DID YOU KNOW that inn 1918, 589 cases of influenza were reported in Easton between this date and the middle of December.  There were sixty-two deaths.

DID YOU KNOW Sept. 23, 1815 the Great Gale hit Easton which was equal in strength to the 1938 hurricane-100 miles per hour.

DID YOU KNOW that the centennial of “Borderland” is being celebrated this weekend, and next weekend, on Saturday the 24th, a script written 60 years ago by Amory Parker and Ruth Smith will be reenacted at Queset Gardens or Oakes Ames Memorial Hall (determined by weather), hosted by the Easton Historical Society.

DID YOU KNOW on September 11, 1713 the first church in Easton was organized : the East Society of the North Purchase.   The twenty-six families were led by Elder William Pratt, and the first religious structure and cemetery were created on Church Street  

DID YOU KNOW that September 2, 1947 a tornado hit Easton where Baystate Ford on 138 is today and demolished the Industrial Engineers Service Company, a machine shop owned by Ralph Manchester.  His father John Henry Manchester, 72, of Turnpike Street was instantly killed.  A picture of the damage is #100 in the Historical Society’s “Looking Back at Easton, Massachusetts”.

DID YOU KNOW that on August 31, 1723 the first marriage by a minister was performed in Easton.  The community was still part of Norton (East Precinct) at that time.

DID YOU KNOW:that the first police lockup was built in 1867 on Pond Street (near the boulding indicating the first Catholic chapel). For the first seven years of its existence no one appears to have been designated as keeper of the lockup. However, by 1875 and subsequent years a definite keeper was assigned.

DID YOU KNOW that August 20, 1856 was the beginning of a huge militia muster at what is now Militia Park, home of Easton's Little League fields.

In recognition of today's Ames Straw Poll, we are re-featuring our March 19th, "Did You Know". DID YOU KNOW that Ames, Iowa was named to honor Congressman from Easton, Oakes Ames? In 1863, Oakes Ames, one of the chief stockholders in the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad, had encouraed John Blair, the Chief Developer and builder of the railroad, to determine appropriate railroad station stops in Iowa. One was on the flatlands between the Skunk River and the Squaw Creek near the proposed site of the Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University). The following year Blair named …

DID YOU KNOW that on August 3, 1907 Augustus St. Gaudens died.  Have you looked recently at the fireplace in the Ames Free Library/Easton’s Public Library?

DID YOU KNOW that August 1, 1803 Oliver Ames bought for $1600 a forge, nail-making shop, a dwelling house (46 Pond Street), and several pieces of land near the Shovel Shop Dam.  The dam and the shop had been built in 1792-3.  He used the forge as a shovel shop and the nail shop for making shovel and hoe handles.  These were the area called “The Island”.

DID YOU KNOW that on July 30, 1775 John Turner II was the first Easton man to die in the American Revolution. He was probably killed and buried in Jamaica Plain.

DID YOU KNOW that July 21, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was first read in Easton and then recorded in the Town’s records.  In 1976 on July 17 a Bicentennial celebration was hold on the grounds of Stonehill College, including arts and crafts, field day events, a picnic, and a torchlight ceremony with Representative John S. Ames, III’s reading of the Declaration of Independence.

DID YOU KNOW that July 11, 1976 the Easton Militia was reviewed by the Queen of England.

DID YOU KNOW that July 4, 1840 the Easton Whigs (very early Republican Party) paraded to Bridgewater to support “Tippecanoe (William Henry Harrison) and Tyler Too”

DID YOU KNOW that the first graduation class from Easton High School in 1873 consisted of six people.  The high school, consisting of the front two classrooms and the chemistry laboratory, was located in the three-story twelve classroom wood structure built in 1868-1869.  This school, which also housed the grammar and primary classes for North Easton pupils, a normal training program, and eventually a kindergarten, was located where the future Oliver Ames High School would be built in 1895.  The three-story building was moved back toward Barrows Street and continued to serve Easton’s students…

DID YOU KNOW that June 17th, 1776 the Town of Easton recommended independence to the Second Continental Congress.

DID YOU KNOW that George White, Easton’s master criminal, was pardoned June 4, 1811. Learn more about George White in Rev. William Chaffin’s History of Easton”. Why was his forehead branded H. T.?

DID YOU KNOW that June 13 , 1885 The American Architect and Building News, then the leading architectural journal in the country, published the findings of a survey to determine the ten best U. S. buildings.  Seventy-five architects responded, mentioning 175 buildings.  Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston was declared the best building in America, and Easton’s Oakes Ames Memorial Hall came in tenth.  Of the buildings selected, Richardson had designed five of them.

DID YOU KNOW May 30, 1882 the Civil War Monument was unveiled and dedicated at Easton Center listing the forty-seven men killed in the War.  Members of the A. B. Randall Post of Easton were major participants in the dedication.  Approximately two thousand people from not only Easton but also other communities were present.