April 1, 2023 Portal readers of a certain vintage will recall 20 or 30 years ago a delightful annual fall fundraiser called the “Emperor Onion Fair” at the venerable Unitarian Universalist church. It begs the question, what or who was the Emperor Onion? It was not a vegetable of the genus Allium. Charles “Emperor” Onion […]
Mar 1, 2023 Longtime Medfield resident Tom Connors sat as a judge in three Norfolk Country district courts and then moved up to spend over 16 years in the Dedham Superior Court. Dedham courthouse has been the site of many famous trials -and it will be the site of the trial of Brian Walshe, who
The Bizarre Jason Fairbanks Murder Case of 1801 Read More »
Jan 1, 2023 Longtime Medfield resident Tom Connors sat as a judge in three Norfolk Country district courts and then moved up to spend over 16 years in the Dedham Superior Court. At the November 7 meeting of the historical society, he spoke about little-known aspects of the evolution of our court system. Much of
The Curious, Convoluted Story of Norfolk County and Its Courts Read More »
Sept 1, 2022 If you Google “railroad enthusiasts” you get 39 million hits! Organizations for railroad enthusiasts, 8.6 million! Marc Pizzuto is one such enthusiast. He has a room full of railroad memorabilia in his Norwood home. He recently came to visit the Medfield Historical Society to conduct some research and share stories and pictures
When Trains, Not Automobiles, Ruled Read More »
Sept, 2022 This trophy awarded 100 years ago begs the question – what else happened in Medfield 100 years ago? 200 years ago? 300 years ago? 1722 Three hundred years ago, Medfield was a very different place than we see around us today, with acres of undeveloped land, free-flowing streams and rivers, paths that led
Medfield Happenings in ’22 Read More »
May 1, 2022 The National Register of Historic Places includes at least six structures designed by William Pitt Wentworth in the late 19th century, including, of course, what we know as Medfield State Hospital. Although there are thousands of photos of the hospital buildings, there appears to be no photo of Wentworth anywhere. What
Willliam Pitt Wentworth, Elusive Architect of the Former Medfield State Hospital Read More »
May 1, 2022 Listed on the National Register of Historic Places* in 1976, First Parish Church on North Street is of course a familiar Medfield landmark. It is the third building erected on the site by colonists who settled on what was the ancestral land of the Wampanoags. The first was put up
Common Practice in 1839; Seems Quaint in 2022 Read More »
Mar 1, 2022 Lowell Mason was Medfield’s most famous and accomplished native son, and it’s somehow fitting that his piano is the biggest artifact in the historical society’s collection. Lowell Mason (1792-1872) was born in Medfield. He is known as the father of public school music education in the United States, and he wrote upwards
The Largest Artifact in Our Collection — Lowell Mason’s Piano Read More »
July 24, 2021 As the Laurentide Ice Sheet gradually receded 15-30,000 years ago, in the American Midwest, the retreating glaciers easily ground up the soft limestone underneath, leaving the farmer-friendly soil of the Great Plains. But in New England, granite, rather than limestone, was underneath the ice sheets. So, when the ice melted, our forebear
Medfield Stone Walls — With a Surprise at the End Read More »
June 1, 2021 As the first town to break away from the Dedham grant, Medfield was founded in 1649 and incorporated in 1651 as the 43rd town in the then Massachusetts Bay Colony. Who were those first pioneers who moved westward into the wilderness to begin our town? A history of our town, state, and
The Plimptons of Medfield Read More »