A weekly column by Town Historian Richard DeSorgher. This week focuses on the burning of town hall 90 years ago this week.
It was exactly 90 years ago, on Jan. 17, 1923, that the Medfield Town Hall burned for the second time in 50 years. That morning dawned bitter cold and all of Medfield was covered in a blanket of white from a recent snowstorm. It was just before 7 a.m. when the first alarm came in that Medfield’s seat of government was on fire. Before the day was over, the entire inside of Town Hall was gutted, leaving only a partial shell standing. The blankets of snow on the nearby buildings kept the fire from spreading. Hot embers were reported to have fallen up to two miles away. A defective chimney was thought to have been the cause. Luckily the town had installed a fireproof cement vault which saved many of the town records. This was a lesson learned…
Facing bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service is planning to close post offices and processing centers.
Facing bankruptcy, the U.S Postal Service is cutting its delivery standards for the first time in 40 years. The agency is planning cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery, the Huffington Post reports. Medfield Board of Selectmen chair Osler "Pete" Peterson told Medfield Patch he was "frustrated" with Monday's news. "I have the same frustration I have with the failure of Congress to act to govern this country in so many other respects as well," Peterson said. "Congress now seems institutionally incapable of making the necessary decisions required to govern this country, even when faced with the most dire circumstances. Witness the recent inability of the Super Committee to agree on how to control our budget problems. "I…
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Marsha Blair Hartung
9:23 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
I have memories of a movie theatre being in the town hall during the early 50's...saw a cowboy movie there as a pre-schooler. Marsha Hartung more ›