Middlefield, Massachusetts
- A Collection of Local
History -
The Middlefield Museum
is located on the 2nd Floor of our Old Town Hall
This image is from a post card that was post marked 1902
Card by Eastern Illustrating Co., Belfast, ME
(Knickerbocker Collection)
6 May 2017 - Annual Town Meeting Warrant
ARTICLE 30. To see if the Town will rename the Town Museum to the Jack
Cobb Town Museum; or take any other action relative thereto.
The vote was unanimously in favor.
This Year is Different (Country Journal – Letter to the Editor - April 2017)
Each spring we grudgingly put together our
written contributions to the Annual Town Report in preparation for the Town
Meeting in May. The truth be known the present year’s tome usually closely –
and sometimes exactly - resembles that of the preceding year. This year is
different.
These Annual Town Reports have chronicled
over the last 150 years the comings and goings of those hundreds and hundreds
of citizens who have graciously contributed their time and energy to the
betterment of Middlefield.
This year has been particularly painful for
the Historical Commission as we have lost two of our guiding members.
Jack Donald Cobb joined the Commission in
1992 and was serving as chair by 1996. For the last 20 years he guided every
facet of the museum and was instrumental in adding material to our
collections. Jack’s partner Roy Haapala, who passed in March 2013, was our
long-time secretary and was probably shanghaied into the position by Mr.
Cobb. Jack was an antique dealer and retired interior designer. Both
vocations adding greatly to the professional appearance and depth of exhibits
at the museum. Most visitors are amazed that the tiny town of Middlefield has
such an outstanding museum of local history. Jack died in late September of
2016. Hopefully the town will see fit to rename the museum in Jack’s memory.
Marjorie Batorski became Middlefield Town
Clerk in 1990 and held the position until retiring in 2016. Marge joined the
Historical Commission in 2002 and served continuously until her passing on
March 23, 2017. Marge applied her record management skills gained from her
town clerk position into organizing the records and inventories of the
Commission. I will miss manning the history shed at the fair with Marge as it
gave us an entire day to catch up with the town’s ever unfolding history set
against the background of that special once a year ancient gathering of the
town.
I believe that both of my friends with their
encyclopedic historical knowledge were truly a walking, talking museum unto
themselves. Their passing opens a huge hole in our collective town memory and
we are all poorer for it. - Howard Knickerbocker
________________
I will include any element of local Middlefield history. One reason for
starting this web site is to digitize the unique photographs and written
material at the museum. I want to both electronically preserve these
historical items in case of a disaster and to also make them available to
those folks that cannot visit Middlefield. I will also include items
from my own collection as well as those made available by other interested
parties. Let me know what you would like to see here or what you could
let me borrow for copying. I can include pictures, document scans,
genealogies, family Bible listings, cemetery information, census
enumerations, historical references and whatever else strikes a fancy.
Disclaimer:
This site is neither sponsored nor approved by the Town of Middlefield.
A 1786 brick recovered from The William Church House cellar hole
on Harry Pease Rd.
The partial brick was found when we were trenching in a power line when
building
our new house. The cellar hole is now under my driveway. The hole was
filled in during
the 1950s when the land was reclaimed to pasture from woodlands. The house
burned in 1888.
My thanks to John Savery for his keen eye sight in spotting this early relic.
(42 20.803 N -73 1.417 W)
(Knickerbocker Collection)
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