So, so we're here for Triad and it's great to have some new faces here. We meet every Tuesday, every first Tuesday of the month at 10:00 right here in the great hall and we have different presentations.
Um, coming next month on July 7th, we have Sierra O'Sullivan coming. She's going to present about ADU alternative housing. Then on August 4th, we have Cassie Edmund coming from Comfort Keepers and Elder Law. So that'll be a
presentation about that. And then in September, on September 1st, we have a representative from Senior Medicare Patrol. She's going to talk about ambulance billing. So, some different kinds of topics. But today, we're very,
very excited that we have John O'Shea. John O'Shea is um well known around town and he's um we obviously from John's Barber Shop, but he's been a historian. He's lived in town, he tells me, for 59 years. and he's been with the historic
commission for over 20. >> Probably well over 20, right? >> Yeah. We were doing the blue book on the 250th anniversary and I was part of the the group that was putting that together. So, it's been that since at least 85. Yeah. >> At least since 85. So, that we know is
>> Yeah. And I also I also was talking to uh Bill Perkins one day had given him a haircut and uh he asked me if I want to join a commission and he says uh you know we're trying to move the blacksmith shop and I says oh we can move that that's not a problem and uh
>> so John's ready to so he said go ahead and do it right. >> Okay. >> All right. You just you just added things that's all. Go ahead. >> Right. So my question is could you hear John at that voice is does he have to project more? >> He needs to be a little louder. You have to be a little louder. >> A little louder. Okay.
>> Does the microphone work? >> The microphone isn't working, unfortunately. John's put a lot of time into this presentation and it and um at the end we'll we'll certainly have questions, I'm sure. So, >> see if I can answer. >> Go to it. Thanks. Thanks so much for
coming. >> Yeah. Nope. No problem at all. When I first when she uh she first asked me to if I wanted to do this, I said sure. I said it shouldn't be a problem. >> Loud. loud. I said, "Sure." I said, "They shouldn't be a problem." You know, you know about history. You've seen all
everything in I've read the books and all that stuff. I've been on these committees and things like that. Until you have to perform and have to be in front of somebody and be able to talk about certain things in town and how they went about. And uh I kept falling
down or falling into rabbit holes constantly. It's like doing your genealogy. You start with one family and you branch off, you know? So, I had to slow it down and just try to pick up some of the highlights that that that uh I could see and what and how we got going and how the town progressed. And
one of the things we found in uh well, my wife Judy is uh her father had a lot a chest full of a lot of material. And in the chest there was a um typewritten uh history of 1899. It's typed in 1899,
June 22nd. And it's all about the first settlers in in Halifax. And the first settlers that I always heard about when I first came to town here was the Sturdivans and the Thompsons. And it was always a battle who came first as Thompsons of the Sturdivans. And why is
there two cemeteries opposite and everything else you go you listen to the whole stuff, right? Well, this paper tells exactly who the first two people were that came into town. And uh and then following that, there was also a
little uh little piece about the King Philip war on this document. So this person typed it must have been typing off something that was originally written by somebody for the history of Halifax. And uh so we got that. I didn't expect that. That that came as a
surprise when we first started this. So uh can you hear me? much better. Then my mouth won't dry up so much, you know. >> Uh, let me see. >> Just be sure to be be sure to be close
to the microphone. >> All right. I tried to let me see. He said push this. Okay. Got to give me a glasses. In the early history of Massachusetts, Halifax was celebrated for her timbers and the fact
the whole town with exception of the rivers was covered with dense growth of pine cedar. The comparative abundance of large pines early attracted settlers. And in 1642, John Thompson, a native of Wales, came from Sandwich and built a log house on
the southern west part of town, not far from the Winexa River, which is now down on Thompson Street. About the same time, Mr. St Mr. Sturdivan of Dutch uh part pitage
came to Halifax and built a house in the southern part of Mont Ponet Pawn near where the camp of M Ponet Indians were. Sturdan broke up a piece of ground and plowed in Halifax was the first to have a farm here. This piece lies eastward of Parker's greenhouse and is now covered
with young pines. I don't know where Parker's greenhouse is, but it certainly is along the lake there somewhere. A number of families came to Halifax soon after settled some of the Thompson settlement on the winter tux and others near the shores of Mont Ponet Pawn near Sturdivans. Among the former were
Obadiah Eddie who in 1650 settled in the junction of Ravenbrook and Winterit and families by the name of Stish Holmes Tilsons and Gilberts who built on the road of Middleboro near the shores of Winter Tuxit and its branches. Among the
latter were Deacon John Waterman who built a house where the schoolhouse is number one now stands. Number one schoolhouse is where Nezarella's farm used to be on the corner where Walmart is now. That was number one schoolhouse right there at the time. Reverend John
Carto who held the first church service in Halifax and two families named Beerus and Ripley who built near the east shore of the pond. These settlements grew gradually until 1670 when there were 28 houses within the limits of Halifax. So we know
that they weren't getting too big, but they were at least in here. Okay. Then in 1675 in the Indian war known as historians as the King Philip war the Manta tribe friendly until then captured and burned every house in town and killed quite a
number of inhabitants. The rest fled to Plymouth and Middbor for safety where they were wellreceived and Captain Church with a number of soldiers were sent to Plymouth to punish the Indians. The M ponsets retreat retreated to their stronghold on White Island, a neck of
land separating the two halves of Moneta pawn. But Captain Church surprised them while bathing and getting between them in the arms, captured the whole tribe. As the old narrative says, no one no one escaped. They were then taken to Plymouth where they were sold for five
pounds a piece. After the war, many of the old families came back and with them many new ones. Okay. Let me see. Oh, I got it right here. That's the King Philip law. I'm sorry if you wanted to read that little bit right there.
