Articles from the Portal
The Medfield Historical Society publishes a monthly newsletter, The Portal, containing articles about our events, our collections, and people and places of the distant and not-so-distant past. Below are selected articles from past newsletters. Looking for a specific topic? Use the search function below to search by subject, author or date. Click to sign up for our free monthly newsletter, The Portal.
Jan 26, 2019 What could be more beautiful than a sunrise? A majestic favorite tree, perhaps, reaching skyward? To some, the branches reaching upward seem like tendrils, delicate and intricate extensions of the plant stretching upward to the universe. A few trees have been mythologized as being earthly treasures.One of these
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Oct 3, 2018 Our town of Medfield in early 1951 celebrated a special time when many people started shopping for their first black and white televisions, just becoming popular in American homes. A family could all sit together after supper and watch the news or the popular shows at that time:
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Oct 3, 2018 (Editor’s note: The text and photos were the historical society’s lead exhibit at Medfield Day. There have been many books written with titles like Lost New York, Lost Chicago, Lost San Francisco; this is the first article entitled Lost Medfield.)Akkompoin, later known as the Manor Inn, was the
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Aug 30, 2018 John Frairy was one of the 13 settlers who left Dedham and founded Medfield in 1649. He was a cordwainer by trade, as well as a farmer. A cordwainer served a long apprenticeship and learned to make shoes from new leather, as distinct from a less skilled cobbler,
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Jul 20, 2018 I have been involved with the Dwight-Derby House since its inception. No, not in the 1600s, but rather when the Town of Medfield bought the house in 1996. I knew of the grassroots efforts to save the house from the wrecking ball and was very excited about the
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May 31, 2018 On June 17th we celebrate Father’s Day. For many men, we will one day become the striking image through our personal qualities of that very man who helped bring us into the world, even if there isn’t a strong physical resemblance. It might be the way fathers hold
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Apr 30, 2018 We all know that Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring the mother of our family, as well as motherhood, and maternal bonds of mothers in society. Mothers are the most important women ever to influence our lives. Everyone born into this world has a natural and immediate bond
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Mar 17, 2018 Editor’s note: Do YOU have stories and memories to share? Send us an email! Can you imagine a litter of kittens being born under a swirling and noisy washing machine? That’s what happened underneath the Kenmore washing machine in Mama Flaherty’s kitchen back in 1959. She could hear from
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Feb 8, 2018 The town of Medfield has undergone a tremendous change from its past. Medfield Day is a relatively recent development. In the early 1960s, the town was undergoing a different kind of celebration, something more attuned to a rite of passage.Boston in the 1960s had a changing population, as
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Oct 30, 2017 The Medfield Warriors were just coming off their second dramatic win over the Apponequet High School football team in Lakeville, Mass. in the November of 1961. Trailing at the half, Coach Ed Keyes entered the locker room and stood in the middle of us and spoke
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Aug 29, 2017 Main Street was the first street in Medfield, long before it was Route 109. It’s gone from being an unpaved pathway to a partially paved road with tracks (the street railway operated 1899-1924) to the one of the most heavily-traveled roads in Massachusetts, partially resurfaced this month.The first
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Jul 20, 2017 Today his name is best known as the official name of Medfield High School. Amos Clark Kingsbury was born in Medfield on October 13, 1897. He grew up on the family’s 75-acre farm on 145 Spring Street, across the street from the pond that gave him much
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