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.
Sep 1, 2025 Jazz music, flapper dresses and speakeasies marked “The Roaring Twenties,” and Medfield was no different than other small towns across the nation experiencing a variety of changes and challenges. While economic prosperity was enjoyed by many, social tensions around racial, religious and cultural differences became more prevalent. Prohibition
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Sep 1, 2025 In Medfield, we are in a period of significant anniversaries. We are coming up on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the 350th anniversary of the action at Medfield during King Philip’s War, and the 375th anniversary of Medfield’s incorporation.Digging further for anniversaries, we find that
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Sep 1, 2025 Recently we came across a flyer advertising a “Mock Court Trial Under the Auspices of Col. E. V. Mitchell Camp Sons of Veterans.” The top of the flyer asks, “Are the Hen Roosts of Medfield To Be Protected?” and promises that “all the facts of this remarkable case
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July 15, 2025 Imagine a local park with all these amenities: a pavilion, fountain and pool, separate lawns for picnicking and flowers, pergola, bowling green, multiple track facilities, plus tennis courts, and football and baseball fields. That is what “The New Athletic Field and Grange Park” on Pleasant Street would have
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July 15, 2024 A few months ago, Norma Vogel wrote an article entitled “Letter from Boston,” about Medfield’s Committee of Correspondence and its interactions with the Boston Committee. She noted that Moses Bullen (1731–1802) of Medfield was chosen to represent the town in the General Court in Salem (Tilden, p. 162).As
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July 15, 2025 By November 8,1864, Eben G. Babcock was a seasoned soldier, camped in the Shenandoah Valley. He had gotten into and out of a few scrapes; in a previous letter, missing from our collection but referred to in the next letter, he related that he had been caught sleeping
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Jun 1, 2025 In Part 1 of this story, I wrote that I was thrilled to be able to read, touch, and hold some of the letters of Civil War soldier Eben Granville Babcock III (1843-1917). As I begin Part 2, I wish to reiterate that this is meant as a
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Jun 1, 2025 My fond recollections of Joseph Marcionette, who always insisted being called Joe, go back to 1952 when I was just about 5 years of age. Joe and my grandmother, Marguerite lived up on Farm Street in Medfield very close to the town of Dover. He was actually my
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May 1, 2025 Over the last couple of years, Society volunteers had heard about a Dale Street School file jam-packed with interesting information. Despite searches through multiple filing cabinets, no one could find it. That changed a few weeks ago, when interim co-president Yumi Jones discovered it tucked inside an unrelated
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May 1, 2025 Recently, I was thrilled to view a collection of letters from a Civil War soldier, written in faded pencil on scraps of stained paper. That soldier was Medfield’s Eben Granville Babcock, writing to his mother Mary on Pleasant Street. The letters were generously donated to the Medfield Historical
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Patriots’ Day (Patriot’s Day in Maine) is a holiday commemorating the opening battles of the Revolutionary War, the battles of Lexington, Concord and Menotomy (now Arlington). In Massachusetts, the day is marked by battle reenactments, ceremonial events, and the beloved Boston Marathon.In 2025, Patriot’s Day occurs on April 21st for
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April 1, 2025 What’s a soda fountain? If you were to ask a member of Generation X, Y, or Z, you’d probably get a blank stare. But if you asked someone born in, say, the 1920s, 30s, or 40s, you’d probably hear, “That’s where the teens hang out, aspiring to be
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