Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Main Street rebuilding, August 1949

Description

"What was to be a state-funded rebuilding of Main Street from the Rockery to Greenwood, and the removal of the streetcar rails in 1949, led to the laying of a new drainage system down the middle of Main Street. Crews discovered an old natural drainage system covered with capstone when a specialized trench digger began taking out the old rails. The Commonwealth stepped in and ordered that new 18" and 20" reinforced concrete pipes replace the existing drain in the downtown area. The street was to be open in both directions during the rebuilding, with work limited to the center of the wide street. The extensive work led to traffic being rerouted and one-way traffic from Albion Street southward. Temperatures during the rebuilding project soared into the 90s with no rain. As a result, the town's water levels were low. When the time came to 'puddle' the ditch, the water pumped from the old fire cistern below the ground at Main and Avon Street was not enough, leading the town to think creatively by running 2,500' of hose from the Lake, beginning at the the cement platform at the foot of Spaulding Street, across from the Common to the ditch on Main Street."

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2011

Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Main Street (Wakefield, Mass.)

Date

08-1949

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Streets

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture: b & w

Extent

28 x 21 cm.