Mr. William J. Armando, Jr. – Chairman

Mrs. Susan L. Reddington – Secretary

Mr. Cabot Devoll – Finance Committee

Mr. Clyde Pushard – Ball Committee

Mr. Joseph Uliano – Parade Committee

Mrs. Lee Thompson – Parade Committee

Mrs. Ada Goodrich – Festival Committee

Mrs. Maureen Dickie – Fundraising Committee

Mrs. Linda Cammarata – Fundraising Committee

Mrs. Norma Gaynor – Fundraising Committee

Mr. Edward Lynch, Jr. – Historical Committee

Mr. Daniel C. Keleher – Historical Committee

Mr. Richard Staiti – Legal Advisor

Mr. Richard Rousseau – School Department Liaison

Mr. Al D’Attanasio – School Department Liaison

Mr. Edward Lynch, Jr. – Committee Chairman & Writer

Mr. Daniel C. Keleher – Research Advisor

Mr. Edward Bolster – President, Canton Historical Society & Writer

Mr. Christopher Brindley – Curator, Canton Historical Society & Word Processing

Mr. James Roache – Writer

Photographs are courtesy of the Canton Historical Society, Canton Journal Newspaper, Daniel C. Keleher, Christopher Brindley, James Roache, Paul Davenport, Peter Pineo, R. William (Bill) Cash, Frances Clines and the Metropolitan District Commission. Photograph scanning was done by Stephen Yanco of Nashua, New Hampshire and Christopher Brindley. Thanks to Thomas Minarik of Stream International for his assistance in creating the final CD Rom for the Lanier Professional Services.

Printed By:
Lanier Professional Services
Canton, Massachusetts

This book attempts to give a broad view of aspects of Canton's history, and such is a successor to Daniel T. V. Huntoon's work on the subject which was published just over a hundred years ago. His volume came from a series of sketches of events and persons prominent in Canton from its founding up till the mid nineteenth century. Huntoon's writings were not intended to be a history and consisted of newspaper articles on the town's past that he had penned some years before his death. These stories were collected and published around the time of Canton's Centennial. The present volume also is partly based on articles that were first published in local newspapers.

The authors of the modern history did not intend to cover all significant events in Canton's past but chose rather a variety of topics that would interest the reader and be of lasting historical value.

Several persons are responsible for the book. Among the authors were James Roache, Edward Bolster, Christopher Brindley, Ann Brindley, Peter Pineo, Frances Clines and the Chairman, Edward Lynch. Mr. Roache did the chapters on Canton's military history and its industries. Edward Bolster, Daniel Keleher, Ann Brindley, Peter Pineo, Frances Clines, and Edward Lynch were responsible for the neighborhood sections. Mr. Bolster also wrote the chapter on prominent men and women in the town's history. Edward Lynch did the sections on the houses of worship and the public safety departments. Christopher Brindley was responsible for preparing the publication for delivery to the printer. His tasks included picture selection and scanning and the mechanical set-up and presentation. He was aided in this work by James Roache.

Our thanks to the Bank of Canton, the Canton Co-operative Bank, the Reebok Corporation and the Salah Foundation for financing the printing costs.

In 1662 the Town of Milton was set off from Dorchester, other towns followed, Wrentham was set off in 1724, Stoughton in 1726. When Stoughton was Incorporated it comprised the present day towns of Stoughton, Canton and Sharon with some minor boundary line changes. The Town of Dedham was incorporated in 1636 and Sharon in 1765 and Foxborough soon followed in 1778.

On February 23, 1797 Canton was set off from Stoughton, prior to the incorporation of Norfolk County in 1793, this area was part of Suffolk County. On January 1, 1870, the Town of Dorchester became part of the City of Boston.

The desire to have the Town of Stoughton divided, did not originate in the part now known as Canton. In 1782, Stoughton voted to take measures to divide the town. On April 18, 1782 a town meeting was held, the second article on the warrant was, " To hear the petition of Benjamin Bird and others praying for a division of the town into two townships." It was suggested at one time to call the proposed new town "Freedom", but a few days later the name "Danbury" seems to have been preferred. In 1793 an article was inserted in the warrant; To see if the town will vote to set off the First Parish in Stoughton, as it is now bounded, as a distinct and separate town.

The inhabitants appeared to be in favor of the article, and on May 27,1793 the parish voted that Nathaniel Fisher, Benjamin Gill, Nathan Crane and Henry Bailey be a committee to present to the General Court, a petition that the First Parish may be incorporated as a separate town. The parish wanted to amend the original petition and appointed James Endicott, William Wheeler, Joseph Bemis and Adam Blackman to amend the petition. On June 13, 1793, the petition was presented to the General Court. On September 16, 1793, the town was notified that the petition was to be discussed by the General Court. A committee was appointed to appear before the General Court and support the petition. By order of the General Court on June 26, 1794, a map of the Town of Stoughton was drawn by Nathaniel Fisher, surveyor.

In 1795 the First Parish again appointed a committee to draft a petition for the division of Stoughton. The committee consisted of Elijah Dunbar, Esq., Col. Benjamin Gill, Col. Nathan Crane, Joseph Bemis, Esq., and Capt. Elijah Crane. They prepared the petition as requested. This petition of April 17, 1795 was signed by 143 inhabitants of the First Parish and was presented to the General Court on June 11, 1795, by Col. Nathan Crane, Capt. Elijah Crane and Col. Benjamin Gill.

The Second Parish, now Stoughton appointed Samuel Talbot, Samuel Shepard, Joseph Richards and James Pope as a committee to do all in their power to prevent the secession of the First Parish, now Canton. The result was a remonstrance headed by Lemuel Drake, with a following of 169 registered voters, which was presented on January 13, 1796, to the General Court.

On August 26, 1796, the Honorable Seth Bullard of Walpole, Judge Bullock of Rehoboth and John Hewins of Sharon were directed by the General Court to repair the Town of Stoughton, to view and consider the expediency of dividing it. They met the selectmen at the house of Capt. Elijah Crane, and the matter was discussed for four days. They made their report to the General Court on September 3, 1796. The report was favorable to the division.

On December 5, 1796, James Endicott, Esq., Elijah Dunbar, Esq., Col. Benjamin Gill, Joseph Bemis, Esq., Col. Nathan Crane, Capt. Elijah Crane, Capt. William Bent, Deacon Benjamin Tucker, Adam Blackman and William Wheeler were appointed to prepare an Act of Incorporation. On December 6, 1796, the wisdom of the parish decided that the name of the New Town should be Canton. Elijah Dunbar said that this town was directly antipodal to Canton, China and for that reason the town should be so called. This appears to be a common theory around the country. Cantons also exist or existed in; Arkansas, Connecticut, Dakota (before it was divided), Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, two in Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Had the town retained the aboriginal name Ponkapoag or had the name of one of the signers of the petition such as "Gridley" or "Crane", it would have been a worthwhile tribute to the valuable efforts of our distinguished townsmen. The name "Freedom" , would have been a fitting tribute to the events at the Doty Tavern in the 1770's. If it were not for some of our townsmen, the British may have won the Revolution.

The original Act of Incorporation was written by James Endicott and was completed at the house of Captain Elijah Crane on January 9, 1797. The act passed the House on February 22nd, and on February 23rd, passed the Senate and was approved by the Governor, Samuel Adams. On February 23, 1797, Canton became a separate town.

Labin Lewis notified the inhabitants of Canton qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet at the meetinghouse in Canton on March 6, 1797, at 1:00 pm, to choose town officers. Elijah Dunbar, Esq., was chosen as Moderator, Elijah Crane as Town Clerk, and Deacon Benjamin Tucker, Elijah Crane and Col. Nathan Crane as Selectmen and Assessors. Joseph Bemis was chosen as Treasurer and Constable. This was the slate of the first Town Officers in the new Town of Canton.

Huntoon describes Ponkapoag as the spot selected by the Town of Dorchester for the "Home of the Indians soon to Pass into Possession of the English Settlers", a place rich in history by virtue of being the earliest settled part of town.

He went on to say "the face of the country is beautifully diversified by hills and vales. Numerous streams rise within the limits of the Town and into the ponds which dot the surface with patches of blue."

Ponkapoag, comprising about one quarter of present day Canton, is the Town's largest neighborhood, and its oldest. The name is aboriginal, meaning "sweet water", and refers to the pond which is one of the area's principal features.

It was beside Ponkapoag Pond that the first residents settled. They were members of the Massachusetts tribe who had been displaced from their former settlement at the mouth of the Neponset River as English colonists occupied more and more of the land near Boston.

In 1657, town records show a committee was appointed to lay out a 6,000 acre Indian Plantation at Ponkapoag. This was the second of seven "praying Indian plantations" in Massachusetts during the seventeenth century. It was modeled after a similar community established a few years earlier at Natick by John Eliot, a well known preacher.

