An airport in Hanover as late as 1958? Ah, yes, and at one time there were as many as 50 small planes kept there. Mr. W. Melvin Clark was the man who took his dream and “flew” with it.

I interviewed Mr. Clark in 1977 when making a film for the 250th Anniversary of our town. I got out the old tape as I was writing this, and Melvin Clark’s New England twang came over loud and clear. Son of George J.J. Clark, entrepreneur and founder of the National Fireworks, Melvin had a creative and courageous spirit. Born in 1902, he was intrigued with the early airplane, and as a young man hung around the airport in Quincy. He bought what was left of an old Kittyhawk and brought it to his home on Winter St. where he tinkered with it and put it together. In those days the body and wings were covered with an Irish linen type of canvas. This was covered with what was called “airplane dope” which caused the canvas to shrink tightly around the wing and body forms. Ten to twelve coats were applied until the surface was as tough as metal.

Mr Clark told the story about a day in 1927. He was running the plane up and down the field in back of his house, and then he just kind of “took off”. There was hardly enough room to land back on the field, but somehow he did. Then he called the Dennison Airport and told them what he had done, and said,” but I don’t have a license”.

“Why don’t’ you fly over and get it?” was the teasing reply.

“I’ll come right over” said Melvin. And fly over he did and received license number 17,540.

Shown in the picture on the March Historical Society calendar (on sale at the Library and the Stetson House) is the airport that was fashioned out of Melvin Clark’s back yard, field, and adjoining lands belonging to the Holbrooks, Robinson, and Greens. A high tension wire had to be moved, and even more difficult in those days (1929) was the leveling off of two hills and removal of many stones. There was a line of elms on Winter St. which were cut down and an orchard of apple trees that was removed to make room for low flying planes and 3 runways. The airport was located in the triangle between Winter, Myrtle and Center streets.

The picture was taken in 1958 when the airport had just been demolished. Today streets with the names of King Phillip Lane, Massasoit Lane, Samoset Drive, Pocahontas Lane and the like criss-cross the old runways. I wonder what the homeowners think when they dig down and hit some of the old tarmac.

When the airport began, there was one plane, one hanger, and 35 acres, but it expanded as more land was needed, and East Coast Airways, as it was officially called, housed private planes from Hanover, Marshfield, Rockland and Abington, and was listed as a commercial airport. Most people around here called it Clark’s Airport, and it was a thrill to go down to West Hanover and take a Sunday sightseeing ride.

Mr. Clark told of being the first Air Policeman in Hanover. It was his job on summer Sundays to keep sightseeing planes away from a nudist camp on the North River. He thought it was quite a joke, because it was pretty hard to control, until the Federal Aviation Inspector told him to “just take their number, and I’ll take their license.” Then there was no further need for an Air Policeman.

Mr. Clark became the first airmail pilot in Hanover, carrying mail from Hanover, to Brockton to Boston. He had his airmail pilot certificate dated May 19, 1938 . In the picture he is shown with postmaster Bart Downing, Eleanor Kimball’s father.

Mr. Clark never lost his love of flying and adventure. He spoke abouta flying to the World’s Fair in Chicago, and what a thrill it was to find his way there. He made three different trips across the country to California, Texas and Seattle, Washington. He was the first person to land a private plane in his father’s birthplace, Prince Edward Island. He spoke of scaring the cows down to one end of the field so he could land at the other end.

During the war he sold the airport land to his father, who needed the a space to store magnesium powder and other materials used in the manufacture of the munitions made at the National Fireworks. After the war Melvin Clark bought the land back from his father, and the airport continued for 10 more years.

With the coming of the larger planes and air traffic from South Weymouth, Mr. Clark didn’t enjoy competing for air space. Two large planes one in trouble and one mistaking Hanover for South Weymouth landed dangerously on the short runways. One was taken apart and towed to Otis, because it couldn’t take off on that length runway.

When the airport had closed and the land sold, Mr. Clark took his plane and one hanger and made a deal with the owner of the Plymouth airport. He could keep his plane there in his hanger, and when he sold his plane, he would leave the hanger. I wonder if it is still there.

Horse and wagon, stagecoach, train, trolley, airplane, but in Hanover today the automobile is king.

