Since I began writing these stories over two years ago, what strikes me is how much of what I write about is simply gone and vanished from our town. Really, in over 300 years of recorded history and almost 12,000 years of inhabitation, we have lost so much of our heritage over time. Many people […]
Take a walk with me. As the autumn leaves swirl around us, we will take the path that enters the Canton Corner Cemetery quite near the side of the Unitarian Church. The faint scent of pine greets us as we duck around the chain-link fence. Walk down past the stone receiving tomb, the crunch of […]
For almost 28 years, Joe Moakley, a South Boston politician, represented Canton in the U.S. Congress. Moakley’s hallmark quote had to do with people and neighborhoods. Explaining relationships, he observed, “You live with the people upstairs, downstairs, and over the back fence.” For the past 25 years, the Canton Citizen has been an integral part […]
There is a dull patina to the bell that sits on my writing table. The box arrived just last week, and after prolonged negotiations with the seller, I tendered the sum of $50 for a small piece of Canton’s history. What makes this bell special is that taped to the underside is a small piece […]
One of the things that we tend to forget here in Canton is the fact that at one point we were once a small rural farming community. Basic human needs were met, in simpler times, through the use of the resources that existed within a small radius. The trees that were cut down to build […]
This story was written nine years ago. And as time passed, my dear friend embraced aging with an ever-burgeoning family. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren blossomed and this kind man smiled. There is a poignancy in growing old and wise. A day before I learned of Larry’s passing last week, I dreamed of the two of us […]
Canton has certainly come a long way since it was once part of Dorchester in the mid 1500s. And for folks who complain about traffic, here they join in a recurring theme throughout the history of the town. With over 440 public and private ways and perhaps a cumulative length of 115 miles of roadways, […]
Under a threatening sky, 40 children set out from the Dean S. Luce School for a pilgrimage into Canton’s history. The third graders walked past ancient stone walls, over the dam at Reservoir Pond, quite near the Tilden House and up past the Draper home on Pleasant Street. At the intersection of Washington and Pleasant […]
Editor’s note: Below is the second in a two-part series about the robbery of the Norfolk County Trust Company in Canton on July 18, 1957. Part 1 of the series appeared in the Citizen on May 24. As 21 patrons were herded into the vault at the Norfolk County Trust Company, many of them wondered […]
They entered the bank after the morning rush hour had ended. The off-duty police officer had just finished his shift, and business had been especially brisk that day. At 10 in the morning on Thursday, July 18, 1957, one of Canton’s most spectacular bank robberies was just about to take place. By the end of […]
