USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 39
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The marker is a simple native boulder about two feet across to which is affixed a bronze plate bearing the inscription cited above.
In late November of 1940, Jesse L. Livermore, the New York stock market plunger who had made and lost several fortunes, com- mitted suicide. Although not a resident of the town he was a frequent visitor since his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Livermore, lived on Nagog Hill Road as nearest neighbors to the Durkees. About 1908 they left the farm and went to a residence that Jesse had prepared for them at College Point, Long Island. The old couple, however, yearned for the soil of Acton and so, within a comparatively brief time a new house was erected for them on Central St. in South Acton. Here, provided with a car, and attended by a chauffer and his wife, they spent their latter years.
In 1941 Acton had the experience of losing by death one of its leading school officials while in active service. Over the years there had been one or two teachers in the elementary schools who had fallen by the wayside but in this case the town was bereft of its superinten- dent and high school principal simultaneously. On January 20th Mr. Walter Frothingham Hall deceased. He had come to Acton after a very successful career in Canton, Mass. He was a graduate of Har- vard and held advanced degrees in Arts and in Education from the same institution. He had in the five years of his sojourn in the town proved himself to be an educator of sensitivity, ability, and dignity, and a loyal and generous citizen.
Mr. Richard Greenman, likewise a Harvard product, who had been in the school system since 1935, was chosen to fill the vacancy.
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Nineteen hundred forty two was the first full year after the United States entered the second World War. Many problems arising out of the support of the conflict necessitated the reorganization of certain phases of the local governmental structure. The selectmen in their report for the year speak specifically of the excellent work of the Committee on Public Safety and of the Rationing Board, both of which were innovations. Although not directly due to the war, but obviously desirable under the circumstances, were the purchase of a new police cruiser with two way radio equipment and a new fire truck, which latter, had to wait for a time due to priorities.
Under the stimulus of doing new things through necessity the town acquired the laudable habit of attending to other matters long overdue. As a consequence in 1943 an adequate sum was set forth in the budget for the removal of garbage under the direction of the Board of Health. In 1944 flourescent lighting was installed in all the elementary school- rooms, a new roof was voted for the high school building, the town voted to have an annual audit of the various accounts, and the Centre and South fire houses were painted and put in order.
In the meantime several things of interest were taking place with respect to the High School. Under the will of Miss Charlotte Conant a fund was set up for the maintenance of a school library in 1944. To those who knew Miss Conant this bequest was characteristicly eloquent of her enduring interest in and loyalty to Acton and served to put a proper final period to the many ways in which she had served the town.
The school report of the era mentions a high school band, orchestra and glee club as functioning with success. In athletics both the boys' and the girls' teams in basketball entered the Waschusett Basketball League and performed with creditable success. In Middlesex County the Acton High School Agriculture Club has the longest record of continuous existence and the local 4-H town committee led in fund raising. Acton was cited as among the top communities for percentage of pupils participating in 4-H work and the town report congratulated the committee chairmen Mrs. Warren E. Hartwell and Mr. Edward Estabrook. In scholastic matters the Acton High School in 1944 was rated class A by the Massachusetts Department of Education and the certifying privilige was extended by the New England College Ad- missions Board.
On the sombre side of the picture we find in 1943 a page reserved in the school report in memory of Theodore Herman Ahrhardt, former principal of the West School, who was killed in action June 4th of that year in the Latin American area.
Earliest among the students of the high school to make the supreme sacrifice was Robert Lynne Townsend, son of Rev. Lynne Townsend
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of the Centre Congregational church, who was graduated in 1941 and died of wounds at Bouganville in November 1943. He was president of his junior class, president of the student council, and member of the football team and of the Torch staff.
In 1944 three former students gave their lives, namely, Robert Webber McAllister who attended the West School, Robert Everett Henry Thatcher, who was graduated from the High School in 1934, and David Lester Jenks, who was graduated in 1939, was president of his senior class and was active in dramatics and athletics. The year 1945 added the names of Francis J. Conroy, class of 1940; Ansel R. Smart, class of 1935, and Robert B. Taylor, class of 1938.
