italy, Salonika, Ma ...
, two, Joseph Fiola and Norman G. Barrett, were from Dedham.[
To honor those who served and died in the war, the Town set aside 23 acres of marshland at the corner of East Street and Eastern Avenue and created Memorial Park. Across the street, a memorial was erected at the corner of East Street and Whiting Ave.][ When it was dedicated on May 17, 1931, the pastor of St. Mary's Church, Fr. George P. O'Connor, noticed that the Latin inscription at the top, ''Pax Victus'', translated to "peace to the vanquished" instead of "to the victors."
In 1936, the monument needed repairs and the commander of the American Legion looked into the matter further. He brought up the issue at Town Meeting, and newspapers around the country started running stories about how Dedham had mistakenly erected a monument to the enemies the Americans had defeated. A sum of $400 was appropriated to change the inscription to ''Pax Victoribus'' or "Peace to the Victors," but it was eventually changed to simply ''Pax.''
]
World War II
Many Dedhamites served in the armed forces during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. One, John Hayes, was a pilot who earned a Bronze Star
The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone.
Wh ...
and a Distinguished Flying Cross. While stationed at Camp McCauley
Camp may refer to:
Outdoor accommodation and recreation
* Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site
* a temporary settlement for nomads
* Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...
in Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
in 1954, he began taking children suffering from whooping cough
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or ...
on flights. The high altitude helped to alleviate some of their pain and discomfort. He made over 100 flights with sick children and became known as the "Whooping Cough Captain." After he died in 1954 when his single engine plane crashed, a nine foot granite oblisk was erected by local officials near the airfield in tribute to him.
Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, a group of friends known as the Dedham Seven served in the war.[ Two of them did not return home.][ Private First Class Neil Thalin was killed in action and Robert Todd was missing in action.][ The remaining members have all committed to being cremated and having their ashes interred on Veteran's Hill at Brookdale Cemetery.][ Others from Dedham who were killed include ]John Barnes
John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. He currently works as an author, commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially a quick, skilful left winger, he moved to cent ...
, Bernard Dutton, Angelo Larraga, Frank Litchfield, and Robert Todd.[
During Barnes' second tour in Vietnam, his unit came under attack during the ]Battle of Dak To
The battle of Dak To ( vi, Chiến dịch Đắk Tô - Tân Cảnh) in Vietnam was a series of major engagements of the Vietnam War that took place between 3 and 23 November 1967, in Kon Tum Province, in the Central Highlands of the Republic o ...
. Barnes was killed when he jumped on a grenade to save the lives of wounded comrades. For "conspicuous gallantry" that was "above and beyond the call of duty", Barnes posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. Th ...
.
New towns and subdivisions
With the division and subdivision of so many communities, Dedham has been called the "Mother of Towns."[
]
New neighborhoods
By 1910 the area on the opposite side of the Charles River began to be developed. It was once known as Dedham Island or Cow Island, as the Long Ditch connected the river in two spots and bypassed the 'great bend.' Today, the neighborhood is known as Riverdale.
After his father's death in 1898, Ebenezer Talbot Paul inherited a vast tract of land that stretched from what is today known as Oakdale, Greenlodge, Endicott, and the Manor, as well as the family home at 390 Cedar St.[ In the 1920s, he began subdividing the land into house lots] and named the streets after members of his family.[ Paul Street was named for him, while Taylor Ave was named for his wife, Mariette Taylor.][ Dresser Ave was named for his mother, Susan Dresser, and Crane Street for his grandmother, Martha Crane.][ He proposed calling the new neighborhood Ashcroft Woods.]
Some of the proposed streets were never built, and a proposed intersection of Beech Street with Turner Street never materialized, likely due to a large rock in what was once known as Ogden's Woods. It was proposed that the name Mt. Vernon Street be continued on the other side of the Boston and Providence Railroad
The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the Rail transport in the United States, first rail ...
, but it was named Kimball Road instead. Paul died in 1930, but most of the homes were not built until the 1950s.
The Sprague farm by the Neponset River became known as the Manor and, in the last major development of town, the Smith Farm became the neighborhood of Greenlodge. Greenlodge became known in its early days as the Peanut Butter Valley as it was said that after paying for their expensive new homes that residents could only afford to eat peanut butter sandwiches.
Other
1900s
In 1900, a talented young lawyer from Boston bought a home with his new wife at 194 Village Avenue. Sixteen years later Louis D. Brandeis rode the train home from his office and his wife greeted him as "Mr. Justice." While he was at work that day his appointment to the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
had been confirmed that day by the United States Senate. Brandeis was a member of the Dedham Country and Polo Club and the Dedham Historical Society
The Dedham Museum and Archive (formerly known as the Dedham Historical Society and Museum and the Dedham Historical Society), is an historical society dedicated to preserve and establish a greater sense of appreciation for the history of Dedham, ...
as well as a member of the Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves
The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves is one of the "oldest continually existing horse thief apprehending organization in the United States, and one of Dedham's most venerable social organizations." Since its founding there have be ...
