Looking for some “new” Christmas or New Year’s recipes? Try these from the 1847 New England Economical Housekeeper. Try the New Year’s Cake with SEVEN pounds of flour…yummy! Esther (Allen) Howland was born in Plymouth, MA in 1801. Her regional cookbook contained...
Like many towns in the area, Littleton had an influx of Irish during the mid and late 1800s. Many of the Irish settled during the 1840-50s when the Fitchburg Railroad came through and the Irish help set the rails. They settled along Taylor Street to be near work. In...
We all know the story of the Tory House and the bullet doors. Interesting to find that at some point between 1933 and 1945 the house was a restaurant serving Lunch, Dinner and Tea. Ms. Frances H. Tomer purchased the house from Frank and Shirley (Houde) Lawton in...
Heyward Emerson Canney was an interesting Littleton native. Born 26 Feb 1890 to George W. Canney and Alice B. Bradley, he graduated from Lawrence Academy and fell into secretarial work. For 4 years he served as secretary to Dr. Samuel Smith Drury, rector of St. Paul’s...
A Thanksgiving Find while wishing you all a nice holiday however you may celebrate: The Whitney Hoar (Howe) house located at 564 Newtown Road, is in one of the oldest settled parts of town. It was built in 1685 by Josiah Whitney and is believed to be one of the oldest...
One of our volunteers is sorting through a box of American Legion Auxillary records “At a meeting of the President’s Committee on War Relief control held in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1943, that Committee, at the request of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast...
Local Legend of Dr. Enoch Dole Shortly before the Revolutionary War, Eve Cogswell and Dr. Enoch Dole became engaged. When Enoch was called to serve in the War, Eve made Enoch swear an oath before God that “he would surely return to her, if not in body then in spirit...
Baseball has always been very popular in Littleton both for school children and adults. From our Littleton Massachusetts 1714-2014 book: ” Initially coached and funded by Robert ‘Buzzy” Cozzens. the Hornets were part of the American Legion summer baseball program for...
He was the eighth of nine children of Capt. Edmund Tuttle and Louise Fletcher. Adams Tuttle was a farmer. He enlisted 17 Mar 1862 at 19 years old. He was killed in action at the battle of Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia and has a gravestone at Westlawn Cemetery....
Lemuel Leland Powers was born 15 June 1756 in Littleton. He was one of four Baptist ministers who served a group of churches in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts. He resettled in New York. The pieces were hair from Lemuel’s great-grandson Warren (Matilda) Powers’...
One of the articles is a response written by Thomas Olsen to some criticism of his class of 1971. The Find seemed serendipitous since this is their 50th anniversary. We would love to accept any of the other volumes that were printed. The Tiger Newsletter Joanne Cone...
Our Friday Find: You never know where Littleton history will show up. Sandra Murphy Mauer (a descendant of Walter Powers) found some early 1900 letters relating to the Drew/Osborn family at an antique shop in Gloucester and donated them to the Society. The Marion Drew...
Jonathan Tuttle transferred property to Jedediah Tuttle of Charlestown on 27 Dec 1788. Sometime within the next 2 years a building was put up and transferred to John Porter on 17 Dec 1790. Who said real estate was slow in the winter months?? 2 White Street On the 1830...
Our Friday Find: A recent donation of an aerial photo of the Trotting Park on Russell Street (no date). According to the donor, Aaron Lund took this picture in his biplane. He was a WWI pilot in France with the Escadrille (French Air Force). His house was on the...
Hot enough for you? Well, when you reach into your freezer for an ice cube think about the process of getting and keeping ice before electricity. Maybe our Friday Find will help cool you off. From the estate of Mabel (Reed) Halpin: Mabel’s father, Carl Reed, came to...
Our Friday Find: Picture this: it is 97 degrees out, sweat is pouring down your back, the sun has beating down all day. You decide to go to the Long Lake Beach and have a nice dip in the cool lake so you shed your clothes and put on…your wool bathing suit? This photo...
Our Friday Find: We were asked about the house at 120 Goldsmith Street. Traditionally, it is known as the Goldsmith or Houghton or Kimloch (Kimball) Farm. Obviously, the name of the street is from the man who really established the farm. Lets find out a little bit...
n 1877, Edward Russell Frost, at 16, published Littleton’s first newspaper the Littleton Amateur which became the Littleton Courant. The weekly paper could be subscribed for $.10 cents per year. It is a great source, not just for the town news but for the...
Our Friday Find: The family of Bernard “Benny” Halpin (1920-1986) has generously donated his WWII papers including those from the time he was a German P.O.W. We hope to compile them into a story of his experiences. He was 24 years old at the time of his capture. It is...
Our Friday Find: More of the donations from the Hager estate. In one of the boxes, we found a collection of invitations, calling cards, and at home cards. Think of calling cards and at home cards as 19th century social media. Calling cards were fashionable in Britain,...
Invitation to 1945 Inauguration Ceremony for President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent to Gloria Mawhinney’s father Joseph. Gloria Mawhinney was a dedicated Reading Specialist teacher at the Shaker Lane School, retiring in 1984. She died in November 2018 and several items...
Our Friday Find: We received a donation this week of a cool photo from the WWII era. The back of the photo reads: “John Henry Wilson and son, James, on Airplane Observation Patrol Post in Littleton Mass in December 1941 beginning of the War with the Axis.” “The Office...
Soon after the conclusion of the Civil War, cities and towns took to decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags. In May 1868, General John A. Logan, who was the second Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic from 1868 to 1871 and a...
Our Friday Find: Three descendants of Augustus P. Hager visited the Littleton Historical Society this week and donated photos and artifacts from the family. The Hager family lived at 338 King Street (Kimball/Morgan/Gruskowski) from 1858 to 1972. Leslie Augustus Hager...
Our Friday Find: It is human nature…whether in exercise class, the movie theater, or church. We have a certain spot we always sit in. We can get very indignant when someone is in “our spot.” If you are nodding at this, you’ll like this find. Pews at early meeting...
Our Friday Find: one of our volunteers came across this class photo today. It is Miss Anna Woodbine’s 5th & 6th grade class taken about 1914 in front of the Union School. The school was located in what is now the front parking lot of the Reuben Hoar Library....
April 1861- Sixth Massachusetts Regiment First to offer its services- first to reach its State's capital- first to reach the nation's capital -first to inflict suffering on traitors- first to attest its sincerity with its blood was the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment of...