Author: stacenfhc

Bonfiglio Perini (1863(?)-1924), an Italian immigrant, through hard work and sharp business sense became an American success story.  He was born in 1863(?) in Gotolengo, Italy. When he was a young boy, he began working as a gardener for the Rothschild family in Switzerland.  In 1882 at the age of nineteen, he returned to Italy to serve in the military.  It was during this time that he dreamt of coming to America.  After completing his military service, Bonfiglio began his journey to America.  He went first to France where he had to work for a year and a half to earn enough money to pay for the rest of his passage.  He arrived in New York in 1885.

By 1887, Bonfiglio had made his way from New York to Massachusetts where there was plenty of work building dams.  In 1890, he met and married Clementina Marchesi in Boston.  The couple settled in Ashland, Massachusetts to raise their large family.  Around 1894, Bonfiglio established his own general contracting company in a storefront in Ashland.  In the early years, the company built waterworks projects, such as dams and culverts, and sections of the Boston and Worcester Railway in Eastern Massachusetts.  During these years, he had a following of Italian craftsmen who worked with him on his projects.  Bonfiglio was an innovator who looked beyond the excavation equipment of the day (horses and tipcarts) to mechanized equipment (steam shovels, etc.).  His company soon earned a reputation for high quality work and was offered jobs throughout New England and New York.   In 1917, Bonfiglio incorporated the company and renamed it B. Perini & Sons, Inc. 

In 1917, they built one of the first hot-mix asphalt roads in Rhode Island.  During the 1920s, B. Perini & Sons worked mostly on highway projects, including relocating a section of the Boston Post Road (Route 20) in Sudbury paid for by Henry Ford and the Wayside Inn.

When Bonfiglio died in 1924, four of his children took over running the company: Louis (age 21) became President, Joseph (age 24) became Treasurer, Ida (age 28) became Secretary, and Charlie (age 14) became Vice-President of Equipment.   Under their leadership, the company continued to grow.  In 1931, they moved their offices from the Ashland storefront to a new building on Mount Wayte Avenue in Framingham (across from Bowditch Field).

Over the years, the Perinis have been involved in many different business ventures.  During World War II with the demand for coal great, they went into the coal strip-mining business while working in several coal belt states.  For a time, this proved to be a very profitable business.  By 1948 with the war over, demand for coal dropped off and the Perinis shut down this part of their enterprise.  In 1945, Louis Perini and two other investors purchased the Boston Braves Major League Baseball Team.  The Perini Corporation eventually bought out the other investors and moved the team in Milwaukee in 1953.  The Perinis owned the team until 1961.

The 1950s saw many changes.  The company was renamed the Perini Corporation, they started a building division, and they took on projects worldwide.   Locally, they built three middle schools in Framingham (Barbieri, Cameron, and Farley), Framingham Industrial Park, as well as a sewer treatment plant in Marlborough. They worked on pipelines in Alaska and Saudi Arabia, built a hospital in Kuwait, and worked on subway systems in San Francisco and Toronto.  In Massachusetts, they worked on the Callahan Tunnel, Copley Place, the Big Dig, Massachusetts Turnpike, Cape Cod Canal, and runways and buildings at Logan Airport.

Perini Corporation merged with Tutor-Saliba Corporation of California in 1997 and today is known as the Tutor-Perini Corporation.  In October 2001, Tutor-Perini moved its world headquarters out of Framingham to southern California.

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Bibliography

Bisha, Pat A. “Perini Corporation: A Family Affair.” The MetroWest Business Review, Sept. 1986, p.8+

Brauer, Steve. “The Perini’s.” South Middlesex News, 01 June 1975, p. 81H.

Field, Charles Jr. “Perini History Part 1 (1885-1997).” Youtube. 18 Dec. 2014. https://youtu.be/jfRw50CVhTg Accessed 27 June 2017.

Patterson, Charles J. “The Perini Story.” America’s Builders 2­4, 1954:1­8.

“Perini Corporation History.” Funding Universe. 11 Apr. 2017.