If you have any old pictures of earlier Hanover days, the Hanover Historical Society would be interested in borrowing and copying them for their files. Bring them to the Stetson House any Wednesday afternoon between 2 and 4 o’clock, or call me at 826-6254. Last year becomes tomorrow’s history. Help us preserve it.

The first family to settle in the bounds of Hanover was William Barstow who came up the North River from the coast at Scituate in 1649. He settled near the river in the area now referred to as Four Corners. He was a husband, father, farmer, a bridge builder, a ship builder,and keeper of an ordinary among other things. Others followed him seeking more land, and by the early 1700’s there were 200 families who petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to separate from Scituate and incorporate their own town, to be called Hanover in 1727. John Simmons in his “History of Hanover” suggests that the name “Hanover” was taken by those loyal subjects of the King of England, George I., who before ascending the throne of Great Britain, had been Elector of Hannover. Mr. Simmons goes on to say that the difference in spelling can be accounted for by the “inclination , which has always been prominent in this country, to make improvement in every way upon everything.”

A description of the town life at the time of the Revolution is quoted from Lucy Bonney, one of the authors of “Houses of the Revolution”. “In the vicinity of the North River Bridge, where ship-building had been conducted for over a century, there was the largest settlement. At each of the old and new Forges, there were a few settlers. The little streams turned the wheels of several saw and grist mills around which a few homes had been built.

“There was an ordinary at the bridge, taverns at the Four Corners and one at Drinkwater.

“The rest of the town was covered by self-sustaining farms. Each was a large clearing where had been built a sturdy house of superb architecture. Beyond, were the barns for horses, cattle, sheep and oxen. There were gardens and orchards which provided food for the family and the farm animals, flax for the weaving of linen and herbs, as there was no doctor is town. Farther on were meadows and pasture land surrounded by stone walls and hay fields. Beyond the clearing was an extensive acreage of woodland which provided fuel for the great fireplace and lumber for building.

“Only a few main thoroughways existed: the Country Way from the North River Bridge toward Boston, the Town Way to the Forges, the Drinkwater Way over Tumble Down Hill to the Abington line and Curtis Street from the Center of town to the North. Many little woodland lanes led from house to house or to the main road. Some later became streets, others can still be found in wooded areas.

“Many of the old homes are now here, some inhabited by the descendants of the early builder. Others are gone, but many a long forgotten house can be traced today by a lilac bush still blossoming near an old broken foundation or a nearby stonewall.

“Much of the old charm has disappeared, but that which remains is still beautiful.”

Throughout the years that followed changes gradually occurred. More houses were built, the district schools were turned over to the town, and later consolidated, a high school was begun in the town hall, a railroad and trolley came and went. Many of the farmers and shipbuilders became shoemakers: doctors came to town. Electricity and the telephone arrived at the turn of the 20th century, and the automobile followed. It was the last three advances that changed life in our rural town.

The end of World War II saw a burst of building and later the Southest Expressway resulted in Hanover changing to a suburban community with many fine new homes, (although the old ones are the jewels). The town boasts of a fine educational system, a fine pre-school and kindergarten program, two elementary school, a middle school and a high school which sends 89.5 percent of its graduates on to higher education. The public library is well used and is looking forward to an addition.There are six churches, and many civic clubs and organizations. The old volunteer fire companies still exist in the villages, but there is the most modern equipment, and a permanent force at the Center Station. The police force is well educated and one of the best on the South Shore, and is looking toward a modern police station soon to be constructed.

Business has moved much of its focus from the mills along the streams and the Four Corners to route 53 and the Hanover Mall.

But Hanover Center, which has just received Historic District nomination, still retains a pastoral feel, featuring the Congregational Church, the Parsonage, the Town Hall, the Library, the Stetson House, the Civil War Monument, the Cemetery, and the Sylvester School. Near by is Briggs Stable with horses prancing around the ring and riding along nearby trails. One can almost imagine that time has stood still here.

Most of all Hanover has always had people who loved their families, their town, supported education, had a strong value system and a spirit of volunteerism. Hanover people are proud of their town.

