Community Corner
What Is It? Do You Know the Tragic Story Behind this South Street Well?
Part of an occasional series on Patch that highlights places and things around town that raise curiosity.
Do you know what this is? Have you seen this abandoned well outside the house at 41 South Street?
My curiosity was piqued so I posed the question to Medfield Town Historian Richard DeSorgher.
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"This actually is a very sad place," said DeSorgher, who captures the story of the abandoned well in his new book on Medfield History 1926-1955.
According to town history, the abandoned well was filled in in 1936 after the body of six-year-old Lawrence Alger was found at the bottom. He had fallen through the wooden well cover while walking home from his grandmother's house.
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Except from DeSorgher's book...
[Lawrence Alger] had been missing for over seven hours before the body was found. He had fallen through a wooden cover into the well on his way home from his grandmother’s Brook Street home.
Patrolmen Arthur Kennedy, Daniel Hinkley and Walter Reynolds and state trooper James Luddy of the Foxboro barracks found the body after a resident had reported that the wooden cover of the well was broken.
The body was recovered with a small grappling iron from 15 feet of water. There were no bruises on the body and no indication of foul play.
After failing to return home, police and fire departments were notified and the fire alarm was rung to call out firemen to help in the search. Boy Scouts, members of the American Legion and volunteers conducted a town-wide search. During the night, volunteers used torches, flares and searchlights looking for young Lawrence Alger.
Editor's Note: Have you seen something in town that has piqued your curiosity? Are you wondering what it is or what it does or where it came from? Drop a line in the comment section below and we'll try to figure it out for you.
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