Okay. All set. >> Okay. Okay. Halifax was incorporated in 1734. The people of Halifax petitioned the governor and the representatives of the general court to separate from Middleboro, Plimpmpton and Pemrook,
which they boarded having built a meeting house in church 1733. You had to have a meeting house and you had to have a church before the state would even think about having you have a town. So they finally did that. It was granted on July 4th, 1734 the town of Halifax would
be its own town. Halifax was named for Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. The original meeting house in church was from 1733 to 1852. And in 1851, the town purchased the meeting house and moved the building to the site of the present
town hall. The hall was used as a school, a library, town hall, and a church. The congregational church was built in 1852 on the site of the original meeting house. They no longer needed to meet in the meeting house.
They had their own church at the time. Okay. Churches of Halifax. The congregational church was built in 1852. The present church was built west of the original meeting house and was built in 1734. The town bought the meeting house
for $700 and moved it to where the present town hall is now. In 1841, money from sales of a pew space was made possible to give the church a bell. The ch the the ch the congregational church had its
first Sunday school in the country. No one else had one at that time. And while I was antiquing with my wife, which we do, which we did frequently, we stopped in East Bridgewater and uh I came across this this framework. You can
look at it later, but this framework is signed by all the people that presented the money of the pews. And it's it's written and it says Halifax, September 15, 1841. So that's great. And on this is this
$220.50. Somebody wrote in pencil and added it up. It was $23325. So somebody didn't corre didn't didn't add it up correctly. We'll we'll keep that later. You can
look at it and see the names on it. Okay. That's one church. Okay. The next the next church was and I'm sure most most people don't even know it was there was trunk meeting house. The trunk meeting house was built in 1853
which is one year after the congregational church and it lasted till 1913. The church was was a Baptist faith. The congregation was from Middbor Plimpmpton and Halifax. It was called trunk because the ceiling was round like the lid of a steamer steam trunk. The
church stood on the corner of Fuller Street, Wood Street, and Cedar Street. After many years, it was deserted, fell in disrepair, and mysteriously burnt on July 3rd, 1913. And if you go up in that area right now, all you see is just a
bunch of trees. It's you wouldn't even know there was a building there at all. So, oops. I'm sorry. There's three of them on there. The next one is the the um Universalist Church. The Universalist Church was near the present house of 679
Plymouth Street and that's where my wife Judy grew up right on there and uh and was built in 1828. The building was sold in 1893 and moved to 712 Old Plymouth Street
and in 1950. It it was burnt down or accidentally burnt down and the present garage has been erected. And the houses, if you go on to Old Plymouth Street, you have a ranch house and then you have the next house. That's where the the the church was moved to. And if you go
there, you can see a a garage there. And there was a garage before. And the man who lived there had some coals that he had took out of his stove and he happened to put them in the barn. Figured they just, you know, and it didn't. It burnt his garage down. Okay. And the third one is Our Lady of
the Lake Catholic Church and uh was built in 1922. Junior Walsh was the pastor of the handover church. He started a parish in Hansen and while living in Mont Ponet Hotel purchased land where the church is now. At the time there were a lot of summer cottages
and with a train from Boston just up the street the need was there. You had a lot of those Irish Catholics moving down into the the area so they had to had to keep them happy. Okay. Oh
the Sturdivan uh the cemeteries are next. You have the steer cemetery located on route 106 was dedicated to the town or was deed to the town on June 17th 1728 from the properties of what was then Plimpmpton to be used as a burial
ground. They paid six pounds 10 shillings for the land. Thompson Cemetery located on Thompson Street on Route 105 was deed to the town of Halifax by Thomas Thompson in 1742. The name is Thompson, but they didn't put
the P in the Thompson at the time. It came in later on, apparently. And the Drew family burial ground. There are four members buried in the Drew family ground. If you go on to 105, just as you start on to 105, it's uh just
can't be 50 yards down the road. And there's a little cemetery set back a little bit. And that was from that was 1838 to 1807 to 1860. Then there's the per Perkins family burial grounds located on Wood Street
across the street from the house where the people the woods where the people were the Perkins people lived and that goes from 1838 to 1877. And when Cumberland Farms was clearing all the land, we uh we petitioned them
to uh keep that ground sacred and not uh and not tear it down or take any trees down or anything else. And with the help of John Pek, he made sure that it it was uh it was it was done period. Uh and then finally, the central school,
the central cemetery located behind the town hall is first recorded burial was 1846. We have the monuments. Across from the town hall are the monument grounds. There is a Civil War monument dedicated on July 4th, 1867. It was the first one
erected in the state of Massachusetts. The dedication of the soldiers monument was a memory of the soldiers of the Revolutionary War and was held on June 17th, 1911. World War II monument was dedicated in 1945 with the inscription honoring those
who served in is in on is on the town green and musterfield off of South Street is a site of the oldest militia in the state of Massachusetts granted in 1792 by Governor John Hancock and if you want to with the other two monuments you
want to see who was in the town at the time the Civil War in a Revolutionary War you can read the the names on the the monument so you'll know who was who was around and who built this this town. All set. Okay. This I could have done. This could
be a whole separate uh uh speech I guess or not speech but a dedication if uh we ever had to do it again. But the schools, the Halifax schools in the town record show the first entry concerning formal education was December 4th, 1732.