As I suggested in my last article many of the early houses were located on secluded ways. The House at Cricket Hollow was located on such a lane and the path can still be found today in the woods behind the Cardinal Cushing School. However not known to many is an ancient highway from Scituate to Abington which led by this house. According to Charles Gleason it branched off the Towne Way (River St./Broadway)) and crossed the Third Herring Brook on the Mill dam at the Stockbridge saw and grist mill. (Some know this location as Tiffany Pond (Norwell). This ancient road crossed the Country Road (Washington St.) near Al Sullivans and on through the woods passing the old Randall house (now gone) avoiding Randall’s Swamp, coming into the Drinkwater Road (Hanover St.) near the “Beehive” (an old house located about where the tennis courts are now situated) The highway then continued along the old Drinkwater road.

Another ancient road described in one on Charles Gleason’s notebooks is one that “led from Scituate to the ‘Indian Ponds’ in Hanson. …this roughly hewn out road came across what is now Norwell to Mill St. in Hanover, then across by Pine St. to what is called Birch Bottom Road , to the north end of Grove St., following that street to its end on Center St., then across thru a wood road to the Morrill Phillip’s place (947 Broadway), then across to the Joe Church place(1010 Broadway) and thru his woods to the river. (Indian Head) across this bridge (long gone) and following the ridge thru the door yard of the once Dwelley place , following the higher levels across to the Indian Ponds.” Gleason explored this route in his wagon and on foot. finding several cellar holes, once homes of early settlers. Much of the this area is in back of the Morrill Phillips estate and is now a Wild Life Conservation area. Parts of Birch Bottom Road are still visible as a path opposite the north end of Grove St.

Another early roadway went south from Plain St. over Brisco’s Plain and the long gone Hanmer’s cellar to join the above mentioned roadway near the present Grove St.
Hanmer’s Hook was another little path in this area.

Mr. Gleason also mapped out the Four Corners as it looked before 1734. The Towne Way (Broadway) was 50 yards east of its present location.The oldest house still standing in Hanover (168 Broadway) built in 1693 or before, faced the old highway. But now Broadway passes the back of the original old Cape, and that is what we view of the house from Broadway today.

That Curtis St. (now Main St.) was one of the earliest laid out roadways is evident by the houses still standing built in the early 1700’s, many of them by Curtises. It met the Drinkwater Road (Hanover St.) near the geographical center of the town, and that intersection became the governmental center of the town. Going south the land rises, and just beyond the big curve is a hill called Sullivan Hill by those around in the early 1900’s, and Nick Hill by those here in the 1800’s.

Another old street on which many old families lived was Torrey ’s Lane, now called Winter St. Several families of Torreys, Wings, and Tildens lived here, but most of the old houses are long gone.

Dwelley and Simmons say that Indian Way Stone is located “on the hill back of the house of the late William Whiting.(Whiting St.) It is said to have marked the Indian Trail from the Bridgewaters east, across the ‘Stepping stones’, past the spring at Assinippi…”

Purr Cat Lane, now know as Spring Street was probably the home to a few wild cats, whose purring may have alarmed the early settlers on that street. At the end of Purr Cat Lane another lane provided a way to the mill at Project Dale on the Indian Head River. (It is shown by a dotted line on the Henderson/Phillips 1850 Map of Hanover)

If you study that 1850 Map, you will note that the present Webster St. in North Hanover was reconfigured to include part of North St, including the so called “London Bridge” (which crossed Longwater Brook) and Walnut Street. North and Walnut Streets are just short little roads now, and a great part of each has been incorporated into the present Webster St.

On the 1850 map you can find the dwelling place of R. Shimmon on the Country Road near Mill St. on the corner of Henry’s Lane. Henry’s Lane headed west to another little dwelling then unoccupied. Just when this old lane disappeared I do not know, but the name and approximate location has been resurrected in the Old Town Way/ Acorn Circle area.

In 1904 the first so called paved or tarred roads were begun. Washington St. starting at the North River bridge was paved by the State to the end of Rockland St. at the top of Folly Hill. The paving was planned to continue to Hanover St. and thence Main St. to Boston. However the State changed its mind and the paving stopped at Spring St. and went back to Washington St. and headed toward Boston on the old Country Road.

