North Attleborough Historical Society

March 2006

Apr 13, 2006

March Meeting
On Monday, March 20th at 7:30 PM at the Little Red Schoolhouse, Jane Hennedy, director of the Old Colony Historical Society presents "Simple Start to Silver Finish: Reed & Barton, the First 100 Years". Through her slide show, Ms. Hennedy discusses the history of the Reed and Barton firm, in the context of historical trends of the day. Styles, local and national history, popular trends and decorative arts issues will be emphasized.
Tracing its start in the nearby city of Taunton in 1824, Reed and Barton has a long history of producing fine silver tableware and other silver items. In more recent times, Reed and Barton was called upon to design the first permanent trophy for the Boston Marathon.
While Reed and Barton was long the primary employer in the city of Taunton, our own silver manufacturers including F. M. Whiting on Broad Street, Paye and Baker on Richards Ave. and Webster Co. on Broadway similarly employed many in our town. Reed and Barton acquired the latter in 1950.

1938 Hurricane Post Cards For Sale
Just about a year ago, a small package arrived in the society's post office box. Mary Ellen Benoit of Lincoln, RI had been doing some Spring cleaning and ran across a group of photo post cards depicting the hurricane damage in North Attleboro in 1938. Mary Ellen's father and mother, Charles and Jeanne Benoit ran Jeanne's (photo) Studio at 12 South Washington Street and produced a series of 25 views of the damage. Many downed trees prevented access by car so the views concentrate primarily on the downtown and streets nearby. The Benoits lived on Broad Street.
Mary Ellen's collection of post cards included a nearly complete set of the views created by her mother and father; we are missing view number 20, a scene along Church Street, and number 23, a view on Elmwood Street. A couple of the views have ties to society members. One shows Bob and Dottie Greene's former house on Bank Street and another shows Janet Robinson's old house on High Street where Elizabeth Mansfield lives. A binder holding the collection of cards is kept in the bookcase at the schoolhouse.
Mary Ellen also sent us quite a number of duplicates. Our collection committee has decided to sell these duplicates and we are offering them to our membership first. We have views of Bank Street, Broad Street, Broadway, Elm Street, High Street, North Washington Street, and the old high school on South Washington Street. The post cards are $10 each and will be available at the March meeting or you can call Bob Lanpher at 508 695-6649 for more information.
(Claire I am sending you scans of 4 of the post cards. Hopefully you can use a couple or all of them in the newsletter.)

Happenings at Area Societies
March 16 at 2 PM "Early Quakers of New England" at the Old Colony Historical Society, 66 Church Green, Taunton
March 21 at 7:30 PM "The Campbell House" at the Norton Historical Society
March 23 at 6:45 PM tour of Knobby Crafters and History of the old Shuttle Factory, 200 N. Main for the Attleboro Historic Preservation Society
Apr. 6 at 7:30 PM "History of Spectacles" at the Wrentham Library for the Wrentham Historical Society ($5 for non-members)
Apr. 29 at 11 AM "Clara Barton and her work to ensure Civil War veterans were not forgotten" at the Women At Work Museum, Riverbank Road, Attleboro. Clara Barton Tea 2-4PM $20. For reservations call Katherine Honey at 508 222-4430.

President's Letter
The third grade visitation program has started again. Claire Harrison, Dorothy Conroy and their helpers are once again entertaining and enlightening the third graders of North Attleborough; a tradition that the Society has been providing the town of North Attleborough since 1974. Due to the new MCAS tests, this years schedule of classes extends into June; quite an effort for our volunteers!

I recently attended the memorial service for Thurston Robinson, a long-time member of the society. While I have had the pleasure of talking with Thurston's wife Alice several times in recent years, I never had opportunity to meet her husband. From the stories shared by his children and grandchildren during the service, he was quite a gentleman and a good storyteller. His children and grandchildren seem to be carrying on with his knack of telling a good tale.

I will keep this brief so that Claire can include some illustrations in this newsletter.
Hope to see you all on the 20th,
Bob Lanpher