In 1733, a new meeting house was used as a school and a church. Before that, children were taught at home. In the middle 1800s, there were five districts that each had a school. These buildings, if needed, could be moved. Number one
was corner of junction of 58106 which I already described that that was where Nzarella's was and that later was moved in two in 1911 and was put across from the the li library and next to uh the Brockton store was our first fire
station in 2011. The next one number two was corner of homes in Plymouth Street. The third was three Fuller Bridge on South Street. The fourth is Thompson Street and the fifth is Elm Street. Right now we have
uh two houses that are occupied by people. Uh we have one that's the middle of the library was a schoolhouse and we have a schoolhouse that is now a museum down next to the blacksmith shop. Unfortunately, due to nobody reading what they're supposed to be reading of
demolition delays, uh the Thompson se uh school was torn down um last year. So that was a house also, but uh it was in disrepair and there was a lot of trees and stuff and you would probably drive by wouldn't even know it was there, but that was a that was a very important
one. Okay. Okay. We got to keep continue on here. Okay. Then in 1904, it was noted to build a central a central school and four of the five schools were sold. The land that the central school was built
on was donated by Mr. Mrs. L.J. Jones and was opened in 1905. This is where the present police station is now. It wasn't until 1910 that the first woman was elected to the school committee here. Women were allowed to vote on school matters in whole in an office.
Mrs. Ella Baker, wife of JB Baker, the blacksmith, was voted in, and she was instrumental in initiating a course of study that would help children attain a higher education in the eighth grade and improve health standards. In 1956, Halifax joined Plimpmpton, Pemrook, and
Kingston to open Civil Lake Regional High School. Before that, students would go to the nearest high school or a private school to be able to go to to to a higher school for finish their education. Finally, the town purchased the land occupied and
vacant by the Stanish Manor for today's elementary school, which opened its doors in 1960. In 1965, six more rooms were added. And in the mid 1980s, more more rooms were added. And it's now the same as we see it now in in Halifax.
Noted the Stanish Mana was built in 198 19 173 and in 1911 it was converted to a a girl school. So this building Standish Manor is where the elementary school was. Um
was built in 1733. And same time that the the uh the town hall was built here in Halifax in 1733. So you knew that there was some money around here and people were building some pretty goodized places.
Next there it is. There's there is the town. That's the uh the uh Stish Mana. That's a pretty good size house. And that stayed vacant for quite a while and then the town of Halifax purchased it and then tore it down. And uh if we had
a historical society back then and demolition delay, we might have had somebody we could have moved it someplace, you know, but uh that's quite an old house. All right, there we go. Okay. Library and Museum. Holmes Public
Library in 1876. Dr. Holmes, brother of John Holmes of Halifax, noted $100 along with a prop a proposition to start a free library in Halifax. This was accepted at a town meeting on November 7th, 1876. The library was first housed in the town
hall. When that burnt in 1907, a library and temporary home of Congressional Congregational Church. In 1908, the town appropriated $1,000 and the old schoolhouse from South Halifax was a gift from L. JL Jones family was moved,
converted, and became the town's first library building. For the first few years, the post office shared the building. In 1994, the Holmes public library moved into the new building connected to the Halifax Elementary School on Plymouth Street. The library
was then occupied in Halifax Historical Society and converted to the Halifax Museum. And on behalf of the Halifax Historical Commission and historical, there's always a commercial here, you know what I mean? On behalf of the Halifax Historical Commission Historical Society, we're excited to announce the
Halifax Museum is officially reopening to the public. Museum of Halifax new hours twice a month, second Tuesday from 3:00 to 6:00 and last Saturday from 10 to 1. And also when I was doing some research and going around for historical stuff
and everything else and in a town hall, we found a Brianville News and I'll keep these around. You can read these later. the Brianville News and it had on the front front page the burning in 1907 of the uh town hall and we lost all our records. Anything that anybody had in
their home or something that preserved but everything else, all records were all destroyed. So, and they built a new town hall in the same spot. Okay, let's go. If I'm getting bored, let me know. Okay.
Oh yeah, I'll continue on it. The um the founding of Samuel Sturdivan's Mill in 1728 was the beginning of the industrial industry in Halifax. The Sturdifan Mill complex at Herringbrook, which is on Old Plymouth Street, Herringbrook, and uh
was a corner of Plymouth, which is now Old Plymouth Street, and Furnest Street, and had a traditional up and down sawmill. It later added a grist mill, shingle mill, soap factory, and later a furnace operation came with the discovery of iron ore in the west lake.
There were a couple mills that were run by furnaces, hence the name Furnace Street. In 1821, there were as many as 15 buildings in that location. That area town was known as Lionville. And there was a very there was a wood factory, cotton mill, longboard factory, shoe
factory, a blacksmith shop, and the first grocery store in Halifax. And that was that grocery store. If you go up Elm Street and and start to make the sharp curve and Fern Street comes out, the building straight ahead, if you run into it, was the the uh store. That's where the store was. There was such a
population with all those buildings that was needed anyway. Okay. And the cotton mill was built about 1800. And in 1878, Bosworth brothers bought the box sawmill and operated for 30 to 40 years. They would
ship shoe boxes to Brockton shoe factory and shipped throughout the country. In 1848, fire destroyed the wooden wood woodland mill boarding house and several other buildings. Now there is only a stone foundation on Herringbrook where a couple of mills had flourished had
furnished. No. Flourished on Furnace Street. Oh, wait a minute. There you go. I'm sorry. I didn't push the button. If I didn't push the button, you guys let me know, okay? Because I'll just I'll push it. Okay.