To bring us to closer to the present time, we must mention Columbia Rd. which was put through by the State about 1930 cutting a more or less straight line from near Dr. Robert’s Animal Hospital to the top of the hill in Pembroke crossing the North River with a new bridge (recently repaired) at the Pembroke line. This road cut through the Sylvester’s pasture, and the state built a tunnel for the cows to get from one side of the street to the other. It was not too successful, however, as it often filled with water and was not of much use. Who knows exactly where this tunnel was?

Roads and by-ways have interesting stories to tell. One observation by John Goldthwait: Wherever the old roads curved, there was often an old house. Did they built their houses on the curve of the road so they could see who was coming and going?

(The 1850 Maps to which I have referred have been reproduced and can be purchased for $5 at the Stetson House, as can the Historical Society Calendars, which picture many of the old scenes of Hanover of which I write)

The February calendar of the Hanover Historical Society shows a view of the Lone House at Cricket Hollow and the path (road) that led to it. I have written about Cricket Hollow in a past article, and so I thought I would concentrate on the other photo of the old pathway and other early roadways in Hanover. There were many old paths which led to early homes built by the first settlers in the area. Some became major thoroughfares and others became overgrown and disappeared through lack of use.

I will take you back in history along some of these woodland paths and roads that tell the story of our history. The first roadways in the area were those taken by the Indians on their way from one village or hunting area to another. The North River, itself, was the major route of travel, and if one is looking for Native American artifacts, this is the first place to explore. The South Shore Natural Science Center is presently presenting a new exhibit featuring artifacts from ancient hunting encampments of the first Americans who traveled and settled along the river.

Robert “Cornet” Stetson, who arrived in Scituate in 1634, was foreman of an early surveying team to lay out several of the early roads. Many of these followed the Indian paths which naturally avoided the lowlands and swamps and kept to the higher land. Consequently these early roadways were full of curves, most of which have been somewhat straightened as time wore on.

The first roadways were single lane. They were gradually widened so that two riders on horseback could converse, or a wagon could be pulled behind one or two horses. By 1669 it was enacted by the court that all of the King’s Highways should be 40 feet in width. These probably became the state highways. However, those roadways laid out by the selectmen of the town were made two rods in width.

The earliest main roadways were the Towne Way which today is now part of River St. in Norwell and Broadway in Hanover and the Country Way or the Bay Path which is primarily Washington St. It later intersected with the Towne Way at Four Corners. Heading west from the Four Corners towards Abington was the Drinkwater Road, now primarily Hanover St, Circuit St. to Summer St. Here on the Indian Head River, Cornet Stetson built one of his two mills. (The other being on East St. on the Third Herring Brook)

Charlie Gleason using information from a tract by Mercer V. Tillson of Hanson traced the early journey of James Luddam as he guided Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, back and forth to the Plymouth Colony in 1632. Mr. Gleason maps the path out as it went though Hanover using the transfer deeds of property in Plymouth County records which use the trail as land markers. “Coming down from the Bay via Neponset and what is now the Boston road to Assinippi (Route 53) and Rocky Swamp to Hughes Cross, then thru what is now Silver St. to the bottom of Dug Hill. Then across the woods to Turkey Plain , then again thru woods what is known as Lover’s Lane to a point near Liston Houston’s on Broadway. Then again cross country using probably a part of what is now Bardin St. to Water St. and from there to the Pembroke line at Luddam’s Ford. (Rubber Mill Bridge)” The above is taken from an article by Charles L. Gleason in the Rockland Standard, in 1930, but needs some clarification to make it meaningful in 1999.

Rocky Swamp is just south of the village of Assinippi through which the Third Herring Brook Runs, just to the rear of the Hanover Mall. In fact some of the old folks (and some not so old) say that the Hanover Mall was built in Rocky Swamp.

“Hughes Cross” is an old term for the cross way over Hughes Brook, now called Silver Brook, which now goes under Old Washington St. near the intersection of Silver St. and Old Washington St. John Hughes was supposed to be the first Catholic to come to the colony and legend has it that he set up a rude cross at this point.. The location is verified in a 1656 document that directed William Barstow to construct a suitable bridge across the North River and an ox cart road “as far north as Hughes’s Cross” Hughes Cross was also a stopping place in later stagecoach days. as the driver would water his thirsty animals here. Dug Hill is the hill on the way south on Silver St.