Early white settlers were mostly farmers. As time progressed, the area became popular as a destination for city dwellers seeking a day in the country. This in turn, led to the establishment of a number of inns. While recreation is an important "industry," Ponkapoag is still home to the last remaining farms in Town.

The geographic bounds of Ponkapoag run from the Milton town line on the north, to the Randolph line on the east, Randolph Street on the south, and Pecunit Street and Elm Street on the west. The earliest streets in the neighborhood were Washington, Royal, Green, Pecunit, Sassamon, Elm, Turnpike and Farm. Today there are over fifty streets in Ponkapoag.

Now we begin our stroll through Ponkapoag, visiting some of the many historic sites and people in this very historic neighborhood.

The first landmark one sees upon entering Ponkapoag from the Milton line is the William F. Rogers Ski Area on Great Blue Hill. The ski area was established in the 1940's and is named after a former MDC Commissioner. Initially the Ski Area was equipped with three rope tows and run by the MDC Police.

Sonija Loew, wife of movie mogul E.M. Loew of Milton, became involved with the Ski Area in the early 1960's and ran the concessions for many years. In 1960, Penny Petui, the first United States woman skier to win the Silver Medal in Olympic Skiing (at Squaw Valley), was hired to run the Ski School.

Penny married Austrian Olympic skier Egon Zimmerman. After their divorce in 1970, he continued to run the ski school until 1980. Day to day operations were handled by Hans Seisel, whose tenure at the " Big Blue" spanned some thirty years. Hans, who now operates the Ski and Sport Loft on Turnpike Street, developed many innovative ski programs on which the Nashoba and Wachusetts resorts modeled their programs.

The Ski Area made skiing history by pioneering artificial snowmaking. The equipment was developed by Larchmont Engineering of Lexington. Larchmont took over management of the ski area in the late 1950's, using it for perfect snowmaking.

The 1960's and 1970's were the heyday of the Ski Area. Four - thousand skiers a day took to the slopes, with a thousand skiers a week attending the ski school. MDC Commissioner John Sears , brought many improvements to the slopes, including construction of a ski lodge, a "J" Bar lift, a chair lift on the main slope and improved night lighting.

During this period, Larchmont Engineering proposed expanding the ski area to the north-facing slopes of the Blue Hill. This would have doubled the size of the Ski Area. However, MDC did not feel this grand concept was compatible with the overall purpose of the Blue Hills Reservations.

Since 1980, the Beer family has operated the Ski Area. Today it consists of two main slopes and seven trails. It operates a double chair lift, three "J" Bar lifts, and a large and active ski school.

In relatively flat eastern Massachusetts, Ponkapoag's William F. Rogers Ski Area is truly a unique recreational resource. It has provided years of enjoyment for skiers, especially those who first learned to ski there.

Above the ski slopes, at the summit of Big Blue, sits the Blue Hill Weather Observatory. Milton resident Abbott Lawrence Rotch, Harvard University's first professor of meteorology, built the observatory in 1885.

The experiments Rotch performed using kites and balloons at the Observatory were the first of its kind in the country to explore upper winds and clouds. Later, Harvard would conduct experiments in the ionosphere from Big Blue.

Since 1886, Blue Hill Observatory has produced the longest continuous record of atmospheric temperature readings in the United States. These observations are significant because their environs are virtually the same from the first reading to the present. The Observatory has been shielded from the kind of clearing and building which affect meteorological readings.

Of the Observatory's many instruments, one is a rain gauge which was invented at Blue Hill and is the only one of its kind in the world. It not only records the amount of precipitation but its duration as well. Today most of the Observatory's instruments are automated.

Harvard operated the weather station until 1959 when it was turned over to the National Weather Service. Today, Observatory information is primarily used to study climate trends rather than to forecast tomorrow's weather. Blue Hill is an International Climatological Benchmark Station.

The Friends of the Blue Hills were successful in getting the building designated as a National Historic Site in 1980. The Blue Hill Weather Club, a volunteer organization headed by Bob Skillings and Dr. Messenger, has compiled the day-to-day records for the past fifteen years, ensuring continuous records are maintained. A MDC caretaker lives at the Observatory. During storms it is staffed by a meteorologist.

During the infamous Blizzard of 1978, the Observatory recorded continual wind gusts in excess of 90 MPH. Winds of over twice this speed, 186 MPH, were recorded by the Observatory during the Hurricane of 1938.

The Blue Hill Weather Observatory is truly the foremost landmark structure in the history of American weather forecasting.

The Observatory and the Ski Area, are just two of the features of the the 8,000 acre Blue Hills Reservations, probably the single most important recreational resource in metropolitan Boston.

The Reservation was laid out in 1892 by Charles Eliot, the famous landscape architect and partner with Frederick Law Olmsted. Eliot reconfigured the boundaries of the original Ponkapoag Plantation to include the thirteen peaks currently in the Reservation.

The Reservation's use of its open space has since become a model for open land use planning worldwide. It is the oldest metropolitan park in the United States, growing from an original 6,000 acres to the present 8,000 acres and including over 500 miles of wooded trails. Hundreds of thousands of people have enjoyed the Reservation, including Pope John Paul II. In 1980, at the invitation of The Friends of the Blue Hills, the papal motorcade ascended to the summit of the Great Blue Hill.

As we proceed toward the intersection of Route 138 and Royal Street, Howard Johnson’s comes into view. A landmark since 1937, this was one of the first franchises of this restaurant chain, started in Quincy during the 1920's.

This particular "HoJo's" has been a popular meeting place through the years, despite a major fire which damaged much of the building. Franchise Associates bought the building, renovated it and updated the HoJo images. Today this restaurant serves as a training facility for HoJo personnel.

Howard Johnson's and the cluster of gas stations known as Gasoline Alley owe their creation to the "old" Route 128. On Royal Street is a unique mix of residential, State Park land and businesses such as Instron, the Bank of Boston, and Boston Mutual, some of Canton's largest taxpayers.

Instron, situated on the former Chase estate, is of particular note. They are recognized as a "model" company, having kept most of their 65 acre estate as open space. And for many years, the company operated a working farm, complete with livestock. The company served up their own produce in the cafeteria.

The Trinity Episcopal Church anchors the corner of Route 138 and Blue Hill River Road on land donated by the late Martha Prowse in 1964. The church was dedicated in September 1969.

The entrance to Prowse Farm, presently owned by Meditech, is a short distance down River Road on the right.

For thousands of years, Indians farmed the broad plain on which the farm sits. They called this area Maswatusek or "Land by the Great Hill". This is the origin of the name Massachusetts.

In 1890, J. Malcolm Forbes purchased and consolidated the Hunt, Davenport and Farrington farms. The Farrington farmhouse once stood on the site of the current Prowse residence. Forbes was a well-known businessman who was also an avid sportsman. Among other achievements, he built and skippered the yacht Puritan which successfully defended the America's Cup.

To further an interest an in harness racing on this newly created 125 acre farm, Forbes built a 3/4 mile training track and stables, incorporating every convenience for the health and comfort of horses.

Forbes was first to use selective breeding of extremely fast stallions and mares. He sought to improve the Standardbred, the light driving horse, much in demand in that pre-automobile era. Forbes believed a family could enjoy themselves more if they could clip along at five or six m.p.h. instead of one or two.

Forbes made national headlines by paying Senator Leland Stamford of California the incredible sum of $125,000 for his stallion Arion. At the time this was highest price ever paid for a horse anywhere in the world.

Adding Bingen and the immortal Peter the Great, Forbes owned the three fastest trotting stallions. He added the legendary undefeated mare Nancy Hanks, model for the horse and sulky weathervanes one sees today. These horses were inducted into the Standardbred Hall of Fame.

From 1890-1904, Forbes Farm was considered the premier breeding farm in the East and stabled 75 horses. Many of the horses raced at nearby Readville Raceway now site of the Stop and Shop warehouse where the first two minute mile was trotted and paced.

Forbes died in 1904. General Francis Peabody, a State Street lawyer and lover of the hunt, purchased the farm in 1914, renaming it Maresfield. Peabody continued to breed quality horses, importing such top horses as the Irish hunter Herculean, and leading colorful hunts with hounds over the rolling hills of what is now Ponkapoag Golf Course. When his daughter, Martha, married Major Montague Prowse in 1922, Peabody gave her Maresfield as a wedding present.

Development of the MDC Golf Course and Route 128, reduced the farm by about 65 acres. In the 1940's, the commission seeking a site for the United Nations Building considered Prowse Farm as a possibility. Mrs. Prowse continued Maresfield's equine history and hosted Ponkapoag Pony Club horse shows in the 1970's. These shows attracted over 200 horses and featured Olympic judges.

