Framingham Legends & Lore

by James L. Parr

THE NEW IMMIGRANTS

  The following article regarding a crew working on the abutment of a bridge over the railroad tracks at Park’s Corner in South Framingham appeared in the Framingham Tribune, May 16, 1891:

  The Italian quarters at Park’s corner…burned at noon Friday…There was a barn worth about $300 and a cottage house worth about $400. Both were occupied by the Italians, nearly fifty in number, and stood very near the [Boston & Albany] railroad tracks, and it was supposed that the stable, covered with tar paper, took fire from the sparks of a locomotive. The stable was burning at or before 11 o’clock in the morning, and before some of the occupants came home to dinner at noon the house was all on fire. Both were totally destroyed…

  The Italians had been loafing a week on account of a misunderstanding about prices, but had been paid off, and went to work again Thursday morning, the day before the fire. They had consequently spent little of the money that they had received, and some of them claimed that they lost their money in the fire and others lost clothing. One Italian lost a watch and chain and another a new suit of clothes just bought. The Italians were thrown into utter consternation and confusion by the fire, and their excitable natures were seen in full play by the spectators. Many of them were crying at the loss of their goods. They left the place in a body, and all went into Boston on an early afternoon train, and will probably not work in Framingham again, so that others will have to be engaged to finish the job.

  The article illustrates how novel the residents of Framingham found the presence of Italian laborers in their town. We are informed that the men had been “loafing” for a week during a pay dispute. The taciturn Yankees marveled at the “excitable natures” of the workers, although given how much they lost, and given how little they probably had, their emotional response seems entirely justified under the circumstances. That the fifty men were quartered in a cottage and a barn did not seem to raise any eyebrows. The most concern expressed by the reporter was in consideration of who would now complete the construction of the bridge abutment.

  If Italians were unquestionably alien to Framingham residents in 1891, objects of wonder and scorn, within twenty years they had become a part of the community. They took many of the new jobs in construction or at the Dennison, Long or other factories. They dominated the neighborhood south of Waverly Street (Route 135) and west of Winthrop, which became known as “Tripoli.” The Christopher Columbus Society was founded in 1908, St. Tarcisius Church was dedicated a year later and Columbus Hall on Fountain Street was opened in 1911. Perini Construction, founded in Ashland in 1894, relocated to Framingham in 1931 and immediately became one of the largest construction firms in the region. In the American immigrant tradition, by 1938 the Italian community had achieved sufficient sway within the town that the square in front of Columbus Hall was renamed Columbus Square. Though the Italians were the largest group, they were joined by Greeks, Eastern European Jews and many other ethnicities living side by side in South Framingham.

  SOUTH FRAMINGHAM IS FRAMINGHAM NOW

  By 1910, South Framingham had been the tail wagging the dog for decades, as the more vibrant, populous part of town. No one confused “downtown” with the rustic Main Street at Framingham Centre. In 1913, the post office made this change official—the “South Framingham” post office became the “Framingham” post office, while the old Framingham post office was now designated “Framingham Centre.” Somehow this bureaucratic ruling put the official imprimatur on a change that had been eighty years in coming. In 1928, the construction of the Nevins building as the new town hall at the junction of Union Avenue and Concord Street further ratified the changing of the guard. (Still, the main branch of the public library did not move downtown until 1979.)

  THE MUSTERFIELD

  Framingham’s central location on the railroad line and Worcester Turnpike, along with its abundance of open land, compelled the state of Massachusetts in 1873 to locate a training ground here for the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (today’s National Guard). State law required each militia unit to spend a week in training, and Framingham’s camp was one of several across the state. About 115 acres of former farmland once known as Pratt’s Plain situated west of Concord Street and south of the Worcester Turnpike (Route 9) were cleared and developed into the training facility. Several permanent buildings were constructed along Concord Street, including an arsenal, magazine and commandant’s house and barn. The fields that had been farmed for nearly two hundred years were graded and cleared for a parade ground. The first militia units arrived at camp on August 7, 1873. The facility was originally called Camp Henry Wilson, after the Natick cobbler who became Grant’s vice president, but over the years it took on new names with each new muster of soldiers. Eventually townspeople began referring to it simply as the Musterfield.