Turkey Plain was perhaps named for the turkeys that foraged there and was that area near the top of Folly Hill about where St. Mary’s Church is located today. Historians Barry and Deane differ and say Turkey Plain is near the Indian Head River. (I suppose turkeys could have been anywhere. Have you seen the those turkey’s which forage in the woods and yards along Union St. this winter? I have.)

Lover’s Lane wandered through the woods near the Legion Housing and exited on
Broadway “thru Liston Houston’s yard”. ( 607 Broadway) Then the old path went partly on the present Bardin St. to Water St. and thence to Luddam’s Ford.

Standing on the arched bridge that is the boundary between Hanover and Pembroke and looking down river I can imagine the shallow rocky place where James Luddam, in deference to Governor Winthrop’s position, carried him across the river on his back. In 1623 an earlier white man, named Phineas Pratt, made his way from Weymouth to Plymouth and probably followed many of the same paths. He described the night spent in the wilderness, probably in or near what is now Hanover,”The wolves began their howling …Was I in great distress…” Traveling along the early trails was certainly an adventure.

I have covered the old main routes, but there were changes on them, as well many small roads and lanes leading to houses off the beaten path. Next time I’ll tell about , , Birch Bottom Road, Curtis St., Purr Cat Lane, Hanmer Hook, Henry’s Lane, Indian Way Stone, London Bridge, Nick Hill, and Torrey’s Lane, and other little lanes that were named for the occupants of the houses to where they led.

FOCUS ON HISTORY (February 1999 part 2)
By Barbara Barker

More Old Roads in Hanover

As I suggested in my last article many of the early houses were located on secluded ways. The House at Cricket Hollow was located on such a lane and the path can still be found today in the woods behind the Cardinal Cushing School. However not known to many is an ancient highway from Scituate to Abington which led by this house. According to Charles Gleason it branched off the Towne Way (River St./Broadway)) and crossed the Third Herring Brook on the Mill dam at the Stockbridge saw and grist mill. (Some know this location as Tiffany Pond (Norwell). This ancient road crossed the Country Road (Washington St.) near Al Sullivans and on through the woods passing the old Randall house (now gone) avoiding Randall’s Swamp, coming into the Drinkwater Road (Hanover St.) near the “Beehive” (an old house located about where the tennis courts are now situated) The highway then continued along the old Drinkwater road.

Another ancient road described in one on Charles Gleason’s notebooks is one that “led from Scituate to the ‘Indian Ponds’ in Hanson. …this roughly hewn out road came across what is now Norwell to Mill St. in Hanover, then across by Pine St. to what is called Birch Bottom Road , to the north end of Grove St., following that street to its end on Center St., then across thru a wood road to the Morrill Phillip’s place (947 Broadway), then across to the Joe Church place(1010 Broadway) and thru his woods to the river. (Indian Head) across this bridge (long gone) and following the ridge thru the door yard of the once Dwelley place , following the higher levels across to the Indian Ponds.” Gleason explored this route in his wagon and on foot. finding several cellar holes, once homes of early settlers. Much of the this area is in back of the Morrill Phillips estate and is now a Wild Life Conservation area. Parts of Birch Bottom Road are still visible as a path opposite the north end of Grove St.

Another early roadway went south from Plain St. over Brisco’s Plain and the long gone Hanmer’s cellar to join the above mentioned roadway near the present Grove St.
Hanmer’s Hook was another little path in this area.

Mr. Gleason also mapped out the Four Corners as it looked before 1734. The Towne Way (Broadway) was 50 yards east of its present location.The oldest house still standing in Hanover (168 Broadway) built in 1693 or before, faced the old highway. But now Broadway passes the back of the original old Cape, and that is what we view of the house from Broadway today.

That Curtis St. (now Main St.) was one of the earliest laid out roadways is evident by the houses still standing built in the early 1700’s, many of them by Curtises. It met the Drinkwater Road (Hanover St.) near the geographical center of the town, and that intersection became the governmental center of the town. Going south the land rises, and just beyond the big curve is a hill called Sullivan Hill by those around in the early 1900’s, and Nick Hill by those here in the 1800’s.

