Was the Gannon Golf Course in Lynn Built by the W.P.A.?

I expected to write a quick post on how the clubhouse at Gannon Golf Course in Lynn, Massachusetts was built as a project of the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A).  I am almost certain I have copies of the W.P.A. registers from the National Archives showing that expenditures went to Lynn for the building, but I am unable to locate the copies right now, so I can verify it as of this posting.

What I have learned since going to the Gannon Golf Course website is that the building was started much earlier than the W.P.A., in 1931-1932.  What is interesting is that it appears the City of Lynn and the Massachusetts State Legislature had created their own W.P.A.

From the website:
. . . John Morrissey, saw the project as a blessing in disguise; a blessing that could prove critical to the survival of countless Lynn families.  Morrissey, the superintendent of parks and playgrounds and one of the most popular members of the citizenry, had stirred up interest in a city-owned golf course with Albert Comstock, chairman of the Lynn park commission from 1918 to 1941. . . Joseph Cole and his supervisors in the Welfare Department had a solution for Comstock and Morrissey. Why not put hundreds of its men, suffering the indignity of placement on the welfare rolls, to work on the course and clubhouse construction? It was a brilliant idea that in the estimation of many ensured the expeditious completion of the project when it might otherwise have been delayed for years.

Thanks to a special act of the Massachusetts legislature, the men, 800 to start and another 700 by the time the construction was in high gear, were allowed the chance to work on the 100-acre project for their welfare checks. They were delighted. Their self-esteem was restored. Full-time Park Department employees also were involved on the course, which was designed by one of the game’s finest course architect’s of the time, Wayne Stiles.

Also from the website is an excerpt from an interview of Dick Walton in the Lynn Sunday Post on July 12, 1981.  He was 81 at the time and had been the construction supervisor of the project.

“The front nine holes were the most difficult to build. We didn’t have enough heavy equipment. A lot of the work was manual.  Laborers received $12 a week, masons $14, all in grocery orders.  The tree stump and rock removal projects were massive.  Every stone in the clubhouse came from the course clearing effort. Leftover rock completed the entire wall at Pine Grove Cemetery.  John Morrissey, park superintendent at the time, cooked massive supplies of his grand beef stew for the laborers, as well as clam chowder on Fridays and baked beans on Saturdays."

The fact that they used leftover field stone for the Pine Grove Cemetery wall tells me that it is likely that the clubhouse was started as a city/state project and finished as a W.P.A. project.  The Pine Grove Cemetery wall project was a project of the W.P.A.  It could be that Massachusetts had created their own W.P.A. and was successful, and then Franklin D Roosevelt built on that success in 1935 when the WPA was created.

Lynn Museum, Fanning the Flames

I live in Lynn and did not know I had such an easy access to such interesting history in the Lynn museum about firefighters and their different methods of fighting fire. In 17^th and 18^th century Lynn.  There were no organized firefighters to douse the flames when a fire broke out. Instead, residents responded to the fire with fire buckets. The leather jugs shown in the picture hung in homes and businesses and were placed close to the entrance of the building for convenience. Local fire clubs were organized and the volunteers were known as “bucket bridges”. The volunteers’ work became easier with the advent of fire engines, machines that were pushed and pumped by hand. Each neighborhood housed and maintained its own engine. These neighborhood engines were a source a pride, and crowds often gathered around the fire to cheer on their neighborhood fire company.

Until the early 19^th century, firefighting equipment was purchased by private sponsors- usually those with businesses to protect. In 1835, Lynn assumed responsibility for providing the tools and the people to fight fires. By the 1860s, new engines pulled by horses and powered by steam were purchased to replace hand pumped engines and fire stations were built throughout Lynn. The necessity to professionalize the industry of firefighting was fueled by growing number of factories, which increased the risk of fire. Stemming from a fire in a glove factory, the Great Fire of 1889 drastically changed the city’s landscape, wiping out an entire section of the downtown, including Central Square. Part of the Gamewell Fire Telegraph system, Box 41 was pulled to alert citizens of Lynn to the start of this devastating fire. Though more recent, the Great Fire of 1981 had similarly destructive effects on the city. This fire consumed the last shoe factory in operation in Lynn and left nearly 800 residents homeless.

http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume7/sept08/firefighting.cfm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_firefighting

The Pine Grove Cemetery 

     On September 25, 2016 I went to the Pine Grove Cemetery located on Boston St in Lynn and did my first service learning and it was pretty exciting and interesting. I learnt so much, and wish to share some information about this incredible place.