All right. That's a That's the Bosworth, the big one down below, the Bosworth. And that's just another mill that was there. And that's where the the brook is. You know where the brook is. And also at the same time there were also eight sawmills in town at the same time that these things were going on. So it
was it was quite a quite a thing. I just lost a thing here. I pushed the wrong button here. >> All right. Yeah, but I can't I can't see the screen here. But that's okay. All right. The next is a JB Baker.
Uh oh, I did something here. Did you go see um I pushed the I pushed on the button here. >> Oh, get I got it. I got it. I got it. Yeah, I got it now to see if it works. Oh,
>> there you go. Thank you, Jamie. God, you're safe. I'm gonna I got to take it off the computer so I'm not pushing buttons over here. I just >> No, he got it. She got it. Yep. Right there. Thanks. >> Right here. >> Yep. Right there. Yep. Okay.
>> That's it. Yeah, this is working. The JB Baker blacksmith shop was built in 1875 on Old Plymouth Street by John Watson who lived next door. It manufactured shoes. In those days,
Bosworth brothers of Halifax were making shoe boxes in in Lionville Halifax mill and sold them to Brockton. Daily trips were made to Brockton with four horse teams and all horses and auction were shot show shaw in that shop. JB Baker
came to Halifax in 1893 and bought a blacksmith shop from John Watson. It was strictly a blacksmith shop and a wheelright until the event of the automobile and the old and new were combined and it became farmer's garage and blacksmith shop. It was a first this
was the first commercial gas pump in Halifax where he's standing right there. And the man that's standing holding his horse with the wagon, it's Obi Perry and he's the one that lived in our house two times before we bought it. It just so
happened to work out that way, but but he was from Rock Village in Middleboro originally. Little extra tidbit there. Okay. Jared BB Baker served in in the town as
a first fire chief when it was first organized in 1909. He was a selectman from 1920 to 1946 and a deacon in the congregational church, which is kind of unheard of for a blacksmith because they were kind of ruffy and tough guys and stuff like that. You wouldn't think
you'd be a deacon in a church, but he was quite a man from what I was told. This business was an operation until 1946 with the death of Jared B. Baker. The wooden ox frame, oldest in oldest in this in New England. It's because it's
wooden. And Henry Ford Museum wanted came by and wanted to buy it for $2,000. And the Baker family told him to keep moving. When it when he died in 1946, the building was closed and never opened again except for an occasional auction
that used to have there, but it was inoperable for 46 until until uh the JB Baker shop was originally located on Old Plymouth Street. And the shop was carefully relocated to South Street and reopened to the public June 28th, 1998.
So in 1996 is when the doors opened again so we could dismantle it and bring it down here to to we're on on cell street right now where it continues to tell the story of the town's early craftsmanship and industry. Today the building is is in need of repairs. It
needs two sills, the front and the back. and we're asking Halifax community to help reserve it for future generations. Our goal is to raise $20,000 to support restoration efforts. Any donation, big or small, truly makes a difference. Another commercial for you guys, right?
Okay. Did I screw up my paperwork here? Five. Six. Okay, here we go. Six. Okay. Stores and cornas. Okay, we have uh stores and karmas beside the mills and blacksmith shop. The Thomas Growing started to
incorporate a number of stores and karmas throughout the town. This woodcraft farm I'm going to it's going to be talked about twice but uh it's going to be more in length but but right now it's Deacon Waterman was the original owner of operated in the early
1900s for his horicultural and floral and poultry business. Deacon sold it to Ed Ramsey and built a new home in 1917. Shortly after, he sold it to Ralph Wood, who lived there until Lawrence Henrich, who converted it to the Halifax Country
Club in 1967. A Parker Ice Cream located on East Lake across from Lincoln Street. The store opened in 1925. There were a family of Richmond's Parker. The family had 13 locations. One of the largest was where the East
Bridgewater YMCA is now located. They also were in a a a milk business too. And my father-in-law with his brother used to go down the Cape with the milk from uh from the uh Pocket Brothers back in the day when they had the you know the old drawbridge before the big
bridges. Toto's family bought bought it in 1945 and made some changes in a small boats to rent a bath house and serve Greek food. They sold a property in uh and it's now at residence. But in 1960s,
I I had a date that I dropped off here in town and said, "I'll see you next Saturday." And I thought she said, "Okay." So, I went to pick up that girl at the house and I met with a kind of a grumpy old guy and I wanted to know, "What do
you want to know?" I says, "Well, I'm here to pick up Judy." And he says, "Well," he says, "I uh she's not here. She's with her brother. He gave me his phone number and I went down to Toto's and there's a you know the old payoneses. You guys remember the payoneses, right? So I dropped a bunch
of coins in the pay phone, got a hold of her down in the Cape and I says, "Hey." I says, "I thought we had a date." She says, "Oh, I thought you were just kidding." Well, 61 years later, I married that girl.
