Recently I purchased a small collection of Stereoscopic images of Stoughton. These were taken around 1874 and were produced by a photographer named O.E. Bradford of Randolph, Mass.  These views were used with at stereopticon viewer to produce a three dimensional view to the eyes. Take a look of the views of Stoughton 137 years ago, and see if you recognize some of the spots today. Landmarks captured include: The Methodist Church in Stoughton on Pleasant Street The 1808 edifice of the Universalist Church on the corner of Washington and Pleasant Streets Morton Square in Stoughton Wyman Street …

Stoughton suffered with fallen trees, down telephone poles and wires, damaged roofs and broken windows. Does this sound like Hurricane Irene which made its way through town in August?  Actually, I am referring to a hurricane 73-years ago which took place in Stoughton on Sept. 21, 1938.  The Hurricane of 1938 left six injured in Stoughton and many with damage to businesses and residential property.  The hurricane struck Stoughton around 5:15 p.m. and continued on for near two and half hours. The entire town of Stoughton was without electrical power for a period of several hours.  For quite …

The first home of the Stoughton Public Library was in Morton's Square (1874). The building is still standing today, and is located near the train station. It's currently used as a residential apartment. The library then moved to a building near the old First Congregational Church, which was located near where the VFW Hall on Washington St. is today. From 1881 until 1904, the library was actually housed in the Town Hall, before moving again to the Lucius Clapp Building on the corner of Park St. and Pleasant St. in 1904. The Library remained in the Clapp building until 1969 when the current …

I have the honor of being the Tribal Historian for the Massachusetts Punkapoag Indians, and every so often I stumble upon a new historical fact of interest.  This time it was a fragment of a newspaper article that appeared in the Boston Traveller on November 21, 1928, a copy of which can be found at the Stoughton Historical Society.  The lady in the photo was familiar to me (Jeanette Rose Beauty Bancroft [Burrell] Crowd), and I knew her great-grand daughter.  But like the story of the Punkapoag Indians most do not realize there are living descendants of the tribe.  Many of the local Indians …

Many churches in Stoughton were the subject of penny postcards once sold in town. The following gallery gives you a highlight of many structures no longer standing in our town. Included in the gallery: The First Parish Universalist Church, which stood where the current structure does today. The original building was dedicated June 2, 1808 and sadly burned down 45 years ago on June 29, 1966.   The First Congregational Church, which stood north of the VFW Hall on Washington Street. The Congregational Church was dedicated January 28, 1852 for a cost of $12,000. It was another historic structure …

It was 39 years ago on May 11, 1972 when the likes of Bobby Orr caused the screams of Stanley Cup success in the voices of Stoughton residents. For many of you this seems like only yesterday when this occurred, or perhaps you were not even born yet. This historian can honestly say he did not remember it, as he was a little shy of a month from his third birthday. No doubt it was way past my bedtime! I thought it might be interesting to take a glance at the Stoughton news, events and prices at Roxie’s back on that day in 1972, the last time the Bruins won the Stanley Cup prior to Wednesday …

As a Stoughton historian I now feel more connected to the past realizing that my graduation from Stoughton High School in 1987 is nearly a quarter century ago.  The years do go by fast, and my own daughter, Brenda Lambert, will be graduating from SHS in the class of 2014. This past week was the graduation of the Class of '11. This was not the first Class from SHS to bear the '11 year for its graduation.  I thought you might enjoy a little glimpse of the SHS Classes that graduated in 1886, 1911, 1936, 1961 and 1986. These are the classes that graduated 125, 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago, …

For the Memorial Day holiday I thought I would share the locations of all the historic cemeteries in the town of Stoughton.  Since I was a child I have wandered around the historic cemeteries of our town.  I have transcribed every pre-1900 gravestone in Stoughton, and the gravestones in Sharon, Canton and Avon, when they too were part of our town.  In my book A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries (Boston, NEHGS, 2009), I identified the location, alias names and ages of all cemeteries in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  If you are a Stoughton resident who does not have a family member buried …

In the Pearl Street Cemetery in Stoughton lies the remains of many veterans from the American Revolutionary War, including the remains of this town's last surviving veteran from America's war for independence - James Capen. Capen died in Stoughton on February 24, 1853, at the age of 96.   James Capen was born in Stoughton on December 13, 1756, and was the eldest son of Edward Capen (d. 1819) and was descended from the immigrant Bernard Capen who died April 4, 1692 in Dorchester.  James lived on Pleasant Street, however his house did not survive into the 20th century. Capen became a Stoughton …

The following postcard images and photos from my personal collection highlight some of the early pictures taken of Stoughton's current Town Hall. The Town Hall was officially dedicated in November of 1881. It cost only $50,621.62 to construct, which was actually a little more than $10,000 over budget. Most of these images are from the early 1900s. In the early years, the post office, police and fire headquarters and public library were all housed in Town Hall.