Another old street on which many old families lived was Torrey ’s Lane, now called Winter St. Several families of Torreys, Wings, and Tildens lived here, but most of the old houses are long gone.

Dwelley and Simmons say that Indian Way Stone is located “on the hill back of the house of the late William Whiting.(Whiting St.) It is said to have marked the Indian Trail from the Bridgewaters east, across the ‘Stepping stones’, past the spring at Assinippi…”

Purr Cat Lane, now know as Spring Street was probably the home to a few wild cats, whose purring may have alarmed the early settlers on that street. At the end of Purr Cat Lane another lane provided a way to the mill at Project Dale on the Indian Head River. (It is shown by a dotted line on the Henderson/Phillips 1850 Map of Hanover)

If you study that 1850 Map, you will note that the present Webster St. in North Hanover was reconfigured to include part of North St, including the so called “London Bridge” (which crossed Longwater Brook) and Walnut Street. North and Walnut Streets are just short little roads now, and a great part of each has been incorporated into the present Webster St.

On the 1850 map you can find the dwelling place of R. Shimmon on the Country Road near Mill St. on the corner of Henry’s Lane. Henry’s Lane headed west to another little dwelling then unoccupied. Just when this old lane disappeared I do not know, but the name and approximate location has been resurrected in the Old Town Way/ Acorn Circle area.

In 1904 the first so called paved or tarred roads were begun. Washington St. starting at the North River bridge was paved by the State to the end of Rockland St. at the top of Folly Hill. The paving was planned to continue to Hanover St. and thence Main St. to Boston. However the State changed its mind and the paving stopped at Spring St. and went back to Washington St. and headed toward Boston on the old Country Road.

To bring us to closer to the present time, we must mention Columbia Rd. which was put through by the State about 1930 cutting a more or less straight line from near Dr. Robert’s Animal Hospital to the top of the hill in Pembroke crossing the North River with a new bridge (recently repaired) at the Pembroke line. This road cut through the Sylvester’s pasture, and the state built a tunnel for the cows to get from one side of the street to the other. It was not too successful, however, as it often filled with water and was not of much use. Who knows exactly where this tunnel was?

Roads and by-ways have interesting stories to tell. One observation by John Goldthwait: Wherever the old roads curved, there was often an old house. Did they built their houses on the curve of the road so they could see who was coming and going?

(The 1850 Maps to which I have referred have been reproduced and can be purchased for $5 at the Stetson House, as can the Historical Society Calendars, which picture many of the old scenes of Hanover of which I write)

The picture on the Historical Society’s calendar for March shows some volunteer firemen from Four Corners standing proudly beside their trucks outside the Four Corners station, built in 1908 with private funds, and recently renovated. Fire was always a danger, and Hanover, as all small towns and large cities as well, tried to be prepared.Benjamin Franklin is credited with organizing the first fire department in America in Philadelphia, but actually other towns and cities had appointed Firewardens and had primitive pumpers, small wooden carts which carried a hand pumpto alert and protect their communities. All the villages in Hanover had informally organized their menfolk to work together in the event of the common enemy, fire. The alarm was usually a church bell, and this was true in Hanover as St. Andrews, the Congregational Church and the Baptist Church bells notified the residents of fire. A leather fire bucket was a prized possession and hung by the door of most early houses. A bucket brigade would be formed from a near-by brook or well. Some of the men had hand pumps, but we have no record of any early pumper wagons. Bucket brigades were not too effective, and even later chemical extinguishers usually could not contain a blaze. They could only hope to keep a fire from spreading.

By 1896 each village in Hanover had appointed “Firewards”, who would cause the alarm to be rung and direct the firefighting efforts. After a disastrous fire at the Four Corners in 1898 when three men were killed, a committee was appointed at Town Meeting to examine the question of fire protection for the town. However the committee reported at that time that it would be “inexpedient to recommend the purchase of any” (devices for the extringuishment of fire) and recommended the “putting in of a good water service”. (This was not done until 1930 after many studies and efforts).

