In the wake of the New England Hurricane of 1938, Oscar Grenier found work with the W.P.A. cleaning up storm damage near the Farnan Private Hospital for the Aged on North Billerica’s Mt. Pleasant Street. Grenier first noticed the smoke rising from the hospital just after 10 AM on September 30, 1938. He, George Lindsay,…Read more The Day North Billerica’s Hospital Nearly Burnt Down, 1938
Billerica
The Opening of the Billerica Mall, 1975
A roll of quarters went a long way at Fun Time Amusements at the Billerica Mall. And the pet store in the mall often offered a look at Billerica's latest group of adoptable kittens or puppies. Today, the mall still stands just off Boston Road, on the southern approach to town. Fun Time is gone.…Read more The Opening of the Billerica Mall, 1975
The Billerica Car Shop Murder of 1918
As news of World War I and Spanish flu filled the local papers, the first headlines related to Billerica’s car shop murder almost could have gone unnoticed. In fact, the murder itself went unnoticed for several days. The last anyone had seen of Fred Soulia, an employee at Billerica’s Boston & Maine car shops (today’s…Read more The Billerica Car Shop Murder of 1918
A (true) story about Victorian Billerica Center, a church and its scandal
Familiar sites greet you as you step from the twenty-minute electric car ride on the Lowell & Suburban into the Billerica Center of 1896. Like today, Town Common dominates the view, its Soldiers’ Monument and flagpole just now disappearing behind the late spring foliage. The Unitarian church and Town Hall (now the Library) bookend today’s…Read more A (true) story about Victorian Billerica Center, a church and its scandal
Billerica, 1904: The Peddler’s Sons and Their Buried Treasure
In May 1904, ten yards beyond a barbed wire fence in the East Billerica woods, James Marnell stumbled over a small mound of dirt, uncovering an ornate silver serving tray. “Sanborn’s treasure!” Marnell, a railroad worker, excitedly deduced. Townspeople knew Sanborn’s treasure to contain silverware, jewelry, and furs stolen the year before from Billerica’s plush…Read more Billerica, 1904: The Peddler’s Sons and Their Buried Treasure
Downtown Lowell’s “Uncle” Dudley Page: The Man behind Page’s Clock
If you've spent any time in Downtown Lowell, you've surely passed Page's Clock in Kearney Square on Merrimack Street. The clock, refurbished in the 1990's, has been a Downtown Lowell landmark since the D.L. Page Company moved its operations into the nearby building at 16-18 Merrimack Street in May 1913. As its advertisements claimed, the…Read more Downtown Lowell’s “Uncle” Dudley Page: The Man behind Page’s Clock
Yesterday’s Telephone Numbers: GLenview, MOntrose, and ULysses
In those long ago days before cellphones, speed dialing, and stored numbers, folks like Tommy Tutone telephoned girls like 'Jenny' by actually dialing 867-5309. If he was a modern type, he may have even punched the number into the telephone's touchtone keypad, an innovation that was several years old by the time the song was…Read more Yesterday’s Telephone Numbers: GLenview, MOntrose, and ULysses
When Eastern Massachusetts was the Frontier, 1695
Maybe you've come through Billerica. On the northern approach, near the North Billerica commuter rail station, lies the site of the John Rogers homestead, marked by a sign erected by the Massachusetts Tercentenary Commission in 1930. The sign memorializes an event that happened even longer ago on today's Billerica Avenue. Early in Billerica's history, during the…Read more When Eastern Massachusetts was the Frontier, 1695
Other People’s Ancestors – How House Histories Bring the Unrelated Together
When I started researching my family tree in 1988, the hobby was quite solitary. I spent hours in the local history room of the Pollard Memorial Library in Lowell, Massachusetts, threading microfilm reels of the local papers through the microfilm readers and leafing through dusty, yellowed City Directories. I remember the excitement of the first time…Read more Other People’s Ancestors – How House Histories Bring the Unrelated Together
The Town Farm – A Victorian-Era Solution to Poverty
Town farms were Victorian society’s equivalent to today’s homeless shelters, nursing homes, and mental hospitals. Often relegated to a far corner of town, unseen, forgotten, and hopefully self-sufficient, the town farm was created to instill a sense of industriousness and self-sufficiency in paupers who would, in turn, provide what labor they could to help run…Read more The Town Farm – A Victorian-Era Solution to Poverty