Entrance from Boston St.

     The Pine Grove Cemetery was established in the mid 19th century and consists of 82 developed acres. It contains approximately 88,000 to 90,000 interments. It was established as a private cemetery in the 1800's, and was sold to the City of Lynn in 1850. The cemetery was designed by Henry Dearborn, who also designed the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Forest Hill Cemetery in Boston. In the 1930's, a wall was built to surround the cemetery, and it was said to be the second contiguous wall in the world according to "Ripley's Believe it or Not. This cemetery has a rich history and is home to, inventors, political leaders, artists and many more.

      The cemetery has many architecturally distinct structures, such as: The Copeland Sunken Gardens, the Rhodes Memorial Chapel, Receiving Tombs and a view of Boston.

The Copeland Sunken Gardens

Designed by architect and gardener Robert Morris Copeland in 1874. 

Rhodes Memorial Chapel

Designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, in 1891. It was funded by a donation from Mrs. Amos Rhodes in memory of her husband. The stain glass window value over 10,000. The Pine Grove name comes from the wealth of the pine trees that frame he chapel and entrance from Boston street.

Receiving Tomb (front)
Constructed from 1866 to 1868 in Ruskinian Gothic style. It was a part of a building campaign following the Civil War. It remains intact as a part of the mid 19th century landscape design. It is made of granite ashlar construction with a cast iron doorway. 

Receiving Tomb (back)

View of Boston

  

This graveyard holds some well known names such as, Charles Herbert Woodbury, who was  member of a group of artists who were known as The Lynn Beach Painters. James N. Buffum who was mayor of Lynn twice, 1869 and 1872, a state representative in 1873, a industrialist and an abolitionist. He would travel alongside Frederick Douglass,Wendell Phillips, and Abby Kelly on antislavery lectures. Francis Moore, who participated in the Boston Tea Party, and Benjamin Franklin Falls who earned the Medal of Honor for his bravery during the third day of The Battle of Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863 simply reads, "capture of flag." These are just a few of the well known people that were buried at The Pine Grove Cemetery.

Finally, the cemetery holds many from World War I and II, as well as, many other battles. There is a section for Police Officers, and even babies. If anyone wants to learn more history about the cemetery and the people that are buried there, they can go on a Trails and Sails tour, which happen every year in different parts of Massachusetts.

Additional Pictures

Charles Herbert Woodbury 

James N. Buffum

Francis Moore

The Civil War Lot

Harry Aggnis

The Ornamental Grave Stone

The only two graves that are designed this way in the graveyard.

Chelmsford's One Room Schoolhouse.

Old Schoolhouses or One-room schools are found throughout rural portions of various countries like the United States, Norway, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland. One teacher would teach the academic basics to several grades, all mixed from grades 1 through 8, boys and girls. The schoolhouse would also be sometimes used as the local chapel on Sundays, and evening/Saturday meeting area and used for activities. The schoolhouse was painted red in some locations like the one shown below.

The regular school day would be from 9am to 4pm with morning and afternoon recesses, both 15 minutes each, and an hour lunch period. A few notable students that went to one-room schools were Abraham Lincoln, Herbert Hoover, and Joyce Carol Oates.

I couldn't snap pictures of the inside due to it being closed but if you've want to know how it looks inside I left the link below. It is the first link.

I also snapped a photo of the United States flag with just 15 stars and 15 stripes. It was the only U.S flag to have more than 13 strips and was authorized by the Flag Act of January 13, 1794. The photo of the schoolhouse is located in Chelmsford, MA and is the first Chelmsford schoolhouse in 1802. Also it was the oldest Town-owned property in Chelmsford.

https://merriam1.smugmug.com/TownofChelmsford/1802-Schoolhouse-Restoration/
http://www.usflag.org/the.15.star.flag.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-room_school

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass
Jake Blaney
12/14/16

                                      I visited the African American Museum on Beacon Hill in Boston, and privately toured the Frederick Douglass rooms with my older brother before the tours began early Tuesday morning. Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 and liberated himself from slavery in 1838. He began his career as an abolitionist orator and public figure in 1848, just as his popularity began to rise the Daguerreotype camera became the first form of practical photography making it easier to have your picture taken.




At the museum photography is usually not allowed, but without taking a tour I managed to get pictures of some of the many photos of Douglass. He is the most photographed man in the United States of the 19th Century.

