Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Greenwood gathering :circa 1930

Description

This undated landscape picture, believed to have been taken around 1930, belongs to Ola Florence Dow Archibald Hatch of Greenwood, the social correspondent for the Wakefield Daily Item and a member of a large family with many local ties. Ola was one of five children of George and Clara Dow, born in 1892; Charlotte (Da)y, born in 1895; Clarence "Click", born 1897; Everett, born in 1900; and Ida (Glidden), born in 1901. Clara was also the social correspondent for the Wakefield Daily Item, a position Ola took over when her mother retired. The photo is two pictures put together; the other is featured on the back inside cover of this calendar. Ola's husband Samuel Archibald worked in the Town Clerk's office and is the tall man standing at the left with his hands in his pockets, while their son George is the sixth boy to the right of the man in the striped suit. Sadly, George died in 1931 of meningitis, and Samuel in 1933 of tuberculosis. Ola married Milan Hatch, a widower who had three sons and a daughter, in 1934. Their daughter, Judy, was born in 1935. Milan also served the Town as a blackout warden during World War II. In addition to the Dow, Hatch, Day and Glidden families, other Wakefield family members included the Forlizzi and Pelletier families. The photo was taken in Greenwood at what may have been the Greenwood ballfield/park off Pitman Avenue, behind the Pitman estate, or the Grove which was located near Forest Street. The Greenwood ballfield was the site of many community events in the 1920s and 1930s, including a midnight bonfire on July 3rd, 1922, which kicked off a massive $50,000 July 4th celebration.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2021

Photo courtesy of Linda Forlizzi and the Forlizzi Family

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

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

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

ca. 1930

Format

image/jpeg

Language

eng

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture :black and white

Extent

32 x 16 cm.