Easton Historical Society

11/04/2026

In addition to our Open House on Sunday, November 15th, we will be Open on Veterans Day on November 11th, from 11-3. We will be showing the 1940 film. "The Fighting 69th" on our 85" Screen for your viewing pleasure from 1-2:30,

11/01/2026

https://youtu.be/gFGQRu-br7s?is=_HadLyx08Jmq3L7U
Thank you for making this Easton Historical Society and Museum Open House another successful event last Sunday.
Our next Open House is dedicated to our Easton Veterans on Sunday, November 15th from 12:30-4:30.
Watch out for our official flyer.
We hope you enjoy the ECAT video attached!

The Historical Society talked about the history of cameras and show...

10/24/2026

The Dump - Biweekly Newsletter October 24, 2026

If you are old enough and you have lived in Easton for long enough you might remember the Dump. Driving down Baldwin Street on a Saturday morning with trash in the back of your family car or truck. The Dump smelled. Black smoke rose from the piles of garbage and trash.

If you live on an older property in Easton, you might notice that occasionally artifacts turn up in your yard. Glass, pottery, nails, all kinds of discarded household items. It wasn’t that long ago that residents disposed of unwanted household items at the rear of their yards.

It wasn’t until 1916- after decades of serious epidemics spread in part due to unsanitary conditions- that George DeWitt leased his land off Baldwin Street to the town for $25 a year for use as a Dump. Baldwin Street resident Larry Dermody allowed an easement on his property so residents could cross it to get to the new Dump.

By 1938 the Town owned the Dump and Jane Dermody was paid $400 for the lot on which the easement lay. In 1948 the voters authorized the Board of Health to hire contractors to collect trash and bring it to Baldwin Street. This was a very popular decision.

Easton was growing. In 1957 the town voted to open a new landfill in Easton for town trash. This took some time to plan and achieve. A landfill was temporarily leased on Bay Road in the 1960’s while the Dump on Baldwin Street continued to be used. In 1972 the new town-owned landfill off Prospect Street opened and the Dump officially closed.

The there’s the “garbage man.” (see picture) Who remembers the garbage man? That’s a whole other story!

In ground garbage can circa 1950 (see picture)

Anne Wooster Drury

10/10/2026

Street Names - Biweekly Newsletter - October 10, 2026

Many newer street names originated in the past. Scotch Dam is one of them. After crossing under Main Street at the Langwater Pond Dam and on into Sheep Pasture, the Queset continues west of Washington Street, flowing south and then east into Morse’s Pond in South Easton. It was Daniel Williams Sr. who built a smaller version of Morse’s Pond between 1739 and 1747 and ran a saw-mill there. Williams was not the only settler making use of the Queset at this spot. There is evidence of another dam having been built nearby sometime between 1757 and 1767- or maybe earlier. It’s believed that three men, Hugh Orr, a Scotsman, William Barclay, and William Adams, built a dam for the purpose of iron working. It’s unclear what happened to the dam. It may have interfered with Williams’s water privilege. The dam was known as Scotch Dam after Orr. By 1749 it seems Scotch Dam was integrated into Morse’s Pond. Remains of the Scotch Dam could be seen when the water was low in Morse’s Pond during Chaffin’s time (1886). A road of some sort ran from Washington Street over this dam to Short Street at one time, passing by the Lyman Wheelock House, which once served as an inn. Wheelock was a revolutionary soldier and pensioner who died in 1848 at the age of 86.

Lyman Wheelock Road turns off Short Street today and meets Scotch Dam, which meets up with Central Street. Short Street was a continuation of Summer Street and named for Reverend Matthew Short (1767-1731) who lived on the road. Lyman Wheelock Road and Scotch Dam Road were built in the 1960’s.

It’s clear to see where those street names came from.

Anne Wooster Drury

09/26/2026

https://youtu.be/WmOJeYOaZIc?si=coqdpShUym_Z4iOY

Thank you to all that attended our last Open House, featuring the history of the Easton Huskies organization.
Thank you to all our volunteers and especially to Anne Drury and Paul Berry, who produced the many artifacts for the great display we had. Bob Wooster and Ken Michel gave great insight to the crowd, speaking on their personal days playing and coaching.
Please enjoy this video produced by ECAT!

The Easton Huskies were a baseball team, a basketball team, and for...