Tremblay, Bob. “Framingham’s Perini Corp. builds on history.” Metro West Daily News, 13 July 2009. http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/x737770421/Framinghams-Perini-Corp-builds-on-history. Accessed 27 June 2017.

Tutor Perini Construction to leave Framingham Following Merger.” Boston.com, 21 Oct. 2009. http://archive.boston.com/yourtown/news/framingham/2009/10/tutor_perini_construction_to_l.html Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

Miss Moulton (1831 – 1922) was the teacher in the one-room schoolhouse located on the lot on Edgell Road where Nobscot Park is now.  She was an excellent teacher; in its report for 1855-56 the School Committee wrote:

Miss Moulton has the happy faculty to maintain perfect order, without producing an automaton stiffness, and without the sacrifice of constant interest in study and recitations.  Each scholar was trained to independent thought; and with an almost endless variety of exercises, interspersed among the regular school duties, there was none without a good tendency and aim.  She made her school, in every sense, a model school.

In 1860 she was moved to the intermediate school at District 1 in Framingham Centre, “composed of children of various ages, who are not far enough advanced to enter the Grammar Department.”  Here she also earned high praise from the School Committee:

Miss Moulton has been long and most favorably known as an accomplished and successful instructress, and her labors in this department have been very satisfactory…  The order of the school has been unexceptionable, throughout the year.  The children have been most faithfully drilled, in all their studies…  In mental arithmetic and reading, the exercises of the pupils give evidence of much improvement.  The unanimous feeling of the district is approbation of the excellent condition of the school.

In 1868 Miss Moulton gave up teaching and took over a bookstore in Framingham Centre.  Later she moved to her own house on High Street where she opened a shop.  She sold newspapers and magazines and various “fancy goods.”  Ladies, Like Julia Hurd of Church St., could stop in to buy stockings, handkerchiefs, sewing supplies or greeting cards.  They also brought Miss Moulton gifts of baked goods, or vegetables and fruit from their gardens and orchards.  Her old scholars came to visit as well, the Nobscot schoolchildren now grown men and women.

After fifty-two years in business Miss Moulton sold her shop in 1920 and went to live with a nephew in Vermont.  She died in 1922 at the age of ninety-one.

Why did she leave teaching when she was so good at it? Was it just because she wanted to be independent and decide for herself when her work was good? Was it because of the low salary?  In 1860-61 she earned $186 for twenty-eight weeks of teaching. Was it because of the unfairness of paying women teachers half the amount a man would earn?  (In the report of 1853-54 the School Committee announced that it had now replaced all the male common school teachers with females, thus saving enough to offer an additional term each year.) 

Facts

Miss Moulton’s father was a carpenter. He built a house, shop and barn for his daughter in the 1860s. This “Moulton Block” was torn down in the 1930s to make way for widening Route 9.

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Bibliography

Framingham Evening News. “Leaves for new scenes, long in business here.” [25 Jun. 1920] Photocopy.

Framingham Evening News. “Agency for newspapers, half century; Miss Moulton, long in business at Framingham Centre, passes away in 91st year.” 24 May 1922. Photocopy.

Framingham in 1876: Ladies Contribution to Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. Scrapbook of a series of photographs by A. H. Folsom. [c.1976]

Framingham, Mass. School Committee. Report of the School Committee of the Town of Framingham, 1853-54; 1855-56; 1860-61. Framingham, 1854-61.

Hurd, Julia. Framingham Grandmother: The Diary of Julia Hurd, 1909-1914, transcribed by Martha Davidson. 2000. Entries for 2 Aug.1911; 2 May, 2 Dec. 1913.

Rice, Harry C. Letter, 24 Jun. 1931, to Members of the Historical Society about houses on High Street about to be razed for widening of Route 9.

Dorothy “Rusty” McLean (1914 – 1989) was not afraid to reach for the stars! Born in Florenceville, New Brunswick (Canada) on Sept. 6, 1914, she was educated in Framingham and went on to attend the University of Denver. She was a graduate of Framingham’s civilian pilot training program, and underwent instrument training in Michigan as well as officers training in Orlando, Florida. She was eventually assigned to Weather Wing Headquarters in Ashville, N.C. where she flew weather reconnaissance using B25’s, C 45’s, and UC 78’s.

