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.
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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Jul 20, 2017 During the summers in the 1950s, many kids either walked or biked to Kingsbury’s Pond, only a mile from the center of town on Route 27. The beach at the pond was small – but so was the town – and the water was warm and inviting. The
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Apr 1, 2017 It is hard for me to get my head around this idea, but lifelong resident Richard DeSorgher — Mr. Medfield, Mr. Medfield History — and his wife Julie just announced they are selling their Lawrence Circle house and moving to Mashpee. The 25th Medfield History Day Trolley Tour
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Feb 27, 2017 They were the pioneers; the first of the Irish to enter into Medfield, break the prejudice and live the “American Dream.”James Griffin, born in Ireland, came to Medfield in 1840 at the age of 20 with his brother Michael. He found employment in the Balch Bakery, at the
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