In 1904 the first Fire Company was formed in North Hanover including Assinippi Village. A horse drawn truck , chemical extinguishers, ladders and other equipment were purchased from the funds ($150) raised by the men of the company and $150 matched by the town. Four Corners was also working to raise funds and built the above fire station and equipped it with a “first class piece of apparatus”. They wrote in their report in 1908, “We believe that this association, as well as that at North Hanover and any other that may hereafter be formed in town, should receive the assistance of the town both morally and financially…” By 1910 companies had formed at West Hanover, Center Hanover and South Hanover. Drinkwater was organized in 1914.

Each fire company became a solid community group. They raised money for the trucks and such from field days, lawn parties, bean suppers, and dances, and the fire house in each village became a gathering place for social events as well. There was great comradarie within each company and competition among the companies.

Charlie Gleason in one of his notebooks wrote, “I joined the fire company about 1910 and continued for 25 years and served as secretary and treasurer for several years. At first the firemen got no pay for the woods or house fires. Finally the town voted the sum of 50 cents an hour. Getting up in the middle of the night in zero weather and fighting house fires was no fun, but it had to be done.”

Mr. Gleason composed the following clever poem about Four Corners fire volunteer, Robert Irving Sylvester who is referred to as “R.I.” who is also pictured here. (not with his fire gear).

“R.I. and His Faithful Pump” by Charles Gleason

Full many a fire of long ago
Has kept us on the active jump
And many a house its life does owe
To Irving and his faithful pump.

When the church bells, they did ring
Or siren whistle blow
Even tho it was 1 or 2 A.M.
R.I. was up and on the go.

It made no dif what was the glass
Zero or a little higher
All others on the street did pass
And had his stream upon the fire.

Oh faithful pump and handy pail
We can’t consign thee to the dump,
For you have travelled o’er hill and dale
R. Irving and his faithful pump.

R.I. is still and active man
As he dons his checkered jumper.
No more he takes his faithful can
“Because we have a Pumper”.

The companies put together their own fire wagons, and later bought chemical wagons. They were drawn by one or two horses furnished by a mill or livery stable in that village. By 1924, horses were out, and some of the companies had mounted their chemical tanks on old Model T. Fords, Buicks, locomobiles and whatever they had money enough to buy and could adapt. The monies to purchase the trucks came mostly from fundraisers organized by the company and their women’s auxillaries.

It wasn’t until 1965 that the first full time Fire Chief was appointed. Lawrence E. Slaney held that position that had previously been part time and held by William Gardner from 1928-1941, Louis Stone 1941-1952, and T. Drew Bates 1952-1965. When Mr. Slaney retired in l975, he was followed by Wendell “Bud” Blanchard and Stephen Tucker, present chief.

Mr. Slaney wrote a fine history of the Hanover Fire Department that can be found in the up-dated “History of Hanover 1910-1977″, and much of the above information has been gleaned from his research presented there.

He married and had one daughter and a busy life but he never forgot his hometown , and often visited his nephew who lived in the ancestral homestead.

“An old lane, an old gate, an old house by a tree,
A wild wood, a wild brook–they will not let me be:
In boyhood I knew them, and still they call to me.”

John Curtis left more that his personal library to his hometown. He gave the land on which stands the Curtis School Building, and in his will read after his death in 1900 he gave $15,000 for “the erection of a Public Library Building” , the bequest payable upon the death of his daughter Alice Marion Curtis But during the year 1906, Miss Curtis waved her right, desiring to see the building constructed in her lifetime, and it was. Another Hanover citizen, Edmund Q. Sylvester, who was to give much to the town was the architect to the new building.

In 1964 the growning town of Hanover voted $175,000 to build a much needed addition. The Library is a focal point in the center of the town. Together with the Town Hall, the founding Church, the old Stetson House and the Sylvester School it ties the bonds of the town together. It is the Free Public Library for all Hanover people, and John Curtis saw the need.

Mr. Dwelley wrote of his friend, “Mr. Curtis enjoyed in his later years the leisure and delights which wealth properly used can give, and yet he lived the simple life. He was educated in the school of sympathy for the oppressed, in the school of service for others….”