Framingham had two airports in earlier years. One was at the Musterfield and the other, Gould Field, was at the Adesa Auction site. As  the United States entered World War II , the need for people experienced in aviation was evident and many in Framingham would answer that call.  As more men were needed over seas for combat duty, some female pilots advocated for the U.S. to find and recruit women ferry pilots to take over their positions. Finally, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor these proposals were adopted and  over 25,000 women applied with 1,074 being chosen for the  Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, (WAFS)-Dorothy among those chosen. Their main job was to fly supplies from factories to various military bases. The future of military aviation depended on how these women performed in all aspects of their lives. In August of 1943, the WAFS would join forces with a similar band of female pilots called the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and would come to be known as the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).   

After leaving the service, according to Betty Stagg Turner in the book Out of the Blue and Into History, Dorothy continued as an instructor, a corporate pilot for a mining corporation and a pilot for a feeder airline. She retired from Martin Marietta Aerospace and enjoyed traveling through Europe. Although they had not been given military status and instead were classified as civilian pilots, Dorothy and the other WASPs showed that women were capable of directly participating in the war effort and were ready and willing to take on some of the most challenging tasks to ensure victory.  The WASP were finally awarded veteran status in 1977, and her family received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009. Rusty passed away August 29, 1989 and is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.

Special thanks: Doug McLean for genealogy research.

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Bibliography

Dewar, Martha E. and M. Joan Gibert, Framingham Historical Reflections The Town of Framingham Massachusetts, 1974.

Herring, Stephen, Framingham: An American Town, The Framingham Historical Society, The Framingham Tercentennial Commission, 2000.

Rickman, Sarah Byrn. “The WAFS…and How They Began, ”Wasp News, Special Issue, vol. LIV, no. 2, Texas Woman’s University, Fall 2016, p. cover.

Turner, Betty Stagg, Out of the Blue and Into History, Aviatrix Publishing, 2001. “Wasp Last Flight.”  Texas Woman’s University Class News,  vol. 111, no.1, Winter 2016, p. 19.

“Wasp Last Flight.”  Texas Woman’s University Class News,  vol. 111, no.1, Winter 2016, p. 19.

Sharon Christa Corrigan (1948 – 1986), born on September 2, 1948, was always interested in space. Christa, who would go by her middle name from an early age, was inspired by the Apollo moon landing program and by Project Mercury, and would eventually write on her NASA application “I watched the Space Age being born, and I would like to participate.” Born in Boston, her family moved to Framingham when she was a child. The Coorigan family lived on Joseph Road and Christa graduated from Marian High School in 1966.  She would eventually receive her bachelor’s degree in history and education from Framingham State College. Though she never stopped being interested in space, McAuliffe began a career as a middle school civics teacher after marrying Steven J. McAuliffe in 1970 and was known for using field trips and speakers to actively engage her American history students. 

Christa found the perfect opportunity to rekindle her passion for science and space exploration in 1984 when President Ronald Reagan announced the Teachers in Space Project. The program was used by NASA to send an “ordinary person”, the first civilian and teacher, into space. She became one of 11,000 applicants, and was ultimately chosen due to what a NASA official called her “infectious enthusiasm”. Taking a year off of teaching, Christa began her training and was set to perform various science experiments and even teach lessons in space, which would broadcast to millions of schoolchildren around the U.S.

In January of 1986, Christa, along with six other crew members, boarded the Challenger space shuttle. The shuttle took flight but broke apart 73 seconds after launching, resulting in the deaths of all the crew members. A commission organized to investigate the accident found that the shuttle had broken apart due to the poor design of the O-Rings, which were used to act as a pressure seal for the shuttle. Despite her untimely death, Christa’s legacy remains strong as she showed the value and importance of educators as well as the worth of following dreams and passions, no matter how unattainable they may seem. Many scholarships and buildings, including Framingham State’s McAuliffe Center, are named after Christa to honor her memory and courageous spirit, while furthering research of space. The Framingham History Center has one of Christa’s NASA uniforms on display, on loan from NASA.

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Bibliography

“Christa McAuliffe.” Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017. Web. 07 July 2017.

