It was a perfect summer day, hot but not overwhelmingly so. Spectators arrived early and brought their lawn chairs, strollers, and dogs, congregating on Center Street and Main Street. The parade in honor of Easton’s 300th anniversary went off beautifully; the Tricentennial Committee did themselves proud. As always, the hill in front of NEG was a popular viewing spot. Ice cream and toy vendors were present on Main Street. The Easton Historical Society showed up on a replica trolley car and it was just one of the amazing entries in the parade.   Easton and the Trolley It was in 1896 that the electric trolley came to Easton. It was a branch of the Brockton Street Railway Company that was established in 1891and prior to that the same company had operated as a horse-drawn street railway. The company kept a car barn at the corner of Torrey Street and West Street in Brockton and the trolley ran down Torrey Street to Dailey’s Corner on Main Street in Easton, then on to Center Street. I’ve learned that Electric Ave., a right turn just before reaching Hilliard’s if coming from Brockton, was originally the site of a charging station, hence its name. Always thought it was an odd name for a street! Now I know why. Today there are a few houses on the street. The second trolley company (1897) to service Easton was the Taunton and Brockton Street Railway and initially it had 10 passenger cars and 4 snowplows. Four of the passenger cars were enclosed with windows for winter conditions, the others were open with canvas curtains that could be rolled down, and they could seat 70 passengers. The track ran down Belmont Street to Morse’s Corner, then on Washington Street, to Depot Street, and on to Turnpike Street. From there down Broadway Street in Raynham to Bay Street in Taunton. For some time this line provided hourly service from Brockton and Taunton during working hours and was an important line for commuters, although it also delivered mail and freight. A third trolley line provided service between Easton and Mansfield but was never very successful, although for a short time it brought students from Furnace Village to Easton High School. The fourth trolley line, Easton Street Railway, ran from Morse’s Corner to Stoughton and only operated from 1903-4. Trolleys were relatively short-lived and after 1915 automobiles became increasingly popular. In fact, between 1902 and 1914 Alfred Morse (of Easton) built 48 automobiles in his factory on Central Street. For a brief window of time trolleys were a significant means of transportation.   This story is a continuation of the Biweekly published on June 21.his story is a continuation of the Biweekly published on June 21. By 2003 only the unused Dean Mill building and storage building remained at the junction of Washington Street and Depot Street, and something needed to be done with the property. There was a plan to restore the site that included moving the mill elsewhere on the property, renovating the mill for office space, restoring the historic interior and exterior, restoring the dam and raceway (channel with current of water that turned the mill wheel) and finally to add a closed system carwash near the intersection. This plan would have been funded with state and federal tax credits, private funds, and Community Preservation Act funds requested in Article 7 at Town Meeting. The article did not pass. Eventually the building was torn down. The once busy mill site was no more. The diagram below shows the development of the Dean Mill site 1903-1925. Buildings were extensive and many industries operated there.        Life goes on and time cannot stand still, but it is important to know the past, and every once in a while, we need reminding. Once upon a time this site was a lonely outpost in a town that didn’t yet exist with a humble mill that harnessed the power of the Queset. If only Clement Briggs and Thomas Randall could see it now.
Anne Wooster Drury For Sources, see the June 21st Bi-Weekly |