People – Page 8 – Local History Collections

2009-06-19

School’s out!

Students on the steps of the old Kingston High School, May 6, 1892

The spring is sweet for many reasons, not least of which is the end of the school year. These Kingston High School students, posed on the steps of that august institute of learning, probably looked forward to three months off as much as their counterparts today.

The old high school stands no more; the site on Main Street is now occupied by the Kingston Police Department. Dedicated on May 10, 1867, KHS served generations of students until replaced in 1955 by the brand new Silver Lake Regional High School. The school-age population had long outgrown the old building, which according to one newspaper account “was inadequate and unsound…in a state of condemnation by the State building inspector.” The KHS building stood vacant until October 1962, when it was demolished.

2009-06-11

“The Public Bedammed”

Plymouth & Kingston trolley headed north to Cobb's Store, circa 1890 — Plymouth & Kingston trolley headed north to Cobb's Store, circa 1896

Kingston, Mass. Oct. 29th, 1896.

To the Selectmen –
Kingston, Mass.
Gentlemen: –

Is it not about time that some attention was given to the operation of the Plymouth & Kingston Street Railway and better accomodations demanded for the use of more than half the main highway in the town? The cars do not connect with the trains either one way or another and on the so-called local cars running between Cobb’s Store and Jabez Corner they demand two fares (ten cents) to ride the whole distance, about four miles, and give a check allowing you the privilege of waiting three quarters of an hour to take the next car for Kingston, which of course no one wants to do. If it does not pay to operate this end of the line let us have the rails removed and the street free for driving. It seems to me if a little severity is shown at first that the company will be more considerate in the future. I think their mottoes for our town are “Bleed the People” and “The Public Bedammed”.

[signed] Fred B. Cole

Source: Kingston Highway Department Papers, JRVHS Lantern Slides.

2009-06-04

Dog blog and dog exhibit!

The new exhibit is up, and to help celebrate the 4th Annual Library Pet Show, it’s all about the dogs of Kingston. See snapshots of Library staff members’ pooches! Marvel at the hounds and terriers of bygone days! Wonder at the family portrait with the dog front and center! Enjoy the dog days of summer!

Unidentified woman with several dogs, no date

2009-04-23

Mayflowers

“April showers bring Mayflowers,” especially lately with all the recent rain and particularly in Massachusetts, where these fragrant little blossoms are our state flower. Commonly called Mayflowers, trailing arbutus or less elegantly, the gravel plant, Epigaea repens can be found hiding under pine needles and poking through fallen leaves, blooming between March and May anywhere from Newfoundland west to Michigan and from Saskatchewan south to Kentucky. The plant lies low on the ground with rust-colored hairy stems and leathery green leaves.

: Mayflowers, no date

This image comes from a lantern slide and was likely taken by Emily Drew. For a color picture, look here.

The clusters of dainty, fragrant pink flowers make a delightful and memorable bouquet. In earlier days, when woods were more abundant and available to children, when traffic passed more slowly, especially on a “Sunday drive,” many a child added to her allowance by gathering Mayflowers and selling the bunches of them at the side of the road. They were also a popular item in the May-Basket one hung on Grandma’s door to surprise her.

Have you ever made a bouquet of them? These unidentified ladies in an undated Emily Drew cyanotype might have.

: Women with flowers, no date

2009-04-17

Water for Kingston

On April 12, 1886, workers broke ground for the construction of a reservoir as part of Kingston’s new municipal water system. Located just south of Russell Pond off Round Hill Road, the reservoir was used by the Water Department until 1996.

: Reservoir, circa 1923

In his paper “Problems of the Water Department” read before the Jones River Village Historical Society on February 8, 1930, C.B. Hudson reported that

the reservoir is about 47 feet in diameter and 30 feet deep and was originally built of brick but, after several years of service, serious leaks developed in the bottom and a new cement bottom was laid over the original brick, and in 1923 when it was desired to increase the capacity of the reservoir it was completely relined, sides an bottom with 12” of concrete reinforced with steel bars and the new wall was carried to a height of 12 feet above the ground level which increased its capacity to about 400,000 gallons.