09/26/2026

Biweekly Newsletter September 26, 2026

Town of Easton to be Eliminated by New Airport

In the 1960’s there were discussions in Massachusetts about creating a new international airport. Initially a site in Dover was chosen but ultimately rejected and Easton was chosen. If constructed, this Southwest Jetport would annihilate the entire town of Easton except for a small portion of the Hockomock Swamp. Half of Mansfield, one third of Stoughton, and parts of Norton, Foxboro, and Brockton would also disappear. These towns were considered “rural” and no thought had been given to their reaction to this information.

The villains in this circumstance were the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the Massachusetts Port Authority, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Works. The center of the airport was to be located at the junction of Lincoln Street and Bay Road. An area of 31.4 square miles would be affected. No Easton town officials were ever consulted.

Interestingly, the publisher of the Easton Bulletin had been invited to the press conference that announced Dover as the site of the new airport. No alternate sites had been mentioned. Following the announcement that Easton had been chosen (It was called the Easton-Sharon site.) there were “two weeks of massive protests” by Eastonites. The residents of Sharon and Stoughton also organized and protested. Senator John Quinlan fought the proposal, and Gov. Volpe later called the proposal “appalling and ridiculous.” The project was allowed to “quietly die.” (see news clippings)

The illustration (map) shows the general outline of the planned airport. The inner circle would be the airport itself, the inside of the middle ring would be for industrial use only, all residential property would be razed, the outer ring would allow some residential use.

Needless to say, the airport was not built, but for a short period of time the residents of Easton were panicked and caught completely off guard. Officials in Boston had demonstrated no understanding of the consequences of their decision.
Small towns were not disposable after all.

Anne Wooster Drury

09/12/2026

Our 2026 Fall Quarterly Newsletter is now available!
https://www.eastonmahistoricalsociety.org/quarterly-newsletters.html #/

09/12/2026

Biweekly Newsletter
September 12, 2026
William H. Selee
While some members of Easton families stay close to home, some travel widely. Such was true of William H. Selee who left Easton at a very young age. He was a “bold and reckless adventurer” who became a seafarer and later joined the British army. Known for his bravery, he once demonstrated this trait by jumping overboard to save another man at the risk of his own life.
Selee traveled as far as Japan and China, but when interviewed by the Boston Daily Globe in 1896 didn’t want to speak about it, fearing the notoriety. When in India with the British army in 1856 Selee was involved in a desperate situation, a situation (a “forlorn hope”) unlikely to have a positive outcome. Selee immediately volunteered for this expedition. While crossing difficult
terrain the commanding officer was shot and Selee quickly stepped in, threw the officer on his own back, and carried him to safety. The fraught encounter ended in hand-to-hand combat, where nearly all the assailants were killed. Selee himself sustained injuries to his face from a saber and bore a scar on his face for the rest of his life. Only twenty British soldiers escaped this
melee. This was just prior to the raj or British direct rule of India that began in 1858.

Back in England Selee and the other survivors received the Victoria Cross medal for bravery. Queen Victoria herself pinned the medal on Selee’s uniform. In his later years Selee received a pension from the British government.
Selee was married to “a daughter of Clerk Berry” who lived on Depot Street- then known as ‘Yankee Street’. There was one daughter from this marriage who in 1896 was living in California. Quite an adventurous- and long- life for Mr. William Selee. In the end his travels brought him home to Easton.

Anne Wooster Drury

Source:

Boston Daily Globe, July 8, 1896

08/01/2026

Biweekly Newsletter - August 1, 2026

LONG POND
Many readers had fond memories of swimming at Long Pond so here are a few more pictures shared by volunteer June Bliss whose family grew up near by.

One of our Directors, Steve Anderson, provided this collage of pictures taken from his grandfathers (Milton Anderson) photo album of family and friend gatherings at Long Pond thought to be from the 1920's and 1930's.

EASTON HUSKIES
Just a couple of teasers for the September Open House on the Easton Huskies. There were teams for baseball, basketball, and football beginning sometime in the early 1930’s. This clipping from the Easton Bulletin dated July 23, 1931, is referring (I believe) to the Twilight League that preceded the formation of the official Huskies team.

The Huskies were very involved in the community and held events for local children. This event was reported in the Easton Bulletin on July 6, 1950. Do you recognize any names?

The Open House will be held on September 20th at 12:30.
A reminder: We are still looking for short articles for the 2026 Reminiscences. Please send by September 1st to: [email protected]

Anne Wooster Drury