The women’s suffrage movement (to give women the right to vote) was spearheaded by now famous suffragettes such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. However, they weren’t the only ones who fought for women’s equal rights-a local woman who stood out was Louise Parker Mayo (1868 – 1952). Louise was a former teacher, farmer’s wife and mother of seven children- two daughters and five sons. She also drove “the barge” a horse-drawn wagon that took children to school.

Many women in Framingham joined the Framingham Equal Suffrage League but Louise was very active. In 1916, she went to Washington with a group of women to picket the White House, carrying signs that read “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity”. They were quickly arrested and sentenced to 60 days in jail.

The suffragettes traveled by train and arrived at the prison’s work house by 6 o’clock in time for a shower and to dress for dinner. After their shower the prison suits were donned. A gray-colored, one piece dress cut to fit the average female figure. Plain blue cotton  stockings were also worn. No jewelry of any kind was allowed.

The women worked alongside the other prisoners with the matron supervising. More than likely they were assigned to the sewing room where they sewed clothes for the prisoners. They may have had to work in the garden and do similar tasks.

Sundays there was no work and the prisoners could gather around a piano in the common room and sing. The ladies couldn’t receive visitors but could write letters subject to jail censorship.

The women served two days before a pardon came from President Wilson. This incident caused national attention and moved us closer to gaining voting rights for women and the creation of the 19^th amendment, which was added to the constitution in 1920.

The National Woman’s Party recognized Louise Mayo’s sacrifice and awarded her and others with a pin in the shape of a jailhouse door. Louise’s pin can be seen at the Framingham History Center. 

Further Reading

Carson, Mary Kay, Why couldn’t Susan B. Anthony vote? and other questions about…women’s    suffrage, Sterling Children’s Books, 2015.

Colman, Penny, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, :Dumbeck, Kristina, Leaders of women’s suffrage, Lucent Books, 2001.

Halmer, Diana Star, Women’s Suffrage, Facts On File, Inc., 1998.

Hill, Jeff, Defining Moments Women’s Suffrage, Omnigraphics, Inc., 2006.

Sagan, Miriam, Women’s Suffrage, Lucent Books, Inc., 1954.

Framingham Tercentennial Commission, 2000.

Herring, Stephen, Top Ten Remarkable Women From Framingham History,” Framingham Historical Society, 2000.

“Sixteen Militants Begin 60-day Term.” Washington Post, 18 July 1917.

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Bibliography

Danker, Anita C. “Grassroots Suffragists: Josephine Collins and Louise Mayo, a study in contrasts.” New England Journal of History, vol. 67, no. 2, Spring 2011, pp.54-72.

Dewar, Martha E., and M. Joan Gilbert, Framingham Historical Reflections, Town of  Framingham Massachusetts, 1974.

Herring, Stephen, Framingham: An American Town, Framingham Historical Society. http://suffragistmrsrobertwalker.org/sample-page/sixteen-militants-begin-60-day-term

“Suffrage in Framingham.” Framingham History Center.  http://www.framinghamhistory.org/resources .  Accessed 06 June 2017.

In every town, in every era, there is a person who stands out for his/her commitment to community service.  Jonathan Maynard (1752-1835) was Framingham’s leading citizen following the Revolutionary War.  Jonathan was the second son of Jonathan and Martha (Gleason) Maynard.  The Maynards lived on Salem Street (now called Salem End Road) in Framingham Centre.

When the Revolutionary War began, Maynard was within days of completing his studies at Harvard College.  He immediately left Harvard to enlist in the Framingham Company attached to Col. John Nixon’s regiment.  Eight weeks later, he saw combat in the Battle of Bunker Hill.  During the evacuation of Boston by the British in March of 1776, he was removed to upstate New York. He fought in most of the battles in that area including Stillwater and Saratoga.