In 1975, Mrs. Prowse died and her heirs were forced to sell the historic property. This triggered an intense land use battle between developers and preservationists, pitting a grass roots group of the latter, the Friends of Prowse Farm, against the purchaser, Codex Corporation, a division of Motorola. Due to the Friends' efforts, Codex eventually built on 11 acres of the property, agreeing to preserve the remaining 44 acres as a farm in perpetuity.

The battle over Prowse Farm drew nationwide attention and the involvement of Celtic Hall of Famer Dave Cowens, golf legend Arnold Palmer and the actor Robert Redford. Ironically, the victor, Codex, never fully occupied their building.

Soon after its completion they vacated altogether. Ultimately, Meditech, a medical software company, purchased the property.

Meditech reached a unique accord with the Friends of Prowse Farm whereby that group manages the 44 acre farm, opening it to the public for special events. Presently the group is developing an educational center in the Prowse residence.

Just east of Prowse Farm is Brookwood Farm, last owned by the late Henry Howe. Howe generously donated this 85 acre sheep farm to the State in the early 1970's. In return, he was allowed to reside there until his recent death. The original barn is the oldest structure in the Blue Hills Reservation, dating to the 1690's. One of the lovely features of this remarkably scenic property is the long driveway bordered by maples.

In the fall, it rivals anything Vermont has to offer and has been featured on New England calendars.

Turning back onto Route 138 and heading south, we pass the site of Doty Tavern on our left, just right of a gate to the Trinity Church.

This historic tavern burned down in 1888. In its heyday in colonial times, the Doty was the site of great events. It was here that General Joseph Warren drew up a virtual declaration of war against Great Britain. Lafayette was a guest there. In his younger days, the future President John Adams tethered his horse at the tavern's rail.

Major John Shepard, a prominent citizen of Suffolk Country, built and ran the original tavern in 1726. His successor was a celebrated colonel, Thomas Doty, under whose astute management the tavern achieved fame for good cheer, jovial company and the best glass of grog in the country round.

Given this inviting atmosphere, it is only natural that Doty Tavern would witness truly historic scenes.

Perhaps the most important of these occurred on August 16, 1774. Sam Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren summoned a congress of concerned citizens to assemble at the tavern. Their purpose was to assert the rights of colonists in the face of what were seen as the persecution by the mother country, Great Britain.

The result of this meeting was the Suffolk Resolves which formed the basis of the Declaration of Independence. The Resolves were ratified at two later meetings in Milton and Dedham and then taken by Paul Revere on horseback to the First Continental congress where they were adopted in one day. Of that day, John Adams wrote that it convinced him that the colonists were prepared to support Massachusetts or perish with her.

After being honored with the meeting of the Congress, the Doty provided refuge for those driven out by the British siege of Boston. A happier day came when the Marquis de Lafayette stopped on his way from Taunton to Boston during his first day in America.

With incredible speed, news spread that the noted Frenchman was at the tavern. On the morning of his departure, townsfolk lined the roadside to wave their good wishes as his coach passed.

Recently the Friends of Prowse Farm funded archeological digs in the area known to be the site of the tavern. This work, undertaken with permission of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, pinpointed the tavern's exact location and unearthed thousands of artifacts. These artifacts will be on display in the Doty Tavern Room as the educational center under development at Prowse Farm.

Heading south on Route 138, starting our ascent of Ponkapoag Hill, picture what the area around you would have looked like 40 years ago: rolling fields dotted with small farms and homes. All this would vanish in the late 1950's with the arrival of the new Route 128.

For centuries the good topsoil on the plain south of the Great Blue Hill attracted the earliest settlers to the area. By this century, it was a closely knit community, dotted with farms large and small.

About fifteen families made their homes on the gentle north slope of what was then known as Farrington Hill, once Cherry Hill, now Ponkapoag Hill, the one dominated by the blue standpipe. Ann Cameron, present Principal of the Kennedy School, remembers as a girl roaming across these open fields and forests, a natural paradise for a child.

Yet already there were hints of the change to come. The present Blue Hill River Road at the base of the Big Blue was part of the "Great Circumferential", a network of streets connecting town centers around Boston in a rough arc from Quincy to Peabody. This was the "old" Route 128.

After World War II, River Road became a primary weekend route to Cape Cod for Bostonians. By the late 1940's, it had reached saturation. Nat Farrington, another of the displaced, describes monumental Sunday traffic jams of fuming, honking autos stretching from the present Howard Johnson’s back to Route 28 in Randolph.

In the face of such congestion, the Commonwealth's Department of Public Works had not been idle. Beginning in 1936 in Peabody, it had started construction of a modern replacement for "old" Route 128. By 1954, this superhighway had reached Dedham and was aimed squarely....at Canton.

Seeking to sidestep the steep grade of Ponkapoag Hill, the highway engineers had originally routed new 128 south up through the Milton Hoosic Golf Course, crossing Washington Street where Saint Gerard Magella Church stands today and intersecting Route 138 at Randolph Street. This route, sweeping around Ponkapoag Pond, would have left the Blue Hills Reservation intact but, as Randolph's Selectmen vehemently protested, would have cut their town in two.

Thus the planners bent the highway's track north, taking dead aim at the idyllic Ponkapoag remembered by Miss Cameron. The Bradley, Chase and Prowse families, being large landowners, were able to apply pressure to push the highway from their front doors, leaving the small landowners in the path of the progress. As a result, the climbing bend up from the Neponset River was sometimes referred to as "Bradley's Bend."

As families and homes were uprooted, giant yellow earthmovers swarmed over the ancient country lands and fields, gouging a vast swath to allow the roadway to climb Ponkapoag Hill and run out onto the plain, obliterating the once thriving community.

A well-known Ponkapoag business, the original Blueview Nurseries, was also forced to move. The nursery stood on a low hill just west of the bridge which now carries Washington Street over 128's thundering canyon.

Ironically, the first owner of this perennial nursery (then known as Blueview Gardens) was James H. Taylor, an employee of the State Highway Department. At times when the State lacked funds for beautification, Taylor often supplied it plants at no cost.

One day, in the depths of the Depression, two young boys appeared at Mr. Taylor's nursery, eager for work. Since their parents did not drive, Joe and Frank Cogliano, ages 7 and 9 respectively, hitchhiked to the nursery from their home in Roxbury.

Taylor put the brothers to work weekends when school was in full session, full time in the summer. Their dream was to own land near the Blue Hills and a horse. In 1949, Mr. Taylor, now over ninety, offered to sell Blueview to the Coglianos and their dream was realized.

When Route 128's arrival forced the brothers out, they were able to buy a ten acre parcel nearby from Mrs. Henry Lyman, land which Route 128 had sliced off from her property. Until its recent sale, this was Blueview's modern home. The nursery specialized in Evergreens, Magnolias, Dogwoods and Japanese Maples, the quality of its plantings being recognized throughout New England. Blueview now operates out of Norton.

Just south of the old Blueview Nursery site, on the slope of Cherry Hill where mature trees still stand among remnants of stone walls, was the location of the Nathaniel Farrington & Son (Ellis) Farm. This was one of the most extensive and well-managed farms in Canton at the turn of the century. The Farm also encompassed the Davenport homestead of 32 acres and the Tucker Farm of comparable size on Randolph Street.

With their four horse team, Farrington Farm made daily deliveries of produce to Boston. In 1896, records show the farm produced 40 tons of hay, 100 barrels of apples, 3000 gallons of cider vinegar, 7400 cans (32 gallons each) of milk and 10,000 head of cabbage.

With the advent of motorized vehicles, particularly heavy trucks, this farm like many others began to experience competition from other farms in Norton and Dighton. These southern farms had the added advantage of being able to bring their crops to market earlier in the season. Farrington Farm ceased to be a commercial entity with the death of Ellis Farrington in 1926.

Looking east from the bridge over 128, we can make out the Davenport House over the southeast edge of the highway's cloverleaf. Built in 1711, this is the oldest house still standing in Canton (the Fenno House was the oldest until its relocation to Sturbridge Village in the 1940's). Jonathan Puffer erected the house with the assistance of the Ponkapoag Indians using cedar from the Ponkapoag bogs.

John Davenport purchased the house in 1717. The house would remain in his family for 183 years until 1900. It then passed to their relatives, the Farringtons, who occupied the home until 1924 when they moved to a new house up on Route 138.

The house was sold to the Homans family who greatly enlarged it. The wing which is visible from Route 128, is such an expansion and is known as the ballroom. The house is unique in that many of its original features are still intact, including a fireplace with beehive oven.

In the same neighborhood, near Route 138, are four houses forced to move out of Route 128's path. The large yellow house at 2 Homans Lane, almost directly across Route 138 from the blue standpipe, is the storied Cherry Hill Tavern. Originally it stood on the other side of Route 138 where Exit 2A's ramp now curves up from Route 128.