. He wrote to his brother of the town saying: "Dedham is a spring of eternal youth for me. I feel newly made and ready to deny the existence of these grey hairs."
Anna Huntington Smith moved to Dedham and established the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery and animal sanctuary. The facility was to be a place where the working horses of Boston could rest or, if needed, be euthanized. Smith built an electrified stall on the property, which she called "the House of the Blessed Release," that would kill the horse whenever it happened to wander into it. If a horse could be saved, it was given a few weeks of rest and then returned to its owner along with a warning to take better care of the animal. As motors took the place of horses, the facility eventually changed its focus to cats and dogs instead.
1910s
In 1919, the Dedham Fire Department switched from horse-drawn apparatus to motorized trucks.
1920s
In 1920 a man's skeleton was found hanging from a tree in the woods near Wigwam Pond. Another was unearthed on the eastern shore of the Pond in 1923 when workers were digging a foundation for a house.
In 1921, the local American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
post moved into the home at the corner of East Street and Whiting Avenue originally built by Charles and Mary Shaw.[ They purchased the house with a $35,000 donation from Henry B. Endicott.
In 1927, a stone bench and memorial plaque were installed at " the keye," the site where the first settlers disembarked from their canoes on the Charles River, where the river makes its "great bend," near what is today Ames Street. It was designed by Charles E. Millis.][
]
1930s
During the 1936 tercentenary celebrations, Olympians Ellison "Tarzan" Brown and Johnny Kelley
John Adelbert Kelley (September 6, 1907 – October 6, 2004) was an American long-distance runner who twice represented his native country at the Summer Olympics, in 1936 and 1948, and competed in the Boston Marathon over 50 times, winning in 19 ...
ran in a "mug hunt."[ The roughly 9.5 mile race was the third annual, and was sponsored by the Oakdale Athletic Club and organized by Harold Rosen.][ The start was in Oakdale Square and the finish was at Stone Park.][
]
1940s
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, there were 2,400 men and women who served in every branch of the armed forces.[ On them, 55 were killed in action.][
]
1950s
In 1956, the American Legion moved from the Shaw House to 155 Eastern Avenue. The Dedham Public Schools
The Dedham Public School System (Dedham Public Schools) is a PK– 12 graded school district in Dedham, Massachusetts. It is the oldest public school system in the United States.
History
On January 2, 1643, the Town Meeting set aside land for ...
then used the house as their administrative offices.[
In 1957, Joseph Demling, a resident of Macomber Terrace, walked into Town Hall with the carcass of the 35 pound bobcat. He asked for a $20 bounty on the animal, citing a by-law passed by the Town Meeting in 1734. The Town originally balked, suggesting that the animal came from Needham, but eventually paid Demling the money he requested.
]
1960s
In July 1961, Connie Hines
Connie Hines (March 24, 1931 – December 18, 2009) was an American actress best known for playing Alan Young's wife, Carol Post, on the 1960s sitcom ''Mister Ed''.
Biography
Hines was one of four children born in Dedham in Norfolk Coun ...
returned with great fanfare to Dedham after apearing on Mr. Ed
''Mister Ed'' is an American television sitcom produced by Filmways that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which orig ...
. The 1948 Dedham High School
Dedham High School is a public high school in Dedham, Massachusetts, United States, and a part of the Dedham Public Schools district. The school was founded in 1851 by the oldest public school system in the country. It earned a silver medal from '' ...
graduate rode into Dedham Square in a convertable with a Dedham Police Department escort. The red carpet was rolled out for her in front of Memorial Hall
A memorial hall is a hall built to commemorate an individual or group; most commonly those who have died in war. Most are intended for public use and are sometimes described as ''utilitarian memorials''.
History of the Memorial Hall
In the aft ...
. Town officials gave her a Key to the Town and Ralph Eaton, her principal at Dedham High School, presented her with a boquet of roses. She later hosted a reception of Hotel 128 for her high school classmates.
After an executive order signed by President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
in 1961 allowed federal employees to unionize, the Federal Employees Veterans Association met in an emergency convention in Dedham. They voted to reorganize themselves into the National Association of Government Employees
The National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) is a registered labor union with the United States Department of Labor representing approximately 43,000 members in the United States of America. NAGE represents a variety of workers includi ...
, today a large and powerful public union.
David Stanley Jacubanis
David Stanley Jacubanis, surname sometimes spelled Jacobanis (July 8, 1910 – June 23, 1985), was a Russian Americans, Russian-American criminal and former member of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, FBI's Ten Most Wanted list as he was pla ...
robbed a bank in Dedham the following year, after he was paroled in Vermont. He was, for a time, on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 10 Most Wanted List.
Population
The population of Dedham has grown more than 10 times since 1793, reaching its peak around the year 1980.
Notes
References
Works cited
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{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1900-1999
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20th century in Massachusetts