During the winter of 1777-78, while stationed in Albany, Maynard and five other Framingham men in General John Nixon’s brigade joined the Freemasons, a fraternal organization.  This group included Col. Thomas Nixon, Capt. Peter Cloyes, Lieut. Samuel Frost, Lieut. Trowbridge, and Luther Trowbridge.  Legend has it that on May 30, 1778, while on a reconnaissance or foraging mission, Maynard and a few other soldiers were attacked and captured by a band of Mohawks, allies of the British.  All of the soldiers were killed by the Mohawks except for Maynard.  He was brought back to their leader, Chief Joseph Brant.  Chief Brant had been educated in Britain, spoke English, and as luck would have it, was also a Freemason. Chief Brant sentenced Maynard to be burned at the stake.  Just as he was to be executed, Maynard gave the Freemason hand signal for extreme peril which the Chief recognized.  Brant stopped the execution! He then sent Maynard to Canada as a prisoner of war for the next thirty one months.  Upon his release on December 26, 1780, Maynard returned to his company at West Point, and was promoted to the rank of Captain.  On November 19, 1781, after the battle of Yorktown, he resigned his commission and returned to his hometown of Framingham.

Once home, Maynard settled into civilian life.  He first found employment as a school teacher.  And then on May 30, 1784, he married Lois Eaton, the oldest child of Jonas and Lois (Goodnow) Eaton. The Maynards made their home in Framingham Centre in the partially finished Patterson House, which had been moved from the Nobscot area to Pleasant Street.  

Maynard became very involved in town affairs.  He was appointed Justice of the Peace.  He served a three year term as a town selectman, and then a two year term as the town clerk.  In 1810, he was appointed to be Framingham’s first postmaster, a position he held for twenty-three years.

Maynard then took his political ambitions to the state level.  He was elected to the state legislature and served as state representative for fifteen years, 1790-1805.  On January 14, 1800, W. Winthrop resigned his seat in the Senate, and Maynard was tapped as his replacement.  He served in the state Senate until 1807.  Maynard served concurrent terms as representative and senator for the years 1801-1805.

Maynard found something lacking in his civilian life in Framingham.  It was the comradery of the Masonic meetings. He and the others who had joined the Freemasons in Albany decided to establish a lodge in their hometown.  Maynard gathered eleven men (the minimum number needed to establish a lodge) and petitioned the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for a charter.  The charter, signed by Paul Revere, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, was granted on June 9, 1795.   Among these eleven charter members eight were from Framingham and three from surrounding towns.  The Middlesex Lodge of Freemasons held their meetings at Maynard’s home for the first twelve years with Maynard as the Grand Master.  Maynard was an active Freemason for fifty-eight years, attending his last meeting just months before his death.

Captain Jonathan Maynard died on July 17, 1835 and is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Framingham Centre.  To acknowledge his service and devotion to the town of Framingham, an elementary school built on Vernon Street in 1915 (now part of Framingham State University) and a road in Framingham Centre are named in his honor. The area in Framingham Centre extending from the First Baptist Church west along Pleasant Street to the railroad tracks, including property on Maynard Road was designated as the Jonathan Maynard Historic District by the 1994 Annual Town Meeting.

Facts

Birth date: May 22, 1752

The Maynard House is located at 113 Pleasant Street.

First officers of the Framingham Grand Lodge: Capt. Jonathan Maynard, Master; Capt. Peter Cloyes, Senior Warden; Barzaiiai Bannister, Junior Warden; Capt. Samuel Frost, Secretary; Major Andrew Brown, Treasurer; Col. Thomas Nixon, Senior Deacon; Thomas Buckland, Jr., Deacon.

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Bibliography

Brownell, John H., ed. “Life Story of Jonathan Maynard.” The American Tyler-Keystone: Devoted to Freemansonry and its Concerdant Others. vol. 14, no. 2, July 15 1899, pp. 42-43. Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?id=9R_nAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA42&dq=life+of+jonathan+maynard+american+tyler-keystone&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ9M2i5tPdAhWLct8KHZdtDN4Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=lifeofjonathanmaynardamericantyler-keystone&f=false Accessed 24 Sept. 2018.

City of Framingham, Historic District Commission. “613 Pleasant Street Preliminary Report (pdf).” City of Framingham website. https://www.framinghamma.gov/1555/Historic-District-Commission Accessed 21 Dec. 2018.