The Kenney family erected the Tavern in 1753. In 1818, they sold out to John Gerald who added a second story and expanded the Tavern. He was competing with the popular Ponkapoag Hotel just down the road which boasted of its access to Ponkapoag Pond. Gerald decided to create his own access. In 1831, he dug a canal through Ponkapoag Bog and set up a small fleet of boats to take Tavern guests on excursions out to the pond itself. While the project was certainly ambitious, it was not a success.

The yellow house at 3 Homans Lane once stood right on Washington Street across from Cherry Hill Tavern's original site. The building served as a stables and bowling alley. In 1839, it was moved back from Washington Street and is now owned by Mr. James Homans. In the 1980's, the apartment at the back of this house was home to the present host of NBC's "TODAY" Show, Matt Laurer and his wife Nancy.

Francis Sturtevant purchased Cherry Hill Tavern in 1841 and ran it until his death in 1863. Two years later the tavern building was acquired by Samuel Cabot for use as a summer residence. Cabot was a prominent Boston physician who served on the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital. He was also a pioneer in the woman's suffrage movement and an abolitionist. His Boston home was reportedly a stop on the underground railroad.

In 1902, Cabot's son Arthur hired architect Charles Platt to design a Georgian Mansion on the property. This imposing building was home to the Cabot and Bradley families until 1990 when Eleanor Cabot Bradley died and the 70 acre property was bequeathed to the Trustees of Reservations. The resulting Eleanor Cabot Bradley Reservation is a well-preserved example of the era of country retreats, and is open to the public.

At the very top of Ponkapoag Hill, next to Route 138, stands the Ponkapoag Schoolhouse. This neighborhood landmark, opened in 1894, was generously donated to the Town by Augustus Hemenway of Green Street.

Many long time Ponkapoag residents have rich memories of their education at the Ponkapoag School. In its earliest days, the school house comprised two classrooms on the ground floor where eight grades were taught. On the second floor there was a single large room for "rainy day" activities. Years later it became a four room schoolhouse with grades one through four.

Most residents also fondly remember the school's red cedar shingles with distinctive diamond-cut patterns which are currently hidden by practical but less attractive vinyl siding. The present structure is actually the third Ponkapoag schoolhouse. The first which opened in 1726, was located to the south on the site of the Redman Farmhouse. The second school house is what is now the Ponkapoag Chapel which was moved to its present location when the neighborhood's population outgrew the school.

The opening of the modern Hansen School in 1969 signaled the end of the Ponkapoag School's educational career. In 1975, Police Chief Ruane proposed converting the building into a police substation. The Selectmen supported this idea but for various reasons, it did not come to be. The school presently houses the administrative offices of the Old Colony Boy Scout Council.

Directly across Route 138 from the school yard once stood Indian Line Farm. Founded by Albert Whittier in the 1920's, the name refers to the northern boundary of Ponkapoag Plantation which passes through the property.

Albert, brother of C.W. Whittier, a noted Boston realtor, developed Indian Line Farm into a state-of-art dairy, truly a show place of well-maintained barns, fields and stone walls. Upon Whittier's death in the 1940's, Tobe Deutschmann purchased the farm. About the same time, the MDC took a portion by eminent domain to expend the Ponkapoag Golf Course.

On August 22, 1957, the large dairy barn with its sixty foot silo, burned to the ground in a spectacular blaze. Embers from this firestorm landed on homes over half a mile away. The barn and silo were not rebuilt.

Under Tobe's ownership, the Farm served a multitude of uses: the growing and selling of corn on site, the housing of an electronics manufacturing business in outbuildings, several large horse shows, even for a time in the 1950's, operation of a roadside restaurant. This restaurant is perhaps best remembered for its tall "Indian Line Farm" sign featuring an Indian in full neon war bonnet.

In the 1970's, a firestorm of quite another sort enveloped the farm as Tobe advanced various large scale development schemes for his property. These included a shopping mall and a business park. The Town defeated them all.

Tobe sold the Farm in the 1980's and almost immediately the MDC took it by eminent domain to include it in the Blue Hills Reservation. Today, as nature takes its inevitable course, it is hard to believe that this property was once a farming show place.

Immediately behind Indian Line Farm is the Ponkapoag Golf Course, Canton's largest course.

In 1926, the MDC filed a Special Report to the General Court offering a portion of its Blue Hill Reservation for creation of an 18 hole golf course. In 1931, the court authorized the MDC to construct such a course on the site of the former Redman Farm.

The Redman farm house now the site of the Ponkapoag golfcourse and skating rink. This farm dates back to one of the earliest settlers of Ponkapoag, Charles Redman, who obtained a lease for approximately 100 acres from the Ponkapoag Indians in 1657.

In 1725, Charles’ son Robert acquired a lease and Redman farm was officially started. The farm changed hands several times and in 1803 was purchased by Captain John Tucker. Mr. Tucker erected the farm house that currently stands opposite Crowell's Store in Ponkapoag "Center." Mr. Tucker operated a tavern in the building that quickly earned a reputation far and wide. In 1823, Captain William Tucker purchased the property from his father and soon changed the name to the Ponkapoag Hotel. This establishment differed from others in the area in that most guests arrived early in the day and left that evening not spending the night.

The hotel attracted many gentlemen from Boston who came out for a day in the country. As the hotel gained in popularity several additions were made, including a bowling alley. It was here, that Huntoon stayed when he first came to Canton in 1820.

After Captain Tuckers death the hotel changed hands several times but with captain Tucker gone the hotel never regained its past glory.

In 1869, the property passed into the hands of Henry L. Pierce, who constructed road out to Ponkapoag Pond which exists today and is known as Maple Avenue. Mr. Pierce was a former Mayor of Boston and a Representative to Congress. Pierce expanded the farm and made it one of the best in the area.

The farm passed on to writer Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Aldrich entertained notable American writers including Mark Twain. Aldrich converted the old corn crib behind the house into a billiard room to entertain his guests. Today, the corn crib stands on the top of the hill behind the skating rink.

After the MDC acquired the property the farm house was used to house MDC police officers until the late 1970’s. The last officer to occupy the property was Captain William Scannell of the Mounted Police.

Voting to name the course "Ponkapoag," the MDC selected world renowned golf course designer Donald F. Ross of Pine Hurst, North Carolina to design and supervise construction. On July 1, 1932, the clubhouse and first nine holes opened for play. A year later, the second nine opened.

In 1935, the MDC again engaged Ross to design an additional nine holes to be constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA also installed a 27 hole irrigation system in 1940.

The course greenskeeper, Samuel Mitchell, laid out the last nine holes in 1952 in order to create two complete courses. The so-called " New Nine" was completed in 1959. It is the section visible from Route 128.

Well designed "Ponky" has long been popular with area golfers. This heavy use, coupled with the State requiring a large percentage of course revenues to return to its General Fund, resulted in a bleak period of poor maintenance. Fortunately, in the early 1990's, new legislation allowed the course to retain more revenue, spurring an aggressive improvement program.

The course provided far more recreation than just golf. In winter, it becomes and extensive system of well marked cross country ski trails. The course is also home to the Three Hills, known throughout the region as a sledding landmark.

Just beyond the eastern border of the golf course is a unique feature of Ponkapoag: The Ponkapoag Boardwalk. It runs from Camp Dorchester into the Bog and White Cedar Swamp and out to the shore of Ponkapoag Pond.

The boardwalk was built in 1947 by Professor Babcock of Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy. He and his group of roving rangers worked on conservation projects throughout the area. They constructed the boardwalk of logs laid side by side. Its 1 1/2 mile length was shaped like a reversed "L" with the "foot" running near the pond's shoreline.

By the late 1960's, much of the Boardwalk had simply rotted away. Rehabilitation began in the 1970's when Friends of the Blue Hills, directed by Dave Hodgdon, partially rebuilt the boardwalk using timbers from buildings, the MDC was dismantling. This work was extended in the mid-1980's by the team of the Youth Conservation Corporation led by Canton resident Tim Kernan.

However, these efforts were piecemeal. In 1988, the Friends of Blue Hills assembled over 40 area volunteers to completely rebuild the Boardwalk using pine planks harvested at Quabbin Reservoir. To facilitate this heavy work, half the planks were brought out from Camp Dorchester shore, half were floated over from the old fishing pier on the pond's opposite shore.

The Ponkapoag Boardwalk was nominated to the National Register in 1979 as a National Environmental Study Area. The rebuilt Boardwalk was formally dedicated in 1989. It creator, the Reverend Babcock, was in attendance and, despite suffering from Parkinson's Disease, he completed the two mile round trip on the Boardwalk.

