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 6, 2022 Here’s some nostalgia for some of the great fads from the 1950s and 60s. Clothes, hairstyles, toys, and television shows all have their fifteen minutes of fame.One of the most memorable fads in Medfield had to be the hula hoop, first sold at Lord’s Department Store in
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Oct 1, 2021 The only times most of us think about water in Medfield is either (a) when its use is restricted or, occasionally, (b) when it looks or tastes funny coming out of the tap. The rest of the time, it’s just there – thank goodness.Medfield is part of both
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Oct 1, 2021 Depending on whether you are looking back or looking ahead, 50 years can seem like yesterday or an eternity. Monday evening, members of the Medfield Historical Society looked back to yesterday through the eyes of Daniels Hamant, a Medfield resident now a resident of Dover, and learned
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Sept 1, 2021 The Medfield Public Library at the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets has been a treasured presence in our town since 1917. How did it come to be? Who designed it? In memory of his wife and daughter, Granville Daley, part owner of Medfield’s hat factory, made a
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Sept 1, 2021 As work continues the Clark Tavern next to the Peak House, there’s a lot of public concern expressed in comments on Facebook. Below is a response I will post on Facebook. Clarification on the Clark TavernI’m David Temple, writing about the c.1740 Clark Tavern, next to the Peak
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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
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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
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May 1, 2021 Farmers from Dedham first settled Medfield in 1949, only 29 years after the Mayflower landed. The colony had grown rapidly through immigration and reproduction after 1630, and in William S. Tilden’s History of Medfield, the population was reported as 18,000 in 1643. The influx forced settlers to look
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May 1, 2021 Every Man a Hero is an engrossing new memoir by 98-year-old Ray Lambert, an Army medic who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day…before the fighting men got there!I have read many good books about World War II, but what makes Every Man a Hero unique for me
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April 1, 2021 Serendipity is a curious thing.While setting final plans to visit the Berkshires, I received an email telling me of “talk” on Facebook about one Israel Bissell, an American patriot who, like Paul Revere, was a post rider during the American Revolution, but performed a much more impressive, yet
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Mar 1, 2021 In these COVID-19 times, we often hear of food shortages. It’s especially troubling when the shortage involves children who haven’t been able to go to school, where in some cases they get their best meal of the day. Unfortunately, there’s nothing new about food shortages for the
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Feb 1, 2021 I’m excited to be writing my first article as a “newer” member of the community. My family and I moved to Medfield five years ago from Richmond, Virginia and have really enjoyed getting to experience all the wonderful things that make Medfield special – one of which is
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