  A typical encampment lasted one to two weeks. Volunteers would spend that time with their unit marching, drilling and training. The soldiers were housed in white tents that were pitched in perfect lines across the open fields of the camp. Often units would participate in war games and maneuvers in the forests on the north side of town. Nathaniel Bowditch, brother of the Millwood Hunt Club’s John Bowditch, often made the vast lands surrounding his “Lilacs” estate available for the exercises, even moving his large herd of prize cattle off of their pasture to accommodate the military.

  Residents of the town were often invited to watch parades and drills. A one-day pass would allow visitors to watch inspections, cavalry formations, rifle demonstrations and reviews. The highlight of each summer’s encampment was Governor’s Day, when the sitting governor of Massachusetts would visit the camp to review the troops. For many years, the governor was chauffeured from the train station to the camp by resident Daniel Cooney in his horse-drawn open carriage.

  The arrival of the governor at the Musterfield would be signaled with a salute of seventeen or more guns. Crowds as large as five thousand joined the state leader in watching the day’s activities. Events included cavalry parades, band concerts, shooting contests, formal parades and even wrestling. As many as two thousand soldiers would participate in the festivities, representing various militia divisions including cavalry, infantry, ambulance corps, signal corps and artillery.

  Bird’s-eye view of Camp Framingham, 1885. Courtesy of Framingham Public Library.

  Regimental colors, Camp Framingham.

  Encampment at Camp Framingham.

  The military pomp observed at the Musterfield was not reserved only for celebrations and festive occasions. In 1887, residents were witness to one particular military ceremony of great sadness and poignancy. Private Denis Donovan of Boston had drowned in Learned’s Pond after going swimming on a hot July day. A few days later, his fellow soldiers escorted his flag-draped coffin down Concord Street to a waiting train while softly singing “Nearer My God to Thee.”

  The summer encampments were interrupted only when the Musterfield was used as a staging area for militia units preparing for war. Soldiers gathered in Framingham in 1898 for the Spanish-American War, in 1916 for the Mexican border conflict and again in 1917 for World War I. The final encampment took place in the summer of 1919, ending an almost fifty-year-old Framingham tradition.

  AIRMAIL AND ASPARAGUS

  The wide, flat parade ground of the Musterfield property was put to a new use in 1920 when the U.S. Army Air Service established an airfield there. Although in operation for only a few years, the airfield was the site of several interesting and exciting aviation events. Commercial aviation was so novel at the time that the public eagerly anticipated and reveled in any and every episode involving planes and pilots.

  Perhaps the most historic event at the airfield was the first airmail delivery to New England, in October 1921. Lieutenant Reuben Curtis Moffat piloted a plane from Washington, D.C., to Framingham, carrying mail that was then delivered to Boston by truck. The delivery of a more unusual cargo a few months later made headlines across the country, demonstrating the public’s insatiable hunger for a
ll aviation-related news.

  On May 17, 1922, a group of more than fifty reporters, photographers and curious residents assembled on the airfield anxiously awaiting the delivery, by plane, of a shipment of asparagus from New Jersey. Included in the waiting crowd were representatives of the governor and the commissioner of agriculture, who had promised both Governor Channing H. Cox and Boston Mayor James Curley a side dish of fresh asparagus on their tables at lunchtime. When the scheduled landing time of noon had come and gone with no sign of the plane, officials at the airport became nervous that something had gone wrong with the flight. Minutes turned into hours and the aircraft and its precious cargo had still not arrived. Finally, at three-thirty, the plane was spotted in the skies south of Framingham and the remaining crowd let out a cheer. But their excitement quickly turned to confusion and concern as they watched the plane turn and head east to Boston. Two quick-thinking pilots on the ground saved the day by hopping into their own planes and flying after the errant asparagus, directing the New Jersey pilot to a perfect landing on the old Musterfield.