So that's my recolle. That's my history of it. Anyway, okay. Okay, moving on. The Brock. Okay, that's okay. Those Okay, we have the Brockton store is
Arthur Willlet ran the Brockton stores that supply grain, wheat, and dry goods. The store received their products from Brockton, hence the name. And from the 1940s, Henry Minet operated a candy store later owned by Mr. Mr. Gray, who had a copper business there. In 1998,
the town bought the store and moved it across the street to where it is now today as a museum. But before we moved it, I went to Silver Lake and talked to the the uh shop uh people and asked if they would be interested in coming up
and shore the building up because it was kind of uh it moved around a lot inside and in order to get it across the street, we needed to do some woodwork there. So they they did that. The the the Civil Lake school came, they uh crossmembered it and everything else and
then they people were laying bets on whether it was going to make it across the street or not. And uh it was it was close, but we did it. And also uh I know I I don't want to talk too much about anybody particular, but uh Mr. Pek uh
helped us out a lot. We uh and a lot of people did a lot of work in this town both for the blacksmith shop and the mu in this museum too. Everybody lend a hand. But I went up to see Mr. Beck and uh at the country club one day and I says uh John I says he said what do you
want? He says well he says we're moving to Brockton store and we need to build a foundation you know a seller and everything else for that. He says yeah just tell me when you need it. He says I'll do it. And then we talked about our kids and that was it. and two weeks later he came down, dug the hole, had it
dug, and then we had the foundation. So, it's uh it was it was very, very nice. Okay, next is SD Store. The Packet Brothers built a store across the street from the town hall in the driveway of Pope's Tavern. George SD's bought the
store a few years later and operated a post office along with the store. Oops. I better change this here so you can see it. Oh, where is it? You see it? >> Oh, no. It's there. >> Yeah, you can see it. Yeah. On the right hand corner. All right. In 1908, George
moved down the hill next to the library and his old store became a a barn on Pope's Tavern home. And uh the store opened in his store opened in 1909. In 1927, Harry Miner bought the store and
that year the post office moved from the library to store with Mr. Miner as a postmaster. Rufus Casease bought the store in 1941 and made it a selfservice store. First self-service store in the town. A Alex Alex King bought it in
1951. And in 1957, Mr. King built a store next to the fire station, our current fire station. And by 1966, he had a laundromat, a pharmacy, a barber shop, and a hairdresser. That's when I showed up when he had the barber
shop. So, but that's and that building is still there. So, it's it went quite the quite the round. Okay. You had Angus Hatfield Haywood store. Angus Angus built the store on
the corner 106 and 58. Haywood bought the store and later it had a liquor store and gas station. When Mr. Haywood died, the store closed and was torn down and is now replaced with a plaza and that is there now, a bike shop and an
urgent care. And another story I have is I had a old beach buggy with big tires and the gas tank was reading a quarter. I was coming to work, you know, here in Halifax and I ran out of gas and I had just enough momentum to go into
Haywood's gas station to get get some gas. So So I knew it was there. Caesar Gentile closed the store in Hansen and moved to Halifax on Mount Pona Street. It was in the area where the summer cottages were making it ideal for a store. The grocery store closed in the
late 70s and Ellen Ellen's restaurant was built on the far end of the of the the building but later deteriorated and they had to take it down. Major reservations were made and now it's there's only a liquor store in that that building now. Estie's ice cream stand.
George Estes built his this restaurant and ice cream stand in the 1940s after closing his garage on Plymouth Street which he ran for many years. During the summer months, Mr. Estes used a used to project movies on a screen on the east end of the building free of charge to
the public. Cars parked in the open I have. Yeah. No, wait a minute. Do I have a picture of that? Yeah. Okay, there we go. I'm sorry. Uh open. You're supposed You guys are supposed to tell me that. They said, you know, we're supposed to change it. Uh parked in the
open field at the time. In the vacant field, they later built the first permanent boat post office, which is now Doyy's flooring. So he sold the building about 10 years later, and Fred D. Roshia built Kitty's Rescent, which stood by for many years
until a mobile gas station was built that currently stands in that intersection. Okay. In 1886, Maurice Schindler built a home in Mont Ponza Lake and expanded it enough to convert it to a summer resort.
Built in 1895, it was destroyed by fire. He built it, but after World War he rebuilt it and but after World War II, the inn wasn't as busy. The hall could accommodate 300 people for functions. Sadly, in 1968, a fire again destroyed
the inn that also lost his nine-year-old son. The Claremonts owned the inn and at the time of the building you can see now where a dance hall used to be and is now a restaurant and a function hall that is called Lake House in 550 Tavern. So the hotel itself is just a little bit up
almost on the start of that parking lot where it raises up a little bit. So okay we know this we know this one too. Halifax Garden Company. You wouldn't even know it's there if you're riding down Route 36 right now. But the Halifax
Garden Company was founded in 1905 by AC Buridge, who also owned bought all these uh built all these cranberry bogs off of Elm Street. And uh there were 18 green houses, one being 300 ft by 40 ft, 17 smaller ones. The total of size of the
buildings were 154,000 square ft. It was located on a home street next to the railroad tracks. They cut about 2 million roses a year and they were produced with 450,000 gallons of oil a year. But the oil embargo of the 70s forced the business
to close. This is where the projected lowincome housing could be built but for the MBTA rail service. I had to add that in there. So just in case some of you people didn't realize that's was what was going on.
Okay. All right. Some people may or may not remember this one anyway, but Halifax was a chicken capital of New England at one time. George W. Sturdivan started farming on Heml Lane in uh Island and in
1925 bought Melvin Crocker's dairy farm. After having a dairy farm for many years, he added a chicken hatchery in 1941. With the discovery of the Chinese art of identifying the sex of a baby chick, the business grew. By 1950s, the dairy farm was gone to focus on the
chickens business. In the event of a crossbreeding, it was not necessary to be expert to determine the sex of chickens. They then concentrated on marketing eggs and fowl. In 1968, sales averaged 500,000 pullets, chickens annually. George Sturdivan lived in a
home where the current Maryl's coffee shop is and his chicken houses were in the area where the former stop and shop stands. You can see the size of the building. Look at the truck down below. And look at the size of the building that he had. It's unbelievable.
