Posts Tagged ‘Cyrus Wakefield’

WAKEFIELD — Greenwood native Thomas A.C. Ellis has written a new, comprehensive history of Wakefield’s role in the Civil War. It is a worthy companion to other volumes written on the history of the town. Ellis is an independent Civil War historian who decided to write the book after he searched for information regarding Wakefield’s […]


Policy of truth

17Sep21

“We’re only getting rid of the Warrior logo. The Warrior name can stay.” How many times did we hear those soothing words of assurance over the last year? I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it and I don’t believe it now. Even before they cancelled the logo, I said, “They’ll be back […]


I was vaguely aware that John J. Round had been a town official way back at the beginning of the 20th century. But, like most people, I had no inkling about his more significant contributions to the town. I had no idea, for example, that he had purchased entire tracts of land in the areas […]


Kudos to the Wakefield Independence Day Committee for deciding to go with the 150th birthday of the Town of Wakefield as the theme for the 2018 Fourth of July Parade. This was the decision I’ve been hoping for since I wrote a column about it last April. But I can’t claim credit for the idea. […]


Right on the heels of the plastic bags crisis, the latest issue to rock Wakefield is what name we should use for the town’s executive body. For the past 370 years, “Board of Selectmen” has done quite nicely, but no more. The position contains the word “man” (and in the plural, “men”). In 2017, this […]


Wakefield 150

14Apr17

Not very many people realize it yet, but 2018 is shaping up as a pretty significant year around here. If the first thought that popped into your head was that retail sales of weed will be legal in Massachusetts starting in July 2018, it might be time to put down the bong and pick up […]


Wakefield is getting good at hosting really big parties: Festival Italia, the Holiday Stroll and Independence Day are prime examples. Soon to take its place alongside those is the upcoming Halloween spectacular, “Haunted Happenings.” But what if you can’t make it for some reason? What’s the next best thing to being there?


Galvin demolition conjures ghosts of schools past Watching the big yellow CAT’s giant claw rip through the old Galvin Middle School last week, one couldn’t help but wonder – if those walls could talk, what would they say? (Besides “Get that damn machine away from me!”) They don’t build them like they used to. The […]


A Talk by John Wall Many people know the story of how the town of South Reading, MA came to be renamed after industrialist Cyrus Wakefield. But most people probably don’t realize the extent to which he shaped the town of Wakefield as we know it today. In a talk on Feb. 20, 2013 to […]


Last year’s highly successful merger of the Wakefield and Melrose Health Departments has prompted officials in the two contiguous communities to explore other ways that they might cooperate for mutual public benefit. There has even been talk of consolidating the Wakefield and Melrose police and fire dispatch systems as another way to save both communities […]