Directly north of the golf course entrance and Route 138 stands a house with a long glassed-in porch. This was the home of the Bazin Family. James Bazin was a noted inventor. His workshop still stands today behind the main house. During the mid-1800's, he developed a wide array of innovations, everything from musical instruments to water pumps. Some of his creations are on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Opposite the Bazin house is the entrance to the Ponkapoag Way neighborhood. Built in 1938, this was Canton's first major home construction after the Depression.

The original builder, Model T. Homes, developed rolling fields into what is today one of Canton's most desirable neighborhoods. At first, a single dead end street, the neighborhood soon expanded, leading to the establishment of the Ponkapoag Civic Association.

During late 1945 and 1946, several neighborhood women dedicated themselves to meeting monthly to become better acquainted and to do things of "civic interest." The first Civic meetings took place at the Ponkapoag Chapel, for years the hub of Ponkapoag social life. Outgrowing the small chapel, the Civic moved to the Ponkapoag School.

The group's membership desired to undertake one major project a year. The first project involved the members clearing an acre of brush land to create the Ponkapoag Playground.

In 1950, the Roselund family of Green Lodge Street, whose property comprised much of the Ponkapoag Way subdivision, donated land for the present Civic Center. Members donated their time and labor toward construction of a clubhouse which was formally dedicated in the fall of 1950. Later they added swimming pools. In 1996, the Civic celebrated fifty years of community service. Today the Civic draws its membership from all parts of Canton.

Many are familiar with the present Crowell's Market and its long history since being built in 1899 by Charles W. Crowell. The store was originally closer to the corner of Washington and Turnpike Streets-then both being quite narrow. As a matter of fact, the store was so close to the street that a fire truck coming too quickly around the corner wiped out the store's mailbox. The store had to be moved back from the sidewalk in 1923 when Route 138 was widened, the first of several moves. It served as a post office from 1923 until 1937. Ralph Crowell and his brother Rupert ran the store until after World War II. In 1948, it was sold to Matt and Jim Sullivan who ran the store until 1954 and then sold it to Ed Duffy and Peter Flynn. They later tore down the original building and erected the modern version in use today. The store is now managed by Susan Duffy Walsh.

Other businesses that served Ponkapoag residents over the years included Billings and Horton's Store, which was located in the left front section of what is now the Connors Wayside Furniture Building. A First National Store opened in the same building in 1924 but only lasted a few months. The failure of the First National resulted in the first floor remaining vacant for several years. The top floor contained an apartment that was at one time occupied by the Haynes Family and later by the Websters. To the left of the store was an automobile showroom run by Arthur Haynes. It is remembered fondly and in some detail, by some of the young auto buffs of the time.

The showroom sported large glass windows, a salmon red floor and floodlights in each corner shining on a new Oakland or Pontiac. Later this business moved to Turnpike Street. It was operated for several years as Haynes Pontiac where the Canton Auto Mall is presently located. The right front of Connor's building once was used as a gas station and car repair business, operated by Arthur Haynes. The name of the business changed at a later time, to Morse and Mullins Garage and Chevrolet dealership. This business was operated by Ed Daley and James Malcolmson. The mechanics were Tommy Graham and Frank Webster. Frank Webster lived with his wife and nine children on the second floor of what had been Billings and Horton's Store.

On summer Sundays when the traffic was heavy-before two-way radios a State Police motorcycle officer would use the garage telephone to check in with headquarters before he went on traffic patrol on Route 138. Car wrecks were towed to the garage and left out in back. On a slow day, the State Police would use these wrecked cars for target practice. On one particularly memorable day, a bullet cut the rope that had tied the Haynes goat to a tree.

Connors Wayside Furniture Store opened in 1941 when Leonard Connors rented the building previously owned by Billings and Horton. It was here that he as a child remembered purchasing penny candy. The new store closed temporarily when Leonard was drafted during World War II. It reopened in 1943 and a year later, Leonard bought this property as well as Morse and Mullins Garage. Over a span of fifty five years of operation, there were no less than eight building additions. The spacious showrooms and warehouse of today are the vision and a life-long tribute to Leonard Connor, a far cry from the small store that once used neighborhood barns for storage. After Leonard's death in 1996, at age 96, the store was, and continues to be, managed by his son Jerry Connors and son-in-law Peter Bickoff.

In 1946, the Pioneer Store was built, on the site of the present Ponkapoag Professional Building. This store, which lasted about fifteen years and was run by Frank and Susie MacLeod, was in direct competition in sales with Crowells Market.

Many Ponkapoag residents remember as youngsters buying candy and popsicles at the store and seeing their money roll down a grate in the middle of the floor as they stood to decide between their favorite candy choices.

Around 1961, the Pioneer Store was purchased by Sam Wentworth who owned a Mattapan pharmacy. After some remodeling, the store was reopened as Wentworth's Pharmacy, complete with a soda fountain. Three years later, the pharmacy was bought by Max Baden who changed the name to Crane Drug. Baden had a lunch counter which provided employment for local teens and helpful advice and medications to local residents for many years.

Another business, a little less well known given its business, is primarily the wholesale flower trade, is the Canton Greenhouses. Forrest Haffermehl, in 1925, purchased the property behind the McKendry House. In 1928, he constructed two additional greenhouses. Canton Greenhouses have shipped flowers from Maine to Washington D.C. During the Eisenhower Presidency, flowers were even provided for the White house. The business was expanded in the early 1960's after it was taken over by Forrests' son John. The business grew to include two additional greenhouses. In the early 1980's, a small retail business was opened, which specialized in selling a wide variety of annuals, Chrysanthemums and pumpkins. Canton Greenhouses is the largest greenhouse operation in the history of Canton.

If we continue our tour south on Route 138, we pass the site of Dalton Farm, where the Sunnybrook Lane neighborhood now stands. Dalton Farm stands as a reminder of one of the many farms which once dotted the landscape of Ponkapoag.

James Dalton came to Canton in 1881 at the age of 21 and bought some 14 acres on Turnpike Street. Dalton raised over 1,000 chickens, ran a dairy herd, and delivered milk to local residents. He later sold the milk to Ferguson's Dairy on Ponkapoag Hill. He continued to farm up until his death in 1944. His family today, still resides on a portion of the original farm property.

Beyond the site of Dalton Farm, and at the top of the hill to the right, is the Ponkapoag Grange. Historically, since 1867, the grange has had the mission of championing the rights of farmers. The 4-H and Future Farmers of America both grew out of the Grange.

Ponkapoag Grange #231 was organized in 1903. The members first met at the old Ponkapoag Fire Station and later at the Ponkapoag School. In 1932, the present Grange Hall was built on Turnpike Street, at a time when Canton had two Granges.

In the past Ponkapoag Grange hosted square dancing, suppers, card parties and country fairs, all open to the public. Today, the Grange is home to the Blue Hill Montessorri School. Additionally the Grange supports the community with annual High School Scholarships, Little League Baseball games, offers food donations to local food pantries, and provides beautification of the planters at the viaduct. The Ponkapoag Grange is just one of a nationwide network of Granges promoting the strengthening of family and community through activities involving the whole family.

Continuing on Route 138 and taking a right onto Randolph Street, we proceed along the acknowledged southern border of Ponkapoag. Turning right onto Washington and left onto Pecunit brings us to Dog Patch, one of Ponkapoags favorite skating ponds.

From the 1930's to the early 1970's, this pond, at the corner of Kenny and Washington Street, was developed into a hockey rink complete with wooden side-boards, painted goalie lines and night lighting. This pond was filled in during the early 1970's.

Proceeding further down Pecunit, we find another well established Ponkapoag recreation facility, The Blue Hill Country Club.

The Club had its origins in the 1920's when a group interested in golf, including Benjamin Morse, Herbert Fenno, Howard Capen, Charles Reynolds and Joseph Draper, requested the services of Eugene Skip Wogan, a protege' of course designer Donald Ross.

When Wogan came to Canton to survey the property of the future course, he stood on the site of the present clubhouse and remarked that he was sure it would be one of the prettiest courses in all of New England. This is certainly true today.

A company headed by Charles Reynolds constructed the nine hole course which opened in August 1925. Other Wogan-designed holes were added the following decade. The fairway watering system installed in the 1930's, may have been the first of its kind in the Greater Boston area.

The course today is essentially the same as the original with the exception of an additional nine hole regulation course constructed in 1961. Ownership of the Blue Hill Country Club, however, passed from the Clausen family in the 1940's to Messrs. Covich and Corkin who owned it in the 1950’s, and in turn sold it to 250 members.

Disaster struck the Club on New Years Eve 1956. During the party, the clubhouse caught fire, requiring responses from several surrounding towns. Despite their efforts, the clubhouse burned to the ground. However, the Club members were determined to rebuild. Incredibly, they succeeded in rebuilding, just in time for the PGA Championship which the Club hosted just seven months later. It was the third clubhouse to be built and the one that stands today. Incidentally, the winner of the PGA tournament that year was Jack Burke Jr., who went on to win the Masters that same year.