Uh let me see in 1970 George Sturdivan died and two years later with with the increased cost and decline of agricultural profits the family sold the business. And one other little footnote
is Russell Sturdivan was a son of of uh George Sturdivan. He worked the farm also. And during the spring, he would take his uh tractor and his spreader and
take the chicken manure and put it in the spreader. And then he would go from the chicken house across the street and spread it all over the field. Well, in the meantime, when he did that, some of the stuff of course would fall out and go across the road. And
unfortunately to us, we never had a car wash around here. And if you ever smell chicken manoa, it is disgusting. And we had one neighbor that was so infuriated with it, she brought a bag of flies up to the selectman's office to
tell him that there was a problem in the town and it should be eradicated. And I think shortly after that, uh, things started to change a little bit. And we did end up with a car wash eventually, too. All right. If The Four Corners, the heart of Halifax,
Massachusetts, intersection of 106 and 58, known as the generation of the four corners, has long been the town's busiest gathering places. Early 1900s, photographs show quite a crossroad known as Grover's Corner with open roads, farmland, and only a handful of
buildings. By the 1930s, the area was involved in evolved into a more active town center and automobile travel increased. Today, the intersection is a home of modern businesses, including Walmart, Supermarket, Cumberland Farms, reflecting the growth of transportation
of Halifax over the last century. Okay, let me see. This one here is this one here is going south. East right there. So this is the intersection 586. This is coming up
right here. That's Haywood's that there was Bosworth. What's his name? He Sabs. He sold Sabs. And that's before I came here. There was a building there, but there was nothing
there. And then when they were redoing Cummland Farms, they dug a hole. They were doing a lot of work there, and they found a gas gas tank still in the ground that even Ralph Haywood didn't know was there. So, that was a long time ago. Just added that extra thing there.
That's all. Okay, we're back. We're going to be back to the uh Woodcraft Farm. Let's see. I got to make sure I get these.
Okay. Woodcraft Farm, which we already discussed earlier, was operated in the early 1900s for agriculture and floral cultural purposes with its numerous buildings and green houses. Like everyone else in the town, he also dealt in the poultry business. Deacon Waterman
was the original owner of the estate. Ed Ramsey bought it and Mr. Water and it from Mr. Waterman. Ramsay was responsible for the development of Paradise Lane, also for building his new home where Woodcraft Farm in 1917.
Shortly after he built his new home, he sold it to Ralph Atwood. Okay. Mr. Atwood lived it there until Lawrence Henri bought it the property in 1961. Mr. Henry made his home until he converted the area to his Halifax
country club in 1967 and remodeled the home into a clubhouse and office. John Peek bought the property in the early 1970s. His son John Joe Pek from Halifax now runs the golf course in a public course. Mr. Henri was also responsible for development of Halifax mobile home
estates off of Route 106 and over 55 community original development. The year was 1972. during a period when manufacturing home communities were growing in popularity as an affordable retirement option for seniors in Massachusetts. Over the
decades, it became one of the largest senior manufactured home communities in New England, eventually growing to roughly 430 homes and housing hundreds of residents. Mr. Henrich when he came to town or he used building everywhere but when he came to town he started to
build capes ranches and splits and they were blue blueco collar worker people they were coming down they were just they were affordable houses and he could have kept going he could have taken the mobile home park area and did the same thing built all those homes and he could have done the same thing with the golf
course but instead he wanted to kind of balanced Halifax around so they could have a little of everything and uh we really applaud him for that. And also, even though he was a builder, he never he never put a hammer to a nail in his life.
He was just a he's just a good operator. He knew how to do it. So, and very successful at it. Okay. I think was that it? No, that's not it yet. Wait a minute.
910. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Little uh I got a little little extra I added here. Uh, post office. The US post office establishes was established in 1814. The post office in H. >> Huh? >> Is there? >> Uh, no. >> Okay. >> I threw this one on. Oh, thank you.
Thank you very much. >> I add this I added this as a little footnote that I wanted to put in and didn't do it. Okay. But the post office in Halifax had many buildings through its history. congregational church, the meeting house, Essie's old store, the
library, Doyle's flooring was the first stationary permanent building until uh we built in 1976, we built the uh current post office now. So, we finally have a building of our
own. Okay. As a library, we finally have our own library building. Okay. And the other is um Okay. Okay, Stafford. Another one I wanted to put down. It was the old Stafford.
What am I doing here? >> Okay, I go on and on here. I keep pushing buttons. Judy will tell me that's what I do all the time. Anyway, in routes 106 and 58 was the Stafford Sturdivan farm and it was also the site
of the first schoolhouse. And in 1825, Stafford built the Pope's tavern for his daughter for a wedding present when she married Captain Pope. So, I threw that in there. I was going to do that and I didn't get around to it and I was running out of time. So,
okay. So, some some unique stories. Halifax is a town that we've all come to love and call home. It's gone through a lot of changes over the years, especially uh with new development and many new businesses. It's important to remember our past to plan for our future. I hope
you enjoyed learning about the origins of Halifax, the businesses that make our town so unique to others. I want to leave you with a few unique stories that happened here in town. Did you know that Halifax is a geographical center of Plymouth County, it's if you go South
Street to Carver Street and that little diamond shape somewhere in the middle there, you'd have to do it in the winter time. There is a stone that indicates that. And uh and did you know that there is a marker on route 106 on the corner 105 that indicates the halfway point between
Brockton and Plymouth. It's mile marker 12. If you go back um where are we going this way? You're going west. And just before you hit 105 on the left, the last house there, you'll see a little marker. They've decorated and everything else. They've kept it kept it the way it is.