Coolidge, Charles W. “Brief Sketch of His Military and Masonic Life.” The Tribune. 01 Apr. 1898. Pp.4+”The following democratic republican senators are probably chosen by the people.” National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser [Washington, District Of Columbia] 20 Apr. 1804. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/ncnp/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=NCNP&userGroupName=mlin_b_bpublic&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=GT3017437465&t

Herring, Stephen. Framingham: An American Town. Framingham Historical Society, The Framingham Tercentennial Commission, 2000.

“Joseph Brant”. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2018. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Accessed 28 Sept. 2018.

“Maynard, Jonathan Captain.” The State Legislative Biographical card file. State Library of Massachusetts, Reference Dept.

“Post Office Appointments.” National Intelligencer [Washington, District Of Columbia] 8 Dec. 1810. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/ncnp/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=NCNP&userGroupName=mlin_b_bpublic&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=GT3017453105&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 Accessed 23 Sept 2018.

Temple, Josiah H. History of Framingham, Massachusetts, 1640-1885. A special Centennial Year reprinting of the 1887 edition. New England History Press, 1988.

George Francis Marlowe (1877 – 1955) was born in Norwood, England on March 30, 1877.  During his childhood, the family moved to Worcester, Massachusetts.  After graduating from Worcester High School, George attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge where he studied architecture, drawing and painting.

On July 28, 1909, George married Diantha Williams Horne (1879-1966), a children’s book illustrator from Framingham, Massachusetts.  The couple moved into a home designed by George at 198 Maynard Road, and called the English garden style house “Little Maynard”. The house is still standing there today.

Early in his career, he worked for two Boston architectural firms, Peabody and Stearns, and Andres, Jacques, and Rantoul.  It was during this period that he designed two buildings for Wellesley College: Hallowell House and Horton House. 

In 1922, Marlowe was hired by Babson Institute (Babson College today).  While an employee of Babson, he designed ten buildings for the campus.  After Park Manor, the last of the ten, was completed in 1930, he resigned from the college and went to work full time in a private architectural firm which he had established in 1928.  Between 1928 and 1938, he worked on many projects including several local ones: St. Andrew’s Church, the expansion of Framingham High School (Union Avenue), the Edgell Memorial Library (Edgell Road) in Framingham, and the Walnut School in Natick.

Marlowe was involved in many local organizations. In addition to being a member of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, The Boston Society of Architects, and the American Institute of Architects, he was also a member and president (1932-1942) of the Framingham Historical and Natural History Society and a trustee for the Edgell Memorial Library.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Marlowe authored several books on the cultural history of New England.  In them, he highlighted the churches, inns, villages, and roads throughout the region. He illustrated these with pencil sketches and photographs taken during his travels.

George F. Marlowe died on April 30, 1955 and is buried in the Edgell Grove Cemetery in Framingham Centre.

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Bibliography

Marlowe, Diantha Williams Horne.  Dedication in Devoted Memory of George Francis Marlowe, 1877-       1955.  Privately printed. State Historical Company, 1957.

Rybnikar, R. C. “George Francis Marlowe, Jr.”  Babson College History, Blog Spot. 21 July 2009.  http://babsonhistory.blogspot.com/2009/07/george-francis-marlowe-jr.html    Accessed 05 Apr. 2017.

After completing his second year of high school, Richard Henry Long (1865 – 1957) already knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. By this time, he had begun his career as a businessman in his father’s shoe manufacturing firm in Braintree, MA. At the age of twenty-four, he took over running the company.  Long made a lasting impact on the industry as he instituted the use of employee time cards.  He explained to his workers that by keeping track of their time (the cost of labor) he could accurately figure out the actual cost of the shoes.  Under his leadership, the business grew so much that Long had to find a larger factory building.  In 1895, he moved the company to Belchertown in western Massachusetts and renamed it the R. H. Long Shoe Manufacturing Company.  The demand for their Traveler and Waldorf shoes was so great that soon Long had to once again find a larger building for the company.  In 1902, on a train ride through Framingham, he noticed a building for rent.  He got off the train at the next stop and walked back to look at it, and ended up signing a five year lease.  With his company now in Framingham, he rented a home only a couple of miles away from his new factory on Newton Place and got to work growing his business even more.