Blue Hill is widely considered to be one of the best maintained courses in the area. Perhaps this reputation explains why the LPGA has selected Blue Hill as a tournament site since 1991. The Club has certainly seen its share of celebrity. Henry Kissinger, Al Haig, Sammy Davis Jr., and Mickey Mantle have played the course as well as former Presidents Ford and Carter.

Further along Pecunit, we turn right onto Elm Street. It is a little-known fact that from these woods came the masts of the USS Constitution.

To continue our tour to Elm Street, we can find the site of one of the last working farms in Canton, Packeen Farm. In 1900 Samuel Cabot, founder of Cabot Paint and Stain, purchased the Macintosh Farm.

In the early 1900's, most of the land was open hayfields, reaching all the way to the Neponset River and the railroad. At night, the residents of Packeen could see the fire boxes of coal burning locomotives.

Upon Samuel Cabot's death, his grandson, Charles Lyman, and his parents took over the farm. It was at this time that the farm increased in size to 450 acres due to several land acquisitions. More recently with construction of Routes 128 and Route 95, the farm decreased in size. Today the farm consists of 150 acres, 100 of which are wooded. In addition to productive hayfields, the farm raises beef, dairy cattle, oxen, pigs, chickens, and grows Christmas trees, raspberries and strawberries. Jane Bildorf, daughter of Charles and Jane Lyman, currently owns and runs Packeen Farm. To ensure that this farm will remain for many future generations, an agreement was signed in the early 1990's with the Trustees of Reservations to put a conservation restriction on the estate.

Continuing our tour, turn right from Elm street onto Green Lodge. This brings us to a golf course which happens to be one of the oldest in the country, the Milton Hoosic Club. The Club was founded just four years after the oldest club in the United States, St. Andres in Westchester, New York.

In 1892, a group from the Milton Club purchased the recently deserted Houghton farm at the base of Great Blue Hill. The Club has a clear cool pond (then called Hoosic-Whisick, now Houghton's) used for boating, swimming and skating. The farm was ideally suited for the newly formed Club. Short golf links were designed and laid out and the old farm house was converted to a clubhouse.

The MDC took the Club's land for the Blue Hills Reservation in 1894. A year later, the Club relocated to the 123 acre Shaller Farm on Green Lodge Street in Canton. A clubhouse, tennis courts and skeet shelter were built. On May 6, 1897, Hoosic Whisick Club was elected to the United States Golf Association, and in 1903, to the Massachusetts Golf Association.

In the early 1900's, the Club hired Scottish golf course designer, Willie Parks. Parks designed courses worldwide, including 70 in the United States, and was responsible for the basic nine-hole design which exists to this day.

In 1942, World War II forced the closure of the Club. Fairways became hayfields, and the clubhouse was boarded up. In 1946, the Milton Club and the Whisick merged, forming the Milton Hoosic club. The Milton Club, founded in 1891, provided members with bowling, billiards, dances, lectures, concerts and plays. Its Milton function facility is still part of the Milton Hoosic, a club with a hundred year history of serving families in Milton and Canton.

Continuing on Greenlodge Street, we will end our tour at a simple spot at the center of Ponkapoag, which symbolizes the nature of this Canton neighborhood.

On the right, where Greenlodge Street intersects Route 138, there is an open field. A mere field, one might say. So what? This happens to be the sole remaining hay field along this stretch of highway from Mattapan to Stoughton, a stretch that was once virtually lined with hay fields and farms.

We end our tour of Ponkapoag here. Our tour was not meant to be a full definitive history, merely a glimpse of a special place, Ponkapoag, and its unusual background.

If Ponkapoag seems to be a fine place in which to live or recreate or both, it is no accident. Certainly those who live here owe something to the foresight of the Commonwealth in setting aside public lands. Also, it is a credit to the private landowners who carefully maintained open, natural spaces against considerable temptations of commercial development. Above all, a fierce spirit of preservation in the people of Ponkapoag themselves has assured that, despite such intrusions as Route 128, Ponkapoag would remain a green and pleasant place, the true gateway to Canton, rich in the deepest American history.

Canton Corner was the most affluent of the five known areas in Canton. This section started at 926 Washington Street at the site of the Elijah A. Morse’s red brick mansion. Today it is the site of the high school auditorium. It continued north for approximately two miles and ended at the entrance gate of the Canton cemetery. Today the connecting land is known as Dogpatch.

Chapman and Dedham Streets on the left and Eliot, Pleasant and Randolph Streets on the right formed the "Corner". The Ponkapoag and York areas were the first to be settled. As population increased the town expanded southward following the main Street. The General Court in Boston demanded that the town of Stoughton build a spiritual and municipal center. This was done in 1707, and the First Parish Church Congregational was built.

Canton Corner got named because the old road curved in the Randolph Street area. It was called the road to Fennos then. It also curved near the Chapman Street section where Gilbert Endicott ran a tavern.. The road was wider at these points.

The Corner was known as the home of the industrialists. Elijah A. Morse built his mansion on the hill overlooking his Rising Sun Stove Polish Company. Charles H. French built his stone mansion on the adjoining property to Morse. His textile business, the French & Ward Co., was in West Stoughton.

George Walter Capen was a noted architect and builder. He built several Draper Victorian homes on Washington Street and many others on Chapman Street. The Asa Shepard and the John Withington homes are two of the oldest still standing today. The Chapman Street section of the Corner went just beyond the Wattles property. From this point west it became known as the Junction. It was a tree lined residential Street. The Knitted Padding Co., which was hardly visible from the road was one of the very few industries there. Some of the early residents on the Street were Brightman, Bright, French, Sumner and Wattles.

Eliot Street has remained a quiet residential Street. Early families here were Griffin, McKenna, Keefe, Weldon, Hepworth, Goss, Allen and Hughes. Pleasant Street was called Ragged Row in 1770. There were no houses on the east side of the Street heading south until after 1850. On the west side of the Street, Reverend William Ritchie built his house in 1809. Today it is the Pequitside farm. New Streets have been added to the area. Reservoir Circle, Pleasant Garden road, Oak road, Wood road, and Pleasant Circle. The "Corner" ended at the Capper property. From there on it was referred to as Springdale. Some of the early residents were John Draper, Paul Draper, Daniels, Robotham, Williams, Alexander, Dean, Lincoln, Gill, Guild, Gelpke and Capper.

Randolph Street was known as the "way to Randolph", St. Mary’s cemetery and the Massachusetts Hospital School commanded the most attention. There were very houses here until Randolph Street was widened and paved. New roads were added, Brayton Circle, Russell Street and Wentworth Road and others branching from these. There are many new houses with well kept property. Some of the early residents were Titus, Martin, and Black. Canton Corner ended at the Turnpike.

The first high school was located at the Corner. The building cost $10,000 to erect in 1866 and demolished in 1950. It served as the high school until 1912 when the new Hemenway/Canton High school was built. The old school remained through the years and had various use. Mr. E. J. Henniker operated an auto repair shop there. In 1935 Dave Medlicott took over the business and opened a gasoline and neighborhood store. Later Richard Mugford ran the same business. Today Getty Gas occupies the space.

The John Adams family lived at 1184 Washington and they ran a small store from a front room. Further up the Street Louise Titus operated a small store on Draper Lane. The old Vose Tavern next to the store belonged to the Draper Company and it was dismantled in1993.

The Gilbert Endicott tavern was on the corner of Washington and Chapman Street. The Li’l White store has become a favorite in the same location. Mary Estey ran a small candy shop in her front room at 1390 Washington and a small gas station and convenience store was operated by John Farrow. Alexander Sturrock also had a store in his home. Today the DePalma Nursery and Greenhouse is in the area.

The original Eliot School, dedicated in 1867, stood on the corner of Washington and Randolph Streets. It was later moved to the present location. The Public Works and the Planning Board have use of it now.

The old Everett Tavern, later the George Frederick Sumner Mill was deeded to the Canton Historical Society in 1911 by Mr. Sumner.

The Morse and French estates became the site of the present Canton High School. An article in the 1963 town warrant opened the flood gates to many new roads. Wildwood Drive, Old Meadow Lane, Historical Way, First Parish Road, Brayton Circle, Williams Street, and many more followed, adding many new ;homes and residents. In 1887 the population was 4,516, today it is approximately 18,900.

Some of the early families have gone from the "Corner" but their names remain. Burt, Capen, Clayton, Danahy, Downes, Endicott, French, Galligan, Gerald, Goding, Healy, Hewett, Morse, Packard, Reed, Shepard, Titus, Wetherbee, and Wilde.

Gone from the "Corner" are the first Town Hall, The Canton Corner Post Office, The first High School, The Corner Fire station, The Vose Tavern, The Draper Mill houses, and the Helen Williams Farm.