Okay. Then we had the Sturdivan mirrors. A triple murder was one of the most shocking crimes in the history of Halifax, Massachusetts. In February 1874, brothers Thomas and Simon Sturdivan along with their housekeeper Mary Buckley was also their niece were
be brutally murdered at their farmhouse on Thompson Road in what known became known as the Halifax tragedy. The elderly brothers were rumored to keep large amounts of cash hidden in the home, leading investigators to believe the robbery was made motive
made a motive. Suspicion eventually turned to their great nephew William Sturdivan who was later convicted and executed for the murders. He was the last person to be hung in Plymouth County. The case gained statewide attention due to the brutality and
remains one of Plymouth County's most inf infamous historical crimes. His body was later brought back to Halifax and he's buried next to his two grand uncles in an unmarked cemetery. And it was told to me by Hilda Thomas whose father did
the grave digging. So it was from a a reliable source. Okay. What do we got here next? All right. Those are nuke stories. Test murders. You want to read that before I push it?
Huh? >> You read it? >> And you who didn't tell me to not to push this thing. >> I I got to blame somebody, you know. >> This is new. >> This This is new. Okay, we got a new one here. Charles Lindberg on March 20th,
2000 19 2000 1927 flew directly over Halifax on his way to France. The numbers on his plane could be visibly seen. Jared Robert Baker, age 17, was in the church ringing the bell to let people know he was coming. The Halifax Grange called Paris with a con
congratulation message and received a reply signed by Charles Lindberg. And you duties >> father. Yeah. >> Yeah. Just happened to work. I married into a historical family which I didn't realize I was doing. you know, I just
trying to pick up a date, you know what I mean? Okay. I don't know how many people know this one, but uh Chase Wild Animal Farm. >> Thank you. Do we have one?
>> Something happened here again, Jamie. >> Huh? I must have hit something again. Huh? >> That's okay. Oh, no. Remind me, Mom. Just >> Okay. >> You can also cook these. >> Okay. Whoops. Okay. There you go. Thank you, Jamie.
Nice to have relatives and know what they're doing, huh? Okay. Chway Animal Farm. The animal farm was moved from Egypt Situit in 1955. The robe was located off the car wash and
adjacent to the golf course. It had elephants, cheetahs, anteaters, leopards, zebras, llamas, and various exotic birds. They had a cardboard zebra at as a mascot down the street and attract visitors. It cost 50 cents for
adults and 25 cents for children to enter. The farm closed in 1956 1957 and it moved up to Nasha, New Hampshire where they had a Chase White Island farm up there. But I don't think it was wellreceived here in Halifax. I know there was some people that saw it
and maybe some people went in to see the animals and they weren't really well, you know, positioned and taken care of and everything else. So, it only lasted two years and they were out of here. In my first trip, we finally bought a car. Could I tell you some stories like this, too, if you don't mind?
I had a car. Finally bought finally got a car when I was about 12 14 years. Not my father did anyway. And the first thing we did was we drove up here went to Chase Animal Farm 5. So I was 11 years old and that was our first stop. I did go up there. I don't have a whole lot of recollection of it. Then we went
to Parker's ice cream store and then came back and picked liies out of this pond down there and then we moved back to Kingston. Never knew when I was ever gonna be back here again. But but anyway, and uh finally the uh Kilroy was
here. The phase the the phase phrase is famous and a piece of history from World War II. Jim Kilroy was from Quinsey and later moved to Halifax with his wife and raised 10 children. Kilroy was an inspector for the Four River Shipyard in Quinsey where he would use the phrase
Kilroy was here. You >> have a picture. >> Do I have a picture? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. I thought I was there in a echo here. Um used phrase killer was here in big letters and chalk
and mark inspection ships. He inspected the ships to prevent riveters from being paid twice and to prevent workers from claiming unfinished work that had already been inspected. As the ships were assembled and sent overseas, soldiers began finding the phrase in strange hidden places inside
vessels. The meaning Kilroy was here was a moral booster and a symbol of pride. American servicemen seeing the inspection on the ship adopted it and began drawing it on enemy territory, signifying the Americans had arrived. By the end of the war, it had spread
across Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa. Visually is one of the most famous pieces of graffiti in pop cultural folklore in World War II. It usually appears as a bald-headed cartoon man with a long nose peeking over a way.
and Jim Curroy's daughter Margaret Kilroy Fitzgerald lived and served in many important town boards, Silverlake School Committee, Town Accountant, and the Selectman. And uh what's this one other I don't uh
I want can I read one more thing here? This was this was uh this is a little historical tidbit that was put on one of those uh by Susan Basil that uh that you see on that little thing every once in a while on Facebook. I forget what the heck the name of the thing is. >> Buzzound.
>> Buzzound. The buzz around. This was in the buzzeround. I don't know what truth it is or anything else, but this is buzz around, but you have it here too if you want to go over later and you can pick it up. But the old meeting house was erected in 1733. I don't have a picture of it right now. was already built when
the town was incorporated by the act of great and general court or assembly of the majesty's province of the Massachusetts Bay in 1734. It was called an act of erecting a new town within the county of Plymouth by the name of Halifax. Yes, once spelt with two L's.