One could repeat the poem which describes those such as John Curtis:

“Here lived the men who gave us
The purpose that holds fast,
The dream that nerves endeavor,
The glory that shall last.
Here, strong as pines in winter
And free as ripening corn,
Our faith in fair ideals—
Our fathers’ faith–was born.”

Citizens of Hanover today strive to make our town a good place to live. Each has something to contribute to the future.

In Hanover in the middle of February you may have noticed two great splashes of yellow along the west wall of the Carriage Shed at the Stetson House. “What could be blooming so early?” you ask. “Surely not forsythia.” Witch Hazel is the answer; it is one of the earliest signs of spring in New England. In fact it blooms as early as December, but I first noticed it at the end of January. A lotion or potion made from the bark and flowers can be used as an astringent to relieve itching. I prefer to merely consider it an early sign of spring.

The Hanover Garden Club planted the attractive area between the Library and to the rear of the Stetson House and barn with native shrubs and wildflowers. They welcome you to discover the bloom of the witch hazel and other treats along the paths as the season progresses.

If you haven’t gathered your pussy willows yet, you’d better hurry. It’s almost too late. Put them in water and they’ll grow roots; plant them in a damp place, and you’ll have your own pussy willow bush in a few years.

My snow drops have been blooming since January. Their little white bells open up on sunny days, then curl up when winter asserts itself. But they are persistent and keep blooming through March.

The sap is rising and the buds begin to swell. The weeping willow takes on a chartreuse tone, and the swamp maples show pink. The skunk cabbage begins to break through the mud.

The snow crocus, a well know harbinger of spring, will bloom through spring snows and promises sunny days ahead. Snow crocus have been blooming by the back walk at the Stetson House for several weeks. For most Hanover people the early crocus at the old post office announced to the town, “Spring is here!”Do you think they still bloom even though they no longer have spectators I think they do. I checked and they were blooming their little hearts out. They love that south brick wall which holds the heat and draws them out of the winter depths like magic.

The brick wall on the south side of the Sylvester School has a similar exposure. In 1983 my fifth grade class planted crocus and daffodils in their own “secret garden, and I introduced my classes to the magic of spring. I think that garden still welcomes spring to children.

Following the bloom of the crocus is the dwarf iris, chionodoxas and squills. Finally as April approaches, my favorite, daffodils, raise their golden trumpets and herald the true spring. The daffodils will bloom at the schools, along the roadway, and in the yards all over Hanover. Some are the result of the “Trash for Bulbs Trade” sponsored by the Hanover Garden Club in the fall, when individuals, groups, and business people cleaned up the roadsides of litter and traded the collected trash for daffodil bulbs which they planted, and we all are rewarded with their bloom in the spring. The spring bulbs are not only beautiful but rugged, and we cannot help but admire their optimism.

Of course we mustn’t forget the forsythia. Everyone should have a bush from which to pick early to force their golden blossoms into early bloom in the house, and later to enjoy their wonderful mid-April flowering. In Hanover one of the prettiest shows of forsythia is on the corner of Oakland Avenue and Broadway

Late spring brings tulips, and the flowering shrubs and trees. Along route 139 in 1976 during the bicentennial year some businesses and individuals planted flowering cherry trees. Quite a few survived. Watch for them

The lengthening of the daylight hours signals to some birds to move further north. The winter residents begin their mating songs. Some robins have remained for the winter and get a jump start on spring. Others have just arrived and think they have discovered spring. The cry of the red-wing black bird is heard near the wetlands. The woodpecker taps out his signal to all that this is his territory; females welcome; males should move on. To some people one sure sign of spring is the first warm evening when the noise of the peeper frogs is heard from the swamps.

Overnight it seems the grass turns green, and the dandelions bloom. The alewives swim up the brooks to spawn in the fresh water. The shad follow a few weeks later and draw fishermen from all over the state to the Indian Head River. Other fish become active and fishermen dot the edges of the streams to try their luck. Optimism runs high.

Baseball players young and old feel the desire to get out and hit a few. Spring practice begins. Of course the return of the Red Sox to Fenway is a sure sign of spring for many. Hope springs eternal.

The March winds may blow; the April showers will bring May flowers. Life is pushing out of its winter sheath and all the world welcomes spring. Life renews itself and the cycle begins again.