Preserving the Past
Occasionally, people run across an old document, or an antique that they want to donate to the Historical society. The office is full of material that the staff carefully sorts through and catalogs. Not all of it ends up on our doorstep though. Rather than trying to figure out how to donate the material, we often receive a phone call, […]
» Read moreThroughout history, it was not unusual for people to name their children after popular leaders. If you are a boy and your last name happens to be Lincoln, and it’s the middle of the 19th century, then there is a chance that your parents could have named you Abraham. Today we will visit one. The date is February 2, 1861. […]
» Read moreIt is a local tradition across America to name buildings after people who have made a difference in our way of life, and Ashland is no different. In our community, the elementary schools that were originally named after the streets they were built on changed their names to honor prominent citizens like Henry Warren, David Mindess, and William Pittaway. Growing […]
» Read moreWe have visited the mail system in Ashland before, but it is nice to re-visit on occasion. In today’s world where communication is instantaneous there is less of a need for “snail mail” as it is now referred to. Why sit down and pen something, stick it in an envelope, find a stamp, and drop it in the mailbox when […]
» Read moreIt’s fun to look at old buildings in town and wonder about their origins. I look at Lunker’s next to the downtown fire station and remember Bean’s and the Ashland News Store. Others remember the old Hunt and Denver or maybe Ozzie’s Market depending upon your age. A lot of these buildings still exist, and a lot have burned to […]
» Read moreOccasionally, I like to take a look around Ashland and try to envision what the town looked like “way back when.” We all know that Ashland is a relatively new town compared to Framingham, Holliston and Hopkinton, but we also know that Ashland is comprised of these three elder towns: equal parts of Framingham and Hopkinton, and a smaller part […]
» Read moreI had the privilege of serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals for a number of years and one of my favorite ways to kill an hour or so before a meeting was to go upstairs in the Town Hall and read Town Clerk records from the 1800’s. This was before the latest restoration of the building, and everything was […]
» Read moreI was sorting through the volumes of Ashland Directions when I ran across an article by Kay Powers from 1998. It was about a former Curator of the Ashland Historical Society that was overlooked in a previous Stories of Ashland that listed all the former Curators. Leon Warren Davis was not born in Ashland, but spent the majority of his […]
» Read moreAnyone who has spent any time in the Emergency Room at Framingham Union Hospital or Milford or Leonard Morse knows they were not there for the free water or TV. They are there because they or a loved one has a medical problem that can’t be remedied with two Alka-Seltzers or a Band-Aid. All these hospitals provide crucial urgent care […]
» Read moreUnless you are a dyed-in-the-wool running fan or an Ashland resident, most people know the Boston Marathon as a 26.2 mile run from Hopkinton to Boston. For the locals, we know it all began in Ashland on Pleasant St. across from Metcalf’s Mill in 1897. With all the “repurposing” going on lately it comes as no surprise that the line […]
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