And after describing the boundaries of this town, it further declares, "The inhabitants of the said land are vested by the with the powers, privileges, and immunities that the inhabitants of any of the towns within this providence are or ought to by law be vested with,
provided the inhabitants of said town of Halifax due within the space of two years from the publication of this act, settled a learned Orthodox minister, and provide for his honorable support among them, and likewise provide a school master to instruct their youth in
reading and writing. The law required each person to attend religious service at least once every four fourth Sabbath under penalty of fine unless a satisfactory excuse could be given. Punishment for abuse from meeting after trial before a justice of the peace was
a fine granted according to the henius of the offense. And the if the offender should refuse to pay the fine, then a certain number of stripes were to be given him at the whipping post or he was to be put into the stocks. Notice it's
always he. You notice it's always a he. The whipping post and stalks stood in the northeast corner of Halifax meeting house. They were there as late as n 1790 though much decayed. So, I don't know how much truth this is to that, but I thought just a little and this only came
on me just this past uh this past week. So, okay. Uh please learn more about the historical group. Come to the uh his the museum. We have all kinds of history there. Um and we enjoy your we enjoy you
having having be here today. Thank you very much your time. My mouth is all good. I think we have a little time if anybody has some questions or comments to for John because he certainly put a tremendous amount of work.
>> Darlene, >> I have a question. >> Nothing. what I understand. >> Oh, that's that's uh that's that's later history. Yeah, that's on Dwight Street. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Oh, that's what you meant. I thought you meant the lakes itself. The lake, the water part of it. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That >> Yeah. The the chest was made by George Sturivan.
Okay. And it was to house the flag that J that Mark Valentine would take around the world and hang at different places. First place that Mark ever hung any of the flags was in Mount Rushmore. That was the first time he did it. And since then he went over all over the world with a with a flag truck and then you
know halfway through it and then that chest was made to commemorate it. So and it can be viewed. Mark has it in his house if anybody wants to see it on Dwight Street. So he sold the trucks though. The trucks are gone. >> Yeah. Thank you very much.
>> I have uh >> I have some P. Yes. >> Sure. >> Okay. Wait. Hold on a second. I've got some We have some paper stuff over there that came out of our newspapers here that I've been showing you. U
the Charles Lindberg flight was in the Brockton Enterprise and it says cited in Halifax. So we had that and the the church Universalist Church was also there. So on the newspaper so I brought him down.
>> What? Oh, and everybody please there's some papers. There's some uh things over there on the on the uh table. Please feel free to take them. It's all about the uh the church the u what else?
And Lindberg's flight. Okay. Go >> ahead, John. Yeah. Y >> I'd like to share about 30 or 40 years ago, I met with one of our town historians and he shared this story that
comes out of the archives of the Indian nation because it wasn't recorded under the American side. Long before Our Lady of the Lake existed, there was a hospital there. The
hospital was designed to care for the veterans from the civil war and the war with the out in the west where they were fighting with the Indians for all of the ones that were blind and laid and crippled.
The wampa had their camp on the other side of the Mont Ponet Lake from where our lady of the lake is. There was a captain in the US Army that was part of the final war on on the out west where
they kind of lost to the Indians and he had a tremendous hatred for Indians. He was put brought over here and put in charge of that hospital in order to take care of those wounded veterans. When he found out about the Wampa Noag Indians,
he took four of his men. They were going to have their yearly gathering. And at the yearly gathering, the first event that happens is the chief lights the fire that the fire burns while
they're having their meetings. So he sent four of his men over and what they did was when no one was looking they took gunpowder and put it inside the wood and all around the wood so that
when the chief went to light the fire it literally explode. Chief came over, lit the fire, it exploded. Obviously he was burned very severely. And so these four gentlemen who were dressed up as Indians said, "We'll take
him over to the hospital." And their plan was to bring him over to the hospital and then go back and tell the tribe that he died. They got into the canoe. They laid the chief down in one of the canoes and the two canoes and the four men started to
cross Mont Ponzet Lake. All of a sudden, in the middle of the lake, this lady appeared in the sky raised above the water. And no matter how they turned or wherever they tried to go, the lady blocked their way of
moving towards the other shore. Finally, after about two or three hours, they had to turn around and go back to the Indian camp because they just couldn't get across the lake because of this lady. When they went back over to the shore
and they brought the chief on the land, they put him inside his tepee. In the morning when the chief woke up, he could see perfectly clear and all of his face and body was healed from all of the burning.
So, not only did Our Lady of the Lake help heal him, she also completely prevented another Indian war between the troops over here and the Indians and have ever since then in the archives of
the Indian history they refer to her as our lady of the lake. Surprisingly enough, when the bishop bought the land and decided to put a church on there, the church was named after the Lady of the Lake.
>> Does anyone have any questions or comments for John? >> Nope. >> I know it was so thorough. You did so much research. That's a fascinating town we have. >> Thank you. And that's only like like what John just said. I'd never heard of
that either. So So there's all all kinds of history if you keep digging and digging and digging. You can find all kinds of stuff. I could do you you you can really do as I was looking about the schools. You can do a whole program a program just on the schools alone. You
know, there's so much around. >> Make sure you save this presentation because you should repeat it at the library or somewhere. >> Okay. It's right in there. It's right here. Right in that little It's right there in that little clip.
>> Thank you so much, John. >> Now I can sleep. >> I know you spend so much time. I think so far people are used to the 11:00