Canton smells different today. We take advantage of clean air and fresh water and expect it as a given. As you can well imagine the Canton of the mid 1800s was a far different place than the world we know today. It is likely that you can count on one hand the number of pigs […]
There are over 30 historic photographs and artifacts connected to dogs in the archives of the Canton Historical Society. In some cases, the same dog appears across many photos throughout the life of a given photographer. We also have several historic dog licenses, some dating back to the Civil War period. Not to have a […]
On the 10th day of March 1863, nine men were granted a dispensation to organize a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Canton. These men, stalwarts of the community, began to assemble a membership with a history and lineage that connects through Stoughton to Most Worshipful Paul Revere and Bro. Richard Gridley. To trace […]
This story originally appeared in the Canton Citizen on March 1, 2012 One of the sounds clearly in my childhood memory is that of the distant shotgun through the fields and woods of Canton. It is a sound that has been relegated to my childhood, since the discharge of firearms has largely been regulated in […]
You are never really finished honoring the dead. Long after they are gone, our ancestors, both actual and inherited, are given respect and devotion. In Canton, the earliest of our founding families are buried in a small cemetery on Washington Street. And over the past several months we have been honoring our pioneer families. It […]
The young boy leaned over the low windowsill and deviously spit upon his classmates below. The retribution at the hands of the principal was swift and decisive. The next memory that I have of the incident was crying in a janitor’s closet spitting into a slop sink until my mouth ran dry. The point was […]
June 6, 1835. “The Viaduct at Canton, though yet unfinished, is a stupendous work. A view of it, many times repays the trouble of passage round … The Viaduct testifies in strong language to man’s dominion over nature … the road will stand for ages as an enduring monument of the high talents and high […]
David Ingram spent much of his life researching Colonel Richard Gridley. And as far as Canton’s famous citizens go, Gridley stands alongside Paul Revere and Roger Sherman when it comes to American Revolutionary superstars. Gridley played significant roles in King George’s War, the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution, and yet he remains […]
This story originally appeared in the April 26, 2018 edition of the Canton Citizen and was republished this week. There is a beautiful Irish song with lyrics that evoke a lovely scene. “How I longed for to roam, by Mount Massey’s green groves or poach by the light of the moon. That spot of my […]
We lose things all the time. I’m not talking about big things. Not the buildings, like the Crane School or the Canton Center train station, or even the old shovel shop. Recently we lost the historic waterfall and dam at Shepard’s Pond, and of course we are likely to lose the Canton Waterworks building while […]
