Just wondering if there are any left. (Boston, Brockton: apartment, crime)

[CALGUY]

I was raised, and went to school in a small town called Avon.
For those unfamiliar with Avon, it is north of Brockton, south of Randolf, east of Stoughton, and west of Holbrook.
Any way, I graduated with the class of 1956, and wonder if there are still any living from that class.
If you were a member of the class of 56, or know someone who is, and still living, would like to hear from you.

Me, I left the northeast 50 years ago, and live in California.

[masssachoicetts]

It's Randolph* not Randolf. Sorry a little pet peeves I have as I was raised in South Randolph near the Ford dealership and the breakfast diner that went out of business 2 years ago

Mind talking about how Randolph and Avon were back in the day 50s? What was the area like especially down 28?

[CALGUY]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

It's Randolph* not Randolf. Sorry a little pet peeves I have as I was raised in South Randolph near the Ford dealership and the breakfast diner that went out of business 2 years ago

Mind talking about how Randolph and Avon were back in the day 50s? What was the area like especially down 28?

Well, you are jogging my memory, but as I recall,Randolph was just like any other small community.
As a kid, I remember going to the Howard Johnson's on 28 for ice cream, and the best fried clams you could get anywhere.
It use to be just before you drove through the blue hills on 28.
I worked at a place called the Randolph manufacturing co (randy sneakers) when I was in my teens.
One other place I remember was the Lynwood cafe.
Best damn pizza in the world.
Here in Los Angeles, there isn't any one here who knows how to make a good pizza, and I have been looking for fifty years.

A bunch of us guys would bike to Glen echo lake(think it was on #139 if I'm not mistaken) headed toward Stoughton.

As for Avon, not much to tell.
Again, just the typical small town like all the rest.

I remember when our family moved into Avon, from Brockton, (I was four years old) We had a house on Page street, and the walk to school was just across the baseball field.
Our family brought the population up to 1500 people living in Avon at that time.
I'm sure that has changed a lot.

Matter of fact, I tried to find our house on google earth, and it was demolished, and a beautiful raised ranch house was built on the spot.
Being raised in a small town,I really had a great life , especially in my teens.
There was no crime to speak of, and if there was any, it was usually happening in Brockton.
I think the fifties was the greatest time to be a teen.

I had a horse, as did some of my friends, and we use to go riding where route 24, and Harrison blvd are presently.
Back then it was all wooded area.
Once in a while, me and my friends would ride our bikes to Glen Echo lake.
I think it was off #139 headed toward Stoughton.
Typical ole swimming hole(at least the part we use to go to.)

You mentioned you lived near the Ford dealer.
If I recall, the dealership back in my day was called "Good Brother's Ford".

I have not been back to Massachusetts in many, many years.
I think my last trip there was in 1990.
I couldn't take the snow, and the cold any longer.
I left when I was 22.
Moved to a little town named Hollywood Florida(just north of Miami Beach.)
Loved it, but with my sinus problem, couldn't take all the humidity.
The apartment building was right on the beach.
Moved to Los Angeles in 1970, and have been here ever since.

Once in a while, I think back to my childhood, and how great it was living in Avon.
Fortunately my mind is still very clear, and there is much more I can tell you about the 50"s and that area.

Oh, one more thing, our graduating class was just 26 people.
I imagine today it is well over 100 or so.
Will get back to you later.

[missionhill]

Apparently the town of Stoughton purchased Glen Echo from a private owner about nine years ago. Here's an excerpt from a Boston Globe story at the time...

About 70 people met in February at the Stoughton Historical Society to share their memories of what happened in the past at Glen Echo. Their stories ranged from diving off Drum Rock, to winning a bottle of champagne in a singing contest at the inn, to roller-skating in the converted dance pavilion.

Glen Echo “has a nostalgic place in the heart of a lot of Stoughton residents,’’ said Dwight MacKerron, president of the historical society. “It was really a local institution.’’

Glen Echo, whose name was picked for its evocative quality, was built in Stoughton’s “Golden Age of Industry’’ by a man who’d made his money in rubber manufacturing, and was a “popular vacation destination for people from Boston who could come out on the trolleys and find their own little piece of Cape Cod in north Stoughton,’’ MacKerron said. The resort developed a more “rough and tumble reputation’’ after the Depression and still carries a mixture of dark tales and sunny memories, he said.

One story relates how, in the 1940s, a man stopped at a local shop on his way to Glen Echo and moved a cache of guns in his car’s trunk to make room for the bag of groceries he bought, MacKerron said

During the polio scares of the 1950s, parents kept their children away from the pond. Anita Silva, whose parents ran Glen Echo Inn in the 1960s, shared stories about the tranquil beauty of the spot mixed with live entertainment and freshly made pizzas; she also told of the night a body was found in the pond.

“A fair number of people drowned there,’’ MacKerron said. “It has a reputation of being a dangerous lake to swim in because it has cold spots. People would get a cramp and drown. And it was a rite of passage for people to dive off Drum Rock, which sticks up about 25 feet, and some people drowned.’’

Glen Echo also had a connection to the infamous Boston Brink’s robbery of 1950, MacKerron noted: Joseph “Specs’’ O’Keefe, a member of the gang that robbed a Brink’s truck, lived on Glen Echo Boulevard. After he turned state’s witness, the FBI spent fruitless hours digging up his yard looking for the missing loot.

“I cannot think of another piece of land in town that has so many connections to different parts of our history,’’ MacKerron said.

The Stoughton Historical Society has put together a booklet of Glen Echo memories and, with the Historical Commission, plans a hike of the property on Earth Day, April 22, at 10 a.m.

[in_newengland]

I'm from WMass but back when I was a kid we would spend a few weeks at the Cape every year. And every year a couple from Randolph stayed at the same group of cottages. They were both teachers, maybe they taught in Randolph too.

The cottages were on a pond and my dad would take me fishing. One time, by mistake I thought I was pulling up a monster of a fish but it turned out to be an EEL. Being a squeamish girl, I immediately threw the pole and all out into the water!

Next year, when that same couple came back, my dad mentioned that I no longer had a fishing pole because I had thrown it overboard. Turned out the man was a scuba diver and he actually retrieved my fished pole from the bottom on the pole, dead eel still attached. I don't know anything about Randolph except that these people lived there and they made a good impression on me!