Starting at the French property (the High School) and continuing up to the Endicott property (Audry Fields Real Estate Office) there were great deep fields. In the center of the French property there was a great oak tree where Ahauton, Indian sachem, held tribal meetings. Today the WW II memorial marks the spot. After the Endicott house there were more fields, ledge, bushes, briars and scrub trees. This section was called the Dark Corner and rightly so as there were no Street lights here. Post cards and letters were often sent to the post office marked Dark Corner, Canton. No zip code or state.

Anyone walking by the Dark Corner after five o’clock ran or hastened their steps, Today it is no longer dark. Now in 1997 there are several business here. Two photographers, three real estate agencies, two dentists, and one optometrist. Added to the postman’s route is the Temple Beth Abraham and the United Church of Christ.

Springdale, so named because of its abundance of springs and its rural setting, is located in the southern section of Canton. It incorporates Pleasant Street from Bolivar Street to the Stoughton town line, and Pine street across the railroad tracks to North Street and adjacent streets.

Huntoon's History of Canton states that in March, 1719 the neighborhood was called "Dorchester Swamp, now Pleasant Street." In the early maps it is also referred to as District V (5). The map of 1876 shows it largely undeveloped, though a few names familiar to old Cantonians emerge: Pitcher, Bailey, Reed, Downes, Upham, Draper, Mansfield, and Withington. Pine Street was accepted by the town in 1881, and by the turn of the twentieth century growth was seen in the area. By 1934 there were 150 residents with names like Barnes, Bomar, Connor, Gardner, Meadows, Paul and Shaw.

Pleasant Street was surveyed in March 1831 and was called the "Stoughton Road", with Beaver Brook running into it from today's Route 138, which was then called the "Stoughton Turnpike". Beaver Brook fed water power to several industries : C. Draper Cardigan Jacket Manufacturing Company, the Satinette Factory which was later the site of the Springdale Finishing Company and still later Groveton Paper Company. The Springdale Manor apartment complex is now situated on this former industrial location.

In 1796 one of the first schools was erected on Pleasant Street, called the "Ragged Row" Branch to accommodate some sixty children living in the area. The drive to erect the school was spearheaded by some familiar Canton names: Estey, Withington, Clark, Wentworth and Morse. The early school was replaced by the present building on the same site in 1853 and named the Sherman School in honor of its location near the early home of Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The building is now a private residence having evolved from school to VFW hall to a home.

Edward Galvin's history of Canton Junction reports that the opening of the Stoughton Branch Railroad in 1844 speeded up growth of the area. The line was double tracked and sidings installed for gravel removal in 1886. Gravel from this thirty-two acre pit was used to provide fill for Boston's Pemberton Square area for building the new Court House. In 1969 additional spur lines were installled for Groveton Paper and the Ferrera Food Warehouse.

In 1891 a train station costing $1200 was built replacing one constructed in 1855. In 1919, locals were thrilled when "Anne of Green Gables" featuring the movie star Mary Miles Minter was filmed at the Springdale Station. Unfortunately hard times and bankruptcy forced the station to close in 1938 and to be razed in 1940. During World War II troop trains ran through the area at all hours, causing many a family heartache knowing their boys quite likely were heading overseas. The hill overlooking the station was actively used as a watch tower during World War II to be on guard for enemy planes.

Springdale produced many fine athletes, the most famous being the "Springdale Mudhens" baseball club, so called from the primitive conditions at their field on the corner of Bolivar and Pleasant Streets, since improved and enlarged to today's Devoll Field.

No neighborhood would be complete without its little variety store and no politician's campaign could neglect a stop at what is now "Springdale Variety" at the corner of Bolivar and Pine Streets, started by the Estey family back in the 1940's.

Today Springdale has grown immensely and includes a dozen new streets and about 500 condominiums and apartments. The old under-developed, horse and carriage area has gone forever as 12,000 vehicles stream through the section each day. All this is two hundred years old - and still growing.

Two hundred years ago transportation and communication in Canton was almost non-existent. The early settlers found it necessary to give names to areas to pinpoint their location in the town. Thus Ponkapoag was named for the location where the Indians lived. Part of this area was also called "The Farms" for obvious reasons. Springdale was so called because of its pristine springs and ponds. The Hardware was named for two reasons. The slag and bits of metal from the blast furnace at the Kinsley Iron Works was dumped in this part of town, and the Gridley mill and the Gridley Forge were manufacturing cannons and mortars here.

Canton Corner, sometimes called the Dark Corner, was situated between Washington and Chapman Streets and Washington and Randolph Streets. The Junction was not named until after the Viaduct was begun in 1835 and the branch railroad line opened to Stoughton and Easton. It was only fitting to call this area "The Junction". It consisted of ten streets: Beaumont, Lower Chapman, Everett, Fuller, Jackson, Spaulding, Van Buren, the west end of Neponset, the west end of Sherman, and part of Walpole Street.

Benjamin Everendon and James Beaumont had established businesses in the general area as early as 1800. The Stone Factory (today's Emerson and Cummings building) opened in 1824 and the area became a thriving community. English, Irish, Scots and Italiens moved here and many worked at the Bleachery which manufactured cotton and woolen textiles. Some of the firms established here were the C. C. Callahan Fire Hose Company, Grow Tire, Crow Blacking, Deane Coal, Hatfield Paint and Art Supplies, J. J. White, Porter Patent Leather, Rathburn Patent Leather, and Wattles Dressing and Sizing.

Perhaps the most famous person to live in the Junction was the Transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller. Born in Cambridge in 1810, her father, Timothy Fuller, was a professor at Harvard, while her mother, Margaret Crane Fuller, was the daughter of Peter Crane of Canton. She grew up on Neponset Streeet, where the Canton Estates Apartments are presently located. Margaret had a phenomenal intelligence and was known as a "Cultural Reformer". Her friends included Emerson, Thoreau, Poe, Bronson, and many other literary giants of the time. She was an author and contributed articles to all the important periodicals of the day. She was on the staff of the New York Tribune and went to Italy as a correspondent for that paper and contributed up to date material on the crisis in Italy under Garibaldi. In 1850 she sailed from Italy with her husband, Count D'Ossoli, and their son. Her ship met with a terrible storm off Fire Island in New York and tragically all three were drowned.

The Bleachery owned a building that was converted into a community hall and was used by various denominations as a place of worship. Farrell's store on Neponset Street and Allie Bisbee's store on Chapman Street helped serve the neighborhood. Both Andrew Oliver and Raymond Dickie operated blacksmith shops in the area. There were no paved roads and automobiles were a novelty at the turn of this century. Dr. Lonergan ministered to medical needs, and his daughter, Mary, was the school teacher in the old Revere School. She taught in this school until the new Revere School was completed in 1915.. She then became Principal of the avant-garde building, whose progressive design became known all over the United States. The prior Revere School served as a barracks for soldiers guarding the Viaduct during World War I.

In 1861 Lincoln's call came for volunteers for the Civil War and twenty-two year old Hiram Briggs and his eighteen year old brother, Edwin, of Fuller Street marched off together to serve the Union in Company A of the Fourth Regiment. Thomas Tapper was a noted pianist who lived on the corner of Neponset and Chapman Streets. He played in many of the music halls of America, and his recordings were made on early Edison cylinders.

There was a small pond behind Fuller Street called "the goosey" where young children swam and skated. There was also Mrs. Chapman's pond beside the railroad tracks that was used exclusively for boys. The opening of the Canton Airport was a boon to the Junction. The neighbors often went there on Sundays to take advantage of the dollar flight and to see Canton from the air. The Graf Zepplin and the Shenendoah dirigibles were plainly visible as they followed the railroad tracks to New York.

Then there were the legendary White sisters, whose house overlooked the airport and who invited friends to fly with them in a cabin plane to Plymouth and return for tea at their home. The charming sisters were frequent visitors at the airport. Known for their sense and sensitivity, they were a fixture at town meetings and often questioned the financial feasibility of proposals and the effect change would make on the town.

There have been many changes in the Junction section of Canton with the explosion of growth on Neponset and lower Chapman Streets. The Neponset Valley Industrial Park, the business building at Number 345, Chapman Park, Nick's Restaurant, gas stations, and Gabriel's Auction Centre are burgeoning commercial enterprises, while there has been corresponding growth in apartments and condominiums at the Junction. The road to Norwood was once known as the Willow Road, but today all the willow trees have been lost to development and highways.

Where is this little community now? Where is it heading? The Viaduct is scheduled for redesign so high speed trains can roar through. The old Canton Junction railroad station building will be literally picked up and moved to a new location to provide for hundreds of more commuter parking spots.

The Hardware section of Canton extends from Washington Street at High Street to the Sharon-Stoughton line and encompasses the side streets Pierce Place, Drake Lane, Shepard Street, Pond Street, Kinsley Place and the west end of Dunbar Street.