These grim reminders of the ravages of war serve to make clear what has happened to civic attitudes since World War I. These young men were just as brave and gave up just as much and suffered equally with those of the Indian wars or the Revolution. Since the dawn of the twentieth century, however, we as a people have become inured to almost constant conflict on a prodigious scale. We see thousands leave for far places, we see thousands return, and we hear with dulled minds of other thousands killed, without any of the acute sense of personal concern that agonized our forebears of a century ago. We live in a sort of perpetual fatalistic partial coma where we hope for a change for the better but really do not expect it. For this reason the fanfare of returning heroes is no longer attractive. Those that return merely accentuate the absence of those who were buried on foreign soil or lost at sea. A literal deluge of blood and tears for more than a generation has taught us that war is not glorious.
Out of these dismal facts grew in 1945 the War Records Committee, consisting of Ralph Marble, Herbert E. Leucher, Theron A. Lowden, Prentice W. Blood and Mrs. Marjorie J. Davis, whose duty it was to keep an authentic record of all the men and women in service in the war. A year later the committee was renamed the War Record and Veteran's Service Committee and one thousand dollars was voted for the expenses. At that time no one could foresee what the future of this committee would be but as of the present Mr. Lowden's work as director has brought it to a scope where stenographic assist- ance and Wednesday evening office hours are maintained for the convenience of the service men and women.
In 1945 the time arrived when a new regime became necessary in the administration of the Memorial Library. Mr. Davis, who had filled the office of Librarian for forty three years, was failing in health. For several years he carried on with the aid of assistants but evenutally the trustees felt impelled to the conclusion that the Library would operate more successfully with one person at the head. Con- sequently they made Mr. Davis Libarian Emeritus and asked Miss
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Mary Lothrop, who had been made assistant the year previous, to be Librarian.
The period was somewhat difficult due to the war years and consequent gas rationing. When that situation cleared there was a considerable influx of new people which is continuing to the present. Under the combined impact of all these factors numerous innovations have taken place and more are contemplated for improving the Library service further. For one thing the Trustees are creating a reference library and reading room with money left by the late Murray Brown. The interior has been re-decorated and is much more cheerful and restful. The new lighting units are a vast improvement.
The circulation trebled in the first seven years of this change and is still on the increase. The old friendly chatting has necessarily been abandoned to maintain quiet for students. What appeared to be an enormous building for the town needs in 1889 is now confronted with an acute traffic problem; additional space is a desperate need and plans are under way to provide relief.
The general public reads more than formerly and is more demand- ing in its taste. Furthermore, membership in the Wachusett Library Group and the American Library Association imposes inescapable standards of modernity. In consequence the Trustees and the Lib- rarian have discarded all the books possible, in particular those having extremely fine print and those that had set on the shelves since the erection of the building without ever having been drawn out. In the process great care was taken not to discard valuable material. Among the outlets was the town of Boxborough, as a result of its fire tragedy, the Emerson Hospital and Camp Devens.
In this attitude the Library officials are on sound ground and wholly up-to-date. Dead head books are the bete-noire of the active working library. There is a movement in certain areas where several colleges are reasonably near together to have a common impounding center for books that are not in demand. Here they can be kept without heat or light and with only casual oversight. They remain in the posses- sion of the respective institutions and are carried on their several inventories but are not occupying space acutely needed for active volumes. If a particular book is desired side car service can deliver it in a matter of hours. Certainly a book that has not been opened in twenty years, or even ten, cannot be so important that the researcher cannot wait a day for it.
Before leaving the year 1945 it will be of interest to some to bring in a bit of unusual comment. Throughout the past generations Acton has celebrated April 19th because its men stood firm in the presence of adversaries. Not until 1945 did it attain national attention because one of its residents ran away from his opponents. At noon of that year
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Johnny Kelley was covering the weary miles from Hopkinton to Boston in the annual B. A. A. marathon and coming in the winner.