  Several months later, a pilot and his passenger were killed as they tried to land on the airfield. On July 22, Harvard medical student and pilot Zenos Miller, along with his brother Ralph and friend Dr. Clarence Gamble, took off from Framingham on the first leg of a cross-country flight to California. The plane was circling the airfield when it unexpectedly went into a spin and crashed in a fiery explosion in the swampy area adjacent to the landing strip. Several pilots on hand pulled the men from the flames, but Zenos Miller and Dr. Gamble both died. (Ralph Miller suffered only minor injuries.) For many years after the crash, neighborhood boys would explore the area for the wreckage of the plane that local legend held was still submerged in the swamp.

  Routine activity at the airfield consisted of cargo and passenger flights, with barnstorming pilots offering five-dollar plane rides to thrill-seeking passengers. One such pilot was Framingham native Arthur “Ray” Brooks, a World War I veteran who had shot down six enemy planes, earning him the title of “Ace,” as well as the Distinguished Service Cross. Brooks’s wartime SPAD XIII plane was restored and placed on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Brooks also had the distinction of being the nation’s longest-lived flying ace from the Great War, succumbing to old age in 1991 fewer than four months shy of his ninety-sixth birthday.

  PLANES TO AUTOMOBILES

  A second, more successful airport began operations in the southern part of town in 1929 on farmland owned by Teddy Gould. The official opening of the Gould Farm Airport took place on November 8 and 9, 1930, with almost ten thousand people in attendance. Spectators thrilled to airplane races and stunts, and over seven hundred people took rides, most likely their first ever, in the many aircraft gathered at the event. Over the next sixteen years, various aviation companies offered both cargo and passenger service out of the Gould Farm location. Air shows and meets, as well as demonstrations of military aircraft, were held on a regular basis. All activity at the airfield came to a sudden stop, however, in 1942 when World War II forced the closing of all civilian airports located within twenty-five miles of the coast. After the war, town officials were working on a plan to make the site a municipal airport when Teddy Gould sold the land to General Motors, ending Framingham’s almost thirty-year association with the aviation business. GM built an assembly plant on the site, which operated until 1987.

  CAMP FRAMINGHAM IN WORLD WAR II

  With the closing of the army airfield, all significant military activity on the Musterfield ended. In the 1920s, the Massachusetts State Police took over a portion of the site, where they built their headquarters and a training academy. With the exception of a small staff headquartered in the commandant’s house to oversee the remaining buildings and facilities, the rest of the property lay vacant and neglected. The attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s entrance into World War II in December 1941 would change all that and create one final chapter in the Musterfield’s long military history.

  America was a country on edge in the early days of the war, especially in coastal communities, where citizens and local governments worried about possible enemy air attack. Measures were taken to reduce potential targets for German bombers. Blackouts were enforced across Massachusetts. The golden dome of the statehouse in Boston was painted a dull gray to make it hard to find at night. Even large civic gatherings such as Fourth of July fireworks and parades were canceled. In Framingham, the skylights of the Edgell Memorial Library were painted over and an observation post on the roof of the Memorial Building was manned by volunteers who kept watch for enemy aircraft. Other citizens volunteered as air raid wardens to supervise blackouts, and air raid sirens were installed throughout the town. It was in this atmosphere in the spring of 1942 that Framingham residents noticed increased activity on the old campground. Although the work was clandestine, many questions were answered on May 21, when a convoy of trucks and equipment rumbled through town and entered the Concord Street gates. The convoy was made up of soldiers of the 131st Combat Engineering Battalion, which had been assigned to Framingham as part of the coastal defense system.

  Old and rusting equipment was hauled away as construction began on new buildings. The soldiers were housed in tents for the next six months while more permanent structures were built, including barracks, supply depots, armories, a headquarters building and a base theatre. But these new buildings were not army regulation. Camp Framingham was the site of a camouflage experiment. The entire base was designed and built to look like a typical New England village from the air, in order to fool any enemy pilots who might attack. Soldiers were housed in “barracks” resembling colonial homes; the attached garages were actually shower and latrine facilities. The double chimneys and the shingled roofs were fake. The whole area was landscaped with bushes and flowers so as to blend in with the surrounding neighborhood. The soldiers even strung clotheslines in the “yards,” and would often awake to find some prankster had strung up women’s undergarments during the night. The battalion headquarters looked like a school; the theatre was built as a church and was in fact used for religious services for the soldiers.