When the Long family grew to five children, R. H. purchased a much larger home, the Nevins Estate, which was located on 325 acres between Farm Pond, Reservoir No. 2, and the railroad. In 1910, he built a five story modern factory building which featured large windows for better lighting and ventilation, a cafeteria that offered good food at reasonable prices, and a first-aid room staffed by nurses on this land. This building, now known as the Bancroft Lofts located at 59 Fountain Street, was renovated in 2018 as an apartment complex.

During World War I, Long decided to change the focus of his business. He retooled his shoe factory to make canvas and leather products which were in high demand for the British and American armies. Business was very good and once again the company needed more factory space, so he bought the Bela Body Co., which built automobile bodies. Just a few months after he bought this business, the war ended and the government cancelled all their orders for the canvas and leather army supplies-so Long now found himself in the automobile business!

Besides being a successful businessman, R. H. Long was also active in Massachusetts politics. He was the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1912, but lost the election. In 1918 and 1919, he again ran for public office, but this time for the governorship. He lost both elections to his Republican opponent, Calvin Coolidge.

Tragedy struck the Long Family in 1920. His wife, Mabel died on July tenth in a plane crash while on a sightseeing flight over the Hampton and Salisbury beach area of New Hampshire. To keep busy, Long threw himself into a new business venture.

In the Bela Body factory on Clark Street in Framingham and in a new factory he built in Worcester, Long began making his own line of cars which he called the Bay State. He set out to make a high quality car with the looks and performance of a luxury car that sold for an affordable price. He made only two models: one with a six cylinder engine and the second with an eight cylinder engine. They were available in different body styles, ranging from a two seater roadster to a seven passenger sedan. During the four years the company was in business, only about four thousand Bay State automobiles were produced.

The end of the Bay State Auto Company did not end R. H. Long’s involvement with automobiles. His next business move was to open a car dealership. In 1927, he began selling Cadillacs out of an old shoe factory building on Waverly Street in South Framingham. Business was so good, that he was soon selling GMC vehicles and Pontiacs alongside the Cadillacs.

In 1927, R. H. Long turned the management of the dealership over to his son Charles who had just graduated from Harvard, but R.H. was far from retirement! He continued to work at the dealership until he was in his eighties. He passed away on April 16, 1957 at the age of ninety-one. His company is still in the business of selling Cadillacs today. It is known as the Long Auto Group and is headquartered in Southborough, Massachusetts.

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Bibliography

Berkowitz, Rebecca. “R. H. Long, Automobiles and Historic Framingham.”  Framingham Patch, 13 July 2011. https://patch.com/massachusetts/framingham/rh-long-automobiles-and-historic-framingham. Accessed 3 May 2017.

“Cadillac’s Marathon Man.” Cadillac Insider Magazine.  May/June 1991.  Long Automotive Group, 2017.  https://www.longauto.com/cadillac-s-marathon-man.  Accessed 14 May 2017.

Cegelis Sylvia. “The “Bay State’ Returns.” The South Middlesex News, 14 June 1975.  Long Auto Group 2017. www.longauto.com/the-bay-state-returns.  Accessed 14 May 2017.

Long, Charles F. Sr. A Family History: Long, White, Fernald, Bradshaw.  Vanguard Communications, 1990.

“The Long Story.” Long Automotive Group, 2017. www.longauto.com/the-long-story. Accessed  7 May 2107.

“Richard H. Long marries his typist.” The New York Times, 19 July 1921.  https://www.Ancestry.com/mediauiviewer/tree/1793022/person/556723561/Medi/2b9a58c4-5fae-4fde-9528-901c821a9eb8.  Accessed 01 June 2017.

Theobald, Mark. “Bela Body Co.” Coachbuilt, 2004.  http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/b/bela/bela.htm.  Accessed 14 May 2017.