Ten years previous he had, as a resident of Arlington, likewise carried off the palm of victory. In 1944 he came to West Acton, mar- ried an Acton girl, and became an integral part of the community. In 1948 he was on the United States Olympic Marathon Team at London. At that time he called upon the mayor of Acton, England, and a letter to him from the mayor hangs in the Memorial Library. In 1949 he flew to Norway and Sweden to compete in international running events.
Despite Acton's long involvement with things military and histori- cal there was no active movement with regard to the establishment of a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution until 1947. At that time, under the stimulus of efforts by Mrs. Rolfe Bradbury as founder, there was an installation by the State Regent, Mrs. Warren S. Currier, on November 22, 1947. This action was confirmed by the National Society on December 9th of the same year and the first chapter meeting was held on January 8, 1948.
A list of the first officers and charter members is given herewith. Founder and Regent, Mrs. Rolfe Bradbury; Vice-Regent, Mrs. George W. Newton; Chaplain, Mrs. Bertha Lowden; Recording Secretary, Mrs. Dewey E. Boatman; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. Walter M. Cook; Treasurer, Miss Clara Newton; Registrar, Mrs. Winthrop E. Richmond; Historian Mrs. E. Wilson Bursaw; Librarian, Mrs. Russell C. Berry; Chairman of Junior Committee, Mrs. John Loring; Chairman of Program and Ellis Island Committee, Mrs. Miriam T. Shearman.
Additional charter members; Mrs. Lowell H. Cram; Mrs. Homer D. Keunerson; Mrs. Elliot Livermore; Mrs. William Lears; Mrs. Ethel Milbery; Mrs. Stuart Allen; Miss Natalia Farley; Miss Phyllis Cook; Mrs. Hal Newport; Mrs. William Chipman; Mrs. Walter I. Taylor; Miss Esther Taylor; Mrs. Leo Cunningham; Mrs. Katherine Sanford Salt; Miss Katherine Sanford Salt; Miss Eunice Sewall; Mrs. Gordon Westby; Mrs. Mildred Hodgen.
One of the major projects of the chapter has been the securing and the proper preservation of the Isaac Davis plow used by Daniel Chester French as a model for his statue of the Minute Man at Con- cord Bridge. The plow, now enclosed in an elegant glass case on the stage of the town hall, was kept in the Davis family for five generations and finally returned to Acton on April 19th, 1951. Contributions by public spirited citizens, organizations, and the school children, made possible its presentation to the town.
Although the centennial of the dedication of the Davis Monument fell on October 29, 1951, it was found advantageous to combine the
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observance of the hundred years and the presentation and acceptance of the plow with the anniversary meeting of the Chapter on Novem- ber 8th.
The program of the evening is given in full below.
Opening of the meeting in the usual D. A. R. manner.
Reading of the Scriptures, the Lord's Prayer, Pledge
of Allegiance, The American's Creed and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.
Welcome to guests.
Presentation and Acceptance of the Davis Plow.
Paul Revere Bell Ringers
"The Story of the Davis Monument on Acton Common" written by Harold R. Phalen and read by
Selectman Arthur W. Lee.
Paul Revere Bell Ringers.
Closing by the singing of America.
The exercises were followed by light refreshments.
During the decades while Mr. Arthur F. Blanchard was carrying on the extensive family projects and passing the eighty year mark his son Webster grew to manhood, married Hazel Gage of Augusta, Maine, and took a prominent place in the affairs of the organization and of the town. Born in West Acton, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy and was graduated from Harvard in 1917. He was in the Naval Reserve in World War I.
He was vice-president and director of the New England Brick Co. of Boston and the Economic Machinery Co. of Worcester; president and director of the Woodward Lumber Co. of Brattleboro, Vt., a corporator of the Franklin Savings Bank of Boston, and a trustee of the Middlesex Institution for Savings, of Concord, and president and director of the Howe Lumber Co. of Marlboro. He also served unsparingly on the town finance board for many years and on the ration board during the time of its operation.
About 1946 the father, son, and daughter-in-law formed the Blan- chard Foundation which, as one of its first projects, donated a beautiful new school building to the town of Boxborough. It was erected on land formerly a part of the old Blanchard farm which for a time belonged to Mr. Simon Hagar. He sold the land to the Box- borough play ground committee in 1919. In a few years this project expired and the land was purchased for its taxes by Boxborough Grange. When Mr. Blanchard approached the town with his pro- position relative to a school building the Grange donated the land.