  The soldiers from the 131st spent their days inspecting coastal defenses and working on various construction projects. The regimental band attached to the battalion was kept very busy; within a few days of their arrival, they played in the town’s Memorial Day parade and were active for the next year and a half, performing at dozens of ceremonies and activities in towns from Marlborough to Boston. The town welcomed the soldiers with enthusiasm and made every effort to make their stay a pleasant one. A servicemen’s recreation room set up in the basement of town hall included ping-pong tables and a small library. One hundred soldiers from the camp attended a welcome dance in town hall in July. A blackout had been ordered for the town that night, causing the soldiers and their invited guests to dance by the light of the moon shining through the windows. Each soldier was allowed to bring his own guest, but if he attended alone, the dance committee promised to “supply attractive girls selected by the sponsoring organizations.” Not surprisingly, many romances developed at these gatherings and several weddings between Framingham girls and servicemen resulted.

  World War II barracks built to resemble neighborhood homes. Courtesy of Carl J. Loftesness.

  The same view today. Photo by Edward P. Barry.

  Off-duty soldiers walked through the army woods to swim in Learned’s Pond just as volunteers from the Massachusetts Militia had done decades before them. The walls of the church/theatre were decorated with a mural of scenes from Framingham history, and the soldiers were entertained with movies and occasional live performances by celebrities such as comedian Milton Berle and Bela Lugosi, star of the 1931 movie Dracula. The bulletin board in the mess hall was filled with notices placed there by Framingham families inviting the young soldiers to a home-cooked meal with a friendly family. The battalion stayed in Framingham until September 1943, when they shipped o
ut and eventually made their way to the Pacific theatre, serving with distinction in Guam and the Philippines.

  A NEW LIFE FOR THE OLD MUSTERFIELD

  After the war, both the town and the state developed much of the old Musterfield property for a variety of purposes. Many of the original army barracks were remodeled as single-family homes and used as veterans’ housing, while additional apartments were built to ease the postwar housing shortage. On Concord Street, War Memorial Park was dedicated in 1952 to all of the soldiers from town that had fought in the nation’s wars, beginning with the Revolution. The focal point of the park is a sculpture of Freedom by Boston sculptor Emilus Ciampa. Across from the park the Middlesex District Courthouse was built. The National Guard maintained its presence in the area when it built a new armory on the former site of the commandant’s house. New streets were laid out and named after significant battles of World War II. The battles of Corregidor in the Philippines, Oran in Algeria, Guadalcanal in Japan, Anzio in Italy, Normandy and St. Lo in France and Pearl Harbor in Hawaii are all memorialized in the streets of the neighborhood that is still known as the Musterfield. Another new street, Flagg Drive, was named after Framingham High graduate Charles Flagg, who was killed at Iwo Jima. The multipurpose church/theatre would have a new life as an actual church many miles away from Framingham. After a devastating fire ripped through the Brant Rock section of Marshfield, Massachusetts, in 1941, the parishioners of St. Ann’s by-the Sea were left without a church. Arrangements were made to transport the former Camp Framingham building to Marshfield, where it was used for services for ten years until a new church was built. Today it still stands and is used as the parish center.

  The World War II–era theatre/church at the Musterfield.

  During the Cold War, the same fears of enemy attack that had earlier prompted army barracks to be disguised as neighborhood homes during World War II brought about the development of the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), commonly known as “The Bunker.” Operated today by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Association (MEMA), the bunker was dedicated on November 16, 1963. The underground bunker was built as a headquarters for state government in case of nuclear attack. Covering nearly an acre of land on Route 9, the bunker is equipped with enough food, water, medical supplies and emergency air supply for three hundred people to survive for thirty days without outside aid. It is built of reinforced concrete with steel blast doors designed to withstand a twenty-megaton bomb blast.