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17-born in Medford, Mass. 20-family moved to Chelmsford, 1897 24-built house in which he presently lives 27-whole family moved, including grandmother 37-Mr. Fletcher was seven when the move was made 41-family move is the story of farm people who came to Lowell to work in the mills 44-father's family was from Vermont, mother's family was from northern New York State 46-at that time the young people were heading for the mills 54-his father's grandmother refused to move, lived alone on farm 58-mother's parents also stayed on farm 62-"farming was a good life" 71-father worked in brother's meat market, remembers store didn't have any heat, saw pictures of frost on the windows. People used to put little gas lights on the window sill to melt the frost off the windows in winter s there was not heat in the store 110-Cooperative Grocery Sale,where Middlesex Supply is today 112-it was an English ooncern, every customer was a shareholder at five dollars a share 118-there were a lot of traders 119-every six months profits were divided 127-there were lost of cooperatives around 137-father became a salesman for National Tea and Butter Co., a chain store 159-school was a little white building on Stedman Street, grades 1-4 164-switched to North Road School, contained all grades from 1-4th year of High School 170-attended 3 years of high school 174-liked school "better than today" 177-Susie McFarlin, best teacher, "ruled with an iron Hand" but everyone liked her, the boys especially 193-during lunch played on the Common 199-often went to the bakery where the First Bank and Trust Co is today 206-this was Harry Dutton's Bakery, he lived on Pine Hill Road 216-most of his group had nicknames 222-after three years of high school worked for Draper Co., in Hopedale 224-biggest manufacturer of textile machinery in the world at that time 228-worked in payroll dept., in 1910 there were 500 workers in the foundry 232-he worked here one year, quit over raise refusal 244-worked on milk route while in school o delivered for E.C. Perham 256-barn was at the corner of Dalton Road and Westford Street 260-used to get up at midnight to drive the milk wagon 267-laundry in the basement of First Bank and Trust Bldg, operated by Ralph Adams and Bert Sweetser 271-drove a laundry wagon for a time l picked up and delivered by horse and wagon 280-"wet wash" washed at laundry sent back to owner to be dried 286-big wash was done for 50¢ 290-often drove school children home while delivering 299-worked in plumbing shop in the Center 305-owner was H.H. Richerdson, died 1918 309-"Donovan and I both worked for him so we bought the business" 311-first began working in plumbing shop in 1911 318-Richardson's shop was in Central Block, beside brook 322-Fletcher in business 24 years 325-worked especially on steam fitting, installed many big boilers such as in the old high school, McFarlin, Westland 343-most of his work was local in better times 345-Depression, 1930's, contracted work in Brookline for nine years 349-he employed a five man work crew steadily for nine years 354-connected with wholesale firm in Boston, they would recommend him if he used their products 357-still self employed but looking out for Wholesaler's interest, to see that people bought stock from them 365-Depression affected business quite heavily, lost a great deal of money through bankruptcies and other people's failures 375-"speculator" builders were absolutely no good to work for 388-transportation 392-Electric Cars installed around 1896 395-took electric car directly to Center 397-Golden Cove Race Track was once a pasture connected to a farm which is now the "Town House" operated by George Coburn 407-used to drive cows down Manahan St., across the RR Track to where the race track was 409-in fact the man who cut the brush to build the race track lived in the Fletcher Household 412-used to swim in Hale's Brook, now River Meadow Brook 419-there were no houses around, the Fletchers at the time 421-remembers one house was built as "bait" by speculators to see if it would sell 426-there were lots of big farms; George Perry's farm was where Demoulas is today 435-Glen Avenue was all woods 436-Nelson's Candy house was one a big sandbank 437-it was dug out to construct Rte. 3 438-Sandbank was used for fill as people needed it 443-Glen Ave. was originally a Hay Road for hauling hay out of the meadows 447-Chelmsford didn't grow very fast until after WWII, only 9,000 population after the war 450-increase was caused by speculators 462-Fire Departments in the early 20th century was "more efficient than today" 464-Fletcher was chief 1920-21 had a horse drawn pumper, then the department acquired the first motorized pumpers, Mr. Fletcher drove the first fire truck in Chelmsford 471-Department did not own a horse 472-when a fire call reached the station, someone rang the bell at the Unitarian Church, then grabbed the first horse in sight to drag the pumper to the fire 475-this was before the water system was installed 480-everyone ran to assist when the alarm sounded 500-hand pumper was operated by a group of men lined up on each side working the levers 509-today's firemen are paid, in the early part of the century volunteers received 50¢ per hour, often gone only a half hour 515-firemen formed their own organization 516-Town Fathers thought they could do better so the force quit until Town Fathers asked them to come back 519-firemen themselves owned all the equipment in the fire house, even the stove used for heat was bought by the firemen 522-Town began supporting the Fire Dept., around 1922, after Mr. Fletcher left. Chief had his own telephone and was paid $350 per year 527-Mr. Fletcher had to pay for his own phone, received 75¢ an hour 533-"those fellas were all handy men, they knew what to do" 535-there was only one pumper in the entire town 537-the first motor trucks were Model T Fords, one in the West, South and East 540-North and Center had a big truck 541-motorized pumpers 542-first fire truck kept down in back of Town Hall in sheds 546-Mr. Fletcher was on a Committee of three to install the first fire alarm 547-$100 to $150 allowed for the job 552-one member was a tailor, the other worked at the Post Office, he was in fact the Postmaster, neither was very mechanical 554-bought a second hand box and bell striker 558-Unitarian Church allowed the striker to be put in the bell 559-fire alarm box was installed and a permanent man was put in the fire department 566-an Air Compressor was later installed by Mr. Fletcher, as well as a whistle on the steeple 574-firemen contributed 25¢ per month for a supper 576-drew three names out of a hat, those people had to get the supper 580-suppers were held at town hall, in the banquet hall in the basement 583-upstairs there was one dance floor, often used as a basketball court 591-there were five basketball teams in Town playing in a league 599-the baseball team bought their own uniforms and equipment 602-football team started around 1900,played on the Common and in McCoy's Field on Dalton Road 607-there was no recreation in the schools 610-every boy who was old enough had a job 615-Mr. Fletcher took out the papers for the first mail carrier in Chelmsford RFD Carrier 617-with a horse the carrier delivered house to house, approximately 30 miles a day, 5 days a week 633-after the route,mail was turned in at the office 634-Post Office was in Chelmsford Center where the Gift Shop is, the Plumbing Shop was also there at one time 642-Fletcher and Donovan set up shop in the former Post Office 646-Post Office was a very political appiontment 649-Representative Hazeltine did the appointing 653-Sweetser's Market used to be where the key shop is 659-Post Office moved quite often 667-a man named Richardson was elected Town Constable, he was the Chief and force all in one 671-tasks as constable s posted warrant for Town Meeting 679-collected unpaid poll and dog taxes 682-"Special Officers" were appointed in every section of Town; Quessy in West, Gookin in North, Robinson in East, Warren Berry in South 687-the major problem was groups gathering on the Common 693-dealt with noise complaints 697-can't do same things now End of interview |
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