The building was a model of modern school architecture and was designed to accomodate fifty five pupils which at that time was thought to be amply adequate for a considerable period. With improved
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school facilities, however, new residents came in apace so that at the end of the second year the top grade had to be sent to Acton.
Immediately the Boxborough project was a going affair the Blan- chards, in characteristic fashion, took cognizance of the fact that Acton town hall could no longer meet the needs of a rapidly increasing community. Already loud speakers were being used at town meetings to convey to the overflow in the lower room the progress of events upstairs. Furthermore the high school had no gymnasium. Conse- quently in 1952 adequate resources were tendered the town for the erection of a combination gymnasium and auditorium and ground was broken for the edifice on July 20, 1953.
As the plans were in the formative stage catastrophe beset the town twice within a brief three months. On February 23, 1953 the younger Mr. Blanchard passed away and was followed by the eighty seven year old father on the following 19th of May. Thereby the town lost two of its loyal sons. Both men had the rare gift of being equally at home in the magnificent business offices of the great industrialists or on a nail keg in a cross roads store. Acton residents, both obscure and prominent, felt keenly the loss of personal friends and neighbors.
The affairs of the high school have been picked up chronologically as they came along. In that connection 1950, quite apart from the big items of consolidation and overcrowding, was of import in another direction. The senior class for the first time made the ever popular and educational tour to Washington and other historical points, there- by putting the school into the travelled and sophisticated category. Apparently the custom is to prevail since the two succeeding groups of seniors have done likewise.
Repeatedly the fact has been mentioned that Acton has ever been the beneficiary of the thoughtfulness and the resources of its loyal natives. Among these are two brothers, Roland and Ernest Wetherbee, born in East Acton, who went at an early age to join their uncle, Frank J. Putney in his enterprises in Putney, Georgia. Some years ago Mr. Roland Wetherbee settled a trust fund for the improvement and care of a certain area of the cemetery and in 1950 Mr. Ernest Wetherbee provided the funds for the beautiful memorial gate dedicated to his wife, Harriet Pickard Wetherbee, born in Littleton and buried in Woodlawn. Her father, Mr. Cyrus Pickard, was for many years a successful farmer in Littleton. In his later years he sold the farm and resided in Acton Centre in the house now owned by Mr. Winthrop Richmond.
By voting YES on article 34 of the town warrant of 1950 Acton decided to "accept the bequest of Betsey Morse Ball, late of Marl- borough, Mass. and authorize the selectmen to act in accordance therewith."
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Miss Ball taught in the Centre Primary from 1879 to 1888. Her father, Lewis Ball, owned and operated the pencil factory that stood on the homestead now occupied by Mr. Woodbine on Brook St.
The following excerpt from the will of Miss Ball is of interest: . . . pay the principle of the said trust fund to the Inhabi- tants of the Town of Acton, the income thereof to be used for the assistance of such deserving poor of said Town as in the judgement of the Selectmen thereof may be in need of medical or surgical services and if at any time in the judge- ment of said selectmen there be no such person in need, the said income to be used for the promotion of the in- dustrial education of such child or children resident in the said town as in the judgement of the Selectmen shall be most deserving, and in such proportions as they may deem fit and if at any time there shall be in the judgement of the Select- men no person properly entitled to such assistance, then such income to be used for such other educational purposes in and for the benefit of said Town or its children as to the Selectmen may seem proper.
This fund, now approximating eleven thousand dollars according to the latest town report, is one of some seventeen in the custody of the town treasurer, which total almost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars as tangible evidence of the interest of Acton citizens in its welfare, its beauty, and its hold upon their sentiments.
Within recent years Acton has felt the impact of an entirely new trend in the industrial world. Due in part to prohibitive taxes in the completely urban areas, in part perhaps to the desire for dis- persion because of apprehension concerning atomic bombing, but certainly in major measure because of Acton's superior supply of cool water, new plants have come to town.