In the 1700s, Framingham, like most places, was a man’s world. Women couldn’t vote or hold public office, and it would be this way for two more centuries. Advanced education for women during this time was not considered important, and some even felt that allowing women to pursue academics was dangerous. However, Lydia Learned (1730 – 1792) did not let this stop her from learning all she could and leaving a lasting impact on Framingham. She was the second of eleven children to Moses and Lydia Bryant Learned. They lived on a farm on the south end of Learned Pond, which had been named after their grandfather. 

Before there were schoolhouses, little children in New England learned their alphabet and numbers from a neighborhood lady, who earned some money by teaching them in her home. Lydia probably went to such a “dame school,” but she wanted to know more than the basics. Boys could go on to study at grammar schools and later prepare for university, but girls were expected to stay at home and learn housekeeping and sewing.

Lydia learned much more. She read a great deal and taught herself to write poetry and essays on serious topics like the ten commandments. She never married but worked as a schoolteacher.  In Reverend Josiah Temple’s History of Framingham 1640-1880, he described her as “a voluminous writer in prose and verse, much of which was printed.” It was surprising that her work was published. There were few printing presses in colonial America and none in Framingham. Anything that was printed was by male politicians or ministers. Perhaps that is why some of Lydia Learned’s work was printed anonymously.

Lydia wrote religious treatises (similar to an essay) and wonderful poems. In 1777 when the community was shocked by the sudden death of two of its citizens by a bolt of lightning, she wrote a mourning poem that was printed and widely circulated. The families of the victims were so moved that parts of it were inscribed on the headstones of the deceased and can still be read in the Old Burying Ground. The stanza is as follows:

My trembling heart with grief o’erflows,

While I record the death of those,

Who d’yed from thunder sent from heav’n

In sev’nteen hundred seventy-seven

According to Stephen Herring, former Town Historian, Lydia Learned sowed the first seeds of a Framingham tradition that values education. A tradition carried on by the Framingham Academy founded in 1792, which admitted “children of both sexes…upon equal terms,” as well as by the State Normal School (today’s Framingham State University) and the model school system of the current century.

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Bibliography

Herring, Stephen W., An American Town, The Framingham Historical Society, 2000.

Herring, Stephen W., “Top Ten Remarkable Women From Framingham’s History,” Town Historian, Framingham Historical Society.

Temple, J. H., History of Framingham 1640-1880, The Town of Framingham, 1887.

Dr. John B. Kittredge (1771 – 1848) made a mistake. As Framingham’s first doctor with an M.D. degree, he set up practice in 1791 and many were impressed with his medical capabilities. So much so that in 1793, a Framingham resident named Abidja Parmenter had a sick relative from New Hampshire come and see the young doctor. Dr. Kittredge initially thought the patient had dropsy (a swelling of the legs). To Dr. Kittredge’s dismay, it turned out he had a much more serious illness: smallpox. The virus quickly spread through the west side of town. Due to the good reputation of Kittredge, smallpox was in Framingham.

Smallpox outbreaks were being reported all around New England in the early 1790’s. Smallpox, a virus that causes flu-like symptoms and raised sores on the skin, spread easily as it was highly contagious, and wreaked havoc on cities, towns and Native American tribes. A smallpox diagnosis was usually a death sentence. 

Dr. Kittredge’s patient did not survive. A “pest house”, where people with the disease stayed in quarantine, was formed at the home of Samuel Angier, a Revolutionary war veteran who was one of the first to be infected with the virus in Framingham.  The town was wary of bringing the dead bodies into town for proper burial, so those who died were buried in a nearby pasture under flat stones, without inscriptions.  Despite being connected to the smallpox outbreak, Dr. Kittredge remained a respected member of the medical community and his advice was often sought after by other physicians. He was one of the first professional men to come to Framingham town Centre and establish it as a bustling business place for Framingham and surrounding towns, and in that way his legacy is still felt today.

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Bibliography

Coss, Stephen, The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics, Simon and Schuster, 2016.

Fenn, Elizabeth A., Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82, Hill and Wang, 2001.

Herring, Stephen, Framingham: An American Town, The Framingham Historical Society, The Framingham Tercentennial Commission, 2000.

Temple, J. H., History of Framingham 1640-1880, The Town of Framingham, 1887.

Willrich, Michael, Pox: An American History, The Penquin Press, 2011.