Turner's Public Spirit, April 8, 1922
A look back in time to a century ago
By Bob Oliphant
“Center. Monday, the first day of the open shop at the Fletcher quarries in West Chelmsford,
was successful, according to Superintendent Ralph Fletcher, who said that fifteen apprentice
stone cutters and a number of additional general workers started there that morning, and about
fifteen more were booked to start on Tuesday. No trouble is expected, according to Mr. Fletcher,
who says that his men are not of the trouble-making kind.
“The public schools closed this week Thursday for the spring vacation and will reopen on
Monday, April 17….
“The teachers and pupils of the William E. Frost school held a five-minute silence at the
closing hour of the school on Monday, in memory of their late music teacher, Miss Raynes, who
passed away last week….
“About fifty parents and teachers from the Center and Graniteville gathered at Library hall on
Tuesday evening. Mrs. J. H. Lambert, president of the Parent-Teacher association of the Bartlett
Training school in Lowell, gave an interesting talk on the work of that organization. The
following officers of the Westford Parent-Teacher association were elected: Arthur E. Day, pres.;
Mrs. Fabyan Packard, William C. Roudenbush vice pres.; Mrs. A. G. Hildreth, sec. and treas.;
Mr. Carter, Mrs. O. R. Spalding, Mrs. W. R. Carver, ex-com.; Mrs. Winthrop Sargent, Mrs. H. M.
Ingalls, Miss Mabel Drew, program com.; Mrs. A. M. Wells, Mrs. Bosworth, Mrs. Carter,
membership com.; Mrs. George F. White, Miss Brown, Mrs. Perley Wright, social com….
“Miss Mary B. Raynes, a former supervisor of music in the public schools of this and
surrounding towns of the district for twelve years died in Lowell on March 30. She was well
known and highly respected here, where her work for several years in the schools was highly
efficient….
“There are April fool jokes without number, but old Mother Nature staged the best of all on
last Saturday in the shape of the heaviest snowstorm of the current—would that one could say
past—winter; a storm which produced probably the most disagreeable conditions of the year for
the average pedestrian, and which also provided a little extra employment.
“About Town. The school committee held a meeting on Tuesday afternoon on the site
selected for the new schoolhouse for Brookside and Westford Corner to decide on the best way to
face the building with reference to sunlight, convenience and attractive appearance from the three
roads. It was unanimously decided to have the building face the four corners of the roads, Oak
hill, Plain and Brookside roads….
“About 200 stone cutters employed at the H. E. Fletcher & Company stone quarry on Oak hill
left on a strike last Saturday. This is in accordance with the orders of the stone cutters’ union and
is in force all over New England. As we are informed the union and the owners of the quarries
have been doing business for fifteen years in contracts for a period of two years each. The last
contract expired April first. The stone cutters were paid $1.00 per hour for eight hours per day.
With the world-wide depression in all industries and the threatening extermination of the granite
industry in New England under the present high cost of wages and consequent high cost of stone
the owners of stone quarries made a twenty percent reduction in wages which the union most
emphatically uncompromisingly refused to accept, hence the strike. The stone quarries being no
longer tethered to the stone cutters union have adopted the open shop all over New England.
“We know that the tree warden is overrun with look here and look there, and we do not want
to appear in the role of being ‘fussy,’ because we know that the sleet storm has increased the role
of ‘fussy’ to the enduring point. But we will speak our piece now that we have got under way.
The sleet storm last winter split an elm tree into four equal parts, one half fell onto the topmost of
an apple tree, another half is threatening the natural rights of another apple tree, and the other two
halves are threatening ‘holdup’ on the Lowell road. Now as the town owns the elm, and the Old
Oaken Bucket farm the apple trees, couldn’t we make some wireless signals of mutual distress
and have you come to the relief just as soon as you possibly could?
“It is pleasant to have the Misses Atwoods back from their winter sojourn in Florida….
“Graniteville. Last Saturday’s storm proved to be a great disappointment to the soccer fans
when the big game between the Abbots and the Fore River club had to be called off….”
Look for future Museum Musings columns at museum.westford.org.
Arthur Edward Day (1878-1922) was the first president of the Westford PTA. Courtesy photo
/ findagrave.com