The two photographs below are the last two pictures taken of Frederick Douglass ever. The one on the top left side is the only photo in which Douglas sclearly depicts a smile in. The one on the bottom right is a picture probably taken on the 21st of February a day after Frederick Douglass's death. 

http://maah.org/exhibits.htm

Shoe Industry in Lynn

Shoe Factory of V.K and A.H Jones at 120 Broad St. Lynn, Ma 

http://digitalcommons.salemstate.edu/essex_lithographs/7/

                                         

         120 Broad Street now

V.K. & A. H. Jones Shoe Factory manufactured fine ladies’ shoes and boots. They were known for hiring only the most skilled people in the trade and as a result their products were highly sought after. Despite their popularity, they only concerned themselves with the New England and Western trade. They had a factory in Hampton, New Hampshire but closed it down when they consolidated their business in Lynn, causing an economic collapse in Hampton.

"Inventor of the Shoe-lasting Machine, Jan Matzeliger

I decided to do my blog about the shoe  industry in Lynn ,  because not only is Lynn the first place I lived when I moved to America but it's also where most of my relatives/family friends currently live and I found it interesting to know that Lynn has all these historic facts that I never knew about in middle school .

Lynn was dotted with 10 foot by 10 foot shacks where artisan shoemakers practiced their craft, back then maybe if they’re lucky they could produce up to  five shoes a day. But as the Industrial Revolution swept through America in the early 19th century, shoemaking in Lynn moved from small shops to factory floors. Aided by new technology, production increased – from five shoes a day to 50 pairs.

Matzeliger set out to find a solution to the problems he discerned in the shoemaking process. He thought there had to be a way to develop an automatic method for lasting shoes. He began coming up with designs for machines that could do the job. After experimenting with several models, he applied for a patent on a "lasting machine."

Matzeliger's  invention was unveiled, and demonstrated for the first time. Not only did it work, it changed everything. Factory production jumped from 50 pairs a day to 750 pairs a day. The cost of a pair of shoes made in Lynn dropped in half.

The mechanism held a shoe on a last, pulled the leather down around the heel, set and drove in the nails, and then discharged the completed shoe.

http://www.biography.com/people/jan-matzeliger-21317107#invention-of-the-lasting-machine

Boston Massacre

Crispus Attucks 

 Boston is one of the most historical cities in the Americas and one of the best cities. I go to Boston at least once a week to go into stores, or to walk around. From the Boston Tea Party to having the oldest continuously running marathon in America. One of the many fascinating stories is of Crispus Attucks. 

Crispus Attucks was born around 1723 in Framingham, Massachusetts. He was born into slavery; his father was a slave and his mother was a native Indian. Attucks was a run a away slave at an early age in his life.  According to The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, historians believe that an advertisement placed in the Boston Gazette on October 2, 1750, referred to him. In it, it says, “Ran away from his Master, William Brown of Framingham, on the 30th of Sept. last, a Molatto Fellow, about 27 Year of age, named Crispas, 6 Feet two Inches high, short curl'd Hair…,”. There was an award for his return of ten pounds. He was a young man who showed an early skill for buying and trading goods.

On March 5, 1770, a mob of American colonists gathers at the Customs House in Boston and  they started to taunt the British soldiers guarding the building. The protesters, who called themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by troops, who were sent to Boston in 1768 to enforce unpopular taxation measures passed by a British parliament that lacked American representation.The colonists started to throw snowballs and other objects at the British troops, and Private Hugh Montgomery was hit, leading him to discharge his rifle at the Patriots. When the smoke cleared, five colonists were dead; they were, Crispus Attucks, Patrick Carr, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, and James Caldwell. In total six Americans were killed and six were wounded. This led to the American Revolution. 

Even after Crispus Attucks had died, he continued to be important in history. Martin Luther King, Jr., referred to Crispus Attucks in the introduction of Why We Can’t Wait, in 1964, as an example of a man whose contribution to history, that, provided a message of moral courage. Attucks helped King become courageous in a way. He gave him the foundation of the rebellion and the start of a better America for all. 

Crispus Attucks became the first casualty of the American Revolution when he  was killed outside of The Old State House in Boston. In some articles, it says that he was the leader of this event. He was hero because we are in the America that we live in. The next time you are in State Street, remember those that died in the Boston Massacre that led to the American Revolution.

• http://www.biography.com/people/crispus-attucks-9191864
• http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-massacre 
• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-boston-massacre