Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Corner of Yale Avenue and Main Street, circa 1908

Description

"Thomas Emerson first started his shoe manufacturing business at Lakeside, just north of Lawrence Street. He moved his operations to Albion Street, east of North Avenue, in 1859. He moved the Thomas Emerson & Sons shoe manufacturing company to Burrage Yale's tin shop at the corner of Yale Avenue and Main Street in 1863. The building was torn down in 1902, and in 1908, the Wakefield Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) broke ground on the land to build its new building. The cornerstone was laid on September 16, 19098 and the building was opened on April 7, 1909. The ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone was 'unusually interesting' with music provided by the Boston & Maine YMCA band and speeches by the YMCA's state secretary Edward W. Hearne and the Honorable James Logan, Mayor of the City of Worcester. After the YMCA Auxiliary presented a donation of $1,000, a copper box was placed beneath the cornerstone. The copper box, which was sealed with solder, included historical sketches of the YMCA and YMCA Auxiliary, a list of contributors, three views of Wakefield, the names of town officials, the names of school committee members and teachers, copies of the April 12, 1906, May 17, 1907, and September 15, 1908 Wakefield Daily Item, a copy of the September 15, 1908 Citizens' Banner, portraits of President Lee and Secretary Conlon, portraits of Hattie Butterfield (first president), Sarah Evans Howard (treasurer), and Adelaide Coburn (first secretary), the program of the festivities, and the names of the members of the YMCA board. Separate openings were held on April 7 and 8, 1909 for the Auxiliary, contributors, high school students and the general public."

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2015

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

Yale Avenue (Wakefield, Mass.)

Main Street (Wakefield, Mass.)

Date

ca. 1908

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Streets

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture: b & w

Extent

31 x 16 cm.