These are not the architectural horrors that congregated along the railway in previous eras but are located in unsettled areas, in some cases in the forest far away from residences and even from the high- way. They are neat, compact, modernistic structures, run by electri- city and having none of the offensive attributes of the smoke belchers of the past.
Concommitant with the erection of these plants there has come about the amazing phenomenon, fantastic a generation ago, of commuters from the city coming to Acton to work. This phase will eventually pass with the arrival of adequate housing but it is a present fact that belongs in the town's story.
Early among these newcomers was the Dewey and Almy Chemical Company which, seeking to expand its Cambridge plant and needing a location remote from dwellings where the more hazardous of its
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projects could be carried on, found the abandoned two hundred and fifty acre tract of the former smokeless powder mills particularly attractive since it had a sandy gravel soil, abundant water supply, and was on the main line of the Boston and Main Railroad. Here in 1946 they started the manufacture of solvent solutions of rubbers and resins.
As a result of expansion after the war there are now twenty two buildings in which are produced sealing compounds, soldering fluxes, and machinery used in the canning industries; similar compounds for the steel drum and pail manufacturers; insoles, cements, adhesives and synthetic and reconstructed leather for the shoe trade; bags, shipping cases, and adhesives for the paper container market; sealing compounds, soldering fluxes, and storage battery appurtenances for the automotive industry; and various products that are utilized in the rubber, paint, and plastic industries.
The next was the Sir Steak Machinery Company. In 1948 this concern took over the unique cobblestone shop built by Mr. Nelson Tenney just after the turn of the century and after making the changes necessary to adapt it to the requirements of their business began the manufacture of diverse types of meat tenderizing equipment.
Under the direction of Mr. O. Robert Deckert, president and general manager, some forty five persons, including Mr. Benjamin Sawyer, who saw the original building erected and worked for many years for Mr. Tenney, are kept busily engaged. It is the company's objective to engage helpers who plan a long stay in Acton and who wish to become an integral part of the community life.
In 1949 the Air Production Sales Company, manufacturers of acetelyn gas, hydrogen, and oxygen erected its plant a quarter of a mile south of the Laws Brook Road in the unsettled area near the Con- cord line. This enterprise, like Dewey and Almy, was specifically attracted by the available supply of satisfactory water.
The Technology Instrument Corporation is located just at the eastern edge of the Centre village. The architecture of its building and the landscape gardening have produced a result totally undreamed of by the manufacturers of a bygone day. The business moved from Waltham in January of 1951 and currently employes two hundred and fifty persons. A second wing is being added to the original building as this is being written. As might be suspected from the name of the company the product consists of laboratory instruments, particularly in the electrical field, such as resistance boxes, meters, oscillators, potentiometers and precision instruments of all sorts.
The latest comer is the Rex Corporation which formerly functioned in three different locations in Cambridge and Boston. According to Mr. John A. Crowe, writing for the president, the move to West Acton
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was occasioned to a considerable degree by pressure from the Defense Agencies to get away from the congested industrial areas. The need for ample room was also a vital consideration.
Certainly the company found what it desired on Hayward Road. The stretch of wilderness from Arlington Street to Charter Rd. along what was originally Deacon Samuel Hayward's Way to Meeting never had, so far as the author is aware, any edifice built on it since the incorporation of the town until within the last few years.
The Rex Corporation has some forty thousand feet of floor space on a twenty five acre tract. There are three separate laboratories, one for compounding research and engineering, one for general research and one for testing. There is also an engineering department and a machine shop for the design and construction for any special purpose equipment that may be needed.
The business is primarily the extrusion of plastics. particularly where high precision and difficult shapes are involved. The company products go into the construction of storm windows, doors and screens, luggage binding, welting, belting and rodding, marking tape for tennis courts, craftstrip for weaving, braiding and wrapping. From this craftstrip are made tie clips, lanyards, key chains, belts etc.
The company has made thousands of miles of insulated wire for the Signal Corps as well as a variety of special wires for electrical and electronic applications. In addition a third field of activity is cast resin in sheets and rods for use in high frequency electrical installa- tions.
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