SHREWSBURY – As New England endures another winter, we can look back at how fortunate we are to have the snow removal services we do today. The photograph shows the aftermath of a large scale winter storm on the town.
The view is looking towards the center of town―directly ahead is the old Town Hall that stood on the corner of Main Street and Route 140, where part of the library stands today. The house to the right is noted as “Dr. Chase’s house”―this house was originally the town’s first library and was located where the current 1903 library building still stands. It was moved to where the bank building now stands, eventually being destroyed by a fire in the 1950s.
The only path through the snow on Main Street is where the trolley tracks were cleared. Although the photograph is not dated, it (based on the format of the postcard) may have been taken during a storm that blanketed the area during 1915. A local “character”―Ralph McKenzie―was a newspaper delivery person at the time.
To make sure the Worcester newspapers got delivered in town, McKenzie and a friend set out on skis to travel all the way to downtown Worcester and back. They succeeded in their mission and the papers were delivered. The local papers, describing the storm, had headlines reading “Everybody Dig!” McKenzie noted on another photograph of the time, “We got through that day!”
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