AROUND TOWN: Shovel Shop Workers Enjoy Warm Weather

Workers for Beacon Communities are making progress.

About Around Town: Every week day, we'll provide you with a scene from around Easton. Let us know what you think about the scene in our comments section! Construction workers at the site of the former Ames Shovel Shops enjoyed the warmer temperatures Wednesday afternoon as they rose to the top of a lift at one of the historic buildings. Developers told Selectmen earlier this month that they are on pace to finish the project in time, and the first units should be available for rent by the end of the year. The construction process has been ongoing since spring of 2012. Developers are turning the site into a 113-unit apartment complex.The project included a a $4.35 million loan to Beacon Communities from Community Preservation Act funds, …

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Shovel Shop Groundbreaking Ceremony Scheduled for Friday Morning

The official event will begin at 10 a.m. Friday

  The Town of Easton and Beacon Communtiies Development have officially invited Easton residents to a official groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning. The event, set to kick off at 10 a.m. at 50 Main Street, will celebrate the Easton Shovel Shop project, which will historically renovate the buildings into 113 housing units (30 of which will be designated as affordable). The public/private partnership between Easton and Beacon Communities included a $4.35 million loan from Community Preservation Act funds. Construction is expected to last 18 months.

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Town Plans For Sewer To Extend Beyond Shovel Shop Project

Town hopes to tie in rest of North Easton Village within five years

With the groundbreaking of Shovel Shop project, the town will get its first hookups to sewer – a service many residents and businesses have eagerly awaited.    But though the plan calls for just a tiny part of the population to be serviced, Easton officials hope that it can be start of a more far reaching plan – one that could eventually hook up about one-third of the town. Who exactly will be serviced and when?  Town Planner Brad Washburn said the town is focusing on five different “Tier 1” areas in town:  North Easton Village (expanded to include the entire district), South Easton, Five Corners, Turnpike Street, and Easton Center.  Three other “Tier 2” areas --  Old Foundry, North Washington Street, and Hockomock -- were also considered …

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Did You Know...

DID YOU KNOW: The Island

Your weekly historical fact, courtesy of the Easton Historical Society

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”.

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