Water power essential for manufacturing in the early days was abundant in this part of town. An early fabrication site was located where Massapoag Brook crosses Shepard Street. Here at first were manufactured wagon wheels, and here, too, William Otis invented America's first earth excavator. Later in 1855 Luke and Joel Shepard erected a silk mill there where silk stockings were produced for sale across the country. The business flourished until destroyed by fire and explosion shortly after the beginning of the 20th century.

On the easterly side of Washington Street, near the present Newell S. Hagen Court, water flowing under Washington Street powered a forge owned by Richard Gridley who lived nearby at what is today 178 Washington Street. Gridley was a Major General in the American Revolution and founder of the Army Corps of Engineers. Nearby, too, at Kinsley Place is the burial ground where Gridley was initially interred.

` Across the street on the westerly side a building was erected in 1835 by the Canton Hardware Company whose principal was Jonathan Robinson. The enterprise became so successful that soon that whole end of town became known as "The Hardware." Their output consisted of pruning, knives, ferules, and screwdrivers.

At the home of Gridley's first forge, there were continuous manufacturing activities from 1772 till the middle of this century. American Net and Twine prospered there in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The site became more noted, however, as the home of Samson Electric which at one time was one of the largest producers of electrical equipment in this country. Its business was finally squeezed to death when some of its competitors combined to form the General Electric Company.

The Gridley School was opened in 1854 and served as a neighborhood school for over a hundred years. For most of that time it was a two-classroom building with Grades 1-3 on the first floor and Grades 4-6 on the second. There were only two teachers each responsible for three grades. Marion Maxim, Daniel Murphy, Ellen Cronan, Florence Alsop, and Helen White were some of the great teachers there.

In this Canton's Bicentennial year, it is also fitting to pay tribute to Pequitside Farm that will be one hundred and eighty-eight years old this summer.

The story of Pequitside Farm as we know it began on May 20, 1809, when the Reverend William Ritchie purchased a parcel of land on Pleasant Street. The land was sold by Martha Howard, widow of Reverend Zachariah Howard, for the sum of $2,230 for thirty-six acres. Mr. Ritchie built at least the front portion of the present Main House. Ritchie was the pastor of the First Congregational Church at Canton Corner. It was during his ministry here that the Separation of Church and State took place in Massachusetts. He married Miss Clarissa Kimball of Bradford, Mass. They had three sons, William, James and Daniel Kimball Ritchie, one of which became the Mayor of Roxbury. The Ritchies left Canton in 1821 to settle in Needham, Mass., where Rev. Ritchie was installed as Minister of the First Parish. He died in Needham in 1842, his wife Clarissa passed away in 1855.

In June of 1822, Mr. Ritchie sold his Pleasant Street parsonage to the Reverend Benjamin Huntoon. The house and property amounted to about twenty acres and cost $2,250. Reverend Huntoon and his wife had five children, one of whom was Daniel T. V. Huntoon. Daniel was the author of The History of Canton, published in 1893, after his death. In January 1822, Benjamin Huntoon was ordained as pastor of the First Congregational Church. In the winter of 1829 he left Canton to preach in Bangor, Maine. After the death of his wife in 1839, he returned to Massachusetts in 1840. In the spring of 1842 he returned to his old congregation in Canton. He died April 19, 1864. Before going to Bangor, he sold his Pleasant Street home with twenty acres to Phineas Miller Crane for $1,800. Huntoon later married Susan Lewis of Canton whose father had been a long time Selectman and had signed the documents incorporating the Town in 1797.

Phineas Miller Crane was the son of Major General Elijah and Desire (Withington) Crane. He graduated from Harvard in 1824 and received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1828. He was married in the winter of 1833. He practiced medicine in Canton before moving to East Boston where he died in 1882. He sold his Canton home to James Dunbar for $1,800.

Dunbar was the son of the Honorable Elijah Dunbar and was the youngest of nine children. He married Sarah Kinsley, the daughter of Adam and Sarah Kinsley. Adam Kinsley was a partner with Jonathan Leonard in the manufacture of iron implements. Later the partnership dissolved and Kinsley started the Kinsley Iron and Machine Company.

James Dunbar was the president of the Neponset Bank and in 1814 was the custodian of the Powder House which was built behind Pequitside in 1809. He was, also, a partner with James Bent in the manufacture of swords. He owned property with James Sumner in Sharon which was a source of timber and hay. Dunbar sold the Pleasant Street home with twenty acres to Benjamin R. Nichols for $2,100 on April 22, 1843. From 1846 to 1852, Nichols purchased other parcels on the easterly side of Pleasant Street. After his death the property remained with his heirs until April 8, 1854, when Thomas Ward purchased the original twenty acres for $7,600. It was at this time that Pequitside began to acquire its present boundaries. In May 1857, Ward bought the Little Red House parcel of six and a quarter acres for $2,600 and another twelve acres for $1,000. This brought his estate to thirty-eight and a quarter acres. He also, purchased another forty-five acres for $9,000 on the easterly side of Pleasant Street. Thomas Ward spent over $40,000 beautifying his estate. He built a greenhouse, grape arbor and planted forest and fruit trees as well as shade trees along Pleasant Street. Much of the existing landscaping and large trees were probably the doing of Ward. He was wealthy and the American agent for an English banking house. He also owned three other homes in Boston. Thomas Ward died early in 1858, leaving his wife, Lydia, and four children. He was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

In March 1876 Ward's estate sold the property to Colonel George Higginson. He paid $16,750 for the thirty-eight and a quarter acres. On the same day he also purchased for $1.00, the two and a quarter acres comprising what is now the parcel at 55 Pleasant Street. Higginson's gardener resided in the Red House.

On May 18, 1885, title passed to Charles N. Draper for the sum of $1.00. The reason for this low price, was that Charles Draper assumed two mortgages that Higginson had on the property. It was during Charles Draper's ownership that Pequitside acquired its name. Charles in previous years acquired other surrounding parcels. By September 1890, the farm had reached ninety-five acres in size.

Charles Norris Draper was the son of Thomas, who was born in England in 1808 and came to Canton around 1851. Thomas also had a younger brother, James, who also arrived in town. After the death of Thomas in 1856, Charles Draper and Charles French operated two knitting mills in town. Seven years later, Charles and Matthew Townsend formed the partnership of Draper and Townsend. In 1864, Charles purchased part of the Billing's Farm at Washington and Dedham Streets. Then a year later, he incorporated his mills as the Canton Woolen Mills. In 1869, the Canton Woolen Mills failed and were sold at auction to James Draper and Charles Sumner. In 1870, Charles built the Springdale Mill on Pleasant Street, where the Creekside Condominiums are today. In October 1888, through a taking of the Canton Board of Water Commissioners, Charles lost part of his Springdale Mill parcel. The original Water Works structure still exists today on the south side of Pine Street at the railroad crossing.

The main barn at the rear of Pequitside was completed by Charles N. Draper in July of 1893. The weather vane bears the initials C.N.D. and was originally plated with gold leaf. Charles N. Draper died on July 1, 1903, leaving his wife Martha (Gill) Draper and sons Joseph, John, Paul and James. Martha Draper in her younger days was a great friend to Martha (Crafts) Howard, sometimes referred to as "Patty" Howard, widow of Reverend Zachariah Howard. Martha Draper, at some point acquired Mrs. Howard's "Mourning Ring", which contained a lock of Rev. Howard's hair. It would be nice to see this artifact donated to the Historical Society.

The property was now under a trusteeship of the Martha and son Joseph until August 1915, when it was sold to John H. Draper for $6,000. In October 1919, Joseph and John Draper, as joint tenants, purchased the parcel at 10 Sumner Street, and built the house that still stands today. This property is at the rear of the main barn at Pequitside. In October 1923, Pequitside and the Sumner Street lot were transferred to Paul and Marjorie Draper. In the following years, parcels were sold off, and the farm went from ninety-five acres to its present thirty-four +/- acres. The so called "Tavern" building was probably built in the 1870's. This structure was where the gardener kept his supplies, this was also the laundry. In the 1920's, Paul Draper remodeled the tavern building as well as most of the main house.

As well as being a partner in the Draper Brothers Company, Paul also had half interest in the Stockton Wool Company, a limited partnership of Bradco Oil and Gas Company. He also had one-sixteenth interest in a Texas oil well. Paul A. Draper passed away on July 24, 1969, leaving his wife Marjorie and two children, Phyllis and Donald. Marjorie Draper passed away on April 6, 1970.

On June 15, 1971, the Town of Canton purchased Pequitside Farm from the Estate of Marjorie Draper. The town received matching grants from the Federal and State governments to acquire the property for $260,000. Today, Pequitside Farm is managed by the Canton Conservation Commission and most of the programs and events held there are under the direction of the Recreation Department.