Man About Canton: Improving Viaduct Park
By Joe DeFeliceDid you know …
The Blue Hill Lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Canton will be spearheading an effort to enhance the Viaduct Park on Neponset Street. Plans are underway to add a walkway and lighting so that the magnificent granite obelisk monument located in front of the viaduct will be accessible to all and be visible both day and night. John Ciccotelli, the original designer of the monument, will head this effort. Engraved memorial bricks will be sold to underwrite the cost of the project. To learn more about the Masonic Monument Viaduct Park project, or to place a brick order, go to www.bluehilllodge.org.
For those interested, the Canton Viaduct is the oldest blind arcade cavity wall viaduct in the world, and it was the longest and tallest railroad viaduct ever built when it was completed in 1835. It is the last surviving viaduct of its kind and has been in continuous service for 178 years.
Operative stonemasons, many of whom were also speculative freemasons, constructed this national architectural treasure in a mere 15 months. Construction started on April 20, 1834, and it was opened to rail service on July 28, 1835. These men quarried and precisely cut the local granite using only hammers and chisels. Each stone has a mason’s mark to identify who cut the stone. Each block of stone was mined from the Canton Viaduct Quarry, located at the Rattlesnake Hill in Sharon, which is now part of Borderland State Park. The type of granite that was used to build the viaduct was chosen because it does not stain as it weathers but retains its original color.
Other interesting facts about the Canton Viaduct: It was named to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1984; it cost $93,000 to build, which equates to $2.4 million in today’s dollars; no deaths were recorded during the construction; the majority of the viaduct is over land (71 percent), while 29 percent is over water (the Canton River); the total length is 615 feet; the highest point is 70 feet; and its nicknames include “The Great Wall of Canton” and “Canton’s Great Wall.”
Wally Gibbs was recently reelected as the president of the Canton Historical Society. Paul Mitcherony was elected vice president, Cynthia McDonough was chosen as secretary, and Elena Gillespie was named treasurer.
Former Canton resident Mike Calitri is now the chief area scout for the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team. Mike previously worked in the general manager’s office for the Tampa Bay Rays. Mike was a standout at Xaverian High School and played college ball at Clemson University before spending several years in the minor leagues.
If you have any $2 bills, you are probably hoarding them because not too many are in actual circulation, and many people have never even seen one. Originally issued in 1928, the Treasury Department says the $2 bill makes up less than 1 percent of the $670 billion in genuine U.S. currency.
Dunkin Donuts is throwing out its foam coffee cups. The Canton-based company recently reported that it will phase out foam cups in the next two to three years and start testing a more eco-friendly paper cup with recycled content. During the transition, it will recycle the foam cups at restaurants it owns. Starbucks has committed to recycle all its paper and plastic cups in company-owned stores by 2015.
Congratulations to Canton High School football coach Dave Bohane, who led the South team to a 21-7 win over the North team in the 30th Shriners Football Classic. The annual all-star game features graduating seniors from eastern Massachusetts and raises money for the Shiners Hospital in Boston.
On a sad note, one of the premier Canton softball players, Billy Curry, recently passed away at the young age of 57 after suffering a heart attack while on a softball vacation with the Senior Softball USA organization in Scotland. In 2011, Billy led the Hanningtons Over 55 softball team to the world championship in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was named the MVP of the tournament with 21 hits in 23 at bats for an amazing .912 batting average. Attorney Glen Hannington, who sponsored the team and is on the board of the Cape Cod Baseball League, told MAC: “Just recently and under the radar, Billy made a substantial donation to the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League, sponsoring 40 children to enable them to participate in the popular summer camp with the baseball players.” Billy will be sorely missed by his family and everyone who knew him.
In all human affairs, there are efforts, and there are results; and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result.
This is all for now folks. See you next week.
Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=21507
Posted by Joe DeFelice
on Jul 12 2013. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion.
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