On April 15, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln died after being shot by actor John Wilkes Booth.  It's a historical fact that even the slightest history buff would know.  But what you may not know is that a Stoughton man had a part in that drama.  Currently in theaters is the movie “The Conspirator.” This film by director Robert Redford deals with the life of Mary Surratt, one of the accused Lincoln conspirators. Other accused conspirators include a Doctor by the name of Samuel Mudd.  After he shot the President, Booth jumped from the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre, and he landed on the …

The following postcard images from my personal collection highlight some of the early penny postcards of Stoughton's beloved Railroad Station.  This structure was completed in 1888 and constructed from local quarried granite from the Myron Gilbert quarries off West Street. The station was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. As a point of comparison, take a look at the last three pictures in this gallery to see what the Station presently looks like.

This month marks the Sesquicentennial (150th) Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War when Fort Sumter was fired upon in April 1861.  Commander Charles A. Miles (age 94) was Stoughton's last veteran of the Civil War when he died at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Chelsea, Mass on December 18, 1940, less than a year before the United States was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor to touch off World War II.  Charles was born in Royalston, Massachusetts, April 13, 1846, the son of Noah and Sophia (Nickerson) Miles. He entered the United States service in Boston, Massachusetts April 1, 1865…

If you have a memory of the old theatre in Stoughton center you may recall when movies were still a dollar in recent years. An average movie locally will cost you almost ten times that amount now. But some may not consider that a bargain. Some readers might even remember back when a movie at the Stoughton State Theatre offered a full length movie, a serial (a movie done in chapters), a cartoon and a newsreel for nickel.  Times were far different then, and a nickel went a long way!  For you younger readers a newsreel was the way of getting national and international news aside from the radio …

James Lehan was born in Stoughton on November 3, 1868 just three years after the end of the Civil War. His parents were both immigrants born in Ireland. Lehan would become one of the most well known Stoughton businessmen for over a half century. He was just twenty-three years old in 1892 when he started a shop for selling bicycles in Stoughton.  Besides bicycles people could purchase phonographs, records, sewing machines and even fireworks right in downtown Stoughton.  In 1900 he moved his shop from Freeman Street to Washington Street.  If you notice above the current Army Navy Store in …

Here are some penny postcards from my personal collection.  These views show Glen Echo in the past, and give a glimpse of the rich history that this location in Stoughton still has to offer a century later. There is a proposed Town Meeting article (article 55) to borrow $2,050,000 to purchase 97 acres of land known as the Glen Echo property. It is proposed that the majority of the purchased land would be under the care of Stoughton's Conservation Commission for "passive recreation purposes" (like nature walks), while about six acres would be under the control of the Board of Selectmen for "…

Twenty-five years ago while a junior at Stoughton High School, I was amazed to find out that a member of the 1919 Washington Senators was living in my hometown.  Eddie Gill lived with his daughter and her family on Federico Circle since the early 1970’s.   It turned out his grandson Teddy Mulhaney was able to setup an interview with him for me. So, on a rainy afternoon in 1986 I sat in Mr. Gill’s living room in the basement apartment of his home. Eddie Gill was born in Somerville, Massachusetts August 7, 1895.  He would go on to graduate from Holy Cross Class of 1917, and was a teammate of …

News items from Stoughton Chronicle and News Sentinel on February 9, 1961: Local News about town: Local Highway and Fire Departments Busy in Latest Storm. The town like all in the area spent Sunday digging out from the worst snowstorm in years.  Church services were cancelled at the First Parish Universalist and Faith Baptist; Trinity Episcopal held one service; Methodist, both services; Immaculate Conception cancelled four masses at St. Mary’s Chapel and two at St. James, North Stoughton due to lack of parking facilities and with no place to put the snow from the church parking lot.  Extra …

News items from Stoughton Chronicle and News Sentinel on February 2, 1961: Local News about town: New England Furniture Company now Celebrating 50 years in Business.  Stoughton’s oldest furniture store, New England Furniture Co., located at 3 Morton Street, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in business this week.  It was just 50 years ago today that Alec Donovitz, known as “Allee” to his hundreds of friends, moved to Stoughton with his family from Whitman, to establish this popular furniture store.  The first location was on Wyman Street, present site of Wyman Jewelers.  After two years, …

News items from Stoughton Chronicle and News Sentinel on January 26, 1961: Local News about town Chief McGarvey Issues Annual Police Report for the year 1960.  Chief of Police Peter J. McGarvey, in his annual report, said that in 1960 there were 494 offences prosecuted in the courts.  This is a decrease of 117 offenses as compared to 1959.  Of the total, 341 were for violations of the motor vehicle laws.  There were 541 court appearances made by members of the department in prosecution of cases. Twenty-three juveniles were brought before the courts charges with 47 offenses, a decrease of 27 …