Sometime before the 1923 renovation, Emily Drew photographed members of her family — her brother Clarence, his wife Charity and their children Norma and Bud — at the reservoir.

: Bud, Charity, Norma and Clarence Drew at the Reservoir, circa 1923

Sources: Vertical File: Water Department; PC14 Kingston Water Department Papers; Through Emily’s Eyes.

2009-04-04

Crash!

: Conductor at trolley accident, 1910

Here are two views of a trolley accident in Kingston from sometime in 1910.

The cars shown here belonged to the Plymouth & Brockton Street Railway Company, which was originally called the Plymouth & Kingston Street Railway. For more information on the company, which still runs buses in the region, visit the history page of their website.

: Spectators at trolley accident, 1910

2009-03-12

George E. Cushman’s delivery wagon

G.E. Cushman's delivery wagon and John White the horse, circa 1900 Even before the days of online ordering and overnight shipping, groceries and other necessities could appear at your door on demand, delivered perhaps by the horse-drawn wagons of Kingston merchant George E. Cushman. From 1864 when he began clerking in Azel Sampson’s dry goods store at 196 Main Street to 1919 when he retired from his own establishment across the street at 193 Main, Cushman sold groceries, flour, grain, candy, yard goods, drugs, boots and shoes. During much of that time, the store also housed the post office, with Cushman served as the assistant postmaster.

The wagon above sports a proud sailing vessel, homage to Kingston’s shipbuilding heritage, while the one below displays a peaceful rural road, testament to the town’s bucolic character. As one of a number of competing retailers in town, Cushman may have added a competitive edge with these elegantly decorated wagons.

G.E. Cushman's delivery wagon, Old Dan the horse and Ed Sherman, circa 1900

Sources: Photos from the Margaret Warnsman Collection; other information from House Histories, Vertical File: Businesses, and the Eleanor Loring Cole Collection.

2009-02-19

“Proficiency in Typewriting”

Here is a recent acquisition, a fragment of the past that made its way into the Local History Room. This wallet-sized certificate attests to the speed and accuracy of the typwriting skills of one Esther De Marzio. Who was she, we ask?

A 1927 Kingston High School graduate, Literary Editor and writer for The Quill, the KHS literary magazine, a teacher at Kingston Elementary School for 38 years and Principal there for 34, Miss De Marzio (or Di Marzio, as sometimes appears) moved to Kingston at the age of 10 and spent the next 80 years here. She volunteered in the Local History Room, served on the scholarship committee of the Council on Aging, read for the blind, traveled the world and enjoyed Gray’s Beach and her garden. Here she is sometime in the 1930s.

To find out more on Underwood typewriters (don’t laugh: the history of office equipment is fascinating!), click here or here.

Source: Kingston Reporter, “Florence DeMarzio, 90, school principal,” August, 17, 2000.

2009-02-09

New Exhibit – KINGSTONOPOLY!

The Local History Exhibit for February starts with the game of Kingstonopoly, a customized version of the classic board game Monopoly done for the PTO of Kingston Elementary School in 2000. Looking through the collections of the Local History Room, we find not only a pair of adorable wooden boxes fashioned after houses out on Wapping Road (buy a house), but letterhead from the Kingston Inn (build a hotel), stock certificates (collect $200), promissory notes (borrow from the banker), and foreclosure documents (don’t go bankrupt). Life imitates the game and our historical collections represent a slice of life.

Stop in and take a look!

Plymouth and Kingston Oil Company stock certificate, 1865

2008-12-172022-01-03

New Exhibit: Ichabod Washburn Benevolent Fund

Motto and seal from Washburn's autobiography, ca. 1870 — Motto and seal from Washburn’s autobiography, ca. 1870

The Ichabod Washburn Benevolent Fund was established over 130 years ago through a bequest to the Town of Kingston. Washburn, who was born and raised in Kingston, made his fortune as a wire manufacturer in Worcester but never forgot his hometown or the struggles of his mother, who raised her family alone after the death of her husband. In 1869, Washburn’s will left $10,000 to the Town for the creation of a fund from which interest would be distributed to “widows and maiden ladies of good character and reputation.” Original account books, receipts and other records of the Fund are now on display in the Local History Room exhibit case.